Upgrade Options - Suggestions Needed

ballyargus

Hi guys. I'm looking at upgrading the below setup. I intend to upgrade the board, cpu and ram to a DDR4 based unit in the middle of next year.

For now I'm looking at buying a good 8 or 12 GB kit of RAM and I'll also sell the graphics card and upgrade to something with a bit more oomph. I'll spend up to 100 on the ram and around 300 on the graphics card.

I have a Fractal Design Define R4 case that isn't great for airflow. It has loads of dust filters so I'm a little worried about buying an R9 as hear they're not only big but also very heavy on power consumption.

Which cards should I be looking at? I don't mind going second hand either as long as it's from a good seller.

Here's the specs (other upgrade suggestions welcome too)

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Summary
Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 760 @ 2.80GHz 49 °C
Lynnfield 45nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD P55-GD65 (MS-7583) (CPU 1) 42 °C
Graphics
DELL E207WFP (1680x1050@60Hz)
SAMSUNG (1680x1050@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti (EVGA) 27 °C
Storage
931GB SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (SATA) 30 °C
149GB INTEL SSDSA2BW160G3 ATA Device (SSD)
1863GB Seagate ST32000542AS ATA Device (SATA) 29 °C
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H553A ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

levitronix

a 300euro graphics card would be lost on such an old monitor , just my concern

ballyargus

levitronix wrote: »

a 300euro graphics card would be lost on such an old monitor , just my concern

Much appreciated. This has been at the back of my mind to fix at some point too.

TerrorFirmer

You need a new processor as well. That one is just too old and presents a major bottleneck, even if you overclock it to 4Ghz+ it will still be the bottleneck when paired with a €300 card. A €120 i3 would be a massive upgrade.

i3-4160 - 120
8GB DDR3 1600 - 50
H81M Motherboard - 50
GTX960 - 220

That's €440 and not far off your original budget. You'll get €20 for that old ram, €100 for the GTX750Ti, and about €80 for your old motherboard and processor. Net cost - about €220.

No need to get any better video card as that resolution is quite low by modern standards.

ballyargus

Thanks for the reply Terror. Given that I plan on upgrading to an X99 chipset with DDR4 RAM in January(with a monitor thrown in now that I know better) then it's not the worst move in the world to get 8GB DRR3 & a GTX960/970 now and then upgrade the remainder in January.

Taking your prices for my componenents. The net spend should be about 150 now for the RAM and card upgrade. And the chipset/monitor upgrade in January should be about 600-700 after selling the remaining bits.

Steeper than I was planning!

Digital Solitude

What's the PC for? X99 is OTT for gaming, even amateur editing

ballyargus

Gaming and editing. TBH I would like to future proof it for the next 5 years or so. It was the end of December 2010 when I last upgraded so I figure it's about time again.

Should I be aiming at something else?

Digital Solitude

I reckon a Haswell Xeon will cover you for your needs if you're still getting by on an i5 760

Xeon €250
Board €70
RAM €50

Good bit cheaper and should do the job the same

ballyargus

Digital Solitude wrote: »

I reckon a Haswell Xeon will cover you for your needs if you're still getting by on an i5 760

Xeon €250
Board €70
RAM €50

Good bit cheaper and should do the job the same

Aren't Xeons aimed for server use or is there something I don't know?

Digital Solitude

They're designed to work under load for long periods of time, but they're pretty much cheap i7s if you've a graphics card

TerrorFirmer

I would do it backwards, I would go for a new platform first and get the graphics card later.

Obviously the GTX750Ti isn't exactly a stallion performance wise but to be honest, in most games, a modern i3/i5 and a GTX750Ti will easily outperform a stock i5-760 and GTX970 because of that major bottleneck.

Unless you're willing to overclock that 760 to within an inch of its life, getting a GTX970 first just isn't really going to show you much gain (of course, it depends on the title, but assume we're talking about BF4, GTAV, and similar AAA releases).

As Digital said the Xeon is just an i7 with an IGP, makes no difference in this case obviously. It's a stellar buy. I also agree going X99 is totally overkill unless you're a total enthusiast/have a serious major editing workload.

A decent S1150 board, Xeon E3-1231, 8GB ram won't set you back more than about €400. And it will last years. 2nd Gen i5's and i7's came out in 2011 and they're still going perfectly strong today in the latest titles - four years of a lifespan and show no signs of slowing down yet.