Hardware Upgrading my rig

The Real Jdbye

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I don't like AMD's line of GPUs given the bad experiences I've had with them in the past, same goes with their CPUs, same deal, I've had one of them fry on me before. Intel+nVidia all the way :P That being said, I don't need anything super high-end, 200-300 dollars is a good range for me to focus ^_^ I dunno why I mentioned CPU update, mostly because some games, like AC: Unity, my CPU doesn't even meet the minimum specs, yeah, the game is that piss porr in optimization.

So many responses from you guys, thank you :D

Qtis SSD is still quite a ways off, I currently have two HDDs in my case, both Western Digital 1 TB drives at 7200 RPM, would an SSD still be the way to go for an OS partition? I'm still on the fence, but SSDs don't even take up power at all, and I do have a 2.5" drive bay, so I can fit one.

Sicklyboy How good is your rig for Dolphin, PCSX2, etc? Do games like The Last Story still struggle even with the improvements the emulator has seen this year so far? I don't know why I suggested CPU upgrade since, well, the differential would be negligible, right?



Actually, if you look at the OP, my CPU is the 3750 non-K version, so because of that, I can't overclock. I got the non-K version because I never had the intent to do so. Judging from the posts, it sounds like that GPU is the best thing to upgrade, given the general consensus of the thread thus far.

Sorry for not quoting everyone's post, I don't want to clog the thread with a huge post, you know, so far, I'll keep my eye on sales for GPUs as 300-330 dollars might be, well, a tad steep. I never have, nor will I ever overclock since it cuts the lifespan and voids the warranty.

That's wrong ;)
K just means the multiplier is unlocked, you can still OC, it's somewhat tricky to do because you have to adjust the base FSB which will overclock some other things on your mobo as well (like RAM) instead of just changing the CPU multiplier, but the end result is mostly the same. It's just a bit easier to achieve a stable overclock if you can adjust the CPU multiplier itself, which might let you overclock slightly more.
 
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the_randomizer

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That's wrong ;)
K just means the multiplier is unlocked, you can still OC, it's somewhat tricky to do because you have to adjust the base FSB which will overclock some other things on your mobo as well (like RAM) instead of just changing the CPU multiplier, but the end result is mostly the same. It's just a bit easier to achieve a stable overclock if you can adjust the CPU multiplier itself, which might let you overclock slightly more.


I have reasons for not overclocking, I don't want to do it wrong, (and I will), and with no money to replace the CPU, I would be screwed big time. Just saying. That, and the temps would go to hell since my cooling isn't the best, see my airflow setup above.
 

Kioku

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^ This.
8 GB of RAM should be enough for anything unless you are a heavier multitasker than I am. Your PSU should be powerful enough to not need upgrading.

A newer generation CPU will be somewhat faster, but it's not a big difference and CPUs don't really get outdated that quickly nowadays. Most people never take advantage of their CPU power anyway. If you want, you can get an aftermarket cooler and OC your CPU. That's not something you need to do at this point though, but eventually when you find out that the CPU isn't powerful enough anymore, it will get you a good few more years of use out of it without costing you much.

I still use a Core i7 920 but I overclocked it to 3.8ghz from the stock 2.66. I recently upgraded my GPU to a GTX 970 so my PC should be powerful enough to run pretty much anything and I don't see myself needing to upgrade it again for a long time.

Well, considering that he is looking to play Dolphin/PCSX2? A CPU upgrade is recommend NOT required. It would give him the boost he needs.
 
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The Real Jdbye

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I have reasons for not overclocking, I don't want to do it wrong, (and I will), and with no money to replace the CPU, I would be screwed big time. Just saying. That, and the temps would go to hell since my cooling isn't the best, see my airflow setup above.

In a few years time maybe you'll want to overclock, that's all. ;)
There is not really much you can do wrong to damage anything. It just won't boot if the OC is set too high.
At the moment there's no point in overclocking though.
 
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VinsCool

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In a few years time maybe you'll want to overclock, that's all. ;)
There is not really much you can do wrong to damage anything. It just won't boot if the OC is set too high.
At the moment there's no point in overclocking though.

Overclocking is only worth in old hardware, to get the last speed stretch before being too obsoleted.
 
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Kioku

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Only problem is I would need a new motherboard, current CPU socket is LGA1155 and Haswell uses LGA1150 :P


Eeyup. Just some food for thought.

I'm going to be honest here. What you've got now? It's great. A marginal upgrade is what you're looking at. As has been mentioned, the only thing necessary to keep up with newer games is your GPU. If your strong point is Dolphin? Then yeah, a new CPU is in order. Weigh your options, honestly.

My brother has an i5-3570k and hasn't O/C'd it yet. Hasn't ever needed to. Has been paired with a 7950 3GB. He's been running most newer games at respectable frame rates at higher settings. I upgraded from a 4670k to a 4790k. The difference isn't there. I just needed a cooler CPU and the extra headroom for work in the near future. Slot in a GTX 970, or wait and see what AMD has for their newer GPUs and decide then.

Your PSU is fine. The only reason you'd need new RAM is if you're running Single Channel or if it's grieving your computer. An SSD isn't really necessary. I have one, and the 8 second boot time is phenomenal. Not really a must though.

If you do get new ram? Make sure it's dual channel (2x4GB/8GB) and look for something at 1600+ mhz. (Most come minimum 1600, but yeah)
 

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An SSD isn't really necessary. I have one, and the 8 second boot time is phenomenal. Not really a must though.
I agree. Since you want to run games you probably couldn't afford to buy an SSD to completely replace your HDD. I put a small SSD in my mother's computer with just Windows, and while Windows runs great, there isn't a huge performance boost to anything else. You should also check if your motherboard supports SATA3.
 
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geishroy

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Ah. Like I said, GPU's aren't my thing. Have you tried it, or is this something you read?

The reason the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X won is that it beat everything in the tests except the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (just barely), but that cost an additional $200. The OP is on a budget. The 980 also had a higher peak temperature.
Ah. Like I said, GPU's aren't my thing. Have you tried it, or is this something you read?

The reason the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X won is that it beat everything in the tests except the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (just barely), but that cost an additional $200. The OP is on a budget. The 980 also had a higher peak temperature.

Can you link this article you are talking about?

Anyway, PSU of OP is not of even the minimal requirements to run a 290x, he would already need to spend $90+ to get a reasonable PSU that could support it. Hell in 2-3 years he might even make back the other $110 in power savings with the nvidia card lololol.
 
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JoostinOnline

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Can you link this article you are talking about?

Anyway, PSU of OP is not of even the minimal requirements to run a 290x, he would already need to spend $90+ to get a reasonable PSU that could support it. Hell in 2-3 years he might even make back the other $110 in power savings with the nvidia card lololol.
I actually hadn't considered power bills. I was thinking get the card for 350 (or something around that, I just remember it was 200 cheaper than the 980), buy a decent power supply, sell his old hardware to a sucker on CL, and get away save $100 with no downsides.

The article is from this month's issue of Maximum PC. You could buy it online for 99 cents, read it at a book store when nobody is looking, or wait 3 months for them to release a PDF of it free on their website. It's probably also "free" on some other sites. ;)
 
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the_randomizer

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First world problems at their finest.
And I still work fine with my 3 years old budget laptop.
(And that includes playing many games in shit graphics level and emulating Wii/PS2 practically flawless in the system original resolution)


Was that post really necessary, dude? If you don't have anything constructive to say, please refrain from posting on here at all. Don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.
 
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sarkwalvein

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Was that post really necessary, dude? If you don't have anything constructive to say, please refrain from posting on here at all. Don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.

I like it, I read it, I post my unnecessary joke. Will avoid doing it again. Good bye, so long.

Mchief298: It is just a joke, man... How can be a sane person jealous of someone updating their PC?
I don't reply to you in an additional post because I don't want to clutter this thread any further as it seems my humor is not welcome here.
 

the_randomizer

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Not entirely too sure what compelled you to post this completely irrelevant garbage.

Must be jealousy.


It's fine, let's get back on topic, shall we :P Sorry about that :D So, given the consensus, the GPU would be the way to go from the sounds of things.
 
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Sicklyboy

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This is what I'm currently running.

http://i.imgur.com/VU055GP.png

This is right after a reboot and the temp is a little high on the CPU, it's idled down to 59c right now, stock fan, still a little higher than I'd like. Serves me very well.

Just re-ran the overclock utility in my UEFI because the RAM wasn't set right. It's 2446MHz now (rated for 2440 iirc, or 2400), it was 1332MHz before :huh: it adjusted the timing a bit so we'll see how that works.

Sadly I haven't done much intense gaming on this since upgrading to this build, I don't even have anything in my steam library that's overly heavy. Metro 2033 was always rough but I have a feeling that's a bit past its prime now. I really don't have too many recent games, surprising considering the library size. Arkham Origins is probably the most recent thing... though, I remembered I do have Far Cry 4, it runs that at 1920x1080 at roughly 40 FPS with all settings maxed.

Edit - +1 for Crucial SSDs. Affordable and I'm quite enjoying my MX100. Cost me... I think $109 for the 256GB.

the_randomizer if you're going to buy anything, check out if there's a MicroCenter near you. Go in armed with knowledge of what you want, they almost always have killer deals in store. When I was building out this computer (water cooler exploded in my old one), it was worth it to make the hour and a half drive to MicroCenter to buy JUST the CPU because of how much cheaper it was than Amazon or Newegg. While I was there I found an awesome combo deal with motherboards, great rebate on my PSU, RAM was okay priced, SSD was a few bucks off.
 

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