Gaming CPU/GPU upgrade

aperture_nuig

Hello there,
I'm looking at upping my CPU and GPU from an i3-2100 and 6870. I've got about €400 to spend (I can go a little bit higher but the cheaper the better), and this is what I was looking at:

Gigabyte 7870:
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/57546/Gigabyte+Radeon+HD+7870+GHz+Edition%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+PCI-Express.article

Intel Core i5-3470
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/66369/Intel+Core+i5-3470+Box%2C+LGA1155.article

My motherboard is a Gigabyte Z68AP-D3.

The only special requirements I have really are that the GPU fan is fairly quiet, and that (hopefully) the components I buy will last for a while (in terms of running games at highest or near highest detail).

I'm gaming on a 1080p monitor.

Should I just go ahead and pull the trigger or can I do better?
Thanks for having a look.

Patrick 1

I'd be more inclined to grab an nVidia card, personal preference and all that. I honestly see them as being far better that amd for reliability.
https://lb.hardwareversand.de/2048MB/64931/Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+660Ti+OC%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort.article

Processor wise grab a 2500k series i5,
https://lb.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/41224/Intel+Core+i5-2500K+Box%2C+LGA1155.article
They run well out of the box and in a few months you can spring for a good cooler and do a bit of over-clocking.

aperture_nuig

Patrick 1 wrote: »

I'd be more inclined to grab an nVidia card, personal preference and all that. I honestly see them as being far better that amd for reliability.
https://lb.hardwareversand.de/2048MB/64931/Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+660Ti+OC%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort.article

Processor wise grab a 2500k series i5,
https://lb.hardwareversand.de/Socket+1155/41224/Intel+Core+i5-2500K+Box%2C+LGA1155.article
They run well out of the box and in a few months you can spring for a good cooler and do a bit of over-clocking.

I would go for the i5-2500k except that according to my motherboard specs it'll only do PCIe 3.0 with an IvyBridge installed

EDIT: also, that GPU would be pushing my budget by a lot, more than I'd be willing to dump on a graphics card if I'm honest.

thegrayson

PCIe 3.0 a specification, not the speed. PCIe slots operate at x1, x2, x8 and x16. x16 is what you want for your graphics card.

aperture_nuig

thegrayson wrote: »

PCIe 3.0 a specification, not the speed. PCIe slots operate at x1, x2, x8 and x16. x16 is what you want for your graphics card.

So there's no performance advantage to having your card run at PCIe 3.0 as opposed to 2.0?

marco_polo

aperture_nuig wrote: »

I would go for the i5-2500k except that according to my motherboard specs it'll only do PCIe 3.0 with an IvyBridge installed

EDIT: also, that GPU would be pushing my budget by a lot, more than I'd be willing to dump on a graphics card if I'm honest.

I think you chose perfectly well with the GPU first time, A HD7870 GHz edition will be plenty powerful for @1080p gaming for a few years, and you could always OC it further to boost it even more.

The CPU you chose is perfect if you are not interested in OCing. Agree with the i5-2500K suggestion actually, but you will should also really splash out a minimum of 25-30 euro for a decent cooler too to OC it properly.

PCI 3.0 is unnecessary as a HD7870 is nowhere near powerful enough to even approach the limits of PCIe 2.0 bandwith. (In much the same way that a mechanical hard drive performs the same connected to a SATA 2 or 3 port).

aperture_nuig

marco_polo wrote: »

I think you chose perfectly well with the GPU first time, A HD7870 GHz edition will be plenty powerful for @1080p gaming for a few years, and you could always OC it further to boost it even more.

The CPU you chose is perfect if you are not interested in OCing. Agree with the i5-2500K suggestion actually, but you will should also really splash out a minimum of 25-30 euro for a decent cooler too to OC it properly.

PCI 3.0 is unnecessary as a HD7870 is nowhere near powerful enough to even approach the limits of PCIe 2.0 bandwith. (In much the same way that a mechanical hard drive performs the same connected to a SATA 2 or 3 port).

Ahhh fair enough, that makes sense. Gonna go ahead and order it so I think

spix

hold your horses, check your pms

Patrick 1

I was pretty sure earlier that pcie2 vs 3 was irrelevant but was far too paranoid to post as I have no idea where that thought came from, good luck with the build!