upgrade from current system or wait?

[Trydar]

so im pondering upgrading from my current system, but I don't know if its worth it just yet.

 

I could use a few opinions from people more in the know about hardware than I am.

 

current system specs:

 

eh, why cant I paste anything, that's just annoying... ok super short, non-detailed spec list then:

 

cpu - i5 2500k 3.3ghz

ram - 8gb ddr3 1600mhz

gpu - gtx 660 ftw 3gb evga

hdd - intel ssd

mb - gigabyte g1.sniper2 z68

psu - 850w corsair

os - win 7 64 home

 

what I do with it:

vegas video editing and rendering for youtube (takes way too long)

fraps / video game recording (I want better render distance and chunk loading speed for minecraft)

mc edit (minecraft map editor, massive memory hog)

occasionally civ5, eve, kerbal space program, wow and sim city. im not a first person shooter guy at all and I don't play any of those games you benchmark for.

and the usual watching youtube, twitch and general internet surfing among other things that are fine like they are.

 

system is 3 years old, I built it before I started doing anything on youtube and in minecraft. it holds up well enough, but the performance is not where I would like it to be and rendering videos takes far too long.

 

I run 2 monitors, 1920x1200 and the other one is my 32" tv. I don't need any new peripherals.

 

my question is, if I built a newer system would the things I do be improved in a significant way or not?

 

my other option was get another 8gb of ram and wait another year. im not really sure where the bottleneck is in my current system tho.

 

ive been looking at pcpartpicker and some of the popular system builder configurators to get an idea of whats current now and I just don't know if its that time or not yet.

 

what I might upgrade to would be something like this:

 

cpu - i7 4790 3.6 ghz

ram - 16gb ddr3 2133 mhz

gpu - gtx 760 or 770

mb - asus something

 

budget would be around 1500 usd.

 

im not settled on anything yet, hense my post here looking for some guidance. =)

[flibberdipper]

I would wait if I were you. That system is still plenty powerful.

[rambi36]

All you really need to upgrade in that system is maybe the graphics card. Get an R9 280X. It will perform miles ahead of that GTX 660

[Megazero]

If your current system dont satisfied you anymore then you may update. There's no real point in waiting if that happen, but if your current system really dont satisfied you any more then yeah, an update might be good.

For upgrade, I'd say something like this for you:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($469.99 @ Micro Center)

Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($114.39 @ Mwave)

Total: $1304.34

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-18 16:05 EDT-0400

Keep your current PSU, HDD and SSD, sell everything else.

[napster007]

If you can stretch your wait till Christmas, you can go with broadwell.

[Trydar]

I generally get a new system every 4ish years anyway, so about this time next year. the only thing that's unsatisfying about my current rig is that I feel it struggle to record games at times, specially minecraft, and the video render times seem rather long.

 

I just wonder if its my hardware or if its fraps+minecraft/random game software that is struggling, and new hardware wouldn't make an obvious difference.

 

btw you can find me on youtube under trydar9k for an example of whats currently the main focus of my rig. no ads on it, don't sub unless you actually want to.

 

im not sure about my cpu either, id love to get some i7 hyperthreading for my video rendering, but I also need a super strong core for minecraft. and I don't know enough about that to know what would be the best choice to balance both.

 

ive pondered moving most of the parts to a new case with a few select upgrades instead too, but since the OS is so tied to the motherboard I feel very limited by that and win 7 is my new xp and I wont change that again for many years.

[brob]

. . .

cpu - i5 2500k 3.3ghz

ram - 8gb ddr3 1600mhz

gpu - gtx 660 ftw 3gb evga

hdd - intel ssd

mb - gigabyte g1.sniper2 z68

psu - 850w corsair

os - win 7 64 home

 

what I do with it:

vegas video editing and rendering for youtube (takes way too long)

fraps / video game recording (I want better render distance and chunk loading speed for minecraft)

mc edit (minecraft map editor, massive memory hog)

occasionally civ5, eve, kerbal space program, wow and sim city. im not a first person shooter guy at all and I don't play any of those games you benchmark for.

and the usual watching youtube, twitch and general internet surfing among other things that are fine like they are.

 

system is 3 years old, I built it before I started doing anything on youtube and in minecraft. it holds up well enough, but the performance is not where I would like it to be and rendering videos takes far too long.

 

I run 2 monitors, 1920x1200 and the other one is my 32" tv. I don't need any new peripherals.

 

my question is, if I built a newer system would the things I do be improved in a significant way or not?

 

my other option was get another 8gb of ram and wait another year. im not really sure where the bottleneck is in my current system tho.

 

ive been looking at pcpartpicker and some of the popular system builder configurators to get an idea of whats current now and I just don't know if its that time or not yet.

 

what I might upgrade to would be something like this:

 

cpu - i7 4790 3.6 ghz

ram - 16gb ddr3 2133 mhz

gpu - gtx 760 or 770

mb - asus something

 

budget would be around 1500 usd.

 

im not settled on anything yet, hense my post here looking for some guidance. =)

 

Get more memory - add 8 GB or even 16 GB.

 

If the rendering software you use can employ the gpu for accelerating the process, upgrade the gpu.

 

You might consider getting a larger ssd if it is < 240 GB.

[JoaoPRSousa]

I think you should only get a R9 280X as suggested and some more RAM, because that CPU still has A LOT of juice to be squized! You can OC it to around 4.5 Ghz, and if you do not have a cooler, you should definitely get one!

Forgot the SSD! Add one as well

Edited June 19, 2014 by JoaoPRSousa

[Trydar]

I have a cooler master v6 gt cpu cooler. im kind of afraid of a water cooler and prefer fans.

 

ill do some research on the r9, I didn't think the gpu was the weak link in my system tho

 

my ssd is 150 gb, it was the biggest one I could afford at the time. have a 2tb data drive also, but I need another one that just handles fraps raw footage.

 

I have vegas pro 12, im not sure if it can use the gpu for rendering or not.

 

I always meant to double the ram but ive been putting that off until the price came down.

 

I couldn't paste in my full spec list cause for some reason ctrl v doesn't work here? and the little paste buttons above don't work either..

[brob]

I have a cooler master v6 gt cpu cooler. im kind of afraid of a water cooler and prefer fans.

 

ill do some research on the r9, I didn't think the gpu was the weak link in my system tho

 

my ssd is 150 gb, it was the biggest one I could afford at the time. have a 2tb data drive also, but I need another one that just handles fraps raw footage.

 

I have vegas pro 12, im not sure if it can use the gpu for rendering or not.

 

I always meant to double the ram but ive been putting that off until the price came down.

 

I couldn't paste in my full spec list cause for some reason ctrl v doesn't work here? and the little paste buttons above don't work either..

 

Sony Vegas Pro has had gpu acceleration since v11, http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/GPU_power_in_Vegas_Pro_11. (Although not without issues using newer gpu.) You should find that your current gpu can be used to speed things up. Try using using the feature before changing hardware.