Probably time to upgrade the gaming rig, what's going to hold me back?

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thedoublej

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With Fallout 76 and BFV coming out, I've decided that my 2011ish gaming rig is due for an upgrade. Here's what I've got:
i5-2500K @ 4.0 with a 212 on top of it
16gb of 1333 DDR3
Some Asus MB - P8Z68 V LX
DD R9-290x
PSU is a good 750
Evo 850

When I built this thing, no games used more than 2 cores, and no games used virtual cores. This can't be true anymore, as BF1 uses all 4 cores at 100% How about virtual cores, do they help?

Here's what I need:
4 cores @ 4.0, an i7 seems to be recommended across the board, not sure why
16gb of RAM, probably need faster than what I have now
RX 580, probably do a 590 if the price is right. I know Nvidia better, but I do AMD GPUs. Plan on 1440 ultrawide down the road
Do I need more PSU?
If I need more CPU, than I need more MoBo. Do I need to OC, or just buy a faster chip? What about some future proofing? I like ASUS MoBos.
What's the deal with audio? I'm running a 5.1 surround system, and I've always felt it's a bit weak for pushing 500 watts at me from 3 feet away, is this crap onboard sound?

I'll probably start with the 590 over the holidays and move forward from there, as my current mobo/cpu/ram currently meets the specs I'm after, but I can't imagine that just slapping a 590 in will make a 7 year old system current.

I'll be cooling the CPU with a Dark Rock Pro 4 because it looks cool. I'm considering water on the GPU, but my HAF XB isn't really a smart design for water cooling. The rad is mounted so that it pushes hot air into the case.
 
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thedoublej

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I love Windows and Bill Gates. Got my new Vega 64, put it in, nothing. Took it out, put my 290 back in, BSOD 0xc000007b. 637,098 different answers online about how to fix it, all of them involving wonky/shady 3rd party make believe BS. Microsoft can't just do anything easy, can they?
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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With the old graphics card installed, can you get to the BIOS? If so, reset the BIOS to the defaults. If not try clearing the CMOS. Then try rebooting.

I would guess that the old motherboard needs a BIOS update to run the new graphics card.

If that doesn't help, you may try booting from a Windows 10 ISO. If that doesn't work try a fresh install of Windows 10.
 
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thedoublej

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Thanks for the ideas, I'd try them, but of course it fixed itself on the next reboot. Got the 64 in and running with fresh drivers. Tomorrow I'll get the 34" ultrawide installed and I'll be in good shape until I do the mobo/cpu/ram upgrade.
 
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thedoublej

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I ran hardware monitor while playing BFV yesterday, and the Vega 64 was screaming hot at about 185 degrees F (can't remember the C) and around 1585 on the clock. From my research, these are about the normal numbers on the high end. I'm making 65fps on Ultra according to Origin's FPS counter.

The CPU was running around 54C, and showing 100% usage on all four cores at 4050 on the clock. Prime95 generally pushes the chip into the low 60s and the voltage slightly higher than I saw while gaming.

Do you all think the old chip is still holding me back? EA recommends 4 real cores at 4.0 and 16G of ram, which I have, although it's all old. I just make that recommendation with my current processing power, and the 64 is the biggest card AMD makes right now, so I'm good there.

Should I still look to upgrade? Do I have any idea what I'm talking about or am I just making stuff up in my brain?
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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That is 85 C. I would check on the GPU fans. And use a custom fan curve to get the fans to 100% at around 70 C.

Do you all think the old chip is still holding me back?
Click to expand...

I'm sure that it probably is at least to some degree. The 100% CPU usage is just about the definition of bottle necking. I would think that the new GPU would get you higher than 65 FPS.

Upgrading the system to a better processor is still an option.
 
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thedoublej

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So here's where things get awesome. The director of my office comes through this morning and says to clean out and throw away all the crap in our small warehouse. I find a pair of HAF 912s in there with some weird stuff inside, IT guy says "take em, or put em in the dumpster". I get home and pick one apart, 7 year old AMD stuff and some weird Nvidia card. Second one, i7-4790k in a Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 with the RAM stolen out of it. I gotta research that mobo, but my chip search is over, and hopefully I can figure out what kind of RAM goes in there and swap the whole setup into my case.

Is there any such thing as RGB RAM in DDR3-1600?
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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This is the memory information for the Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 motherboard. The i7-4790K is supported by the motherboard.

4 x DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory
* Due to a Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than the size of the physical memory installed.
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Click to expand...
https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-Z97-HD3-rev-10#sp



Here is the supported memory list.


https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-Z97-HD3-rev-10#support-doc
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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Here are two sets of matched dual channel memory kits that are on the motherboard supported list. The first is 2 x 4GB 2133 MHz CL9, and the next is 2 x 8GB 2133MHz CL10 .

8GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K64285616&Description=F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL&cm_re=F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL-_-20-231-476-_-Product

or

16GB
G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-2133C10D-16GSR

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ4X83963&Description=F3-2133C11D-16GZL&cm_re=F3-2133C11D-16GZL-_-20-231-661-_-Product
 
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thedoublej

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Good information, thank you. I thought I was limited to DDR3-1600 with this setup, which has turned out to be hard to find and very expensive. I think I checked on Crucial's site and it came back with DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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I found some at 2400 MHz, but I did think that you would want to spend that much for RAM. So I dropped down to 2133 MHz which was much more reasonably priced.

But note with DDR3 the cost to benefit ratio gets worse above that. In fact I didn't go above 1866 for DDR3 memory.
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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Froth ones that I linked? I copied individual model # from the supported list and pasted the model # into the search field. The search engine must have substituted the CL9. The CL11 model is out of stock.

But different model # would be a different model of RAM. The two model # are different in that one is CL9 and the other is CL11 (latency).
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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I tried several other brands looking for a another 2 x 4GB set that was in stock. I'm not finding one. The CL9 version may be your best bet for a 2 x 4GB matched set. It just isn't the exact one on the supported list. It is a better latency. But in the event it doesn't work you can set it to CL11 to match the one on the list.
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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Yes, I think it will work for you. It is better binned memory than the one listed on the support list. And you can lower the latency if you need to.

That list is probable 5 or 6 years old, so I'm not surprised that the memory on it are out of stock.
 
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thedoublej

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No optical or coax sound output on this board, just the 5 x 1/8 plugs, which my surround system isn't setup for. Guess I need a sound card, eh?

And now nothing works. Wouldn't boot, can't get windows to reinstall, nothing. Big paperweight. I love microsoft.

Does anyone have a Dark Rock Pro 4? I was very surprised at the amount of tension required to snug the retention bracket screws. The steel portion of the brackets actually bent upwards noticeably to meet the aluminum portion. This has me nervous that I've damaged the CPU or socket now.

Pulled the cooler, everything seems fine, maybe too much thermal paste, but otherwise OK. Getting one beep on boot, which should mean everything is normal on a Gigabyte board. Out of time and patience, so I'll look at this again tomorrow.
 
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terry4536

terry4536

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As long as the system passes POST, then you are making progress.

Some CPU coolers are a real pain to mount. For example, having to compress a spring and get the threads of a screw started at the same time. And throw in being careful not to damage the motherboard if the screwdriver slips.
 
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