First build PC is 4 years old, looking for upgrade sugestions

[nickbeef]

First let me start by saying I work as a video editor who does motion graphics, so that is my focus more then gaming.

Here is my current build, it is my first build and is about 4 or 5 years old.

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
CPU: Intel Core i7 950 @3.07GHz
RAM: 12GB Corsair XMS3 3 x 4 GB 1333MHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650Ti Boost
Boot drive: Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
Storage drives: 2x Western Digital Black 1TB HDDs

I'm looking to upgrade when I jump to Windows 10 and I'm looking for some suggestions from you guys. I know enough to have built my own functioning PC, but not really enough to know what makes one RAM better then another. Here are some observations.

So, I use a few resource monitors and for the most part I've noticed that video editing and motion graphics work do not take much advantage of the GPU. Some effects, such as color correction, do utilize the GPU every once in a while, but mostly the heavy lifting seems to be done by the CPU. Probably not interested in upgrading here unless someone makes a very compelling argument.

At 12GB of RAM, I notice that I'm constantly maxing out my available RAM, particularly when I'm running both Premiere and After Effects. I frequently have to shut down programs to make extra room. If nothing else, I intend to upgrade here. The cheapest option would be to buy another stick of the Corsair 4GB XMS3, but for example NewEgg doesn't even sell a single stick at 4GB, so it makes me think this RAM is outdated. Amazon sells it for $33, but has great reviews. Should I go for newer faster RAM? 16GB, 24GB, or more?

I'm pretty happy with my CPU. For 80% of the time everything runs smoothly, but sometimes playback is choppy, and I would be happy if After Effects rendered faster. I wouldn't mind upgrading here after 4-5 years, but the i7 950 seems like it was good for it's time, so I'm not sure if my gains would be that great upgrading now. Then again, like I said it seems like all the heavy lifting is done by my CPU and I see it occasionally getting close to maxing out when I'm rendering. I use a Corsair closed loop water cooler, so I'm not too worried about over heating.

A motherboard is a motherboard to me. Not much excitement for me unless it lets me put in better components. There are a few things here and there like not having a USB 3 internal header, so I could utilize the one on the front of my case. Also, my current motherboard features triple channel
memory, which I'm currently using, but I've since read that there's no real gains in using this over dual channel and current mobo's don't even feature this. Other then that I don't see a reason to upgrade this unless getting a new CPU forces me to.

Any suggestions or tips would be great.

 

[CTurbo]

If you're going to upgrade the RAM at all, I would just get 3x8GB sticks and call it a day. That's around $120. Triple channel does help for your uses. So would overclocking the RAM and cpu. It wouldn't hurt to upgrade the 650ti to something like a 960. If you are using the 1GB 650ti, the 2GB 750ti would be decent upgrade.

If you really want to shell out some money for an overhaul, all you really need is a new cpu, mobo, and RAM, but it wouldn't be cheap to get a new 6 core i7.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($378.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($184.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $753.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-15 22:21 EDT-0400

 

[nickbeef]

Thanks for the info CTurbo.

The 650ti boost actually is 2GB already.

I don't mind buying all new RAM if it's worth it, but for example I could spend $90 and get 3 x 4GB of the same Corsair XMS3's totaling 24GB or RAM for cheaper and filling all 6 lanes on my mobo. How much of a difference is 3 x 8GB vs 6 x 4GB, especially considering I already have 3 x 4GB? Also, how important will going up to DDR4 or a faster speed memory be for me (ie. the DDR4-2400 sticks that you suggested, again I'm concerned solely with video editing/motion graphics?

Lastly, would you consider my Core i7 950 @3.07GHz old or outdated at this point? Am I due for an upgrade?

 

[CTurbo]

The Core i7 950 is about equal to a FX6300. Considering how cpu extensive video editing is, I'd say your i7 is getting a little old. Your motherboard only has two sata III ports too. You KNOW you need more RAM one way or another. 3x8GB will perform identically to 6x4GB.

 

[nickbeef]

what would you say is more important to me, faster RAM or larger RAM?

I think I'm going to go ahead and upgrade my CPU, which means motherboard as well. I'm still suck on weather to buy more of the same RAM that I have and go to 24GB, or jump to newer faster RAM which will probably get me about 16GB for the same price.

Getting a new mobo, I'm assuming means ditching triple channel memory.

 

[CTurbo]

You'd probably better off selling your current cpu/mobo/RAM combo. I would buy new faster RAM with your new platform.

 

[nickbeef]

Awesome, thanks for the advice Turbo.

Granted, your advice has been to just go-ahead and spend more money! Just kidding, I'll be happy with a kick-ass system.

Do people actually buy cpu/mobo/RAM combos? Ebay? Craigslist?

 

[CTurbo]

You may find it easier to sell all 3 parts together, you may not. Try both ways. You could probably get more money selling them separately.

You also don't HAVE to go straight for the X99 platform. An i7 4790k + LGA1150 motherboard would be a huge upgrade over your older i7.

 

[nickbeef]

I've got a several month old copy of Maximum PC that pits 2 nearly identical pc builds against each other, one with the i7-4790K and one with a i7-5820K.

Basically their conclusion seems to be that if you do content creation, go with the 5820K because these applications will take advantage of the 6 cores, and if you do gaming, then the 4790K is a better deal, because games etc. don't utilize more then 4 cores.

Since, I get paid to do this work, I don't mind spending the extra money as long as I will see returns. So, for example, I don't feel that I need the latest greatest GPU, since my applications don't seem to utilize it much.

Also, do you really think I'd need 32GB of RAM?

 

[CTurbo]

Yeah there's no doubt that the 6 core i7 would be better. I was just stating that the 4790k would still be very good for you in case you didn't want to spend so much. Since it is your source of income, it would be wise to just get the 5820k. I doubt 16GB RAM is enough so I would probably go with 32GB. The X99 does support quad channel memory.