New Rig or Just Upgrade GPU?

[Guest]

Hey everyone

 

Got a question for you and I'm not sure if I've put it in the right place so apologies in advance if I haven't. I have a rig I built about 4 years ago now:

 

i7-2600k w Corsair H100 cooler. Sits fairly happily at 4.5Ghz.

Asus P8P67-Pro with a fried onboard NIC

GTX580

12GB G.Skill DDR3 1333

128GB SSD

1TB HDD

875w Thermaltake XT power supply.

 

I'm pretty excited for the Oculus Rift, for which recommended specs were just released:

i5-4590

R9 290 or GTX 970 (or better)

 

I'll be looking at upgrading to suit it at the beginning of next year when there will either be better performing parts available, or parts that meet the recommended spec at a lower price. My intention is to start putting money aside now.

My question is, if everything on my rig still works when the rift comes out, should I be planning to junk the entire thing, or just give it a really good clean and replace the graphics card?

 

The obvious performance drawbacks are:

• The lack of PCIE3.0, does this constrain the performance of a card in the class of the GTX 970 at all?
• The older architecture of my CPU compared to the 4590. Does my modest overlock compensate for this?
• My now 3 year old H100 - do these things have a lifespan?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[DarkBlade2117]

Clean it up and get a 290x or GTX 980 SuperCloked ACX 2.0 by EVGA, plus im pretty positive a 2600k is just as good as a 4590, and since its overclocked you are good. So yeah new GPU.

Edited May 17, 2015 by DarkBlade2117

[CoolaxGaming]

The 2500k should be faster tahn the 4590 but I maybe wrong...

Also, your build is fine, just get a 290x

[Tagiau]

The specific on the 4690 is never right. A 2600k can still easily be better than a 4690. There isn't much difference, well no difference that you will be able to notice, between pcie 2.0 and 3.0. Pcie 2.0 will not in any way bottleneck a 970/290 unless you are still on lga 775. For the cpu cooler, if it still works and has no issues. No need to replace it. I still would because it could possibly leak. 

[TheSLSAMG]

The lack of PCIe 3.0 won't do anything bad to GPU performance, so a GTX 970 is a well suited match to the Rift and the 2700K. But will it really only sit at 4.5? That seems really low, considering my 2500K did 5GHz comfortably and 5.3 with a bit more voltage than comfortable.

[Guest]

The lack of PCIe 3.0 won't do anything bad to GPU performance, so a GTX 970 is a well suited match to the Rift and the 2700K. But will it really only sit at 4.5? That seems really low, considering my 2500K did 5GHz comfortably and 5.3 with a bit more voltage than comfortable.

 

I could potentially push it a bit higher but where I live in the summer we get ambient room temps of >40degrees celsius (>104 fahrenheit). I'd be a bit concerned about temps and component lifespan, especially since its old, gets dusty quickly and has been on 4.5 for about 3 years.

[Vek1313]

I'd recommend new Mobo and then a 290x.

[SageC]

CPU should be fine I'd just go for a new GPU.

[Br3tt96]

New GPU >

[MantasFX]

Yup, new GPU. Keep the platform at least until DDR4 becomes mainstream, then upgrade to Skylake or later architecture.