Upgrading Build

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1

Working on upgrading my gaming PC as I've gone full on PC Gamer here recently and officially 'killed my Xbox'. I'm wondering on a few things here, so I'll try to keep it clean and simple. 

My first build here that I'm using has done a decent job of itself, but I'm wanting some more FPS and I am wanting some more power overall. 

Current Build

Athlon 2 x4 631 Quad  Stock 2.60 GHz OCed to 3.0 GHz    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103945

4 GB of RAM G-Skill  (I think these are them? I forgot what the timing and speeds were) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

ASRock Extreme 6 A75 Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157257&Tpk=a75%20extreme%206

RAIDMAX PSU  630w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152035

ASUS GTX 550 TI Fermi OCed Edition http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121435

RAIDMAX Tornado Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156223

Razer Lycosa Keyboard

Cooler Master Z3rO-G Sentiel Mouse

 

One thing I know that is holding me back on this current build is the case, which to be honest is a POS. It's flimsy and the only upside I've gained from it is the fact it's extremely lightweight for my LAN gaming sessions.

With that in mind, I'm looking into upgrading my case so I can try out a better heatsink and do some more OCing and therefore possibly eliminating my next few sets of questions.  

 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811553008
10.55" wide case, so about any CPU Heatsink could fit. I was thinking that coupled with the HYPO 2120 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

would help with keep all my things cooler, which would make the performance smoother. As it is currenly, my CPU sits at about 31-33C when idling, MB at 29C idle, and my GPU sits at about 35-40C on stock settings. 

One of my massive disappoints in this system is the GPU.. It looks so much better benchmarked than what I'm getting out of it. The card tends to get extremely hot, and with my current case that only adds to the issues of heat. Also, it tends to stutter on games if it runs above Medium graphic settings. My friend has a Radeon that is benchmarked WAY below my GTX, but he runs the exact same games on High without any FPS issues or freezing like mine. 

If the case, the new heatsink, and some thermal paste will fix most of my issues, then I'll just do that. If not, then I'm looking into doing a new build and trying to use some of the compenents of the last build to help. I'm thinking of the Intel i5-2500k because I've heard it OCs extremely well and runs crazy fast in games. But I'm in need of finding a good MB to match with it. If it all possible, I was thinking of doing a SLI combo with this current GPU, which I figured would help with FPS as well. So the MB needs at least one PCI 2.0 slot. From what I've seen the PCI 3.0 cards are extremely expensive and unless there's a massive increase in FPS I'd rather avoid them and do a SLI with another PCI 2.0 even. I currently have one HD, but I am looking into picking up another and combining them as 500GB isn't much for my music and games.

I'm also looking into new kinds of RAM best for gaming? I saw there's the new Tritons that just came out claiming to be the fastest 'DDR3 RAM'. But I know very little about RAM. 

So yeah, case suggestions (although I'll probably end up with that case listed as it's on sale as well) that are wide cases for the bigger heatsinks, MB suggestion, and card suggestions would be appreciated. And sorry for the long post. 

2

Well, the best way to get a framerate boost in terms of upgrades is getting a new GPU. The 550-Ti wasn't much of powerhouse in its day, and is less so now. An upgrade to a 7850 should bring a huge performance boost, much more so than new RAM and CPU.

Also SLI with with low end GPU's is a lot more headache than it's worth. On top of the limited performance gains, you're going to have an issue with microstuttering and the cost you're going to eat getting a second 550-Ti just isn't worth. you're much better off selling your current GPU and investing in a faster single GPU. Again, I recommend either 7850, 7870, or 7870 Tahiti LE, which ever you can afford.

The CM Hyper 212 is a tried and true value, and more than appropriate for your purposes. I don't expect any extreme overclocking on that locked CPU, but you should definetly get a boost. However, I suspect the motherboard is going to hinder that CPU's potential. I'm sure that was the issue with my OC troubles with my Athlon II x4 630.

As for PCI-e 3.0, there isn't any single GPU card that can really saturate PCI-e 2.0 16x, so unless you're planning to house a 7990 or 690, or are limited to x4 bandwidth, PCI-e 3.0 isn't worth an investment.

3

Another problem is that FM1 is a dead socket so you can't just buy a new processor to drop into your system, either.

Your case is the last thing you'd want to upgrade, even if it looks like junk.  The case is the first place you want to look to cut corners without sacrificing any performance.

Your temperatures are pretty low so I don't think a new heatsink will fix anything, either.

4

Your temperatures are pretty low so I don't think a new heatsink will fix anything, either.

The OP didn't say what his load temps are. I agree his idle temps are fine, but load temps are an entirely different animal. If he's up past 60c, then a new cooler would be in order if he wants to push his OC further. From what I've read, Llano will start throttling at 70c. My 2500k idles around 29, but can ramp up to 68c under load (granted it's OC'd to 4.5GHz).

5

My load temps of course vary. But as of right now, running World of Tanks on medium settings sets my CPU, MB, GPU all sit around 60-70C. I'm going to be getting the case and the heatsink because I want to push my OC further. I've read stories on this certain CPU getting 4.0 GHz and that's kinda why I bought it. If it's not possible or plausible for me to achieve this, I think I'll upgrade to the i5. But you're saying the CPUs and RAM don't really affect the FPS and smoothness of high performance games?

6

I suggest a Raven 3 for a new case. It's totally loaded for it's price range, and introduces new concepts to the mix. Futhermore it might hold a Havik 140 air cooler, and has dual 180mm fans on the bottom. Awesome cooling options for a awesome looking case.

7

And the 7850 is a PCI 3.0. 3.0's don't work in the PCI 2.0 slots correct?

8

All cards that are PCI gen 3 will work fine in 2. 

9

Kool alright. And my current motherboard does offer Crossfire, but not SLI. So what are some of the higher grade cards on the Radeon side? I know nothing about them. Not top of the line, but possibly between Mid-High grade.

10

There is the 77XX series and the 78XX. They are quite good and really inexpensive. 

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This would be a helpful tool if you're familiar with nVidia cards.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

The 7850 is about on par with the 660 and 570, and can overclock like a beast. With unofficial OC, you push it to 1200MHz or perhaps greater up from the origina 860MHz.

For the MSI R7850 Power Edition we open up AfterBurner and free the card up from TDP restrictions first, so all the way up moves the Power Control settings slider towards 20%.

Overclocking wise the card will allow itself to be clocked to roughly 1200 MHz on the core and that's with a tiny bit of voltage tweaking (1.2V on the GPU). Memory can be boosted as well, just max it out at 5800 MHz.

Our card's AMD restriction was locked at 1050 MHz, so we had to use the unofficial overclocking trick to unlock the card to be able to pass 1050 MHz.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_hd_7850_power_edition_oc_review,21.html

And AMD just had a driver release that gives a rather large performance boost (10-20%) in BF3 and Far Cry 3 and smaller performance gains amongst several other games.

 

12

Alrighty, I'll be looking into those then. So.. Order of the upgrades.... Case, Heatsink, RAM, GPU, and CPU/MB if later on wanted. Kool kool. Now I have some goals xD Does anyone have any expierence with the Cougar cases? I am really liking it, but hesitant since it's a 3rd party. My last few products that were 3rd party were nearly as good or durable as I would've hoped (Power A, RAIDMAX, and Mad Catz).

13

A good rule of thumb when upgrading, if you're going to buy a lot of stuff, in this case you're practically buying a new computer, then it is recommended that you save you're money and buy mostly everything at the sametime because of the ever changing prices of computer equipment and deals. However, I'm an impluse buyer and fall victim to buying anything I can the instant I have the money. Just a suggestion.

14

Well I suffer from the same thing Plan B. I impulsed bought my PC to have it in time for TOR. So that's why I wanted to space things out a bit. Find exactly how things work together and what suits my needs more.

Someone above said the motherboard would hold me back from OCing the Athlon?  

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And because I know with the OCing, the CPU won't last as long. Which will perform better for gaming? The i5-2500k or the Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition? I know it's the whole Intel vs AMD thing.

16

need upgrade budget

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lol, I also kind of impulse bought my P.C in time for TOR. Took a loan out for it, then I ended up hating that game.