Upgrading a 7 year old system!

[cc143]

*************MODS PLEASE TRANSFER TO NEW BUILDS & PLANNING, I WAS IN WRONG SECTION, SORRY FOT THE MISTAKE****************

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xZjJCJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xZjJCJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 2.66Ghz Quad-Core Processor  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus Maximus III Formula ATX LGA1156 Motherboard 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($24.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Corsair Force Series 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($27.80 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($43.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($43.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce 9600 GT 512MB Video Card 
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro M2 850W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply 
Monitor: Samsung 2443BWT-1 24.0" Monitor 
Keyboard: Logitech G15 Wired Standard Keyboard 
Total: $335.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-22 10:31 EDT-0400

 

This is the system I have had since the first generation of Core i5s, Since my laptop died in Christmas, I will have to use it as my main PC for the 2 months I will be spending back home in the Summer. 

 

The workload during that time will include casual use, use of statistical programs (quite light usually) and gaming. 

 

Resolution is 1200p (1920x1200, I couldn't find the actual monitor so I chose one similar, its a 16" 5ms, 60hz panel.) 

Games I play: Crysis series, BF4, Witcher 2,  Dragon Age Inquisition, might get into the Assasins Creed series (the older ones.) 

I would like to (as inexpensively as possible) make it so that it can cope with this workload for the 2 months in question. 

 

I thought about getting an 8 or 16gb kit of DDR3 Ram as its coming down in price a lot and upgrading the GPU to something from this decade. Looking at anandtech's bench repository, I found that the best bet is something like a used 680/670/770, problem is they are as expensive as getting an r9 280. 

 

In short: What GPU would you guys recommend that:  Wont break the bank (say sub £100), will be able to cope in medium to high settings in the games linked, keeping in mind the CPU will definately bottleneck a newer card. 

 

Do you have any other suggestions? 

 

P.S. Keep in mind that temps in Cyprus in the Summer tend to exceed 40C, which is why ?I would prefer an nvidia card since they tend to run cooler. 

 

Thank you in advance. 

[cc143]

4 minutes ago, Megasteel32 said:

For 100 euros (112 us dollars) you could get used cards like the 7950 or r9 280, but for a little more then 100 euros you can nab a gtx 950, a solid choice for your resolution at medium settings

Lets assume budget is £100 (Im in the UK.) but I would prefer to spend less (for the entire upgrade!) Assuming RAM can be had for £30 (for a 16gb kit off ebay), that leaves £70 for a GPU. 

 

I will therefore be looking at the used market, which includes ebay, ceX, gumtree and classifieds. Which is why I believe something like a 7870/7950 would be most probable. My question then is, is it worth it? The card would be like 4 years newer than the rest of the system, what are the used cards that could perform better than an r9 380 or a 950/960? 

 

 

[Sir Asvald]

10 minutes ago, cc143 said:

Lets assume budget is £100 (Im in the UK.) but I would prefer to spend less (for the entire upgrade!) Assuming RAM can be had for £30 (for a 16gb kit off ebay), that leaves £70 for a GPU. 

 

I will therefore be looking at the used market, which includes ebay, ceX, gumtree and classifieds. Which is why I believe something like a 7870/7950 would be most probable. My question then is, is it worth it? The card would be like 4 years newer than the rest of the system, what are the used cards that could perform better than an r9 380 or a 950/960? 

 

 

I would get a new card. An AMD R9 380 would do wonders. Like you said. You need more ram. Just get another 4gb. 16gb is not needed for gaming. Unless you're doing mutlitasking. One thing I forgot to mention. The R9 380 comes with 2GB and 4GB, get the 4GB model. It's costs around £180. 

[cc143]

Just now, Abdul201588 said:

I would get a new card. An AMD R9 380 would do wonders. Like you said. You need more ram. Just get another 4gb. 16gb is not needed for gaming. Unless you're doing mutlitasking. 

Running Statistical Software with 10 pdf's open, 20 tabs in chrome and 3 Word documents, will do wonders to fill your  RAM, trust me;Ρ Getting 16gb also allows me to use the current kit in an old motherboard I have lying around and getting another system up in the house which could help.  If I am going to upgrade, I may as well fill the entire capacity, 8gb and 16 gb kits are not that different in price anyway. 

[Sir Asvald]

2 minutes ago, cc143 said:

Running Statistical Software with 10 pdf's open, 20 tabs in chrome and 3 Word documents, will do wonders to fill your  RAM, trust me;Ρ Getting 16gb also allows me to use the current kit in an old motherboard I have lying around and getting another system up in the house which could help.  If I am going to upgrade, I may as well fill the entire capacity, 8gb and 16 gb kits are not that different in price anyway. 

Oh, then by all means get 16bg ram.  The only problem which you got is your OLD GPU. By the way, what is your budget?

[cc143]

Just now, Abdul201588 said:

Oh, then by all means get 16bg ram.  The only problem which you got is your OLD GPU. By the way, what is your budget?

As low as possible, around £100  say. (I wouldn't mind paying less)

Its just that I am only in Cyprus for a total of 3 months a year, and that gets less as time passes, I don't expect to be there for more than 1 month next year, so I don't see the point in spending too much. 

[Sir Asvald]

1 minute ago, cc143 said:

As low as possible, around £100  say. (I wouldn't mind paying less)

Its just that I am only in Cyprus for a total of 3 months a year, and that gets less as time passes, I don't expect to be there for more than 1 month next year, so I don't see the point in spending too much. 

Okay. Then get your RAM. What about your GPU? 

[cc143]

1 minute ago, Abdul201588 said:

Okay. Then get your RAM. What about your GPU? 

I have no idea, that's what I have you guys for ;Ρ

[Sir Asvald]

1 minute ago, cc143 said:

I have no idea, that's what I have you guys for ;Ρ

Well, ram is £30, leaving you with £70. To be honest £70 won't get you any good GPUs. 

[givegomezthegun]

For the games you listed, I don't think you NEED to get something with the performance of a 380 to achieve medium to high settings.  I mean it seems like you're just looking for a very temporary solution here.. For used cards you could probably get away with 650ti boost, 660, or 760.. They would no doubt be much cheaper than a used 770 or the like.  I don't know what a new 750ti would run you but that's a decent option too.

 

I would definitely add ram tho

[SuperShermanTanker]

Get a 650ti I got a 650ti for $50 (don't know the equivlent in your currency) and it plays most games at medium to high settings

[cc143]

2 hours ago, SuperShermanTanker said:

Get a 650ti I got a 650ti for $50 (don't know the equivlent in your currency) and it plays most games at medium to high settings

I suppose then that additional benefit can be had from purchasing 750ti or 670/680 instead, provided one is easily found. 

[SuperShermanTanker]

7 minutes ago, cc143 said:

I suppose then that additional benefit can be had from purchasing 750ti or 670/680 instead, provided one is easily found. 

You can still buy 750tis brand new from amazon I think and I have been using one in my core i5 gaming desktop for a year now and I'm still able to run star wars battlefront at high settings at 40 fps at 1080p

[cc143]

Just now, Megasteel32 said:

For 70 euros thats about 80 bucks, so not much you can do. Look on ebay for stuff like 6000 and 7000 series cards, or 600 series cards for nvidia.

Its actually 70 GBP, which is more than that really, but prices tend to be more expensive than in the U.S., though not as expensive as Continental EU.

I have been looking through ebay etc, I won't go with an HD6xxx, too old to be worth it, but hd7xxx or gtx6xx series is what I am looking for, unless the price of gtx7xx series cards substantially decreases in the mean time.

 

I am also concerned with purchasing used RAM though, since I will not be able to test it until I get home, my system here is DDR4 (how's that for a 1st world problem).  

 

[cc143]

5 minutes ago, Megasteel32 said:

Can you not bring your system with you?

nah too much of a fuss for 2 months, (I need a piece of luggage just for the PC, that's £50 both ways so may as well upgrade!)

 

 + I will be going back for Christmas next year for 10 days and then it surely won't be worth it, I just can't rely on my surface alone for 2 months. 

 

I do have an HD5870 that used to be in my system back in the day, but it has an EK WB on it, is it worth it rebuilding a loop (It has been sitting on a desk for years though.)

[SuperShermanTanker]

13 minutes ago, cc143 said:

nah too much of a fuss for 2 months, (I need a piece of luggage just for the PC, that's £50 both ways so may as well upgrade!)

 

 + I will be going back for Christmas next year for 10 days and then it surely won't be worth it, I just can't rely on my surface alone for 2 months. 

 

I do have an HD5870 that used to be in my system back in the day, but it has an EK WB on it, is it worth it rebuilding a loop (It has been sitting on a desk for years though.)

just buy a compatible air cooler for the HD5870 and mount it on it

[cc143]

Just now, SuperShermanTanker said:

just buy a compatible air cooler for the HD5870 and mount it on it

I looked for one over Christmas but couldn't find anything for it, and I could find no faulty cards in ebay and working cards cost a ton (Thanks apple!) 

[cc143]

Just now, Megasteel32 said:

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=CdxndcIEaV6-6E8HMmASYvqGQCIn1u7AH2bbRvMcB6ejZt4YFCAkQBCDDkeQeKAhgyb65h-CjtBDIAQeqBCdP0PKoOKGbq1VRDaLU5mmJoG9FitayazmJu7zpjgud5v2HFNKOrEbABQWgBibYBgSAB9uAjhWIBwGQBwKoB6a-G9gHAeASvL_CuMyy8vcb&sig=AOD64_3YCpmtKz3rXC3L2HQogNwugU0V3g&ctype=5&clui=7&q=&ved=0ahUKEwic5M2Mg6PMAhWJPD4KHar5CoUQ2CkIyQEwAw&adurl=http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-117182-37290-0/2%3Fmtid%3D1588%26kwid%3D1%26crlp%3D53601919689_324272%26itemid%3D252337240793%26targetid%3D173526119529%26rpc%3D0.09%26rpc_upld_id%3D67622%26device%3Dt%26mpre%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fulk%252Fitm%252Flike%252F252337240793%253Flpid%253D82%2526chn%253Dps%26adtype%3Dpla%26googleloc%3D9010956%26poi%3D%26campaignid%3D239125209%26adgroupid%3D14978428809%26rlsatarget%3Daud-155209502889:pla-173526119529

 

 

Why would you buy a $110 a/m cooler for a 6 year old GPU (incl shipping) ? You may as well get a new one. ;Ρ 

[cc143]

7 minutes ago, Megasteel32 said:

 Didnt see shipping. How big your case? If ur really sneaky you could get a large backback and stuff all ur clothes and stuff in it, and your carry on/checked thing is the computer.

I could strap 2 pieces of rope on the H440 and carry in on, or add wheels and a handle... (Kidding!) 

I don't know if its because I've been studying for the past 4 hours but this got quite the laugh off me;Ρ 

 

Back to point then, CeX tends to have older cards in stock, and unlike the Ram I can test the card here, 7870XT is at £75 and I think its the best at that price range I can find...is it worth it VS a 750ti? 

 

(I know about new stuff and old stuff, I have a knowledge gap between 2010-2015;Ρ) 

[SuperShermanTanker]

2 hours ago, cc143 said:

I could strap 2 pieces of rope on the H440 and carry in on, or add wheels and a handle... (Kidding!) 

I don't know if its because I've been studying for the past 4 hours but this got quite the laugh off me;Ρ 

 

Back to point then, CeX tends to have older cards in stock, and unlike the Ram I can test the card here, 7870XT is at £75 and I think its the best at that price range I can find...is it worth it VS a 750ti? 

 

(I know about new stuff and old stuff, I have a knowledge gap between 2010-2015;Ρ) 

The 750 ti is a decent card able to run today's games at medium to high settings it will do fine with all the current stuff that's out