Upgrading a Prebuilt System to Awesome

[jbs325]

Hello Friends!

This is my first post to this forum.  I love the youtube videos, and I have a project on my hands, so I though it prudent to talk to the experts (you).

I bought a prebuilt HP gaming PC in 2011.  I spec'd it as high as I could, but the graphics card was terrible, so I upgraded to a MSI gtx 570.  It has served me well for years, but it is time to upgrade!!!!!

 

My budget is $1,000.

 

Current specs:

Lame motherboard (some HP piece of crap that must go) - must replace

Lame case (again HP) - must replace

gtx 570 - replace

Intel i7 970 - want to keep

12 gigs ddr3 ram - want to keep

500 powersupply - not sure

I like my monitors and keyboard/mouse - want to keep

 

Everything else I plan to replace such as hard drives (ssd yay!) and optical drives.

 

My main issue is that I would like to keep the intel i7 970.  This is because I look at brand new processors, and they are not THAT much faster.  Plus as a gamer I think the processor I have will suffice, as long as I have a beefy graphics card.  So I have to find a good motherboard that is reasonable and has the following:

• X58 Chipset
• DDR3
• Sata3
• Plenty of room for beefy graphics cards
• Will last a while (they are probably already 4+ years old)

Right now I am looking at ASUS Sabertooth x58 and ASUS P6X58D motherboards.  I can get either on e-bay for <$300.  It would cost $500+ for a modern motherboard and CPU.  I feel like these are relevant savings (plus a fun project I hope you will help me with).  I am OK with taking the risk of used parts on ebay.  If I cannot get a refund for a DOA component, I will chalk it up to a lesson learned.

 

So.  What do you think?  Upgrade?  Buy all new?  Are there options that I have not looked at?  Do you have any insight into this upgrade at all?

 

All input is appreciated.

 

Best regards,

 

Josh 

 

[nskceaj]

I would buy all new. Just cause i look at things like upgrading PC likes this: "Hey my GPU needs an Upgrade cuz my Build is old as fuck ! But i only have a *put random number here* Budget." Like what happens when you choose to keep your CPU but Upgrade everything else and your CPU decides to die a Month later ? Your Money is gone from putting it all in 2-3 Parts and you cant buy a new CPU. I hope my English was good enough for you to understand what i mean

[JoePro87]

5 minutes ago, nskceaj said:

I would buy all new. Just cause i look at things like upgrading PC likes this: "Hey my GPU needs an Upgrade cuz my Build is old as fuck ! But i only have a *put random number here* Budget." Like what happens when you choose to keep your CPU but Upgrade everything else and your CPU decides to die a Month later ? Your Money is gone from putting it all in 2-3 Parts and you cant buy a new CPU. I hope my English was good enough for you to understand what i mean

Another thing I'd like to add on top of that, when you keep certain old parts, they can quickly bottleneck your newer parts. Now, I don't know much about the i7 970, but going off their naming scheme alone, it's old as fuck. I'd personally recommend spending ~$300 on a GPU (Might I suggest the Sapphire R9 390? It's one of the best in price/performance in that price range), maybe upgrade to...even a 4th gen i7? And, spend ~$200 on a nice PSU that can handle it all. I personally spent 200 on the Corsair RM850i, and I don't regret it at all. Fully modular, plenty powerful for what you'll want, and tasty! (okay...maybe not tasty...I wouldn't know)

[jbs325]

I am still considering building all new, but I do not like the numbers.  A great modern gaming CPU is the Intel I5-6600K, which features 3.5 GHz.  My current CPU is 3.2.  The new I5 is around $250, and that is what I would spend on just a new motherboard.  

Maybe and I am nerding hard for like $200, which honestly won't break the bank for me, but I would enjoy the project and experience.

 

Basically I expect NO bottleneck from my current CPU on a modern build.  I could be wrong and would love to be corrected though.

 

Any thoughts?

[Tech Deals]

4 hours ago, jbs325 said:

I am still considering building all new, but I do not like the numbers.  A great modern gaming CPU is the Intel I5-6600K, which features 3.5 GHz.  My current CPU is 3.2.  The new I5 is around $250, and that is what I would spend on just a new motherboard.  

Maybe and I am nerding hard for like $200, which honestly won't break the bank for me, but I would enjoy the project and experience.

 

Basically I expect NO bottleneck from my current CPU on a modern build.  I could be wrong and would love to be corrected though.

 

Any thoughts?

Clock speed isn't everything, the i5-6600k will be, at stock speeds, about 40% faster in raw compute power over your chip.  Now will that matter to you?  Depends on what you're doing.  Playing Counter Strike?  Not at all.  Playing Grand Theft Auto V?  Yes it will.

 

Consider that the new chips overclock REALLY well, the i5-6600k has a decent chance of hitting 4.5GHz without much fuss in an overclock.  Put a Corsair H60 water cooler on it, buy a motherboard such as the ASUS Z170-A, press the "auto overclock" button to let it do its thing, and you may well get a "free" gigaherz out of it rock steady.  Or not, each chip is different.

 

Or save money, the i5-6500 combined with a H170 board is a screaming bargain for $300 total.  (don't spend more than that)  It may SEEM like not much of an upgrade, but it really is in many ways.  The H170 chipset has much faster memory links, DMI, etc. over the old X58 chipset, it uses new DDR4 (get 3000 MHz if you can, Corsair Vengence 16GB is $80 for that speed)