Jump to content

Time For An Upgrade


Recommended Posts

So I was excited about the release of Monster Hunter World yesterday but when I started it up I found I was having a lot of stuttering. There have been a few other games that this has been the case with in the last year so I am thinking it may be time for an upgrade (particularly my CPU). My last build was in 2011 (though I upgraded my video card a few years ago). I am posting my current build below and wondering if someone might be able to suggest some upgrades? This would primarily be used for gaming. I plan to stick with the monitor for now but could see getting something 1440p in the future. If possible, I would like to reuse any components that are still capable (such as the power supply, case, etc). Realistically, my budget is probably $1000 or less.

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wXKZ9J
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wXKZ9J/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  (OC'd to 4.2GHz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler 
Motherboard: MSI - P67A-G45 (B3) ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory 
Storage: Crucial - M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card
Case: Cooler Master - HAF 922 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: OCZ - ModXStream Pro 600W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 OEM 64-bit
Monitor: BenQ - XL2411Z 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor
 

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A simple drop in upgrade to an i7 2600 or 3770 would probably solve you stuttering problems.  With today's games now taxing more than 4 cores, the hyperthreading makes a huge difference in performance consistency.   I was in the same boat as you a few years ago.  I had a 2500k, but I upgraded to a 3770k and noticed my games ran a lot smoother even on a 560 Ti, which is a lot slower than your 970.  

 

On the flip side, a total system upgrade would do you wonders as well - faster SSD, 6 or 8 core processor, and a new video card.  You would definitely be spending all of that $1000 budget to get what I would feel is a worthwhile investment, but with a more modern processor than an old i7 you will at least not have to worry about the CPU bottlenecking your system.  Old i7 processors are really the minimum requirement if you want a smooth gaming experience today, which means in the short future they will not be adequate.

 

Nvidia is set to release new video cards within a few months, so it would be wise to hold out on a video card purchase until that happens.  You would want to upgrade to at least a GTX 1070, coming from a 970, and currently those go for about $400.  So there's half your budget on just the video card, but video card prices have also been dropping on currently released cards recently, because bitcoin mining has made them expensive the last few years and now the mining craze has died down.  Perhaps Nvidia will release a $300-350 card that will offer GTX 1070-like performance.  We can only hope. 

 

  I've noticed SSD prices have also been dropping too.  

 

If you wanted to buy something today, with today's prices, I would recommend something like the following.  I'm leaving a little room under your budget in case you need to buy Windows 10, but you'll be reusing everything else from your current PC:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1800X 3.6GHz 8-Core Processor  ($239.99 @ Newegg) 
****CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - X470 Master SLI/AC ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Newegg Business) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card  ($379.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $939.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-10 14:05 EDT-0400

 

****You can get the Cooler Master Hyper 212 AM4 upgrade kit (ebay, Microcenter, wherever), then you can use your current Hyper 212+ cooler.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks so much for such a detailed response! I always feel out of my league when it comes time to upgrade anything as I am not enough of an enthusiast to keep up with what's current. It sounds like it makes sense to wait on the video card for a bit so I may just look into upgrading the motherboard, processor, memory, and perhaps adding a larger SSD.

 

With regards to Windows 10, I assume it is worthwhile to upgrade at this point? 7 has served me well for a long time but I imagine it is becoming outdated?

 

Again, I am extremely grateful for the advice!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like Windows 10 is the way to go at this point. Thanks, BlueAngel.

 

How would the following build be?

 

PCPartPicker part list | Price breakdown by merchant:

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($225.79 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $800.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-11 13:18 EDT-0400

 

I could then wait on the video card a bit to see if their prices come down when the next series comes out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of suggestions:

1)  If your PSU is from 2011, I would be tempted to replace it.  You might be OK, but it likely won't last for the life of the rest of the components

2)  Consider getting a full Windows 10 license (rather than OEM)-- you will likely be able to use it for your next build too...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, mikechorney said:

A couple of suggestions:

1)  If your PSU is from 2011, I would be tempted to replace it.  You might be OK, but it likely won't last for the life of the rest of the components

2)  Consider getting a full Windows 10 license (rather than OEM)-- you will likely be able to use it for your next build too...

 

Thanks for the advice! I think I am going to stick with the PSU for now and switch it out down the road if necessary. I did switch out to the full version of Windows 10 though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I got everything installed last night and it seems to be working well. I did have a question about XFR though. My understanding is that with the 2600x it is better to not overclock it as XFR should achieve almost the same speeds as if I were to manually do it. To utilize XFR I should not make any changes to the CPU settings, correct? What about the RAM though? The BIOS shows the RAM frequency as 2133 as opposed to 3200. Is this something I should change manually and if so, will that disable XFR?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/18/2018 at 11:38 AM, cusideabelincoln said:

It pretty much is pointless to OC. Ryzen can't go past 4.2 ghz really, which it boosts to at stock anyway.  OCing will just increase your power consumption. 

 

Changing RAM speed should not affect XFR. 

Awesome. Thanks again for all the help. Everything is working great and the stuttering issues that I had on several games are all gone! Now if I could just find more time to play said games. :cry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/20/2018 at 2:58 PM, cusideabelincoln said:

I knew the CPU would do wonders. Now just save up for up a monster graphics card. 

Given Nvidia's recent announcement, it sounds like I better start saving now. I probably will just keep an eye out for a 1070 if they start to go down in price a bit. Would that enable me to bump up to a 1440p monitor down the road?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Chest_Rockwell said:

Given Nvidia's recent announcement, it sounds like I better start saving now. I probably will just keep an eye out for a 1070 if they start to go down in price a bit. Would that enable me to bump up to a 1440p monitor down the road?

There are lots of great deal on 10-series cards right now.  I saw a 1080Ti on amazon for $530 this morning.

 

A 1070 works very well at 1440p on current games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/24/2018 at 12:30 AM, projectmayhem said:

I'm going to start buying parts for a new pc soon. I'm only going to be using a 1080p monitor so I'm not really interested in all the new stuff. Would a 1070ti suffice or is it worth trying to get a good deal on a 1080ti?

 

Edit: just saw the answer to this exact question in another thread. 

 

Yeah even a 1070 is overkill for 1080p at 60hz, I would think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

So as a quick update, I was able to purchase a Dell S2716DGR for a good price and had a question about upgrading my video card. (I currently have an EVGA - GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card.) I saw it mentioned earlier in the thread that a 1070ti could handle 1440p on most current games. I can get this EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti for $399 or I could jump to a Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2070 for $499. I'd prefer to pay less but if I can get significantly better performance for $100 more, than maybe that's worth it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...