Need help to choose what to upgrade

[Dunkan77]

Hello guys,

I have been planning another major rig upgrade for a while now after a year and a half I have decided to swap out my aging Thermaltake Commander MS-i for a Phanteks Enthoo Pro but I am only sure about this. I have ordered a Samsung 850 EVO 240gb for my OS drive and steam library which isn't so big so that I breathe a bit of life into my 4 year old system. It has a core i7-2600 and 16GB RAM @1866 MHz working wonders in tandem with my EVGA GTX970 SC ACX 2.0 for which I have ordered a backplate (SSD and the latter arriving on 25/1/16, tomorrow at the time of writing).

 

My problem is that I have planned to watercool the GPU with the Kraken G10 that I already have on hand however I realized that the G10 doesn't cool my VRM's because on the 970's they are on the other side of the GPU and the fan included with the G10 doesn't blow over them nor are they actively cooled like thay are with the ACX cooler. That's why I'm asking you guys for some help: do I buy a 140mm watercooler for my CPU (which was intended for my GPU) or do I keep my CM Hyper212 EVO that, when running quiet lets my CPU temps go up to 70C with the CPU undervolted to 1.13V and @4.2 GHz (yes I OC'ed to the limits of the locked non-K i7). 

 

So? What do I do? I don't really want to watercool my GPU now I have realized the VRM's won't be cooled and there are no fan mounts near the GPU on the Enthoo Pro to cool little dedicated heatsinks I would have bought to deal with this issue... Do I buy a 140mm AIO cooler for my CPU with the money I save for the GPU watercooler or do I keep it because I have a 212 EVO and it's enough? Also, fell free to suggest a high quality, pwm controlled and variable pump speed AIO cooler. It doesn't need to be super thin as the rear 140mm mount on the Enthoo Pro has rails I can slide the rad up or down, allowing for some room for components that Would otherwise have been in the way.
 

Regards

[Minsekt]

id keep the cpu cooler and would not watercool the 970, i dont the see the point. even if you possibly overclock your card that high that you would need to watercool it, your cpu would propably bottleneck it anyways. id save the money for something more usefull. (the 2600 is still a top tier cpu tho, dont get me wrong but there are benchmarks in certain games where a newer gen cpu just does way better with the 970 in comparison at the same clocks)

[Dunkan77]

id keep the cpu cooler and would not watercool the 970, i dont the see the point. even if you possibly overclock your card that high that you would need to watercool it, your cpu would propably bottleneck it anyways. id save the money for something more usefull. (the 2600 is still a top tier cpu tho, dont get me wrong but there are benchmarks in certain games where a newer gen cpu just does way better with the 970 in comparison at the same clocks)

OK thanks for your opinion. I really hope the better airflow in the new case will improve my temps a bit because wight now my card hits 66-72C most of the time but in more demanding games it ca get to 78C at which point my fan curve gets drastically more aggressive and doesn't allow the card to heat up anymore. Right now I have 2 fans serving as exhaust at the top of my case and no intake fans, which I know is not good for keeping dust out.

[Streetguru]

Hello guys,

You're better off just saving that money and throwing it towards a newer GPU this summer.

[Dunkan77]

You're better off just saving that money and throwing it towards a newer GPU this summer.

What? no! The 970 should be enough for many more years unless I make the jump to 1440p and even if I do that, I can just add a second one. I know Pascal will be arriving in summer but I don't stay on the bleeding edge of every generation that will come out. I don't have the money for that.

[Streetguru]

What? no! The 970 should be enough for many more years unless I make the jump to 1440p and even if I do that, I can just add a second one. I know Pascal will be arriving in summer but I don't stay on the bleeding edge of every generation that will come out. I don't have the money for that.

If your GPU is fine performance wise then there's no real need to water cool it, adds unnecessary slight risk to your PC.  it's all probably a pointless endeavor unless there's something seriously wrong with the cooling on your existing card.

I meant more polaris, as nvidia seems to hate freedom, and you'd save money on a free-sync display vs a G-sync display.

If nothing else throw the money towards a CPU upgrade in the summer then, or whenever kaby lake/zen come out

[Dunkan77]

If your GPU is fine performance wise then there's no real need to water cool it, adds unnecessary slight risk to your PC.  it's all probably a pointless endeavor unless there's something seriously wrong with the cooling on your existing card.

I meant more polaris, as nvidia seems to hate freedom, and you'd save money on a free-sync display vs a G-sync display.

If nothing else throw the money towards a CPU upgrade in the summer then, or whenever kaby lake/zen come out

Okay, This makes more sense now.