Upgrading computer, some tips from more experienced builders?

[luukasa]

Hello everyone who happens to stumble on to this thread.

 

So I've been planning to upgrade my first ever build a little bit.

The PC I have right now is about 3-4 years old at the moment and the specs go like this:

 

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T ~2.8Ghz

2 x 4 GB of 1600mhz DDR3

AMD Radeon HD 6950 2gb

ASUS M5A78LE (mobo)

XFX PRO650W power supply

And 1tb hard drive, i dont remember what it is.

 

The parts that I was thinking of buying and replacing to this setup are:

 

I7-4790K

Asus Strix GTX 970

Some or gigabyte z97. Maybe the Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 (not sure about this yet).

 

So my main questions are:

Should also update my ram? Should i make it 16gb and maybe faster than 1600mhz if possible?

And is the power supply going to be okay. It should be a perfectly good power supply but taking into account that its 3-4 years old now and knowing if the power supply breaks it could break other parts. Should i get a new power supply?

And also suggestions on the motherboard would be highly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance for answers. 

[slifer]

Your PSU and ram should be fine. But ram will depend on what you do. Check how much you are using max? and if you're constantly using all 8gb maybe its time for an upgrade

[ImBleu]

Both your Powersupply and Ram can be recycled in this build - so can your storage. As for the motherboard, you could go a bit lower-end with something like the MSI Z97 Krait or one of the cheaper Z97 boards from Asus like the Z97-A/-B/-C/-AR to save a few dollars there.

 

Good looking build, but if its strictly for gaming you might want to consider dropping to a i5-4690k and trying to go SLI GTX970s or a single GTX980.

 

@luukasa follow your threads

[luukasa]

Your PSU and ram should be fine. But ram will depend on what you do. Check how much you are using max? and if you're constantly using all 8gb maybe its time for an upgrade

Thanks for the help. I'll have to check how much I am using ram while playing a few games, but at the moment I don't really play very demanding games, only cs go on the lowest settings to get the highest possible fps. If i build this new rig I'll be playing games like GTA V, hopefully on high settings. So I'm guessing these don't really compare?

[luukasa]

Both your Powersupply and Ram can be recycled in this build - so can your storage. As for the motherboard, you could go a bit lower-end with something like the MSI Z97 Krait or one of the cheaper Z97 boards from Asus like the Z97-A/-B/-C/-AR to save a few dollars there.

 

Good looking build, but if its strictly for gaming you might want to consider dropping to a i5-4690k and trying to go SLI GTX970s or a single GTX980.

 

@luukasa follow your threads

 

Good stuff, thanks for your input. The idea that I had here though was that I'd buy pretty much the best CPU that I can get for 350-400 euros and get a nice graphics card like the GTX 970. And if I later on feel like I need more power in the graphics card department, I could possible add in another 970. What do you think? 

But I don't know, do you think there would be some bottlenecking going on? I've heard cs:go is much more processor based. What about for example GTA V? Would it prefer the 4690k and a gtx 980 or what I originally thought?

And yeah about the mobo I was kind of unsure if I needed one that expensive, so ill definitely be checking out that MSI one that you recommended.

[ImBleu]

Good stuff, thanks for your input. The idea that I had here though was that I'd buy pretty much the best CPU that I can get for 350-400 euros and get a nice graphics card like the GTX 970. And if I later on feel like I need more power in the graphics card department, I could possible add in another 970. What do you think? 

And yeah about the mobo I was kind of unsure if I needed one that expensive, so ill definitely be checking out that MSI one that you recommended.

 

No worries mate And That is a pretty decent idea, but to be honest in every single game you can find right now, the difference between an i7-4790k & i5-4690k is no more than 1-2fps. The Z97 Krait is a good motherboard, so are the Asus Z97-A (etc) Motherboards.

 

 

If you look at this chart, the difference between 4 Cores (i5-4690k) and 4 Cores HyperThread (i7-4790k) is actually only 1fps (but this is margin of error). The CPU is a bit of a waste for Gaming only.

[VolkA]

Good stuff, thanks for your input. The idea that I had here though was that I'd buy pretty much the best CPU that I can get for 350-400 euros and get a nice graphics card like the GTX 970. And if I later on feel like I need more power in the graphics card department, I could possible add in another 970. What do you think? 

And yeah about the mobo I was kind of unsure if I needed one that expensive, so ill definitely be checking out that MSI one that you recommended.

If I'm not wrong, in the recent video LTT made was for the GTA V PC benchmark (or something like that). The result was that 4 core CPU perform better (just 1 fps thou) than the 4 core with HT. the 4690K is 4 core and 4790K would be 4 core with HT. 

 

Anyway, it's mainly up to you on the CPU choice. If you have the budget, why not? If you don't have the budget or wanna save some money due to whatever reason(s). Then maybe you can consider getting the 4690K instead of the 4790K as it will performs better when it comes to gaming.

[slifer]

Thanks for the help. I'll have to check how much I am using ram while playing a few games, but at the moment I don't really play very demanding games, only cs go on the lowest settings to get the highest possible fps. If i build this new rig I'll be playing games like GTA V, hopefully on high settings. So I'm guessing these don't really compare?

I'm using an HD6850 and can play CSGO at max settings.. and get around 90+ fps that should be more than enough

[luukasa]

No worries mate And That is a pretty decent idea, but to be honest in every single game you can find right now, the difference between an i7-4790k & i5-4690k is no more than 1-2fps. The Z97 Krait is a good motherboard, so are the Asus Z97-A (etc) Motherboards.

 

 

If you look at this chart, the difference between 4 Cores (i5-4690k) and 4 Cores HyperThread (i7-4790k) is actually only 1fps (but this is margin of error). The CPU is a bit of a waste for Gaming only.

 

If I'm not wrong, in the recent video LTT made was for the GTA V PC benchmark (or something like that). The result was that 4 core CPU perform better (just 1 fps thou) than the 4 core with HT. the 4690K is 4 core and 4790K would be 4 core with HT. 

 

Anyway, it's mainly up to you on the CPU choice. If you have the budget, why not? If you don't have the budget or wanna save some money due to whatever reason(s). Then maybe you can consider getting the 4690K instead of the 4790K as it will performs better when it comes to gaming.

 

Damn, you guys are really making me reconsider my choices . I'm starting to side a little bit more on "downgrading" the cpu and getting a 980 straight away. I'll have to do some research on prices though. Thanks for the good info both of you.

 

I'm using an HD6850 and can play CSGO at max settings.. and get around 90+ fps that should be more than enough

 

I'm getting a steady 130 fps. But i'd like to get it a bit higher. Most of the pro gamers have 300+ fps. And at the same time ill have to upgrade my monitor since its only 60hz right now.

[slifer]

Damn, you guys are really making me reconsider my choices . I'm starting to side a little bit more on "downgrading" the cpu and getting a 980 straight away. I'll have to do some research on prices though. Thanks for the good info both of you.

I'm getting a steady 130 fps. But i'd like to get it a bit higher. Most of the pro gamers have 300+ fps. And at the same time ill have to upgrade my monitor since its only 60hz right now.

Their suggestions make sense. But 300+ fps wont make a difference if your monitor is only 60hz

[VolkA]

Well. Personally for me, I would rather "downgrade" the CPU to 4690K, maintain the GTX 970 you have choose and then upgrade the RAM to 16GB or get a SSD. Basically if you are just gaming on it, really no point spending extra on things that performs the same. 

[luukasa]

Their suggestions make sense. But 300+ fps wont make a difference if your monitor is only 60hz

I am going to upgrade that once I can afford it, but upgrading the computer is number one on the list right now.

 

I'm looking at the prices of GTX 980's right now and there is a 40 euro difference in the ASUS and MSI one.

Is the MSI one reliable? I've usually sided with ASUS on gpu's.

[luukasa]

Just checked some benchmarks between these two processors. Definitely changed my mind about the 4790k. Really seems like the difference in all games is very minimal. Going to get the 4690k. But now I really want to try and get the gtx 980 right away, and I'm wondering if the MSI one is reliable? The clocks are a bit higher but its 40 euros cheaper than the ASUS.