What should I upgrade next?

[RhysMusique]

So here are my specs currently...

 

Possible things to upgrade:

i5-3570K @ 3.4GHz (stock) + ASUS P8Z77-V LX

GTX 760 @ stock

New monitor to match my 2x AOC i2367FH to get a 3 screen setup

SSD to complement my 1TB HDD

 

Things I dont need to upgrade:

8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM

Corsair RM850 PSU

Corsair 760T Case

 

Thanks

[SnowGhost1212]

I'd upgrade your GPU, followed by the new monitor (if you think it'll be useful), followed by the cpu.

[flibberdipper]

SSD. That will give your system a real kick in the ass. Half of the time, the Windows 8 loading screen (one with the Windows logo and spinning circle) doesn't even get a chance to show up.

[s3ns3]

the cpu doesn`t need an upgrade. not even in the near future

upgrade the GPU

and get SSD

[Lotus]

Get an aftermarket cooler and OC that CPU. You're wasting money on a K series CPU and Z chipset MoBo if you don't OC. Other than that, there's no easy part to upgrade as it looks like you already upgraded your GPU fairly recently and that's the worst part of your system.

[RhysMusique]

I'd upgrade your GPU, followed by the new monitor (if you think it'll be useful), followed by the cpu.

I was thinking of a GTX 970 when I get the money, but i'd love to get an Nvidia Shield Tablet first... hmm

[RhysMusique]

Get an aftermarket cooler and OC that CPU. You're wasting money on a K series CPU and Z chipset MoBo if you don't OC. Other than that, there's no easy part to upgrade as it looks like you already upgraded your GPU fairly recently and that's the worst part of your system.

Well i built this system a year ago, i've got a TX3 Evo cooler but tbh i dont trust it for an overclock... it just looks nicer than a stock cooler and i got it for free... I was thinking of a Corsair H105 to cool my CPU, and to take it up to around 4.5GHz...

[SnowGhost1212]

I was thinking of a GTX 970 when I get the money, but i'd love to get an Nvidia Shield Tablet first... hmm

 

The 970 first would be better imo, as your experience with the shield will be better with that gpu, but in the end its your cash.

[Lotus]

Well i built this system a year ago, i've got a TX3 Evo cooler but tbh i dont trust it for an overclock... it just looks nicer than a stock cooler and i got it for free... I was thinking of a Corsair H105 to cool my CPU, and to take it up to around 4.5GHz...

There's no "trust" involved in an overclock. You check temps and stability as you go. Overclock, or you're throwing about $100 down the drain on parts with features you're not using.

[RhysMusique]

There's no "trust" involved in an overclock. You check temps and stability as you go. Overclock, or you're throwing about $100 down the drain on parts with features you're not using.

My cooler's a piece of crap at stock is what i'm saying. Of course i'm gonna overclock but i just havent had the money to buy a better cooler, and I was weighing up my options to give me an all round better experience on my PC.

[Lotus]

Do you know what temps your CPU currently runs at under load? That cooler may be worse than the 212 Evo, but if it's better than the stock (which AFAIK it is) you can still overclock pretty far and get a huge CPU performance boost for no cost, and can then freely dedicate your cash to the GPU.

 

As it sits, you're throwing money away on features you're not using.

[RhysMusique]

Do you know what temps your CPU currently runs at under load? That cooler may be worse than the 212 Evo, but if it's better than the stock (which AFAIK it is) you can still overclock pretty far and get a huge CPU performance boost for no cost, and can then freely dedicate your cash to the GPU.

 

As it sits, you're throwing money away on features you're not using.

Under normal gaming load, around 45C, then on a prime95 run around 60C

[Lotus]

You have plenty of room to OC then. You can probably turn up the CPU multiplier a lot without even increasing voltage, and then you can turn up voltage and keep going. 60°C is pretty cool. You can go all the way up to 80 comfortably. Just make sure you're following a good overclocking guide. Do that, and you'll basically be getting a free (well, you paid for it originally) CPU upgrade and so can buy a GPU and have the best of both worlds.

 

Edit: Also, be wary of running Prime95 if you haven't properly turned off all power saving features and adaptive voltage etc. It tends to put such a strain on the CPU that the motherboard, if allowed, will put in more voltage artifically raising the temps. Only use Prime95 if you've set everything correctly already (all power saving off, adaptive voltage off, manually fixed voltage ON, etc), otherwise stick to newer stress testing tools.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Lotus

[RhysMusique]

You have plenty of room to OC then. You can probably turn up the CPU multiplier a lot without even increasing voltage, and then you can turn up voltage and keep going. 60°C is pretty cool. You can go all the way up to 80 comfortably. Just make sure you're following a good overclocking guide. Do that, and you'll basically be getting a free (well, you paid for it originally) CPU upgrade and so can buy a GPU and have the best of both worlds.

Okay I've just never been confident overclocking because I didn't think that my cooler could handle it... I'll try some small tweaks soon and see what i can get out of it, upgrade my gpu, then with time, buy a closed loop water cooler for my cpu and go crazy with my overclock.

[Lotus]

Honestly, there's huge diminishing returns on cooling. Heat increases with the square of the voltage, so going from 1.0 to 1.2 (not realistic), it's not a 20% increase in heat, but a 44% increase in heat. A large tower cooler like the 212 Evo is usually sufficient on an i5 K-series CPU to hit a very high overclock. I usually don't recommend spending $100 on a cooler unless you have a monster CPU like an i7-5820 with it's 6 cores and hyper threading. Until that point, a standard tower cooler will do you fine. Honestly, just keep your CM TX3 as it is and see how far you can go, and then decide later. The TX3 is still a huge jump better than the stock intel cooler, which doesn't even have heat pipes. Spend your money on the GPU and don't worry about marginal improvements on your CPU cooling. It looks like you already have enough headroom to overclock a good deal.