New components for gaming

[Jarchris]

Hi all,

I want to upgrade my GPU and CPU because they are starting to get old to run new games (like Witcher 3 and GTA V) and I'd love to run these on max settings. I currently have a XFX 6870 and a Phenom X4 965. I was thinking about getting a GTX 970 (not sure what brand yet, so advice on this is welcome too!) and a i5-4690k. Replacing my AMD CPU with an Intel one means I've to replace my motherboard too. For this I was looking at the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X- Gaming 5.

Now I have a few questions:

Are the new GPU, CPU and motherboard I just mentioned compatible with my other hardware? I currently have a Sharkoon Rebel9 Pro window as case, a OCZ ModXStream-Pro Power Supply (600) and the Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B as CPU cooler. Is the latter still fine? Because a new CPU cooler isn't that expensive anyway.

Maybe this one is pretty hard to anwer. I'm wondering how long I can go on with the mentioned GPU and CPU, playing games on at least medium/high settings. And how long will I be able to max out games on 30+ fps?

If you have any other suggestions for a new GPU, CPU or motherboard please let me know too!

Thanks in advance.

 

[TechyInAZ]

All your components will work fine with the new hardware.

You should be able to max out games at 1080P for around 2 years, then if you SLI it should last around 3-4 years.

 

[spapastam]

Why don't you just buy the GTX970 and see how your favorite games run with it? Then you can decide if it's worth upgrading mobo and CPU.

 

[maddogfargo]

Why don't you just buy the GTX970 and see how your favorite games run with it? Then you can decide if it's worth upgrading mobo and CPU.

I would start here. Most modern games are GPU heavy.

Have you overclocked the Phenom II x4 965? 3.8-4.0GHz should be reachable with good motherboard, power and cooling. If I recall correctly, Phenom II CPUs do 6 IPC as opposed to FX CPUs 4 IPC, so it's still a decent gaming CPU on the AMD side.

 

[Jarchris]

Why don't you just buy the GTX970 and see how your favorite games run with it? Then you can decide if it's worth upgrading mobo and CPU.

Hmm yeah I might do this. But I saw that for some new games my CPU is already listed in the minimum system requirements. And I'm afraid my CPU will be a bottleneck for maxing out then.

 

[Jarchris]

Why don't you just buy the GTX970 and see how your favorite games run with it? Then you can decide if it's worth upgrading mobo and CPU.

I would start here. Most modern games are GPU heavy.

Have you overclocked the Phenom II x4 965? 3.8-4.0GHz should be reachable with good motherboard, power and cooling. If I recall correctly, Phenom II CPUs do 6 IPC as opposed to FX CPUs 4 IPC, so it's still a decent gaming CPU on the AMD side.

Nope I didn't overclock my Phenom II X4 965 yet. I have a ASRock 970 Extreme4 as motherboard at the moment. My power supply and cooling fan are mentioned in my original post. Are these good enough to overclock it? I don't have any experience with overclocking to be honest.

 

[Jarchris]

All your components will work fine with the new hardware.

You should be able to max out games at 1080P for around 2 years, then if you SLI it should last around 3-4 years.

Thanks for your reply. That's a pretty long time then, I especially picked a motherboard that is SLI compatible.