Upgrade or New Rig?

[Ghostchanter]

Right guys and girls been hearing a lot about this community and how helpful it is - so time to join it and put it to the test!
 
Back in my youth I used to be up to date with allll the goings on about GFX and CPU's and what was hot and what was not - however I am very busy these days and it seems my knowledge is lacking and I find myself lost in a sea of components and unable to fathom what actually will give me the best bang for my buck.
 
My current build is currently a bought PC which I have semi-updated here and there, some for necessity and others because well...the ram is REALLY shiny what can I say. Currently my specs are as follows: (dxdiag linked for anyone wanting greater info): DxDiag.txt
- i5 3570K - stock cooler
- cheap motherboard I forget the name of, but it was bog standard and basic - obviously with the socket of the i5
- GTX 660 Ti
- 2 x 4GB (9-10-9-27)corsair platinum ram
- 1TB of bog standard hard drive

- 150GB SSD - which currently is either corrupted or completely broken (thank you windows 8)

- all of this is housed in a NZXT Orange Phantom 410 (mid tower) with basic stock fans
- I currently run 1 24inch 1080p monitor, have a second 23inch 1080p one ready - and after the rig is upgraded be looking for a 3rd (possibly if i win lottery or get a bonus and ensure they all match, not sure how critical that is guys?)
- everything is up to date driver wise etc, so no worries about that effecting performance

 

My goals are to basically squeeze every single drop of performance I can muster out of BF4. It is currently very playable, however its such a pretty game and I would like to push it up to the higher/max settings as well as future proof my rig. I think currently its a pretty ok rig, and suspect my biggest issue to be CPU. I had previously a i7 920 (RIP, what a fucking overclocker she was) and while I was told it should be a step to the side...cannot help but feel that was a lie. Regardless financially at the time I could not afford more than what I got as it also required a new mobo due to the i5 having a different socket.

 

What I have at my disposal is limited.

- I do have some old ram around which actually is not that old, however it most certainly is lesser than what I have however to the best of my knowledge it is not a good idea to mix and match ram correct?

- I have a 560ti - would running this in SLI give me a performance boost worthy of the hassle? if I were to go multi monitor and NOT upgrade any card would the second card assist at all? can you still use a second card as physx card and again would that be of any help? or should I just flog it (offers on the back of a postcard plz guys)

- Willing to splash around £500, I could do more on finance but the results should be for some SERIOUS performance increase or a great once in a lifetime offer etc. If you could use £ and scan.co.uk or overclockers for components that would be great. Again however if there is a simply "must have" offer in the UK - hit me up please!

 

Ok - priorities for my upgrades/new rig.

1- If possible, I'd like to try and just upgrade parts. Selling the rig is almost out of the question unless again, strongly beneficial to me as I would like to use this as a second rig for streaming etc

2- BF4 is my main game, and FPS is my main game. While I understand BF4 appears to be better suited for AMD cards I am however a nvidia fanboy. Again for serious improvements and good deals I may part ways with my habbits - however please understand no bundle of games will change my mind, while its a great little bonus I am more bothered about the cards themselves.

3- I will look to fix my SSD and most likely replace if needed, so disregard any advice regarding that as an SSD upgrade these days is pretty much a no brainer. (any thoughts on these SSD/HD hybrid things would be interesting however, keep looking at them and going hmmmmmmmmm?)

4- I have a history with overclocking and "generally" know what I am doing, however please keep it basic and NOTHING risky. I'll happily push a parts performance but not interested in pushing it to its limits.

5- Custom water cooling is a no no. Had horrible experiences with it in the past and while I simply LOVE the way custom loops etc look - they just are not for my technical prowess and also I am pretty busy person and not interested in the fanny on changing water etc. "All in one" water coolers however are something I would consider - but I really am not against having a large air cooler as long as it fits and benefits me.

6- Heat and noise should not be an issue with my case. Noise is never wanted, however it is not the end of the world. And no I will not change my case for any reason other than a new build - I loves her so much

7- 3D is not something I currently use or can use due to not having the monitor for it. It would be nice to bear something like this in mind, however it is last on the list for a reason lol

 

I think that pretty much covers it guys. Thank you so much in advance for any time taken to read and offer advice. Feel free to just feed it all back to me I am wanting to increase my knowledge back to what it used to be. Even if you just have a comment about flaws in my current build, post it! If you got advice on improvements etc then all the better!

 

Thanks again guys - peace

[Coombzy]

One thing you can't SLI a 560 ti and 660 ti only use one as a dedicated physx card (not really recommended) I would recommend only a gpu upgrade if you are unhappy maybe an r9 280x or r9 290x since you are playing Battlefield.

[CoolBeans]

Upgrade motherboard, GPU (that is if you need more power), SSD and CPU cooler

[PixelDrums]

Honestly, your computer is already a high-mid range PC. I don't see the need to upgrade. But if you do, go with the GTX780 or the GTX780 Ti when it comes out. I wouldn't go with the R9 290X until Mantle comes out and we can see the actual performance boost it'll give. 

[The Great Sayain Man]

What PSU are you useing?

[Ghostchanter]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

 

But high-mid? See when I was younger and spent 2grand on a PC I clearly have set my expectations very high on performance haha.

 

I do agree tho after doing a quick read around other posts the whole mantle thing could or could not be a huge game changer - maybe waiting on the GPU side of things is actually very good advice.

 

As for a mobo upgrade CoolBeans is there anything you (or anyone) recommend. I am not really sold on the whole G1 Assasin level sort of motherboards actually being worthy of a purchase (unless you happen to like green of course) I have seen a few videos of orange/black motherboards - is there anything reasonable and suitable which is that colour would go AMAZINGLY well in my rig without breaking the bank that would be super.

 

And also mr Sayain I am using a bronze 700w PSU

[Coombzy]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

 

But high-mid? See when I was younger and spent 2grand on a PC I clearly have set my expectations very high on performance haha.

 

I do agree tho after doing a quick read around other posts the whole mantle thing could or could not be a huge game changer - maybe waiting on the GPU side of things is actually very good advice.

 

As for a mobo upgrade CoolBeans is there anything you (or anyone) recommend. I am not really sold on the whole G1 Assasin level sort of motherboards actually being worthy of a purchase (unless you happen to like green of course) I have seen a few videos of orange/black motherboards - is there anything reasonable and suitable which is that colour would go AMAZINGLY well in my rig without breaking the bank that would be super.

 

And also mr Sayain I am using a bronze 700w PSU

well the stock 3570K is good I currently have an i7 2600K with a rubbish motherboard I would wait on that unless you are doing cpu and motherboard at the same time.

[The Great Sayain Man]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

 

But high-mid? See when I was younger and spent 2grand on a PC I clearly have set my expectations very high on performance haha.

 

I do agree tho after doing a quick read around other posts the whole mantle thing could or could not be a huge game changer - maybe waiting on the GPU side of things is actually very good advice.

 

As for a mobo upgrade CoolBeans is there anything you (or anyone) recommend. I am not really sold on the whole G1 Assasin level sort of motherboards actually being worthy of a purchase (unless you happen to like green of course) I have seen a few videos of orange/black motherboards - is there anything reasonable and suitable which is that colour would go AMAZINGLY well in my rig without breaking the bank that would be super.

 

And also mr Sayain I am using a bronze 700w PSU

Mr Sayain? I like that one tho'  . You could upgrade your Cpu: to a 4670k your motherboard to a MSI Z87 G45 you cooler to a Bequiet Dark rock 2 and your Gpu to a 780 http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1WQZr that will run you about 680 £ (I'm pretty sure you can sell your cpu mobo and gpu for around 200£) 

[Ghostchanter]

Wow if I have gained anything at all from this thread it is that partpicker site! Why have I not heard of this before lol? Thats an amazing little site that.

[das affe]

games like battlefield don't need more than the 3570. NO need to upgrade that. ssds are cheap so you COULD upgrade but you should set priorities. 
And for gaming your priority should be the GPU. I get around 60-80fps in bf4 with my gtx 770 4gb. you should look for something with more than 2gb because I had around 2,4gb usage at all times in bf4 and 2,7 in crysis2 with mods n stuff. 
your system is awesome as is and a new motherboard/cpu make no sense for gaming AT ALL. and mobos do not give performance advantages (only a few hundered mhz in overclocking). you could buy a cheap cpu cooler to make your cpu last longer and maybe oc your cpu to 4-4,2ghz

GPU BEST BANG/BUCK
AMD! (for bf4) r9 280x! at the moment it is around 100€ less than the gtx 770 but 10-15 fps faster than the nvidia card. you can buy a 770 and crossfire it with your (still pretty fast) gtx 660ti and have your 660ti for physx and stuff. 

 

[Ghostchanter]

you can crossfire AMD and nvidia cards? This is madness surely.

 

*insert sparta quotes here*

 

[edits - hang on i see you just messed up and said crossfire instead of SLI - my initial confusion is now gone sorry haha]

[das affe]

you can crossfire AMD and nvidia cards? This is madness surely.

 

*insert sparta quotes here*

 

[edits - hang on i see you just messed up and said crossfire instead of SLI - my initial confusion is now gone sorry haha]

haha yeah i always do that you know what i mean..

[lachyman]

Upgrades I recommend:

1. Z77 board you like

2. CPU cooler, Hyper 212 EVO for normal use, something better for OC

3. SSD, a 120GB for Win and BF4 will do

4. GPU, wait for Mantle, currently a GTX780 should be your best bet

Also could you please tell what case do you have and what fans?

[WoodenMarker]

But high-mid? See when I was younger and spent 2grand on a PC I clearly have set my expectations very high on performance haha.

 

I do agree tho after doing a quick read around other posts the whole mantle thing could or could not be a huge game changer - maybe waiting on the GPU side of things is actually very good advice.

 

As for a mobo upgrade CoolBeans is there anything you (or anyone) recommend. I am not really sold on the whole G1 Assasin level sort of motherboards actually being worthy of a purchase (unless you happen to like green of course) I have seen a few videos of orange/black motherboards - is there anything reasonable and suitable which is that colour would go AMAZINGLY well in my rig without breaking the bank that would be super.

 

And also mr Sayain I am using a bronze 700w PSU

If you're not in a hurry, wait for the 780 Ti and aftermarket 290x to come out before upgrading.

What's your current motherboard? 

 

Btw, you need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[Ghostchanter]

Upgrades I recommend:

1. Z77 board you like

2. CPU cooler, Hyper 212 EVO for normal use, something better for OC

3. SSD, a 120GB for Win and BF4 will do

4. GPU, wait for Mantle, currently a GTX780 should be your best bet

Also could you please tell what case do you have and what fans?

Case and fans were in the OP - A Phantom 410 mid case and just the stock case fans. 1 x front, 1 x exhaust, 1 x large side panel and 1 x large upper fan. Just the bog standard black/white NZXT ones.

Motherboard after some searching is an ASROCK H77 Pro4/MvP

[lachyman]

Case and fans were in the OP - A Phantom 410 mid case and just the stock case fans. 1 x front, 1 x exhaust, 1 x large side panel and 1 x large upper fan. Just the bog standard black/white NZXT ones.

Motherboard after some searching is an ASROCK H77 Pro4/MvP

Sorry, I somehow missed it. Your case is well ventilated, so just stick to the other points. Motherboard isn't all that bad, unless you want to OC it shouldn't be a priority.

[ShadowRaven]

Case and fans were in the OP - A Phantom 410 mid case and just the stock case fans. 1 x front, 1 x exhaust, 1 x large side panel and 1 x large upper fan. Just the bog standard black/white NZXT ones.

Motherboard after some searching is an ASROCK H77 Pro4/MvP

First of all welcome second of all is that your system is still good although I have heard that the newer games are going to be memory crunchers and that to get the most out of the games you should have 16 mb of memory on your system as to upgrading your video card after checking the battlefield 4 premium membership recommended system reguirments is that you have a gtx 660 which has 3gb  of ddr memory  and its optimized to windows 8 and it will take 30 gb of hdd space which is the game & the 5 expansions 

 

my suggestion for your upgrade is  

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1XeqJ

[Ghostchanter]

Thank you very much all - think i have gotten the basic idea of what to plan for in the future - any other ideas feel free to reply but making this as solved now.

 

thanks!

 

For anyone wondering what advice I have or have not gone with, I plan to do the following:

 

1- Cooler (most likely air) for the CPU and overclock her a bit 

2- Sort out my SSD and/or buy a new one for the OS and select games

3- Save for GFX card after mantle has been released and performance reviews released - will most likely be a 780/ti pending on the difference in price/perf. or a 280x/290x should I turn to the dark side

4- 8GB more RAM once all the big pennies have been spent

5- in long distant future look out for new PSU launches and either upgrade to what is the top end now, or to a new archetype if its worth it.