Upgrading my rig, advice greatly appreciated!

[samb335]

Hey guys,

So I recently built my first gaming PC and I really love it, however I'm coming to the point now where I'd like to upgrade a few parts, price isn't generally an issue, but I'm thinking slightly higher price range than I have, nothing overkill like a Titan Z or whatever.

This is my current build:

CPU: 4790k 4ghz
GPU: Asus GTX 970 STRIX OC
MOBO: Gigabyte Z97x SLI
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Memory: 12GB Corsair Vengeance Pro (1600)
HDD: WD Black 1TB
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120gb
PSU: EVGA Supernova 705W 80+ Gold

So I love the 970, however with the recent info about not being able to properly utilise the last 0.5gb of VRAM and the incorrect ROP units etc being represented when it was first released I have decided to return it and get a 980 (same type - ASUS Strix). in a few months I will probably buy another for 2 way SLI, I think this is the best move in terms of GPU, what do you think?

I also wanted to upgrade my cooler, I was thinking the H80i?
Do I need to upgrade my RAM? If so, is G Skill RipjawsX a good option? Realistically though, I only game, no high end editing etc.

Anything else you guys think I should change/upgrade let me know.

And so this leads me on to the reason I am wanting to upgrade, at the moment I am running a 22" tv/monitor that only goes up to 59hz (1080p) and a 32" 1080p as my second monitor, these are literally just monitors/tvs we had around the home. I want to go triple monitor setup and get completely new monitors. I was thinking when I get the second 980 I would be able to run a single 4K surrounded by 2x high end 1080p monitors, all IPS 60hz. If not, how about a single 1440p and 2x 1080ps? This would not be for surround gaming, this would be purely for the monitor space, the gaming would of course be on the 1440p or 4k display.

For 4k I'm not sure whats the best to get

If you guys think I should go 1440p I was thinking: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ViewSonic-VP2770-LED-Widescreen-Resolution-Professional/dp/B00906HNZU

And for the 1080ps I was thinking: http://www.amazon.co.uk/MX279H-Widescreen-Multimedia-SonicMaster-Technology/dp/B00A4K9KBQ

Sorry for the extremely long post to ask for help with my rig, I know there are more important things in this world to assist with, but if anyone glances at this post, any help would be appreciated because it's driving me nuts and I don't know what to get!

Thank you so much!

Sam

 

[CTurbo]

I would just drop in a second 970 and call it a day. Two 970s costs only $100 more than one 980. The 980 is way overpriced. The 970 is still a GREAT card despite what you have read. If you are unhappy with it's performance, and don't want to get another, the new AMD 300 series will be out soon, and if nothing else, should drop the price of the 980 a little.

You could use a ssd. I wouldn't bother with a better cooler. You are literally talking a couple hundred mhz improvement over the 212 Evo.

 

[Epsilon_0EVP]

I wouldn't go with the dual 980's. They cost a lot of money, and the difference to other options is minimal. Getting another 970 might require you to lower some settings due to the VRAM difference, but in the end that setup costs about half as much. Another perfectly valid option is a 295X2, which is also noticeably cheaper than dual 980's for an experience only a few fps lower at high resolutions in most cases.

The 212 EVO shouldn't need to be replaced, but the H80i is a good cooler overall, so you could get it if you wanted. I don't think that's the most important upgrade, though, and I'd hold off on it for now.

The RAM should also be fine. A 12GB setup is weird nowadays, but it shouldn't cause any issues. Most people find 8GB to be more than enough for gaming, so I wouldn't worry about it unless you also expect to do video/photo editing or other heavy RAM usage tasks.

As for monitors, they're a very personal choice, so I can only suggest opinions. I'd go with a 1440p screen for the middle screen, since 4K is still too hard to run well with modern graphics cards, so it's not really worth the extra PPI for me. Besides, there are very nice 1440p IPS displays much cheaper than 4K IPS displays. Furthermore, I'd consider one of the ultrawide 3440x1440p monitors that have been appearing recently. They seem to be close to the dimensions you want, but with only one monitor.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Why do you have 12 gigs of ram and not 16.

 

[samb335]

Why do you have 12 gigs of ram and not 16.

I originally had 8gb, and bought another, however I didn't realise it was 2x4gb. My friend had one of them from me because I owed him some money and it was just easy, and the other stick I just whacked in my rig. Bit of a weird scenario but yeah thats how it ended up that way!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

IF YOU HAVE it in matching pairs in will run in Dual channel mode.

 

[samb335]

I would just drop in a second 970 and call it a day. Two 970s costs only $100 more than one 980. The 980 is way overpriced. The 970 is still a GREAT card despite what you have read. If you are unhappy with it's performance, and don't want to get another, the new AMD 300 series will be out soon, and if nothing else, should drop the price of the 980 a little.

You could use a ssd. I wouldn't bother with a better cooler. You are literally talking a couple hundred mhz improvement over the 212 Evo.

Yeah, well that's why I was thinking of getting 1 980 now and then getting another in a few months when I have a bit more cash. And besides, I'm getting a full refund for the 970. I dunno, sometimes I play games and with the 970 maxed out on my 22" 1080p display I get stuttering or sometimes low frames, this happens rarely but I just feel like I need more. I've configured everything in Manage 3d settings globally and for the specific games, I have Geforce experience and my computer is in highest performance mode in terms of power usage in system settings.

 

[samb335]

IF YOU HAVE it in matching pairs in will run in Dual channel mode.

Oh I see, does having an 8gb stick and a 4gb stick cause any issues or decrease performance at all? If the type of RAM I have is okay then I was thinking of just buying another 8gb stick and calling it a day, so yeah that would be 20gb

 

[samb335]

I wouldn't go with the dual 980's. They cost a lot of money, and the difference to other options is minimal. Getting another 970 might require you to lower some settings due to the VRAM difference, but in the end that setup costs about half as much. Another perfectly valid option is a 295X2, which is also noticeably cheaper than dual 980's for an experience only a few fps lower at high resolutions in most cases.

The 212 EVO shouldn't need to be replaced, but the H80i is a good cooler overall, so you could get it if you wanted. I don't think that's the most important upgrade, though, and I'd hold off on it for now.

The RAM should also be fine. A 12GB setup is weird nowadays, but it shouldn't cause any issues. Most people find 8GB to be more than enough for gaming, so I wouldn't worry about it unless you also expect to do video/photo editing or other heavy RAM usage tasks.

As for monitors, they're a very personal choice, so I can only suggest opinions. I'd go with a 1440p screen for the middle screen, since 4K is still too hard to run well with modern graphics cards, so it's not really worth the extra PPI for me. Besides, there are very nice 1440p IPS displays much cheaper than 4K IPS displays. Furthermore, I'd consider one of the ultrawide 3440x1440p monitors that have been appearing recently. They seem to be close to the dimensions you want, but with only one monitor.

I've responded to the RAM and GPU things in similar comments, but yeah I was going for 3 monitors because I stream and its easier to manage everything, but I'll take a look into that thank you! Yeah, I was thinking a 1440p would be safer than a 4k currently. Okay, yeah definitely, well the H80i will probably be another upgrade I'll make at some point then cheers!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Not really a noticeable difference in speed , but it would run a little faster.

 

[CTurbo]

There's still no way I would pay $550 for a single 980 when the 290x are $279-299 all the time.