What components should I keep or upgrade for gaming?

[FSX-JACK]

I currently have:

cpu: i5 2500k
gpu: ati 6950 2gb
ram: 12gb corsair vengeance (2x2) + (2x4)
mobo: msi p67
HDD: WD 500gb 7200 sataIII
psu: corsair 600w
cpu cooler: corsair h60
ssd: 60gb OCZ vertex 2

i am about to start gaming on my pc, but firstly i want to upgrade a few things.

i will be playing battlefield 3, flight simulator X, far cry 3 and possibly other big titles.

firstly my motherboard - can i get a z77 motherboard and still use it with my (SB) i5 2500k?

secondly my graphics card.
I was looking at the gtx 670, especially the zotac one, it looks pretty awesome, any other suggestions?

i will be buying a new cpu cooler as i am not happy with the temps im getting with the h60. I heard air is better, any suggestions?

does my ram configuration look wrong? i have 2 x 2gb modules and 2 x 4gb modules ----- should my ram all be the same capacities, e.g 2x4 + 2x4 (4x4)?

thanks.

 

[blacknemesist]

You to start off i'd like to say that I wouldn't change anything but the GPU if your system is rather new.

Now to your questions:
-You can use a z77 mobo with a lga 1055 socket,being it sandy or ivybridge.
-The Zotac seems good although the cooling and noise are on the downside.The MSI versions are the ones I find to be better with a powerful cooler and low noise,plus the MSI afterburner utility allows great OCing.
-As for the Heatsink the Noctua D14 is a great cooler.Go for the Evo212+ if you don't need crazy high OCs.
-You ram is ok,as long as you have 4gb+4gb on dual channel,same for 2gb+2gb.

The PSU is shady,as it can be a great PSU(AX series) or a not so good psu(CX series).Please tells us the PSU model.

 

[FSX-JACK]

You to start off i'd like to say that I wouldn't change anything but the GPU if your system is rather new.

Now to your questions:
-You can use a z77 mobo with a lga 1055 socket,being it sandy or ivybridge.
-The Zotac seems good although the cooling and noise are on the downside.The MSI versions are the ones I find to be better with a powerful cooler and low noise,plus the MSI afterburner utility allows great OCing.
-As for the Heatsink the Noctua D14 is a great cooler.Go for the Evo212+ if you don't need crazy high OCs.
-You ram is ok,as long as you have 4gb+4gb on dual channel,same for 2gb+2gb.

The PSU is shady,as it can be a great PSU(AX series) or a not so good psu(CX series).Please tells us the PSU model.

Thank you for your reply.

So if I buy, say, an ASRock Extreme 4, or Asus Pro, it will work fine with the i5 2500k 1155 (I will be purchasing an Ivy bridge in the future)

I will just go with MSi for the GPU then as I prefer a cool quiet gpu.

I was looking at the evo212 and have read a lot of good things about it. Would it still work good if I OC'd to around 4.4?

And yes my RAM is setup like this

Also, what kind of fps do you think I'd reach if I upgraded to the components above and played BF3 on Ultra + 1080x1920?

Again thank you very much!

 

[Sunius]

1. Yes, but why would you want that?
2. It's a nice card. Though, I'd aim for MSI or Asus .
3. Noctua DH-14 I think is the best? Not sure on this one.

Your RAM looks fine if they are all same timings and frequencies.

Lastly, MSI afterburner works for all cards, not just MSI ones ;P.

 

[FSX-JACK]

1. Yes, but why would you want that?
2. It's a nice card. Though, I'd aim for MSI or Asus .
3. Noctua DH-14 I think is the best? Not sure on this one.

Your RAM looks fine if they are all same timings and frequencies.

Lastly, MSI afterburner works for all cards, not just MSI ones ;P.

1. Well, I was planning on buying an Ivy Bridge cpu later on, but do you think it would do me justice if I just kept my SB cpu then got a better new SB motherboard. I will mainly be gaming on it, so what will be better? Keep i5 2500k and get newer, better Sandy Bridge mobo, or buy ivy bridge mobo, then buy ivy bridge cpu later on. What will benefit me in gaming more?

2. I will probably go with the MSI vers c:

3. Will the Evo 212 or Noctua perform better than my corsair h60 - if i oc'd to 4.4?


thanks.

 

[Sunius]

1. Why would you need a new motherboard at all? Upgrading to Ivy Bridge is not worth it, it's like 5% performance increase at most. Might as well wait for Haswell.

3. Check here: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/corsair_h60/4.htm

What kind of temperatures are you getting?

 

[FSX-JACK]

1. Why would you need a new motherboard at all? Upgrading to Ivy Bridge is not worth it, it's like 5% performance increase at most. Might as well wait for Haswell.

3. Check here: http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/corsair_h60/4.htm

What kind of temperatures are you getting?

I idle at 40, and Haswell? I've not heard of this. I'll do some research.

 

[Sunius]

Haswell is the soon released (in 4 months) Intel CPU family. It comes after Ivy Bridge, and promises a huge boost in performance.

I meant load temperatures. What temperatures are you getting at load with prime95 and how much is your CPU OCed?

 

[FSX-JACK]

Haswell is the soon released (in 4 months) Intel CPU family. It comes after Ivy Bridge, and promises a huge boost in performance.

I meant load temperatures. What temperatures are you getting at load with prime95 and how much is your CPU OCed?

Under load it was about 75 maybe, but today I just under-clocked it from 4.4 to 4.2 as my computer was crashing and I came to the conclusion that it was due to heat problems. Underclocking seems to have fixed it, but I'm still idling at about 40-45.

Do you think I should just keep my motherboard, keep my cpu, and buy the gtx 670, maybe a buy a new case (I only have crappy casecom case) and buy a new cooler?

 

[HEXiT]

the system you have is pretty decent. i wouldnt bother upgrading to ivy as it will offer 4% across the board, which is hardly worth the price of a new motherboard and cpu.
as for the gfx it is perfectly adequate for todays games.
if i were you i would wait untill march 1st when nvidia release there 770gtx and then i wopuld buy that (in fact i will be buying that) other than that add an ssd of 250gig and maybe more mechanical storage... other changes dont warrant the price tag to change them out.

as for your last quaestion yes and yes the case needs to be better to offer better cooling. and a cpu cooler will work wonders. just make sure you buy a variable speed up to 2000rpm 70-100cfm fan

 

[Sunius]

75° isn't heat problems. You just had an unstable overclock.

 

[FSX-JACK]

the system you have is pretty decent. i wouldnt bother upgrading to ivy as it will offer 4% across the board, which is hardly worth the price of a new motherboard and cpu.
as for the gfx it is perfectly adequate for todays games.
if i were you i would wait untill march 1st when nvidia release there 770gtx and then i wopuld buy that (in fact i will be buying that) other than that add an ssd of 250gig and maybe more mechanical storage... other changes dont warrant the price tag to change them out.

as for your last quaestion yes and yes the case needs to be better to offer better cooling. and a cpu cooler will work wonders. just make sure you buy a variable speed up to 2000rpm 70-100cfm fan

Ok, I'll keep everything, then when the Haswell and gtx 770 components release, go for them. In the mean time, I buy new case - Was thinking Corsair C70. Looks pretty sweet.

Thanks a lot, appreciate the help