Looking to do an upgrade of an aging system, ~£500 - Hardware & Software

[img]http://i.imgur.com/UX4FLY4.png[/img] 'bout 4 years ago I (with the help of you lot) bought this: [img]http://i41.tinypic.com/azgklh.jpg[/img] and since then I've thrown a second graphics card (with crossfire no matter what Speccy says), a few HDs and a bunch of extra gigs of RAM into it as well as having to replace the mobo due to a small fire, but it's starting to show its age in terms of me no longer being able to put all the graphics settings to "ultra" on new games. I'm guessing I need a new graphics card or two, but I'm not sure of who to buy these days. Are AMD still making compact blast furnaces? Budget of ~£500. Speccy dump: [code]Operating System Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit CPU AMD Phenom II X4 955 Deneb 45nm Technology RAM 20.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24) Motherboard ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. SABERTOOTH 990FX (AM3r2) Graphics DELL SP2309W (2048x1152@60Hz) DELL SP2309W (2048x1152@60Hz) 1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series (ATI) 1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series (Gigabyte) CrossFire Disabled Storage 931GB SAMSUNG HD103UJ ATA Device (SATA) 59GB M4-CT064M4SSD2 (SSD) 931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-00KUWA0 (SATA) Optical Drives Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S ATA Device Audio AMD High Definition Audio Device ATI AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series Manufacturer ATI Model AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series GPU Cypress Device ID 1002-6899 Subvendor ATI (1002) Current Performance Level Level 0 Voltage 0.950 V Current Performance Level Level 0 Voltage 0.950 V Technology 40 nm Die Size 334 mm² Release Date Sep 23, 2009 DirectX Support 11.0 DirectX Shader Model 5.0 OpenGL Support 4.1 GPU Clock 725.0 MHz Temperature 51 °C Core Voltage 0.950 V Crossfire Disabled Driver version 13.152.1.8000 BIOS Version 113-C00201-101 ROPs 32 Shaders 1440 unified Memory Type GDDR5 Memory 1024 MB Bus Width 64x4 (256 bit) Pixel Fillrate 23.2 GPixels/s Bandwidth 128.0 GB/s Noise Level Moderate Max Power Draw 158 Watts Count of performance levels : 3 Level 1 GPU Clock 157 MHz Memory Clock 300 MHz Level 2 GPU Clock 550 MHz Memory Clock 900 MHz Level 3 GPU Clock 725 MHz Memory Clock 1000 MHz Count of performance levels : 1 Level 1 GPU Clock 156 MHz Memory Clock 300 MHz ATI AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series Manufacturer ATI Model AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series GPU Cypress Device ID 1002-6899 Subvendor Gigabyte (1458) Current Performance Level Level 0 Voltage 0.950 V Current Performance Level Level 0 Voltage 0.950 V Technology 40 nm Die Size 334 mm² Release Date Sep 23, 2009 DirectX Support 11.0 DirectX Shader Model 5.0 OpenGL Support 4.1 GPU Clock 765.0 MHz Temperature 33 °C Core Voltage 1.088 V Crossfire Disabled Driver version 13.152.1.8000 ROPs 32 Shaders 1440 unified Memory Type GDDR5 Memory 1024 MB Bus Width 64x4 (256 bit) Pixel Fillrate 24.5 GPixels/s Bandwidth 128.0 GB/s Noise Level Moderate Max Power Draw 158 Watts Count of performance levels : 3 Level 1 GPU Clock 157 MHz Memory Clock 300 MHz Level 2 GPU Clock 550 MHz Memory Clock 900 MHz Level 3 GPU Clock 725 MHz Memory Clock 1000 MHz Count of performance levels : 1 Level 1 GPU Clock 156 MHz Memory Clock 300 MHz [/code]

[url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/6wmmQ7]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/6wmmQ7/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] [b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd9370fhhkwof]AMD FX-9370 4.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor[/url] (£151.12 @ Aria PC) [b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/url] (£23.82 @ CCL Computers) [b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-memory-ct2kit51264ba160b]Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] (£56.50 @ Ebuyer) [b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp40972kr]EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX Video Card[/url] (£258.08 @ Amazon UK) [b]Total:[/b] £489.52 [i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i] [i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-09 17:45 GMT+0000[/i]

Looks nice, though the graphics card is out of stock. Is the memory necessary? The reason it has 20 is that I dropped 2x "Crucial 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT102464BA1339" in the unused slots. I'm not sure why Speccy lists the memory as running at 668Mhz, I'll have to check out the memory tab when I get back, but possibly that can be fixed by extracting the remaining 2G sticks. [editline]9th November 2014[/editline] [code]RAM Memory slots Total memory slots 4 Used memory slots 4 Free memory slots 0 Memory Type DDR3 Size 20480 MBytes Channels # Dual DRAM Frequency 668.9 MHz CAS# Latency (CL) 9 clocks RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) 9 clocks RAS# Precharge (tRP) 9 clocks Cycle Time (tRAS) 24 clocks Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 33 clocks Command Rate (CR) 1T Physical Memory Memory Usage 11 % Total Physical 20 GB Available Physical 18 GB Total Virtual 23 GB Available Virtual 19 GB SPD Number Of SPD Modules 4 Slot #1 Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes Manufacturer Crucial Technology Max Bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Part Number CT102464BA1339.C16 Serial Number 39050000 JEDEC #4 Frequency 685.7 MHz CAS# Latency 9.0 RAS# To CAS# 9 RAS# Precharge 9 tRAS 25 tRC 34 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #3 Frequency 609.5 MHz CAS# Latency 8.0 RAS# To CAS# 8 RAS# Precharge 8 tRAS 22 tRC 30 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #2 Frequency 533.3 MHz CAS# Latency 7.0 RAS# To CAS# 7 RAS# Precharge 7 tRAS 20 tRC 27 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #1 Frequency 457.1 MHz CAS# Latency 6.0 RAS# To CAS# 6 RAS# Precharge 6 tRAS 17 tRC 23 Voltage 1.500 V Slot #2 Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes Manufacturer Crucial Technology Max Bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Part Number CT102464BA1339.C16 Serial Number 44070000 JEDEC #4 Frequency 685.7 MHz CAS# Latency 9.0 RAS# To CAS# 9 RAS# Precharge 9 tRAS 25 tRC 34 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #3 Frequency 609.5 MHz CAS# Latency 8.0 RAS# To CAS# 8 RAS# Precharge 8 tRAS 22 tRC 30 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #2 Frequency 533.3 MHz CAS# Latency 7.0 RAS# To CAS# 7 RAS# Precharge 7 tRAS 20 tRC 27 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #1 Frequency 457.1 MHz CAS# Latency 6.0 RAS# To CAS# 6 RAS# Precharge 6 tRAS 17 tRC 23 Voltage 1.500 V Slot #3 Type DDR3 Size 2048 MBytes Manufacturer Kingston Max Bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Part Number 9905458-012.A00LF Serial Number 881C0959 Week/year 10 / 10 JEDEC #4 Frequency 685.7 MHz CAS# Latency 9.0 RAS# To CAS# 9 RAS# Precharge 9 tRAS 25 tRC 34 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #3 Frequency 609.5 MHz CAS# Latency 8.0 RAS# To CAS# 8 RAS# Precharge 8 tRAS 22 tRC 30 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #2 Frequency 533.3 MHz CAS# Latency 7.0 RAS# To CAS# 7 RAS# Precharge 7 tRAS 20 tRC 27 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #1 Frequency 457.1 MHz CAS# Latency 6.0 RAS# To CAS# 6 RAS# Precharge 6 tRAS 17 tRC 23 Voltage 1.500 V Slot #4 Type DDR3 Size 2048 MBytes Manufacturer Kingston Max Bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz) Part Number 9905458-012.A00LF Serial Number 851C8959 Week/year 10 / 10 JEDEC #4 Frequency 685.7 MHz CAS# Latency 9.0 RAS# To CAS# 9 RAS# Precharge 9 tRAS 25 tRC 34 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #3 Frequency 609.5 MHz CAS# Latency 8.0 RAS# To CAS# 8 RAS# Precharge 8 tRAS 22 tRC 30 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #2 Frequency 533.3 MHz CAS# Latency 7.0 RAS# To CAS# 7 RAS# Precharge 7 tRAS 20 tRC 27 Voltage 1.500 V JEDEC #1 Frequency 457.1 MHz CAS# Latency 6.0 RAS# To CAS# 6 RAS# Precharge 6 tRAS 17 tRC 23 Voltage 1.500 V [/code]

The FX-9370 is really a poor upgrade. It's just flat out a bad processor for the money. I'd suggest this. [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/J47GVn]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/J47GVn/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] [b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690]Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] (£162.18 @ Aria PC) [b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-h97pcmate]MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] (£59.96 @ Scan.co.uk) [b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp42974kr]EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card[/url] (£275.58 @ CCL Computers) [b]Total:[/b] £497.72 [i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i] [i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-09 21:42 GMT+0000[/i]

[QUOTE=Lexic;46447924]Post[/QUOTE] Sorry, I didn't notice you already had ram. As for the build, Levelog's build is nice however if you want to stay AMD (which I assumed by your motherboard) then go with the 9370, but remember that the I5 is more powerful. either way, go for a variant of the Gtx 970

I don't have any special attachment to AMD. The stupid over-the-top mobo is because that was the only one I could find that still fitted my processor socket and had 2 pci-e x16 rails after my original one exploded.

If you're going to stick with the motherboard go with an fx 8 series. The 9 series is just not worth the money and was a massive failure. All it is is a higher binned 8 with a bumped tdp

I had a think and moving to a modern-er processor seems like a rather better use of money than upgrading a relative antique. The ports on the H97 look a bit shit though. Is this one any good? [url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K8KOR74[/url] It's a bit more expensive but it's got lots of USB3 which is good. (It also has additional PCI-E slots which I am a fan of. The H97 seems a bit silly to have two PS2 slots and 3 PCI slots.)

The reason I went for a H97 is because the Z97 allows CPU's to be overclocked (I don't know if this is what you plan on doing). and yes, that looks fine to me, go with the Z97 if you prefer it.

You can't overclock that CPU though so that feature would be pointless.

[QUOTE=Zarconite;46447695][b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd9370fhhkwof]AMD FX-9370 4.4GHz 8-Core OEM/Tray Processor[/url] (£151.12 @ Aria PC) [b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/url] (£23.82 @ CCL Computers)[/QUOTE] There is absolutely no possibility of a Hyper 212+ or Evo cooling an FX9000 series processor under load, it's liquid cooling or bust. And I don't mean those dinky 120mm radiators, it's 240 or 360mm territory. It has a TDP of 220W, and that's a [I]conservative[/I] estimate. Under a peak load, they've been known to pull near 400W, especially if further overclocked. There's no point in getting a FX9000 series processor, they're overpriced gimmicks. When all of the dust settles with getting the CPU and an adequate cooling system, you're already meeting or exceeding the cost of a better Intel processor that consumes far less power.

OK, so (I'm going with Amazon for the first two because prime) [url=www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K5J2252/]Intel i5 4690[/url] - £163.00 [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K8KOR74]MSI Z97-G55[/url] - £84.60 [url=http://www.cclonline.com/product/160730/04G-P4-2974-KR/Graphics-Cards/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-970-Superclocked-with-ACX-2-0-Cooling-4GB-Graphics-Card-PCI-E-DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort/VGA2721/?siteID=8BacdVP0GFs-K3kdgDO6UOyVzaeDbZzJig]GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked ACX Edition[/url] - £275.58 (I note CCL lacks 'superclock' in their description. Presumably PC Part Picker knows what they're on?) = £523.18 What exactly is "superclocking" though? The second HD5850 I bought is unable to run two screens without tearing because it's factory overclocked and apparently that's a thing that happens with AMD cards. Does this happen with NVidia cards too? Also, just to check, this lot will let me play Metro Last Light Redux on "ooh pretty" mode with >60 FPS, right? I do care considerably more about graphical fidelity than raw compute power at the moment, since I've not really noticed any cpu-bound (at least I assume so, FSAA/AF/Tessilation is to my knowledge GPU based) problems.

[QUOTE=Lexic;46473932]What exactly is "superclocking" though? The second HD5850 I bought is unable to run two screens without tearing because it's factory overclocked and apparently that's a thing that happens with AMD cards. Does this happen with NVidia cards too?[/QUOTE] "Superclock", "Black Edition", "Toxic 1337 edition" "MOAR POWAR111ONEE!! EDITIONS" are all the same thing, it's just the manufacturer trying to be creative telling you the card is factory overclocked from them. You're paying a price premium for the card to be factory overclocked when you can do it yourself with a normal card and pay less.

The only cards that are worth more money are top tier ones like classified (if it's the actual classy, not just on the classy pcb), lightning, ghz editions. And even then most people won't even utilize the higher grade components.

OK. Can this particular card drive two screens and will it be enough for maxing the hell out of all available graphics settings?

I'm running 2 1080p monitors on my 770 (maxed) you should have no issues with a 970