Need UPGRADE advice PLEASE??!

[redjokr]

Hey guys! I built this, budget gaming system like 2 years ago with help from this website. But now i think its time for an upgrade so I can play BF3 without a problem. I just have no clue what would be the best parts to upgrade.

I think i need a new graphics card(s). that might mean a new MoBo, this ones MicroATX . I think i want to add more RAM too. And possible a new processor. I really don't know. I just need some great ideas and suggestions lol

Case
Cooler Master storm Scout. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119196

MotherBoard
GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128405

RAM
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH

GPU
XFX GeFORCE GTX260 576M 896MB DDR3. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150329

CPU
Intel i5 quad-core i5-750 LGA1156 2.66GHz. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115215

with a ^--COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7--^

PSU
OCZ 550W Fatal1ty. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=fatal1ty

Hard Drive
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5

I was thinking at around $500 to spend but i have a feeling i might have to spend more lol

ANY advice/suggestions/ideas are much appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[wintermint]

I suggest you hold on a bit longer. Bulldozer is now being shipped but it's only for servers.. then there's AMD 7xxx too.. and then there's also Ivy Bridge [Sandy Bridge will last you for a long time] and nVIDIA Keplar in 2012. The GTX 260 isn't a bad card. Sure it uses more power and doesn't support directx11 but you should be still squeeze some life out of it. So just be patient

Oh. If you do have to upgrade, you only need to upgrade your graphic card. The i5-750 is an older generation but it's still ahead of AMD [waiting for Bulldozer], and it also won't bottleneck you. If you do upgrade to ivy bridge/sandy bridge.. you will spend at least $350 for a i5-2500k and a decent motherboard. You can hold on to those for now. I would put the money on a new graphic card but keep in mind of your 550w power supply. I would probably buy a 750w from antec or something [around $90 before MIR] and use the rest on the graphic card [amd 7xxx/nvidia keplar]

 

[geofelt]

I suggest you wait for BF3, and see how you do. Unless it is a terribly cpu intensive game, your upgrade will probably be limited to a graphics card upgrade.

 

[redjokr]

I suggest you hold on a bit longer. Bulldozer is now being shipped but it's only for servers.. then there's AMD 7xxx too.. and then there's also Ivy Bridge [Sandy Bridge will last you for a long time] and nVIDIA Keplar in 2012. The GTX 260 isn't a bad card. Sure it uses more power and doesn't support directx11 but you should be still squeeze some life out of it. So just be patient

Oh. If you do have to upgrade, you only need to upgrade your graphic card. The i5-750 is an older generation but it's still ahead of AMD [waiting for Bulldozer], and it also won't bottleneck you. If you do upgrade to ivy bridge/sandy bridge.. you will spend at least $350 for a i5-2500k and a decent motherboard. You can hold on to those for now. I would put the money on a new graphic card but keep in mind of your 550w power supply. I would probably buy a 750w from antec or something [around $90 before MIR] and use the rest on the graphic card [amd 7xxx/nvidia keplar]

Yeah idk much about bulldozer or AMD 7xxx lol. So it would be a smart idea to wait for them? Anyone know about how much longer until they will be out?

 

[MC_K7]

I think these new CPUs will be released during the course of 2012.

Totally agree with redjokr that you should wait for them because there isn't a CPU on the market right now that will offer significantly more power to what you already have (or it wouldn't be a good bang for the bucks IMHO).

I also agree with geofelt who suggested to wait for BF3 and see how it runs. If you feel it's lagging have you considered overclocking? The Core i5-750 is a more than decent CPU with plenty of overclocking headroom and you already have a CoolerMaster 212 heatsink.

By the way your current setup doesn't seem like a budget system for me, more like mid-range because I find it more than decent. The only thing you could consider upgrading and it is likely to be the first bottleneck you'll hit for new games (way before the CPU) is the video card. The GTX 260 is a good card but it's aging, if you're not satisfied with the performance in new games, try to get something like a GTX 560 TI and you should see a big performance increase.

4 GB of RAM should be sufficient for almost every games. But RAM being so cheap nowadays that if you want to upgrade to 8 GB, why not? Just make sure your OS is 64-bit otherwise it won't be able to access more than 4 GB.

Hope this helps you.

 

[redjokr]

I think these new CPUs will be released during the course of 2012.

Totally agree with redjokr that you should wait for them because there isn't a CPU on the market right now that will offer significantly more power to what you already have (or it wouldn't be a good bang for the bucks IMHO).

I also agree with geofelt who suggested to wait for BF3 and see how it runs. If you feel it's lagging have you considered overclocking? The Core i5-750 is a more than decent CPU with plenty of overclocking headroom and you already have a CoolerMaster 212 heatsink.

By the way your current setup doesn't seem like a budget system for me, more like mid-range because I find it more than decent. The only thing you could consider upgrading and it is likely to be the first bottleneck you'll hit for new games (way before the CPU) is the video card. The GTX 260 is a good card but it's aging, if you're not satisfied with the performance in new games, try to get something like a GTX 560 TI and you should see a big performance increase.

4 GB of RAM should be sufficient for almost every games. But RAM being so cheap nowadays that if you want to upgrade to 8 GB, why not? Just make sure your OS is 64-bit otherwise it won't be able to access more than 4 GB.

Hope this helps you.

I have considered overclocking but I don't know exactly how to do it, I'll probably research this and actually do it. Thanks for the response, I'll most likely look into a good video card. I don't think i could do SLI because of my MicroATX board right? not enough space

 

[redjokr]

Still open to suggestions

 

[redjokr]

What if I bought a new motherboard (not microATX) and transferred my i5-750 over. then got 2 graphics cards, maybe GTX 560's ti, with SLI? good/bad/pointless?

 

[mildgamer001]

well, if you do decide to get a new mobo, get one that would last, dont get another p55 unless you really plan on keeping your current cpu, if you got a p67 or z68 (i think that was the name i cant remember for some reason) you would have to get a new cpu, so if you do upgrade to an ATX mobo and manage to find a good p55 board, it might stuill be fairly expencive, and 2 560ti's may very well bottleneck from your cpu, i am not entirely sure, i havent really researched older core ix cpus, but it might if you sli 2 very high end and very newish cards, might jusrt be too much, and probably unnessisary, one 560 ti should do the trick.

and just a question about personal referance, why would yo uget a micr atx anyway? i hate those things, they are not very expandable and having all that extra space in the case just looks stupid to me lol.

 

[geofelt]

Sounds like you have the itch to spend $500 or so.

It makes no sense to me to pursue an older technology, or sli when a single card will do. Just my opinion.

For $400 or so, you can get a 2500K,a Z68 motherboard, 8gb of ram and a decent cooler. The remaining $100 is not enough to upgrade your graphics card.
But, the 2500K will be as good as you need for any gaming, probably for two years or more.

For $300, you can get a GTX570 to run in your current system, and you will be halfway there for the cpu upgrade later.
Or, you can use the $200 for a SSD for the os and apps.

From a performance point of view, the graphics upgrade and SSD will be immediately more satisfying.
From a longevity point of view, the 2500K will last much longer.

When you have an itch..... Scratch it!

 

[tsnor]

GTX260 is still a valuable card, check ebay. your budget may be $50-100 higher than you think.

Your current CPU will game just like an i5-2500. (The i5-2500 is faster than the i5-750 however you won't see it except for things like video rendering. Current games just don't use that much CPU.)

Dumping maybe $180 of your budget into a big video card should set you up for future. Say GeForce GTX 560 or Radeon HD 6870. You could also look at upgrading your monitor if you haven't already. A decent 24 or 30 inch monitor could be a better upgrade than MB and CPU. I love my 1920x1200 24" monitor. I use one of the funny gtx260 1.8GB cards with it and an i7-920 so our current systems probably perform much the same. With a new video card your frame rates should kill mine.

 

[redjokr]

and just a question about personal referance, why would yo uget a micr atx anyway? i hate those things, they are not very expandable and having all that extra space in the case just looks stupid to me lol.

This was my first computer build and someone suggested it to me in the build haha. I really didn't think anything of the micro part lmao...oh well, never again! >

 

[redjokr]

What kind of card do you guy recommend? I'm thinking GTX 570. But I don't think my PSU could handle it haha.

 

[tsnor]

OCZ 550W Fatal1ty with your rig can handle GTX 570. NP.

TDP of the 260 = 182W for older 65nm card, TDP of 171W for newer 55nm.

TDP of the 570 = 219W TDP,

Net additional load on your system with 570 vs 260 = roughly 40-50 watts.

You are currently peaking at the wall at less than 300 watts. I know this because my i7-920 draws more then your i5-750 and my gtx260 is about the same as your gtx 260. (If you want to verify then get a kill-a-watt meter for $20 or get a nice UPS with a display panel for around $150) http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315746548&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/APC-Back-UPS-BX1000G-1000VA-Tower/dp/B0034KO59U/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1315746579&sr=1-2 I have both of these and like both).

Heavy overclocking changes all this. Add 150 watts for video and 50 for processor and you're into new power supply territory.

 

[redjokr]

Anyone have any recommendations for a good video card? xD

 

[tsnor]

Here are suggested video cards by price range.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,2997.html

 

[redjokr]

Now im not sure if I should even buy a new gpu because of the 600 series. Aren't they going to be released around December or early 2012? I really don't want to wait LOL.. Would it be smarter to just buy a gtx560 or something cheap, then wait to buy a gtx600 series card?

 

[geofelt]

Now im not sure if I should even buy a new gpu because of the 600 series. Aren't they going to be released around December or early 2012? I really don't want to wait LOL.. Would it be smarter to just buy a gtx560 or something cheap, then wait to buy a gtx600 series card?

Price performance of computer parts keeps getting better over time. But, if you wait for the next best thing, you will wait forever.
In particular, graphics cards are very competitive. You mostly get what you pay for. Tomorrow, and the next day, you will get better performance for the same price. That is how it works.
I suggest you get what will do the job well for today, and not worry too much about tomorrow.

For what it is worth, the GTX570 needs 550w with 38a on the 12v rails plus two 6-pin PCI-E power leads.