Upgrading

FreudianSlippers

Hey all. Longtime lurker in these parts

I'm looking to upgrade my PC in the coming month or so. Ideally I'd like to be ready for the Steam Link come November and would like to be able to forego buying a new console.

I currently have the following specs and any advice on upgrade (bang for the buck - ideally I'd like to spend less than €300) would be fantastic:

GA-P55A-UD3
Intel i5 750 @ 2.67GHz, 2660Mhz, quad core;
12GB DD3 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5700
Corsair TX650W PS

Not sure if it's worth doing CrossFire or if a single new graphics card would be preferable.

Anyway would love a steer in the right direction. I'm going to be upgrading to Crucial M500 120GB SSD next weekend for the OS.

Thanks,
FS

SterlingArcher

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Hey all. Longtime lurker in these parts

I'm looking to upgrade my PC in the coming month or so. Ideally I'd like to be ready for the Steam Link come November and would like to be able to forego buying a new console.

I currently have the following specs and any advice on upgrade (bang for the buck - ideally I'd like to spend less than €300) would be fantastic:

GA-P55A-UD3
Intel i5 750 @ 2.67GHz, 2660Mhz, quad core;
12GB DD3 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 5700
Corsair TX650W PS

Not sure if it's worth doing CrossFire or if a single new graphics card would be preferable.

Anyway would love a steer in the right direction. I'm going to be upgrading to Crucial M500 120GB SSD next weekend for the OS.

Thanks,
FS

Think new gpu be better than a second 5700. What exactly are you doing.

What case.

FreudianSlippers

Case is an NZXT Lexa. I'm basically looking to not upgrade to a PS4 and be able to run most modern games and do a bit of future-proofing. I do realise I probably don't have 5 more years out of this processor/mobo but would like to do what I can to try.

SterlingArcher

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

Case is an NZXT Lexa. I'm basically looking to not upgrade to a PS4 and be able to run most modern games and do a bit of future-proofing. I do realise I probably don't have 5 more years out of this processor/mobo but would like to do what I can to try.

https://youtu.be/RqylMcz9lyg

As you can see not too shabby.

Thinking perhaps

An MSI R9 280X gaming is about 250ish delivered using geizhals.de and hardwareversand.de.



The card length is approximately 264mm your case supports 284 approx.

SterlingArcher

http://touch.adverts.ie/graphics-cards/msi-r9-280x/7836983

Venom

I'v the 280 version of that card and its damm sweet as it's a beast of a GPU for 1080p gaming. The fans are practically silent and the 1 click OC via software is completely hassle free. Saying that, the R9 280/270/X's do not support Freesync so that's something to be aware of.


Going the GPU and SSD upgrade path like you have done, is the best possible way to add more gaming umpf to an older system.

TerrorFirmer

You will also have to overclock that CPU ideally, it'll be fine in some games but will badly bottleneck you in other games that use CPU grunt.

Venom

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You will also have to overclock that CPU ideally, it'll be fine in some games but will badly bottleneck you in other games that use CPU grunt.

Are there than many games these days that use the CPU that much tho?

Luke from Linustech ran some gaming benchmarks on how various CPU's and the amount of cores they had, made a difference on various games. Apart from Tombraider 2013 (major CPU hog) most newer titles were limited more by the GPU.

TerrorFirmer

Venom wrote: »

Are there than many games these days that use the CPU that much tho?

Luke from Linustech ran some gaming benchmarks on how various CPU's and the amount of cores they had, made a difference on various games. Apart from Tombraider 2013 (major CPU hog) most newer titles were limited more by the GPU.

Benchmarks pretty much always focus on single player games, because multiplayer benches are impossible to replicate accurately across various systems.

It's true that the majority of games are GPU dependent - but there are a few that will punish a first gen i5 pretty badly - Battlefield 4/Hardline and by extension upcoming Battlefront online would be a particular example, the new GTA V would also see a first gen i5 bottleneck a 280X (not dreadfully badly necessarily).

If you're sticking to purely single player games it wouldn't be much of an issue generally speaking.