So I'm not really sure what to do. I'm always striving to get more performance out of my pc, and with my birthday coming next week this may be the last chance I have before I really have to hunker down and save for college for me to upgrade my gaming rig. I'm looking for an upgrade between $100-$200, and I'm really open to anything. Maybe there's something that you have which has made your gaming experience a lot better, but which some people don't even know exists.
Specs so far:
FX 8350 @ 4.7ghz cooled by a Noctua NH-U14S
ASUS Sabertooth 990fx R2.0
MSI Gaming GTX 770
8gb of Corsair 1600mhz RAM
620w SeaSonic semi-modular PSU
All inside of a fractal design define r4 with two corsair high pressure fans intaking through the front, one cougar silent drawing in through the bottom, and two fractal 140m's exhausting out of the top with one cougar silent exhausting out the back.
Temps are alright but not great (so I was thinking maybe an h100i).
Framerates are great but not excellent (see CPU heavy games like DayZ).
I'm using a semi-alright Samsung 1080p monitor.
Again, I'm not just asking because I have money to blow, but rather that I, like a lot of you, spend a lot of time using my pc and take pride in it, and so I'm always trying to better it. This may be my last chance to do it for quite awhile. :/
Honnestly about the system it self, i dont see realy something to upgrade, DayZ, ARMA, are not that cpu heavy, but the arma engine is just realy bad optimized, to use multiple cores. Thats the reason why those games run better on intel, because intels per core perfomance is better. Its not your hardware, its just the realy bad codded engine of the game DayZ. and Arma
Anyway, maybe you could add an SSD, if you dont have one yet. Furter everything looks realy nice to me.
Isnt there a rule that you should have more intake fans than exhaust? Something about positive air pressure helping temps? And I agree with Angel, I think an SSD should be next.
I forgot to mention that I'm already using a HyperX 3K as my boot drive... sorry :(. As far as the intake vs. exhaust supposedly you should always have positive pressure so that you don't draw in a lot of dust (more intake than exhaust), but if you have dust filters it really doesn't matter. I'm actually thinking about selling the 990fx and 8350 and going z87.
i would keep the AMD setup. i wouldn't waste the money/time/hassle on switching to z87. i doubt you would see any difference at all. especially in games. if it aint broke, don't fix it lol
and actually, air gets in/out in many places (any hole on your pc. many in the back, bottom, 5 1/2 bays, top, side, etc) with negetive preasure, air will get sucked in from everywhere, thus bypassing filters. with possitive, you are guaranteed air is only coming in where your intakes are, which you said are filtered.
your rig seems pretty beast. i would just use that money for games lol. how are your monitor/keyboard/mouse?
Ohhhh that's why positive pressure is needed. Makes sense. I have a new Corsair m95 mouse... I'm using a samsun 24" LED monitor (not sure what model number.. it's alright). A keyboard isn't a bad idea at all, I'd love to try out Cherry reds, as I'm still using rubber domes. I also might grab new headphones :3
Yeah I've been looking at the M50X's but the M50 pricing is very good right now. I was thinking about grabbing a k95 or equivalent, also. But then again I'm also thinking about grabbing an H100i and giving my NH-U14S to my brother for when he finally gets around to building a PC. I have a case, fans and a motherboard for him.. lol he's too busy trying to buy a car.
I agree you're current rig is fine. A mechanical keyboard would be a great investment i will never be able to go back to membrane keyboards. I hear the k70 is good, I have the CM Storm Quickfire Ultimate it's great but lacks features. I have the ATH M50's best headphones i have ever had. I have no experience with the ATH M50X but i can say the prices that the M50's are selling for is a absolute steal. But other then that i really can't say you should upgrade any of you're current part's which are great. So seeing as you already have a ssd i would recommend a Mechanical Keyboard and the ATH M50's or M50X that would really enhance you're experience.