Need Upgrade suggestions

JdotH

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Aug 27, 2011
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*This is a repost as I am not sure how to move my original post to the Systems Threads*



Hi Experts,

Here's what I got (links included):
ASUS P8P67 EVO
i7 2600K (overclocked to 4.2Ghz)
Calibre GTX 480
Samsung 830 256Gb SSD (OS Drive)
2x 3Tb Seagate Barracuda HDD (storage)
8Gb Corsair Dominator GT (2x4Gb)
Win 7 64bit
Swiftech H220-X CPU Cooler
Noctua NF-P12 Case Fans
Dell 2407wfp Monitor

Here are my thoughts:

USE
The PC is used for Solidworks 3D Modeling (GTX 480 has handled it well), KeyShot 3D rendering (CPU dependent....i7 2600K does ok), and gaming (fps in my games is fine). So Im wondering where I should upgrade or if its time to consider moving to a mobo/cpu combo that have faster/more cores? So where should I spend my $ now or what should I plan to upgrade to?

Motherboard
My first gripe with the Asus P8P67 is that I cant use M.2 or NVMe SSDs with it....as a boot drive.
RAID configurations are also limited.

CPU
The i7 2600K @ 4.2Ghz has been awesome for 5 years & worth the $. Might get a faster/more cores cpu so I can decrease my rendering times & if I get a different mobo I will have to get a new cpu. 5930K?

GPU
GTX 480 is inefficient and throws heat. Im waiting for GTX 980 Ti to come out to influence current pricing on the 970 & 980. Sticking with Nvidia because their gaming cards allow me to run Solidworks/game & I like the idea of G-Sync.

SSD
Samsung 830 is ok but not terribly fast anymore (have 128 Gb free still). Wanted to move to Samsung XP941 or Intel's new 750 NVMe SSD (4x faster than current Sata III SSDs) but cant.

HDD Storage

Have 2x 3TB Seagate drives and wonder if I should get 2 more so I can RAID 10 it all for faster speeds and redundancy.

24inch Dell 2407 Monitor
This monitor has been so great for Photoshop, color accuracy & gaming....for a 2006 purchase. But it may be time to upgrade to 24inch minimum, color accurate, G-Sync & gaming fast modern monitor.

Operating System
Currently using Win7 64bit. Wondering if I should bother using Win10. Think its a requirement to use DirectX12. A big problem with moving to Win10 is Solidworks 2011 does not work with Win10. So I would have to buy a new copy of Solidworks 2015.

Thanx for reading this far....So what are you suggestions?
 

oczdude8

Distinguished
I would pretty much only upgrade the gpu and call it a day.
If the 830 is not fast enough, you can try the new 850 pro.


Obviously if u have more money to spend, go for the 5930k, with at least 16gb to aid in reducing page file usage when doing heavy computations
 

JdotH

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Aug 27, 2011
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Thanks!
Im going to wait on getting a GPU until the GTX 980 Ti comes out. Same with CPU until th enew Intels come out this summer.
Soooo Im grabbing RAM now. This actually:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231617

Im still debatng is a Samsung 850 Pro 512Gb would be a worth while $240 upgrade from my Samsung 830.
 

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
Sounds like you have it planned out pretty well, the DRAM can carry up to Broadwell as can the SSD. The monitor you could go ahead and move on also, might consider keeping old and going to a two monitor setup with the new one being the primary 'work' monitor and can keep other on the secondary monitor.
 

JdotH

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Aug 27, 2011
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Should I get the 850 Pro 512gb as a replacement to my 830 256gb?
Heres a comparison. Not sure if its really a $270 big enough difference.
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Samsung-850-Pro-512GB-vs-Samsung-830-256GB/m13381vs1387
...Or I could just get the 850 Pro 256Gb for $140 just to get the speed gains.
Looked into using a M.2 or the XP941 via an adapter or Intel's new 750 NVMe SSD.......BUT it seems my mobo is limited to Sata III.

Thoughts?