I'm thinking of upgrading pretty soon. Currently I'm running an old 2.4GHz quad core Intel Kentsfield architecture with an Nvidia 8800GT with a 750 watt PC Power and Cooling power supply and it still holds up to most things pretty well. I'm wondering if I'm better off just tossing in another video card or upgrading entirely. Ideally, I'd like to be able to run GW2 on full spec, and I'm thinking if I toss in a modern video card in my spare PCI-E port that might do the trick. Is it possible to use my 8800GT in tandem (not SLI mode, obviously) with, say, a GTX680 or something equally badass? My only concern is that my computer already runs plenty hot and another video card might cause it to catch fire (I had a Cyrix once!). I think I've probably got enough wattage out of the power supply to do it though. Probably. Alternately, I'm wondering if it would be better to get a new setup using a Sandybridge processor with an Ivy compatible motherboard. The Sandy would be much cheaper once the Ivy comes out and I don't think the CPU performance is that big a deal for games. The Ivy does have an internal GPU that is probably better than my old 8800; but I'd rather keep it on the cheap if possible, and I don't think it would make a difference if I didn't use the internal GPU anyway. Do you think it would be a better idea to upgrade fully and go with a Sandy chip rather than an Ivy to save some $$$? Finally, do you think it would be best to go all out and upgrade to a new Ivy chip and overclock the f*ck out of that low-power SOB? I've heard rumors of people cranking up the clock speed beyond 7GHz on those things. Yikes. Still, I'm wary about buying a "tick" and not a "tock".
Your CPU will bottle neck any current GPU you throw at it. You will need to upgrade the whole system to get the most benefit out of your parts. They all neef to work well together. A good z68 system with a current mid to high end GPU will play most games at good settings at 1080 or 1200. Whats your budget?
I can space out the upgrade for awhile (just buy parts as I have the cash and put the whole thing together later...that's what I did with my current system) and hold off until I have enough cash, but there's no way I'm spending more than $3,000 on a computer. I bought my last one in 2008 so it's probably time for an overhaul and I don't mind putting in a fair bit of cash. I'd like to keep it under $1,500 if possible...but the argument about having something that will last me 4 years or more is valid, so if it's something to add longevity then I might spend more. Fortunately; I don't need to buy another monitor, so that's a bit of a savings. I can probably sell my old system to a friend of mine (who is very cheap and refuses to buy anything new at all) for a couple hundred bucks to save some cash. This old Kentsfield may not be a spring chicken, but it muscles through pretty much anything I've thrown at it without too much problems, so he might be willing to buy it for a bargain basement price. Alternately, I have a friend with a 9800GT video card who might want to Hybrid SLI my 8800GT...but that's a pretty complicated thing, I think. Z68 is a sandybridge chipset, right? I wonder if it might be good to cheap out on the processor and get a higher-end sandy once the ivy launches (unless the price difference is negligible, which it might be) then pair it with a top quality video card.
I've haven't done my research on the x79 systems yet, just because I've been so busy. But you can get a great machine for $1,500. Hell, even at $1,000. If you wanted some future proofing for Ivy (whenever that will launch) then you'll want to go ahead and grab a x79 motherboard that will be ready for Ivy when it comes out. Again, I haven't done my research. I'm a x58 / z68 man myself lately. But the key thing to take away is, if you just upgrade one component of your "old" machine, its not going to matter because the rest of your system can't keep up with the new hardware. I'm saying this in regards to just slammin' a 680 in your currrent machine. You're not really going to notice much. For example, back in the day when I had my Pentium D system, I couldn't run Age of Conan when it came out - so I just thought I would get the latest and greatest graphics card at the time (The 8800gt) and everything would be fine. So I got it, got home, installed it, and there was NO change - cause my CPU and rest of my system wasn't letting my GPU breathe. You honestly don't need a 680, although it is very nice and new - and if you are sold on it, I would wait for the 4GB VRAM models to come out (eVGA has one coming out soon) if you ever plan to play at high resolutions or surround. There's lots of folks on here who have parted out new builds and folks like Enigma and Hays have built systems for them - but if you'd like I can try to start working on a build for you, now that I know a budget. The x79 CPU's even the "lower" end ones are still pretty pricey by the way, so keep that in mind. Such as the i7-3930K.
Just so ya know, I have read this thread but am too busy to respond in full. So I wont reply with what I think till later, but Im not ignoring you. I will say really quick though an x79 system is out of the question for $1500
Here is what I would go for on a $1500 budget: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146084 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182073 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226199 x2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127567 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167095 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209054 Subtotal: $1,476.89 All of that will last you a good while, but when the next gen consoles hit you will be vram limited so you wont be able to run out 16x AF and 8x AA down the line. The solid state is really good and will give you tons of performance. It has enough space for your OS and necessary programs, plus a good amount of breathing room. I would use the SSD as an OS drive and then use the 1TB hard drive for your games, music, etc. It has a very good CPU cooler that will work very well and let you overclock that processor (which it can do incredibly easily) up to 4.6GHz without a problem and be able to maintain that easily throughout the computers life. The computer has 16G of fast memory, so I doubt you will need more in the time you own the computer. It may seem like a lot, but really its not if you look at how fast things progress. It is more about breathing room and not having to worry about your RAM ever. You will be able to have tons of programs open and be running a game and still be fine. The graphics card is still very good, but now it is "last gen". But it fits in your budget so thats why we go with this instead of spending another $150 on the latest model. Really the only thing that might limit you is the CPU. It is incredibly fast and should be ok, but if developers ever get their act together and make use of multiple cores properly, it might be an issue a few years down the road to "only" have a quad core. Dont re-use your old graphics card for anything. At best you can use it as a dedicated physics card, however the GTX580 is so powerful it will easily outperform your current card AND do physics at the same time without any problems. I think it would be even slower on your physics if you actually used your old GPU as a dedicated card.
No. Most definitely not. Willfully picking one of those when you can afford a good sandy bridge setup would be a terrible idea
Two more questions! Is the difference between Ivy and Sandy noticeable enough that it might be worth spending the extra buck for an Ivy, even if you're not using their Intel HD4000 GPU and are using a good Nvidia instead? I'm thinking there could be some good discounts on Sandy once Ivy hits, and Ivy is a tick...I don't really want to spend a lot of money on a tick if it's not worth it. On the other hand, the die shrink might be better for overclocking maybe? Also, is the 680 noticeably better than the 580? I've heard the 4GB version of the 680 is only for people with 3 or more large monitors using surround vision. A 2GB is probably fine for 2 monitors under 30", right?
Whats wrong with a tick? Ivy will be grand. On mobile so I'll post later, but its all about your budget and how much you're willing to invest. Don't look at just 1 piece of hardware but the overall build.
Tick is better than Tock. The "Tock" cycle is the newest stuff and great tech, but it gets perfected in the "tick" cycle A die shrink is always better for overclocking. But you also have to remember that you cannot put as much voltage through the smaller process node. So dont just look at what everyone else has been doing on SB and do the same. Also with the new 3D transistor you will not require as much voltage to get the clock speed, giving much better power consumption at stock or higher clock speeds with the same voltage as before. Beware though, the 3D transistor allows far more power through, as such it may be easy to kill the processor even if you think you are giving it safe voltage levels. 7GHz is NOT possible for you to do. You require top end water cooling to *maybe* get that far, probably still not. Id guestimate water cooling would get to around 5.5-6GHz. You would require single stage to go beyond that, or if you are just doing bench sessions then DI or LN2. Even SS shouldnt really be run as normal stuff. I dont remember the benchmarks, but I think the GTX680 was something like 10% better than the GTX580. Not a lot and not worth the price difference IMO. And yes, you shouldnt need more than 2GB of vram unless you are doing multiple monitor. As my educated guess, Id say with the next gen consoles that 2GB of vram will be the average needed to run max settings on a single monitor. More and more games are just developed on a console and ported to PC. During this process it becomes highly inefficient on the PC, requiring far more processing power and memory than it would on the console it was designed for. Since consoles will have between 1-2GB of video memory themselves, having an extra GB of vram on your PC is what you should be looking for. But if your not PLAYING on two monitors, 2GB will be fine. By that I mean if you game on 1, and the other is a secondary that sits at your desktop and maybe has a few things open like a walkthrough or whatever then it will be fine. But if you are spanning the game across both monitors I think you will need more than 2GB of vram in the next generation of games.
Wow, thanks guys, I had always thought the "tock" was superior because of the performance gains, but I see what you mean. I was just throwing the 7GHz out there because I saw it on a site and I was like "WTF?", in reality I don't overclock much and I usually keep a pretty close eye on temps in my computer. Ever since my Cyrix melted I've been paranoid about running the equipment too hard. Just to clarify one thing: I see you've recommended a 2133MHz RAM kit, how much of a difference does it make to run high frequency RAM? Is it worth the extra cost? I really appreciate the help you guys are giving, I haven't been keeping up on systems for quite some time and I had some help from a friend when I made my last system. Thanks again!
The cost is hardly anything, so you might as well. Also, Sandy Bridge only cares about MHz, not timings. So higher speed is better, no matter high loose the timings are. As for if it helps, you will only gain 1-2FPS in games over regular speed RAM, but since the cost is only $15 more it is still pretty worth it. The speed helps more in programs that are memory intensive, if you run any of those. Games are memory intensive, but only on video memory which is completely separate.
I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to spring for the Ivy (my internet searches are saying that the price will be virtually the same as a Sandy...if that's the case then, well..) and I'm really tempted to get a 680. I've got awhile until Ivy launches anyway, so I can save up a bit more cash I guess.
Shameless bump here but if you're interested in a x58 platform I'm about to sell mine if you're interested. I made a thread about it a while ago. Ah, here it is: http://www.xoohq.com/threads/28733.Selling-Parts Also, whether you decide on what you want or not, and before you purchase - if you'd like to speak to me in TS one day I can help nail down a few things if you have questions. I'm not as knowledgeable as Enigma is but I do know a lot!
Z77 boards are out now, if you care. This one is a good one if you plan to go this way: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295 But I am still reading up on ASUS' memory implementation. The ASUS boards might end up being significantly better
Yeah, I actually went to a shop today to check out cases. I was also thinking about getting an Asus board. I've had a few in the past and been pretty happy with them.
I have an NZXT Phantom case. They are nice when the computer is done, but they are low grade. Not all the parts align properly and the case flexes quite a bit. The plastic feels cheap. But if you dont plan on moving the tower then you will be fine with one. They do look nice when the computer is finished and sitting there. I wish the top fans were 120mm holes though instead of 140mm. It doesnt fit my dual 120mm radiator properly :/
Hm, can you suggest any better cases? It seemed to look nice and the price wasn't bad so I thought it might be okay.