Looking to upgrade - What needs upgrading?

[patrick90lm]

Hey guys,

My current build is the following:

Intel i5 2500k (2nd gen)
ASUS P8P67 LE R3
Palit GeForce 560ti 1GB
4gb Hyper-X Kingston Ram
Corsair 750w Modular PSU (need to confirm W)


Recently i've tried some of the newer games Hitman Absolutions, Theif and TitanFall and others but with these games im noticing i can no longer comfortably run even in medium graphics.

A friend of mine has said that my GFX card needs upgrading and my so does my RAM - i have been meaning to upgrade to 8gb of ram for some time.

What i really need to know is the following:

Is my CPU still decent; as i i understand we are into the 4th generation of Intel "i" cores and mine is as econd; is the pefromance difference worth the £££ it would cost me.

Should i upgrade my GFX card and if so; what do - my knowledge of GFX cards and their standards has never been anything special.

Another friend also commented that my motherboard isn't that great; i'll be perfectly honest that unelss i was paying a ridiculous amount for a new mobo there wouldnt be much difference- is there much truth in that?

Thanks in advance.

Patrick

Edit: Prefer not to spend an obscene amount on upgrading i have priced up an extra 4gb of RAM at around £50 max (2 x 2gb sticks).

GFX Cards i know are pretty steep but would prefer to stay clear of anything over £300

 

[markwp]

I'd start with the ram first. You still have a solid machine, and the 560ti is still a great card. Rather than getting an additional 2x2 set of ram, I'd bite the bullet and get a pair of 4gb 1866 modules to start. Install that and run some good benchmarks and try out the gaming again. If you're still not satisfied, look at the GTX 760 if you want to stick with Nvidia, or (if you can find them at a good price) the Radeon 280 or 280x.

The 1gb of memory on your card may be holding you back some, but before dropping $$ on a new card, try the new ram first.

Mark

 

[jeremyp79]

Your cpu is great, I would grab an 8 gig kit of ram, unless you can find another 4g stick that matches yours exactly. As for the gpu. the 560ti is middle endish card, I would grab a gtx 770 or even 780, if you can afford it. You should be able to get a 770 and an 8g ram kit for around 400 bucks, assuming youre in the US

 

[jeremyp79]

Just read your post again, obviously you arent in us, for a 300 pound gfx card, the gtx 770 would be a great one. Do you have a particular website that you like to use for your parts? Give me an idea, and I'll do some looking and find something that will help

 

[patrick90lm]

I'd start with the ram first. You still have a solid machine, and the 560ti is still a great card. Rather than getting an additional 2x2 set of ram, I'd bite the bullet and get a pair of 4gb 1866 modules to start. Install that and run some good benchmarks and try out the gaming again. If you're still not satisfied, look at the GTX 760 if you want to stick with Nvidia, or (if you can find them at a good price) the Radeon 280 or 280x.

The 1gb of memory on your card may be holding you back some, but before dropping $$ on a new card, try the new ram first.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Could you advise why getting that would be better than 2x2gb.

Just read your post again, obviously you arent in us, for a 300 pound gfx card, the gtx 770 would be a great one. Do you have a particular website that you like to use for your parts? Give me an idea, and I'll do some looking and find something that will help

Hi jeremy thanks for the reply

This is my local store: http://web-systems.co.uk

or if its cheaper/better www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[jeremyp79]

http://web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7582, great card would be a BIG perfomance increase from the gtx 560ti. http://web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7567 8 gig 1600 ram kit,together its 329, including VAT.

 

[jeremyp79]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-202-MS, gtx 770 here for a bit cheaper, but the ram at overclockers is a bit more expensive.

 

[patrick90lm]

http://web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7582, great card would be a BIG perfomance increase from the gtx 560ti. http://web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7567 8 gig 1600 ram kit,together its 329, including VAT.

Cheaper than i thought; would the same PSU powering my current card me sufficient?

 

[markwp]

My opinion:

Since you already have a pair of 2x2, in order to get the best performance you would need to get a matching set of 2x2. If you don't get your ram in matching sets to start (a 4x2 kit will be matched by the manufacturer), you will be hard pressed to ever find a true match. IMO, while it may work ok to just get another set of 2x2, chances are there will be some inconsistencies. Also, if you plan to o/c the cpu or ram, unmatched ram makes it difficult. The more sticks of ram you ask the memory controller to handle, the more difficult it is.

At the end of the day, the difference between 4x2 or 2x4 probably won't amount to a hill of beans difference, but if it were me, I'd give myself every opportunity to lessen the chances of potential issues in the future.

JMO,

Mark

 

[jeremyp79]

http://web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7582, great card would be a BIG perfomance increase from the gtx 560ti. http://web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=7567 8 gig 1600 ram kit,together its 329, including VAT.

Cheaper than i thought; would the same PSU powering my current card me sufficient?

Yeah, a corsair 750w would be fine for those parts, would even be enough for a second video card most likely.

 

[cheapo gamer]

part picker and find the cheapest parts yourself as prices can change when we look at them compared to when you will actually buy em , i agree with the rest a 770 and an 8gb(2x4gb) stick set and while you are upgrading i recommend an ssd for your operating system if you havent already, http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/search/?cc=uk&q=770

cheapest ram i can find so far http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-HyperX-1600MHz-Modules/dp/B0037TO5C0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394459052&sr=8-2&keywords=ddr3+8gb

 

[sora]

I'd upgrade the RAM and than upgrade the GPU.