What to upgrade?

[BrutalLemon]

Hi, first post on these forums, hopefully you guys can help me somehow.
These are my specs;
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.20GHZ Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H RAM: 8GB Graphics Card: GTX 660Ti Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
I want to upgrade in July for the coming onslaught of games in Summer and Winter. Some of these games are brutal on PCs and I wondered how to future proof my PC. I know abit about graphics cards and RAM but when it comes to processors and motherboards, power supplies etc.. I don't know jack. Also, I don't know if water-cooling is that important for gaming?
Any help and suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 1272578]

You don't really need to upgrade but if you want higher fps get a R9 280X or better.

 

[swifty_morgan]

don't upgrade the platform until next year. new stuff is coming. ( new cpu's ).

 

[maddogfargo]

Your motherboard is holding you back. Basic chipset features and voltage regulator has no cooling.

I'd suggest something like a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P

I probably sound like a skipping record recommending this board so much. But is had 8+2 phase power regulator, a great overclocking BIOS and LLC, as well as support for up to an FX 8350. Some 990 features for a 970 price.

With that board, good power supply and a good CPU cooler, like a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, you can OC your 1090T quite nicely.

I've had a 1090T at 4.0 GHz drive 2 x Radeon HD 7950's in crossfire on a 990FX board (* 970 boards not good for crossfire) and max Crysis 3 with 2x SMAA 1080P in the 40-60 FPS range. CPU and GPUs all at 90% or higher usage under load so no bottlenecks in a well-threaded game.

Pair that CPU with a good board, good power, good cooling and a good GPU like the 280 that TheRealHebarb mentions and you should be good for high settings in most games, maybe even a few at ultra.

 

[maddogfargo]

don't upgrade the platform until next year. new stuff is coming. ( new cpu's ).

^ This ^ Is also a good idea if you can stand to wait.

 

[BrutalLemon]

You don't really need to upgrade but if you want higher fps get a R9 280X or better.

Thanks for the reply, I have been looking at the £200-£300 range of GPUs so that is a good choice. Would you recommend AMD over Nvidia then?

 

[BrutalLemon]

don't upgrade the platform until next year. new stuff is coming. ( new cpu's ).

Thanks for the reply, that is a good idea. Not just new stuff, price drop on slightly older stuff But...Far Cry 4 at 60fps....

 

[BrutalLemon]

Your motherboard is holding you back. Basic chipset features and voltage regulator has no cooling.

I'd suggest something like a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P

I probably sound like a skipping record recommending this board so much. But is had 8+2 phase power regulator, a great overclocking BIOS and LLC, as well as support for up to an FX 8350. Some 990 features for a 970 price.

With that board, good power supply and a good CPU cooler, like a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, you can OC your 1090T quite nicely.

I've had a 1090T at 4.0 GHz drive 2 x Radeon HD 7950's in crossfire on a 990FX board (* 970 boards not good for crossfire) and max Crysis 3 with 2x SMAA 1080P in the 40-60 FPS range. CPU and GPUs all at 90% or higher usage under load so no bottlenecks in a well-threaded game.

Pair that CPU with a good board, good power, good cooling and a good GPU like the 280 that TheRealHebarb mentions and you should be good for high settings in most games, maybe even a few at ultra.

Thank you for your in-depth reply. Since e3 i've been wracking my brain trying to decide what to upgrade.

I was kinda hoping somebody would mention the motherboard. It's possibly the only thing I haven't upgraded since first buying all the components. Is it right the Gigabyte board you mentioned only supports 3GB of RAM though? Sorry i'm if i'm being stupid, I know nothing about Mboards

What wattage PSU would you recommend to use in a system like the one you mentioned?

I've never had SLI or Crossfire, is it really as good as it sounds?

Cooling wise in general as an overclocker, do you recommend water cooling cases? I'm looking at cases as my one is a-bit dodgy on the start-up and some water-cooled cases aren't too bad price wise.

Sorry for all the questions but thank you and everyone so far who has replied, it's all a big help as I have no-one else to talk to about upgrading apart from going into a shop.