System upgrade question (i3-2120 based; considering GTX 970, SSD)

[shauncg]

Hi all,

Hopefully it is okay that my first post here is a question about upgrades I'm considering making to my current primary PC!

Here's my current setup:

Mobo: ASRock P67 Pro (socket H2)
CPU: Core i3-2120 (3.30GHz)
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 (2gb version)
RAM: 8gb DDR3 SRAM (Kingston)
HDs: Western Digital 500gb drive w/ 16mb cache (WDC WD5000AAKS-00UU3A0) + Samsung 1tb drive w/ 32mb cache (SAMSUNG HD103UJ)
PSU: CIT Dual Rail 600W Fully Wired Efficient Power Supply (my previous PSU blew earlier in the year and at the time I went for a low-cost replacement)
Cooling: bog standard fans
Case: I forget the exact model but IIRC it's a fairly cheap Antec case, oriented toward performance rather than quietness, and I must have bought it about 3-4 years ago

I use this PC for work (largely nothing too resource intensive), gaming and mucking about in software like Unity.

I'd quite like to build an entirely new system up from scratch but, as always, my bank balance dictates otherwise.

What I'm considering doing instead is replacing the Radeon HD 6850 with a GeForce GTX 970, and replacing the hard drives with a 250gb SSD and a 2tb HDD (I forget the exact models but if any of you are Custom PC readers then you can see them listed in the current recommended hardware section).

The 970 may seem like overkill but my hope is that within the next year I can replace the mobo and CPU with something more modern and meaty, without having to choose a weaker GPU in the here-and-now. At that time I'd also hope to get a new case, replace those cheap fans with a water cooled system, maybe upgrade to 2x 8gb sticks of RAM, etc.

Anyway, my questions concerning upgrades are:

(1) Am I likely to see any significant throttling with the GTX 970 given my existing CPU? (A search of older posts on the forum suggests that my CPU is not great on the multithreading front...)

(2) Do you concur that a new GPU and an SSD are the best ways to beef up my system?

P.S. I'm also looking to replace my monitors (currently an old 1440 x 900 TFT and an LG LCD TV at 1680 x 1050) as the TFT is old and small whilst the LCD TV, er, can only output at that one resolution (predictably it is a nightmare for gaming). I've not really looked into good options here so any recommendations are appreciated (size I'm looking mid-20s, cost £100-150 - there are apparently decent Viewsonics that fit the bill), though I'd most like to hear opinions on the GPU and hard drive question.

Thanks for reading this far!

 

[tiny voices]

You need to replace the PSU ASAP with a quality unit to avoid frying the entire machine.

In SOME games you will have a SMALL bottleneck. It will will be a HUGE improvement over what you have now.

An SSD will make boot and load times faster, but no increase of FPS in game.

 

[shauncg]

@tiny voices

Thanks for the quick reply! Good to know that a bottleneck won't be a significant issue (I'm fine with a small hit in the short term).

Is the PSU I'm using a known troublemaker? The reviews I read indicated that although it was not exactly great (no surprise for the price) it was reliable enough. The PSU it replaced was an EZ Cool piece of junk sold to me by a local shop - it was only after it died that I discovered it had a reputation. I guess I was lucky as it performed just fine in my system for two years.

In any case, I'll push replacing the PSU up my priority list. Thanks for the warning.

 

[tiny voices]

That PSU is quite low quality. the PSU is the single most important part of a PC.

Get a PSU from antec, XFX, seasonic in there before anything else. You got VERY lucky that your other PSU did not damage the computer when it died.