• Really want to give building a PC a try. Worth upgrading?
    33 replies, posted
I've wanted to build my own PC for a long time and with all of the great games being released this year, it seems like a nice moment to upgrade. [b]Current specs[/b] CPU: [i]Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40 Ghz[/i] RAM: [i]4.00 GB DDR2 @ 399 Mhz[/i] Motherboard: [i]ASUSTeK Benicia[/i] GPU: [i]ATI Radeon HD 4890[/i] Hard-drive: [i]2 x 488 GB Seagate ST3500630AS[/i] PSU: Delta DPS-460DB (385W) [img]http://images.overvprojects.nl/pc.jpg[/img] I'd like to build a PC that is easy to upgrade part by part, which I had a hard time doing in this cramped prebuilt case. I spent a nice long afternoon getting the 4890 to fit in the case (It originally came with an 8800 GT, which melted at some point.) Is it a good idea to start over or are there parts that I should definitely reuse? Is it worth it to upgrade at all? I currently have a budget of 800 euros, but that can be increased to about 1100 euros if that's really necessary. I'd like to max out recent games and have a reasonable amount of raw computing power. Finally, what parts should I go for? Single card or SLI/CrossFire? 4 GB RAM or more? DDR2 or DDR3? SSD? A new card or continue with the 4890? [sp]P.S. I have the feeling my 4890 is severely bottlenecked by my CPU, shows just how much I know about hardware.[/sp]
Definitely do a total system overhaul. No need for SLI or crossfire at the moment, definitely need a new case. Current generation Intel CPU's natively support DDR3, an SSD will only really increase boot times and install times (I find that installing windows updates is a lot quicker). As for raw computing power, the i5 2500k is arguably the best bang for your buck CPU on the market at the moment, while providing a ton of power. It comes clocked at 3.4Ghz, and is quad core, although it lacks the hyperthreading feature of the i7 series. There is incredible over clocking potential on the i5 2500k, this may serve you well in the future as a last ditch attempt to get a few more months of performance out of your pc, or just for more power in general whenever you can be bothered overclocking. CPU: Intel i5 2500k RAM: 8GB of DDR3 (1333 to 1600Mhz), Graphics Card: GTX570 or HD6970, Power supply: Corsair AX750 Case: Corsair 650d SSD: 60GB ocz vertex 3 Storage: 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint f3, Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68-UD4. I'm not sure as of the total price in euros, but in Australian dollars it comes to $1559, which using currency conversion is 1177 EUR. Note that the price doesn't include an operating system. IF that is too much, you could definitely settle on a different case, based on your personal preference, or a less powerful graphics card and a cheaper power supply, however I've found corsair power supplies to be incredibly reliable.
NEVER start with SLI first. And I can reccomend using an SSD as primary drive. But that system Srador posted will do you great. Would go for the GTX 570 and 4,6 or 8 GB Corsair Dominator ram. [editline]7th September 2011[/editline] Oh, and you might wanna go with a really " big " PSU. I found out the hard way, that when you upgrade, you're also going to need a bigger PSU. I have a 1000 watt PSU, so I don't waste more money on a new PSU when I buy another 570 or a bigger card.
[QUOTE=ItWasNiceToKnow;32168736]NEVER start with SLI first. And I can reccomend using an SSD as primary drive. But that system Srador posted will do you great. Would go for the GTX 570 and 4,6 or 8 GB Corsair Dominator ram. [editline]7th September 2011[/editline] Oh, and you might wanna go with a really " big " PSU. I found out the hard way, that when you upgrade, you're also going to need a bigger PSU. I have a 1000 watt PSU, so I don't waste more money on a new PSU when I buy another 570 or a bigger card.[/QUOTE] overpriced RAM, why would you get 6GB with dual channel and why 1000W when 570 sli is completely fine with a good 750W
Because you're not sticking with a 570 sli all your life. Let me put it this way. You can buy a 2 seat car now, where you only need 2 people in the car. But in a year, you need to be 4 people in the car. Why would you get the 2 seater car when you can get the 4 seater for a little more? [editline]9th September 2011[/editline] I'm talking from own experiences, sure, buy a 750 watt now. But you're going to upgrade it later, and then you'll need a bigger PSU, then you have a 750 watt PSU for no use, and you can sell it for half the price. I'm giving advices to not waste money, not flaming.
1000w is complete overkill.
-nvm-
[QUOTE=ItWasNiceToKnow;32195903]Because you're not sticking with a 570 sli all your life. Let me put it this way. You can buy a 2 seat car now, where you only need 2 people in the car. But in a year, you need to be 4 people in the car. Why would you get the 2 seater car when you can get the 4 seater for a little more? [editline]9th September 2011[/editline] I'm talking from own experiences, sure, buy a 750 watt now. But you're going to upgrade it later, and then you'll need a bigger PSU, then you have a 750 watt PSU for no use, and you can sell it for half the price. I'm giving advices to not waste money, not flaming.[/QUOTE] Your advice is pretty bad, though. You will probably not "ever" (the system will be obsolete anyhow) find a single card solution taking up more power than GTX 570 SLI. Even though you might need more than two seats in the future, it doesn't help when the engine's going it's own way, and the tires are falling off. If it wasn't clear in srador's post, you should probably get some aftermarket cooling as well.
[QUOTE=ItWasNiceToKnow;32195903]Because you're not sticking with a 570 sli all your life. Let me put it this way. You can buy a 2 seat car now, where you only need 2 people in the car. But in a year, you need to be 4 people in the car. Why would you get the 2 seater car when you can get the 4 seater for a little more? [editline]9th September 2011[/editline] I'm talking from own experiences, sure, buy a 750 watt now. But you're going to upgrade it later, and then you'll need a bigger PSU, then you have a 750 watt PSU for no use, and you can sell it for half the price. I'm giving advices to not waste money, not flaming.[/QUOTE] You'll never need 1000W though, unless you're dumb and get two MARS or whatever. Every generation of hardware not only increases performance, but increases performance for less power consumed.
Get 8GB RAM since RAM is as cheap as bread nowadays. Don't bother with SLI or Crossfire since single cards can do enough, unless you really have money to burn and an absurdly large monitor setup. I'd actually recommend you to wait for the HD79xx series later this year. The HD4890 is still a powerful card, even with the games that are coming this fall. [editline]11th September 2011[/editline] Also where the hell did my avatar go.
[QUOTE=srador;32163845]CPU: Intel i5 2500k RAM: 8GB of DDR3 (1333 to 1600Mhz), Graphics Card: GTX570 or HD6970, Power supply: Corsair AX750 Case: Corsair 650d SSD: 60GB ocz vertex 3 Storage: 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint f3, Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68-UD4[/QUOTE] I asked my uncle about these specs and he recommended me the following: [b]RAM:[/b] A brand like Kingston. I currently have [i]Transcend 8GB DDR3 Dual/Triple Channel Kit (JM1333KLN-8GK)[/i]. IIs Transcend a proper brand or should I choose something different? [b]Graphics Card:[/b] Asus ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5 [i]Because NVIDIA cards have a better OpenGL performance and support CUDA, which is used a lot more than ATI's equivalent.[/i] [b]Power supply:[/b] Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 [i]The Corsair AX750 is very expensive and is a bit too powerful for a system like this.[/i] [b]Case:[/b] Cooler Master HAF 922 [i]Because the Corsair 650D is expensive and this case is just as good. I do not agree with this decision because investing in a proper case is an important decision. Besides, it's ugly as hell.[/i] [b]SSD:[/b] OCZ Vertex 3 120GB [i]Because 60 GB is too small for Windows 7 64-bit with a few programs. I got the additional suggestion never to use hibernate for the many read/write cycles. I'm not entirely sure about this one.[/i] With the above stuff I end up at 1.105,15 euros. What's your comment on the suggestions?
The graphics card suggestion is indeed a good one. Nvidia does play better with OpenGL. Alternatively you could get a [url=http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/282241/crucial-m4-ct128m4ssd2-128gb.html#tab:info]Crucial m4[/url] as SSD. It uses Intel's memory controller which is apparently more reliable than the Sandforce chips powering OCZ's SSDs. [url=http://tweakers.net/reviews/2284/crucial-m4-koning-onder-de-ssds.html]Nice review[/url] to back it up.
Your Uncle's pretty much right. The HAF 922 and 650D are both insanely good quality, just your choice of looks. You'll want 750w/850w if you want to be able to SLI your graphics card for a cheap performance boost later on.
[QUOTE=SataniX;32232990]Your Uncle's pretty much right. The HAF 922 and 650D are both insanely good quality, just your choice of looks. You'll want 750w/850w if you want to be able to SLI your graphics card for a cheap performance boost later on.[/QUOTE] Alright, then this is pretty much my final setup: [img]http://images.overvprojects.nl/SS-2011-09-11_14.25.45.png[/img]
Just bear in mind the ENGTX570 DCII is triple slot.
Just get the cheapest GTX 570 (Yeah, I mean get the one with the best value. By all chance you won't need a triple slot cooler, and if you're doing SLI later on, it might actually be more effective with a smaller one). The 750W is for SLI obviously, and just go for the cheaper 1333MHz DDR3 RAM. What site are you using?
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;32234016]Just get the cheapest GTX 570 (Yeah, I mean get the one with the best value. By all chance you won't need a triple slot cooler, and if you're doing SLI later on, it might actually be more effective with a smaller one). The 750W is for SLI obviously, and just go for the cheaper 1333MHz DDR3 RAM. What site are you using?[/QUOTE] I disagree with the RAM choice because of the minimal difference in price (7 euros). I also think 700W may be enough for now, but not for what the near future will bring. For the graphics card, I'm now considering these two: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Superclocked Asus ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5 I can get both for exactly the same price, so I think I'm going for the EVGA. The triple slot cooler is overdoing it and that difference of +/- 10 degrees is not an issue for me. I'm using [url=http://www.tweakers.net]this site[/url], but it's in Dutch.
Just make sure the Cooler Master PSU is good. My 650w powers my 2500k and 6870, but is loud under load.
After reconsideration I decided to go for the 700W one anyway.
i would actually go for the 750w one unless there's a significant price difference between the two, because it's always nice to have a little upgrade room just in case
-nvm-
[QUOTE=Overv;32409411]I feel incredibly dumb for asking this and that's most probably justified, but what do I do with these pins? They prevent me from inserting the motherboard completely, it fits fine without the finishining. [/QUOTE] Just push the motherboard in place those pins won't break it or anything as they're suposed to be there.
-nvm again, I should have looked up more about this beforehand-
[QUOTE=Overv;32232120] [b]SSD:[/b] OCZ Vertex 3 120GB [i]Because 60 GB is too small for Windows 7 64-bit with a few programs. I got the additional suggestion never to use hibernate for the many read/write cycles. I'm not entirely sure about this one.[/i][/QUOTE] Lol no, and yes never use hibernate
[QUOTE=Overv;32234795]I can get both for exactly the same price, so I think I'm going for the EVGA. The triple slot cooler is overdoing it and that difference of +/- 10 degrees is not an issue for me. I'm using [url=http://www.tweakers.net]this site[/url], but it's in Dutch.[/QUOTE]I'd take EVGA brand over anything anyday. They make their cards look sexy, and I also love the customer support that they give, pure amazing. My EVGA 680i is still pushing strong after 5 years. Pure quality.
Just so you guys know, I already built the PC.
Yeah, if you are going to buy an ssd I would suggest getting 120+. 60 is to small to run the operating system on.
FurMark reports a max temperature of 84 degrees Celsius for my graphics card, that's perfectly normal, right? It's at a stable 81 now.
Yeah, in furmark that's pretty normal. [editline]22nd September 2011[/editline] I recommend downloading MSI Afterburner, though, for overclocking and fan regulation.
[QUOTE=ZachPL;32419008]Yeah, if you are going to buy an ssd I would suggest getting 120+. 60 is to small to run the operating system on.[/QUOTE] I've been running a 64gb SSD with Windows 7 64 pro for like 3 months now. It's fine assuming you're smart about moving stuff over to your storage drive.
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