End Of The Year Upgrade Help ($700-$800)

[Grimmeh]

Hello Everyone~!

I am wanting to do an end of the year upgrade before the year 2017.

Black friday and Cyber Monday is coming up, which is a great advantage to get excellent deals for PC components (This is here so we can predict what the prices will be when it reaches either of those market deals).

However, I need your help to upgrade my system. I will take any recommendations.

My budget is around $700-$800.

My current system:

• 
  OS: Windows 10
  CPU: i5-4460
  GPU: GTX 960 PNY
  RAM: 16GB 1600MHz DDR3
  HDD: WD BLUE 1TB
  PSU: 500w EVGA 80 plus Non Bronze - However, this one has been in use nearly 3 years and has been in 2 different PCs, my old and my current.
  MOBO: H81M-E34
  CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo
  2 Monitors: 1920x1080 and 1400x900

What I want to upgrade/change:

• 
  CPU (Considering Overclocking)
  GPU (Considering a GTX 1070, as well as overclocking)
  PSU
  PC CASE
  MOBO
  CPU COOLER

Thank you all so much. I will be looking forward for solutions.

 

[13thmonkey]

get an i7-4790, and a 1070 and you'll be done for 1440p gaming at high frames. Leave mobo alone, it'll be a simple CPU swap, get a cryorg whilst you are at it.

The alternative is to go up to skylake and get new ram and mobo too.

 

[geofelt]

Keep your motherboard and replace the cpu with a I7-4790K. About $300.
You will not be able to overclock the "K" but it will be running at 4.0 stock which is a huge boost.
Your 212 evo will still do the job.
See my rant on liquid cooling at the end.

Ultra is a tier 5 cheap psu. do not use it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

Your current 500w psu should be good enough for a graphics card as good as a GTX1070 about $400.

I would plan on upgrading to a ssd for windows. It is one of the best performance upgrades you can buy.
Samsung evo 240gb will be $90.

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Doing a reasonable upgrade requires that the original build be set up for that eventual upgrade. And even then, the money is oft "better spent" doing it from the getgo.

1. For example, if you drop from 2 x 8Gb to 2 x 4GB for RAM, yes ... you can add a 2nd set of 2 x 4B but you run the risk of compatibility (even w/ exact same model)and may have to increase voltage / reduce timings. Also the CPU OC may not remain stable with 4 modules.

2. PSU - You might spend just $10 buying an SLI capable PSU.... so spending $80 for a 600 when the 750 watter is $90 as an upgrade, means a total investment of $90 for the upgrade versus jusr $10 if preparing for the upgrade on the original build. I wouldn't use either of the two PSUs that you have.

3. MoBo - This is what the system is built on .... skimping here on the original build I think is unwise as if you change that, it means wiping the OS and starting fresh. A Z series OC capable MoBo will bring you overclocking, SLI and a better audio solution for a small increase in investment.

4. GFX Cards - For the 1st time two nVidia x60s didn't outperform the x80. Two 960s don't even equal the 970.

5. Storage - The HD is about 40% as fast as what is currently available. Given the above, I think your best bet is to sell the complete system and add the income to the $800 budget.

6. Cooling - Liquid Cooling ... what kind ? Custom Liquid Loops are a wonderful thing, great for reducing system noise to inaudible levels. If you mean CLC type liquid cooling, it's a complete waste of time.

a) CLCs don't beat air coolers... H100i is 12 times louder and runs 2C hotter than a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler. The use of cheap aluminum rads means that to even get close to a decent air cooler, the fans must use an rpm that makes them scream.

b) Overclocking stops when you exceed either thermal or voltage loads. With current Intel CPUs and nVidia cards, you are just as likely to hit the voltage wall before you hit the thermal wall with a decent air cooler.

c) Most people w/ CLCs ignore the radiator manufacturers recommendations and exhaust radiator air out of the case. Rad air should always blow in... without exception. And while common sense might cause you to think that the warm air inside the case will be an issue, mounting some temperature probes will prove otherwise. In addition, I have yet to see a component with a warning label, telling me that 28C air is a bad thing and causes an issue for any component. And the other part that also gets left out when this is offered. How is this different from an air cooler ?

The air cooler uses pre-heated warm inside the case air to cool the CPU. This obviously represents a worse condition that using outside ambient air. The air cooler's 2 fans push that hot air out into the case ... how come that's not a bad thing for the components ? Example:

Ambient Air = 23C
Case Air = 28C

-The air cooler starts with 28C intake air and therefore will have less cooling efficiency than the rad with 23C
-The CPU makes the same amount of heat so the air temp inside the case regardless of what method is used.
-The air cooler's 2 fans do not change air flow in and out of the case. Rad however greatly increases the air flow thru the case; the radiators 2 fans do which means you have higher air turnover.

So while liquid cooling can offer significant advantages, increased performance with modern CPUs / GPUs will bring at best small increases in performance. Custom Loops or OLCs like the Swiftech H40 X2 will however bring better temps and much lower noise than CLCs. Just do your reasearch and make sure you are getting what you think you are getting. See results at 17:12 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivNOgQqW-M

So given what you have, I just don't see anything that's "worth keeping".

I'll put together a build for you in few minutes

 

[JackNaylorPE]

OK, I'm getting you can get $350-$400 for your old system, so say $1150 for a new build. I'm gonan go w/ white theme as it's so danged gorgeous

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($235.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Overclockable, great gaming build processor

CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Way more than you need but one of the best coolers on the market

Thermal Compound: Masscool G751 Shin-Etsu 0.5g Thermal Paste ($3.88 @ OutletPC)
One of the best out there (much cheaper than Grizzly, Gelid Extreme)... and $4

Motherboard: MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING 3X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($106.88 @ OutletPC)
Well reviewed board, good performance, nice aesthetics and still comes with ALC 1150 even at this price range

Memory: Avexir Core Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg) Quality product, previously marked to enthusiasts bit recently started offering at mainstream prices.

Storage: Seagate FireCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Has built-in SSD with boot up and gaming performance far above any mechanical hard drive

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB QUICK SILVER OC Video Card ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Not the cheapest but a great design and matching theme.

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($129.99 @ Newegg)
This was a bit of a splurge but the case is gorgeous with far above average fit and finish, built in fan hub control and LED system which you can add to

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Quality design, SLI capable

Total: $1156.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-10 11:59 EST-0500

 

[Grimmeh]

Looking great so far.

Thank you for the responses guys. Hopefully there will be more solutions in a matter of time.