Should I upgrade now or wait?

[HamnJam]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get input from the more computer savvy board goers on whether to upgrade now or wait. I haven’t really been following the hardware scene in the last 4-ish years and will really appreciate some of your insight.

This upgrade will solely be for gaming. I do some work stuff on my home PC (reading PDFs, making PowerPoints, writing, etc.) which is inconsequential for this upgrade.

Most of my games aren’t too taxing (FF14: ARR, TF2, SC2, other older stuff) except Arma 3. I’m really wanting to join a squad and play a bit more seriously but the performance and stability is a bit of a deterrent. The game doesn’t run very well both in performance (I'd like to play 1080p with higher to ultra settings smoothly) and stability (currently crashes a lot and no solution in sight). I could just suck it up and accept the so-so performance I currently get and continue to attempt to improve stability.

I’m currently running

• 
  Intel i5 750 processor (Nehalem) on an Asus P7P55D-E pro mobo.
  4GB of ram which for the life of me I can’t remember it’s brand or speed.
  Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950 1GB which I upgraded 2-ish years ago
  The CPU is overclocked with a Cooler Master Hyper 212.
  Antec Three Hundred Case.. I think

I’m thinking (after some quick website reading)

• 
  Intel i5-4670K (maybe i7-4770K for future proofing)
  Asus Z87 series board
  8GB of quality RAM
  Geforce GTX 760 or 770 (if it will make a big difference compared to my current card)
  High quality case with excellent ventilation/cable management
  Parts I will cannibalize from my current rig: a 1TB HD, 250GB SSD, power supply (Silent Pro M 700W), CPU cooler (if possible), and others.

Budget 1000-1200-ish.

I wanted to opinions and feedback. Should I or shouldn’t I? Will I see marginal performance gains?

Much appreciated.

 

[Computerchap]

It's probably around time for you to do a new build. I whipped up a list of specs, you can replace things/ use old parts if you wish, but I'm starting from scratch here. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2YuJI Here's some info on it. for the CPU I used a i5 4670k, this is the latest and greatest in the i5 series and will be great for gaming. I chose the Asus Z87-PRO as the motherboard, because it supports overclocking, has built in wi-fi (Even if you don't need it, it might come in handy someday) and it's Asus, so you know you're getting a quality board. I chose 2x4 gigs of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600mhz RAM, it's RAM, nothing flashy about it, but it's great RAM and it's actually what I use in my build, and I've had no issues so far, don't overpay for the flashy "gamer" brand RAM. I chose the GTX 770, because it will give great performance for ARMA 3, and because since the price difference between the 770 and the 760 isn't TOO big I decided to go for the better card. For the case I chose the CM Storm Enforcer, this is literally one of the highest rated cases on Amazon. It's affordable, and offers a ton of space, good ventilation, and it looks pretty nice too. I didn't add Windows or a Disk Drive because I wasn't sure if you had those, even if you added them it would still be in your price range though. If you managed to read this all without wanting to kill me for having terrible sentence structure, I applaud you.

 

[veladem]

Made some changes to the build above, I figure if you are going to buy something in the $800+ range, and your upgrade budget is $1,000-1,200, then you might as well get a new PSU, and other parts including the new Windows 8 OS as it gives a little boost in performance. There are plenty of ways to bypass the Metro interface. The cooler provided will give you awesome room for an OC to the CPU. The Crucial SSD is for game and OS boot and load times, and it's Crucial as a personal preference, if not that, I suggest the Samsung 840 EVO series. HAF 912 is pretty cheap, but great quality, and a fair amount of room for its price. Also added a new optics drive because they are fairly priced, and yours might be a little dated.

Let me know what you think. Best regards, Vel.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($97.16 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($133.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($324.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1189.05
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-23 07:19 EST-0500)

Btw, that PSU is a hot deal right now. Great brand, 80+, 500W+, pretty darn good sale price.

And as for a performance gain, hehe, "You're gonna love the way you look." Men's Warehouse pun intended...

 

[HamnJam]

Thanks for the responses. I'm under the impression that an upgrade would yield impressive gains from my current rig.

After some thorough web searching, this is my current thoughts of my new parts. (Didn't know about PCPartPicker until now, great site!)

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2YHuY
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2YHuY/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2YHuY/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($324.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1026.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-23 14:54 EST-0500)

It comes in on the lower end of my budget.

The parts that I will cannibalize are:
HD: Western Digital 1TB (no clue on model - it was 4 years ago)
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB (loving my first SSD wish I made the jump earlier)
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro 700W

How does that above build look? I think I will just hold on my current copy of Windows 7. I don't think a separate sound card will add anything here.

Thanks again.

 

[veladem]

Kraken X60, good choice, I say it's louder and more pricey though. Cools a few degrees better though, again, both good choices.

I will recommend you get a new PSU for a pricy new build like this.

And Windows 8 is 10% better in gaming.

 

[Computerchap]

The Windows 8 being 10% faster thing isn't actually true, the performances fluctuates per game, some games use Windows 8 to their advantage, some use 7. Check this out for the FPS difference. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-8-gaming-performance,3331.html

 

[HamnJam]

Kraken X60, good choice, I say it's louder and more pricey though. Cools a few degrees better though, again, both good choices.

I will recommend you get a new PSU for a pricy new build like this.

And Windows 8 is 10% better in gaming.

Thanks for your quick response. I'm starting to re-think of the closed water coolers vs the CM Hyper 212. Is there really that much of a difference to justify the large cost difference?

I was under the impression that my current PSU will work fine with a new rig. Is there a compatibility issue?

The 10% increase in performance with Windows 8. Has that been benchmarked and such? I was reading about Windows 8 when it first released and remember reading that wasn't any different for gaming vs windows 7.

Cheers.

 

[veladem]

There is multiple increases in Windows 8 performance and security. Such as RAM usage being a small one.

The difference is pretty much night and day with temps, 20c between the x60 and 212 evo. 5c between the x60 and h100i, in favor of the slightly louder x60.

Nothing is wrong with you PSU, and you can re-use it, but getting a fresh new PSU rather then one that is a bit used/broken in is a slight difference.

And computerchap, that review was written in 2012. Just saying, and even then you could see a performance gap, most new games now recommend Windows 8, and I gained roughly 10 FPS in my games, CoD, BF3 and 4, Skyrim, etc.

Not needed, just a couple suggestions.

 

[Computerchap]

Oops, didn't realize it was outdated. But my point is, if he already has a spare copy of 7 there's no point of spending $100 on 8.1

 

[veladem]

True, but if he' going for a whole new build, which I would suggest at this budget, I'd sell the old build, and the OS will boost the price and can't be installed on multiple PC's.

 

[Computerchap]

If he ends up doing a whole new build, yeah, go 8.1. It's the latest OS and it will be supported longer.

 

[HamnJam]

Thanks Veladem and Comupterchap for the responses.

After looking through Canadian prices and availability, I'm going to start ordering the parts in. I hit my 1000-1200 budget at 1167 so won't be purchasing Win 8.1 or a new PSU at this time. I will probably do in the future. Maybe after I sell my previous parts. Is there a market for older computer parts?

I was tempted to use the Hyper 212 for CPU cooling and Geforce 760 instead of the 770 to save several hundred dollars but decided to splurge a bit more this time around.

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Z9ai
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Z9ai/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Z9ai/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.99 @ NCIX)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($134.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($193.90 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($86.99 @ Memory Express)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($368.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1169.36
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-24 13:35 EST-0500)

Cheers,
HamnJam

 

[veladem]

If you want you can get the compareable Corsair H100i watercooling loop instead of the X60, it's more quite and a little cheaper for a small difference in cooling, you then would be able to squeeze in the OS.

And there is a Deals forum here on TH, you can check it out and such.

 

[Computerchap]

Go with veladem's advice on this one, my expertise is not CPU heat-sinks.