Upgrade vs Build New choices

[Servos]

Hi PC enthusiasts -

I am thinking about upgrading my PC, and the decision, as usual is upgrade something here or there or just go with a whole new PC. I only had 4GB of memory last year, and upgrading to 12GB certainly helped in wow. The new patch got me thinking about upgrading. My performance isn't terrible, but I was also thinking of getting a 1080p monitor which may introduce issues (I assume) if I don't think ahead.

Budget: ($1000 for new) however would like to try and upgrade components if possible
Resolution: 1080P (currently have 1440 X 900)
Games/Settings: Wow High, don't play a ton of other 3D games but would enjoy not having to downgrade newer PC games that come out

Goal: Definitely a new monitor, and new upgrades to match and allow 1080p/High

Currently Running:

Motherboard: ASRock H67M-GE
CPU: i-5 2500k @3.3 GHZ
GPU: GTX 560 ti
Disk: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 7200RPM SATA
RAM: Crucial 2 X 2GB DDR3 + 2 X 4GB DDR3 (12 GB Total)
Case: Antec 300 ATX Mid Tower
Power: Antec 520W
Monitor: LG 1440 X 900

Thanks for any input!

[Thunderball]

New:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($64.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Adorama)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: AOC i2769Vm 27.0" 60Hz Monitor ($179.99 @ B&H)
Other: GTX 1060 ($280.00)
Total: $953.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 12:21 EDT-0400

Upgrade:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Adorama)
Monitor: AOC i2769Vm 27.0" 60Hz Monitor ($179.99 @ B&H)
Other: GTX 1060 ($280.00)
Total: $539.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 12:23 EDT-0400

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/8VkD...monitor-mx279h Monitor option.

[Fascinate]

If WoW is your main game id get a 1060 and a 1440p monitor actually, your CPU is fine its a shame you dont have a p67/z68 motherboard to overclock tho.

1060's are hard to find right now, but here is a 1440p monitor on sale for 249.00:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Monitor: Acer G257HU smidpx 25.0" 60Hz Monitor ($250.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $250.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 12:24 EDT-0400

Neweggs site seems to be down atm, but thats a good price for a 1440p screen. As for GPU just keep an eye out on nowinstock.net, the only one i would stay away from is the zotac mini, it has a really poor cooler on it. The msi armor is a good model for 249.00.

[Thunderball]

If WoW is your main game id get a 1060 and a 1440p monitor actually, your CPU is fine its a shame you dont have a p67/z68 motherboard to overclock tho.

1060's are hard to find right now, but here is a 1440p monitor on sale for 249.00:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Monitor: Acer G257HU smidpx 25.0" 60Hz Monitor ($250.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $250.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 12:24 EDT-0400

Neweggs site seems to be down atm, but thats a good price for a 1440p screen. As for GPU just keep an eye out on nowinstock.net, the only one i would stay away from is the zotac mini, it has a really poor cooler on it. The msi armor is a good model for 249.00.

1440p monitors sub 27 inch are waste of money.

[Fascinate]

1440p monitors sub 27 inch are waste of money.

1440p looks ridiculously good at 25" due to the higher pixel density, where you got the idea it needs to be 27" or more is beyond me.

[Thunderball]

1440p looks ridiculously good at 25" due to the higher pixel density, where you got the idea it needs to be 27" or more is beyond me.

It's also ridiculously tiring for your eyes. I have no idea how one is going to use it for gaming.

[Servos]

Thanks for the feedback!

Guess good news/bad news is that it actually isn't a huge step up in price to just go with new. Monitors are monitors and SSD is definitely on the list.

So - have to decide myself: Just buy a GTX 1060 or go with the new build.

Thanks so much.

[Mythbredor]

Thanks for the feedback!

Guess good news/bad news is that it actually isn't a huge step up in price to just go with new. Monitors are monitors and SSD is definitely on the list.

So - have to decide myself: Just buy a GTX 1060 or go with the new build.

Thanks so much.

I wouldn't recommend buying 1440P monitors for playing strictly WoW unless you're willing to back down your settings to Raid and do BGs etc etc. I would stick with your current build and buy a 1060 and later down the road do a mobo/cpu/ram upgrade. For now the 2500k is fine and the 1060 will give you a little more headroom. You probably won't be able to run WoW at ultra in raids with a 2500k non overclocked at 1080p and definitely not 1440P. An SSD is definitely a good investment for WoW.

[Fascinate]

It's also ridiculously tiring for your eyes. I have no idea how one is going to use it for gaming.

What? You sound like someone who has never used scaling in windows or ctrl+scroll wheel in a browser.

- - - Updated - - -

I wouldn't recommend buying 1440P monitors for playing strictly WoW unless you're willing to back down your settings to Raid and do BGs etc etc. I would stick with your current build and buy a 1060 and later down the road do a mobo/cpu/ram upgrade. For now the 2500k is fine and the 1060 will give you a little more headroom. You probably won't be able to run WoW at ultra in raids with a 2500k non overclocked at 1080p and definitely not 1440P. An SSD is definitely a good investment for WoW.

?? People stop WoW is one of the titles where its a GOOD idea to go 1440. A 1060 can handle 1440 just as well as 1080 and look that much better while doing it, the spots you are talking about are draw call related and wont be fixed until WoW gets a proper dx12 client anyways.

OP trust me, you can safely skip 1080p and go right to 1440p especially when you can snag one at 249.00 bucks.

[Mythbredor]

What? You sound like someone who has never used scaling in windows or ctrl+scroll wheel in a browser.

- - - Updated - - -



?? People stop WoW is one of the titles where its a GOOD idea to go 1440. A 1060 can handle 1440 just as well as 1080 and look that much better while doing it, the spots you are talking about are draw call related and wont be fixed until WoW gets a proper dx12 client anyways.

OP trust me, you can safely skip 1080p and go right to 1440p especially when you can snag one at 249.00 bucks.

Exactly... it woun't be fixed for awhile. You can't raid at ultra 1440P maybe at high IDK. But it's up to the op if he want's to sacrifice ingame settings for resolution and everything I've heard from people playing wow at higher resolutions that result was less than impressive. You have to account for what the OP is doing in WoW you can't just blindly recommend whatever you think is the best. IE if the OP is a heavy raider or RBG player you're definitely going to want to go 1080P 144hz not 1440P. Because you want to maintain your settings high enough so you don't lose animation quality you want to be able to see what's going on.

[Fascinate]

Dude you simply dont understand how easy it is to push WoW graphically, you will not see a difference in a raid at 1080p or 1440p the limiting factor is the engine not spell effects. If i upgraded to a gtx 1080 from my gtx 760 id get the exact same FPS in draw call limited scenarios. I dont understand how no one gets this.

[Mythbredor]

Dude you simply dont understand how easy it is to push WoW graphically, you will not see a difference in a raid at 1080p or 1440p the limiting factor is the engine not spell effects. If i upgraded to a gtx 1080 from my gtx 760 id get the exact same FPS in draw call limited scenarios. I dont understand how no one gets this.

You simply can't run WoW at ultra at 1440p and raid. The CPU can't handle it because of the draw call issue. Same reasoning you can't run it at 4k and raid. If you link me to a reputable video of someone running at ultra 1440p in mythic i'll believe you.

[Fascinate]

You simply can't run WoW at ultra at 1440p and raid. The CPU can't handle it because of the draw call issue. Same reasoning you can't run it at 4k and raid. If you link me to a reputable video of someone running at ultra 1440p in mythic i'll believe you.

No the onus is on you here my friend, what makes YOU think you cant raid at 1440p? Some of the stuff on this forum i swear...

[Cilraaz]

You simply can't run WoW at ultra at 1440p and raid.

I run an i5 2500k @ 4.6GHz with a GTX 1070. I have WoW set to ultra, 8xMSAA, and MFAA enabled. I only run 1080p, but run at 140% render scale, which is slightly higher than 1440p. I average around 90fps, going much higher at some points and lower at some points. WoW ultra at 1440p is definitely doable.

[Mythbredor]

No the onus is on you here my friend, what makes YOU think you cant raid at 1440p? Some of the stuff on this forum i swear...

I mean he might, but I'm using a unoverclocked 6700k and I can JUST maintain 60fps on ultra in mythic raids at 1080p. He's going to be using a stock 2500k. But sure 1440p *might* run fine but you're going to want to account for what he's doing. You can barely maintain 60 in mythic raids anyway with the draw call issue. If you drop your settings back off ultra you would probably be fine. And so far I haven't seen any reputable proof of a solid 60 in raids at 1440p. But sure if you know for a fact he can run it just fine I'll agree 1440p is the way to go.

- - - Updated - - -

I run an i5 2500k @ 4.6GHz with a GTX 1070. I have WoW set to ultra, 8xMSAA, and MFAA enabled. I only run 1080p, but run at 140% render scale, which is slightly higher than 1440p. I average around 90fps, going much higher at some points and lower at some points. WoW ultra at 1440p is definitely doable.

Alright cool! Good to know I just haven't seen any videos around of it.

[Cilraaz]

Alright cool! Good to know I just haven't seen any videos around of it.

I've been trying to pull a Fraps frame rate report, but I've been having a strange "hitching" issue where I'll get 3 or 4 stutters of about half a second in a row every so often. Between that and the frame rate drop when zoning (death), it's pretty hard to gauge, unless I do a benchmark on a per-pull basis and get lucky with the hitching.

[Thunderball]

I've been trying to pull a Fraps frame rate report, but I've been having a strange "hitching" issue where I'll get 3 or 4 stutters of about half a second in a row every so often. Between that and the frame rate drop when zoning (death), it's pretty hard to gauge, unless I do a benchmark on a per-pull basis and get lucky with the hitching.

What are you both on about? OP is running unoverclockable 2500K or non-K i5, and GTX 1060 in the future. He's not going to have your level of performance, not even close.

[Fascinate]

What are you both on about? OP is running unoverclockable 2500K or non-K i5, and GTX 1060 in the future. He's not going to have your level of performance, not even close.

I own a 2500k, stock to 4.6ghz is maybe 10 FPS in a raid. And a 1070 isnt going to pull more fps than a 1060 in a draw call limited scenario. 1440p is the way to go here.

[Thunderball]

I own a 2500k, stock to 4.6ghz is maybe 10 FPS in a raid. And a 1070 isnt going to pull more fps than a 1060 in a draw call limited scenario. 1440p is the way to go here.

Of course GTX 1070 is not going to pull more FPS, this system is processor capped. His processor is gonna be roughly 20-25% less powerful than yours. OP cannot afford a decent 1440p monitor and decent hardware to run it smoothly in most scenarios.

[Cilraaz]

What are you both on about? OP is running unoverclockable 2500K or non-K i5, and GTX 1060 in the future. He's not going to have your level of performance, not even close.

Reading is hard. I was countering the argument that 1440p at ultra isn't possible in a raid scenario.

Also, what's an "unoverclockable 2500K"?