8 replies to this topic

[Lopodores]

Hello there Romantics,

currently i am overwhelmed by work to finish my nurse apprenticeship.

But after that is done i want to reward myself with upgrading my PC. And since i am a complete noob when it comes to hardware i'd like to ask for you help (and i think i remember Wes mentioning that he knows stuff about hardware stuff *insert here*). My current hardware is (i translated as much as i could into "pc english" since i copy pasted it from the receipt to prevent changing anything that might be important):

PC Processor 1155 + 775
Intel Core i5-3570K 4x 3,4 GHz

PC Cooler
Alpenföhn Civetta CPU Cooler

PC Ram
8192MB DDR3 1333MHz

PC Graphics PCI-E
2048 MB AMD Radeon HD 7850, DVI, HDMI, 2x Mini-DisplayPort

PC Mainboard 775 + 1155
Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V USB3.0 (Chipset: B75/mATX)

PC 1. Hard Drive
1000 GB SATA III, 7200upm

PC Powersupply
500 Watt Powersupply, OEM

PC Soundcard
Onboard Sound

I want to upgrade somewhere around october when i start studying (and Dragon Age 3 comes out ). What would be necessary to upgrade? Ultimatly my goal would be to play WItcher 3 on decent settings and be settled for about 2 years. Since i saw on Reddit that nVidia is bringing out a new GTX880 and AMD something new as well i thought i take a few of my rare free minutes to ask already.

I will check the thread as often as i can, but for now i have to leave again .

Please help me Romantics , you're my only hope ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ .

Much love from Germany,

Lopo

 

 

[Erivel]

I'd say wait on the 880.  POssibly upgrade the PSU and add some more RAM.  THe processor and everything else is still good.

Beyond that, i'd say either more storage or an SSD.  But doing the SSD right means a resinstall of you OS and programs.

[Lopodores]

Good to hear not everything is outdated, thanks very much

[RomanticsWes]

Good to hear not everything is outdated, thanks very much

I'll look at your motherboard and stuff later after I'm done with this mountain of editing I have to do this week/weekend but your processor is STILL plenty for maxing out anything on the market. It's a good overclocker too which is totally safe these days if you do a moderate overlcock (not trying to set work records or anything) and it will give you some pretty fast speeds out of that processor. I wouldn't upgrade that yet. That will PROBABLY save you a ton considering processor upgrades usually require motherboard upgrades too. I'll have to check out that mobo first though and see exactly what it is.

 

For you, it looks like an SSD for your operating system, ram and a graphics card are the ticket. I would totally wait a bit on a graphics card and if you're intending to play Star Citizen at all with this rig (or upgrading again before SC drops) possibly go with an AMD card that uses Mantle.

 

I'll keep an eye on this and see what other folks say and get back to you again Were you trying to build a NEW PC or just upgrade the current one a bit?

[WildCard]

You guys beat me to suggesting an SSD. I've spent $$$'s on my tower and will purchase another SSD "Just" for SC, also as Erivel mentioned waiting on the GTX880, I'm running a GTX780 at the moment and it is brilliant, also I'd stick with the Intel CPU for this set-up, the specs say to be able to support DDR3 it must run an Intel CPU running at 22nm, unsure if means a minimum of 22nm or only 22nm, and I'm unsure of AMD's specs off the top of my head.

 

Technically the MoBo is a micro ATX, so depending on the size of the case personally I'd lean towards something with a lot of usable real-estate for future upgrades, in some cases some larger graphics cards when installed, block the SATA ports, it also has only one PCI slot, so if your on-board sound die's you'll need that PCI slot, unless your going to replace the board.

 

**Disclaimer I'm not a PC technician, but when building mine I read a few gaming magazines which sometimes show comparisons for good gaming rigs, and the best components for certain budgets, after the getting a good value for money baseline (taking into account upgrades), I then did comparison's between different MoBo's in that price range, and purchased the best for myself that I could afford (in 2013)...after checking "this year's model" from the same shop, my machine is still pretty solid in comparison, and not outdated or limited, the MoBo did cost a few $$$'s more, but has saved $$$'s for upgrades I don't need.

 

Also congratulations for being so close to finishing your Nursing course.

[Ulfberht]

I'm also upgrading, and was looking to know some thoughts... Here's what I think I'm going to buy in a bare-bones kit:

• AMD FD8350FRHKBOX FX-8350 Eight-Core 4GHz AM3+ Processor - AM3+, Eight-Core, 4GHz, 16MB, 125W, Unlocked
• MSI 970A-G46 AMD 9 Series Motherboard - ATX, Socket AM3+, AMD 970 Chipset, 2133MHz DDR3 (O.C.), SATA III (6Gb/s), RAID, 8-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, SLI/CrossFireX Ready - 970A-G46
• Patriot Viper Xtreme 4GB Desktop Memory Module - DDR3, 1600MHz, PC3-12800, CL 11, 1.5V - PX34G1600C11
• Cooler Master Elite 241 Desktop Mini Tower - 550W PSU, 1 x 5.25" Drive Bay, 2 x 3.5" Drive Bay, 1 x 2.5" Drive Bay, 7 x Exp Slots, 1 x 80mm Fan, 2 x USB 2.0 Ports, SD Card Reader - RC-241-KKR550-N2

I have a level where i try and get something that's really nice and don't want to pay a couple hundred dollars more for something that's only slightly better. Under this logic, the processor in this package is what I'm keeping that doesn't need to be upgraded for a long time.

 

If I need more juice I can do crossfire down the road.

 

Disclaimer: I AM a PC technician and I'm here to tell you, take what any of us say with a grain of salt. I argue with my coworkers who are also PC technicians. It's best to understand what you want, look at things, and get varying opinions. Because my co-workers and I disagree and they have a different point of view is exactly why I want to hear what they don't like about what I'm shopping for. Furthermore, I believe Gamers know more about good PC hardware than PC Technicians. So, try and find a PC Technician, that's a gamer, that works for intel 6 months out of the year and AMD the other 6 months, while teaching part time A+ classes at your local college, and that person should know exactly what you need.

[Ulfberht]

I had forgotten my distaste for MSI motherboards so I'm already looking at different barebones kits. The principle is the same where I'm after that particular processor but it's not looking like i can get it in a kit.

[WildCard]

Haha my brother-in-law to be is a tech-god for a mining company, I know what you mean...can fix any PC, create vast networks, satellite comms, data encryption, create a server using origami....but ask about a gaming PC and his face go's blank..

I start with the MoBo (house foundations) and go from there as per previous post, and yeah no point paying hundreds of dollars more for something that is only slightly better, that's money that could be used on something else. But i'll read as much information regarding components as I can, pro's/con's, testimonials, review's, articles, will take me weeks to finally come up with something that's right for me, on my budget, to my specs and as future proofed as possible.

[Ulfberht]

This is what I ended up with and it's being shipped from Amazon. BTW my current hangar performance got way better when I disabled anti-aliasing for my graphics card.

AMD FD8350FRHKBOX FX-8350 FX-Series 8-Core Black Edition Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866 MHZ (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9) ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard