Birthday Upgrade Suggestions?

[Sorphius]

My birthday's coming up at the end of the month and my wife's parents are starting to pester me about gift ideas. They give me a check every year that's $10 for each year (so $300 this year), but my mother-in-law also insists that I need "something that can be opened..." Anyway, I usually ask for a game or something, but with no recent titles out that grab my fancy, a computer upgrade is the only thing I can think of.

My usage consists of standard home office work, Netflix/ESPN3, and moderate gaming (mainly World of Tanks these days, but also WoW, Star Trek Online, and various RTS titles) at 1440p native resolution.
My current setup (including peripherals):

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (Overclocked to 4ghz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
SSD: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD: Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card
Case: Cooler Master HAF XM (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K90 Wired Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: Razer Naga 2012 Wired Laser Mouse
Speakers: Logitech LS21 7W 2.1ch Speakers
Headphones: Logitech G930 7.1 Channel Headset

I guess my question is where to go from here? I'm still kicking myself for not getting the "K" cpu, but I doubt it's worth the hassle to upgrade at this point unless I got a Haswell. I've been considering adding a second SSD (the current one has about 8gb free) or replacing the HDD (was cannibalized last summer from a 5-year-old system, so it's getting up there. Then there are the speakers too. I'm not necessarily an audiophile, but the ones I have now are poo. A good 2.0 setup (tired of kicking the woofer) would be nice.

So, where should I go from here?

[DeltrusDisc]

CPU, no need to upgrade.
CPU cooler could be upgraded.
Motherboard, no need.
RAM, you could add more, depending on what kind of office work you do. Do you do any photo/video editing?
Definitely should not fill an SSD to full, leave it with at least 8GB free (your size) and add another.
Definitely could probably use a bigger higher quality internal HDD/USB 3.0 HDD.
Video cards are recent enough, would be a waste.
I have the Xonar DX, if you want to get real headphones, you'll need one with an actual headphone amp, like a Xonar Essence STX.
Case is blegh. I'd replace it personally because I have a vendetta against Cooler Master.
Modular power supplies rock, a nice SeaSonic would pretty much be the best on the market.
NICE monitor. *thumbs up*
Not sure how you feel about your peripherals, but if I could, I'd replace my K90 with a K70, my Razer Death Adder is awesome, but a nice newer mouse would be good, however the Corsair M90 was garbage for me, kept on breaking, even sending in for RMA didn't fix the static shock issues, and yes I was grounded. I personally have Samson MediaONE 3a studio monitors, which are leagues and bounds better, louder, and clearer than any computer speakers can hope to be, especially for only $100. The headset is definitely not something I'd use. I'm personally using Audio Technica ATH-AD700 headphones with a Blue Snowball microphone when the mic is needed.

Frankly, your biggest improvement would probably be a new SSD. Granted, idk how well the dual 7850s are handling 1440p for you, but I am sure with higher-end games, they give you and the GPUs a run for your money.

Hope this helps!

[Deleted]

Water cool your setup.

[noteworthynerd]

Water cool your setup.

To what end? The CPU is locked, no overclock you could achieve on it would warrant a water cooler of any kind.

OP: I would personally add a second SSD, can't go wrong with a Samsung 840.

[Deleted]

Ah, I missed that. Then the performance gain would indeed be minor and it would mainly be for the "cool factor".

Actually, seeing that you have a decent sound card but gimmick headphones, you might want to take a look at, for example, Beyerdynamic DT-770s.

[Sorphius]

RAM, you could add more, depending on what kind of office work you do. Do you do any photo/video editing?

-RAM isn't really bottlenecking me since I don't do much any photo/video editing, so it's low on the priority list.

Not sure how you feel about your peripherals, but if I could, I'd replace my K90 with a K70, my Razer Death Adder is awesome, but a nice newer mouse would be good, however the Corsair M90 was garbage for me, kept on breaking, even sending in for RMA didn't fix the static shock issues, and yes I was grounded. I personally have Samson MediaONE 3a studio monitors, which are leagues and bounds better, louder, and clearer than any computer speakers can hope to be, especially for only $100.

-I like my peripherals apart from the speakers. My Naga's starting to suffer (again, ugh) from legacy tracking issues so I'm going to take advantage of the extended warranty I purchased(4 mice in 3 years ), but I've been using them exclusively since they came on the market in 2011, so it'd be tough to go to anything else at this point. I may be the only person in the world who actually uses the macro keys on my MMO keyboard... just saying. But speakers that aren't tin cans would be nice. I might look into those Samsons you mentioned.

Frankly, your biggest improvement would probably be a new SSD. Granted, idk how well the dual 7850s are handling 1440p for you, but I am sure with higher-end games, they give you and the GPUs a run for your money.

-I'm actually pretty happy with the 7850s. The 1440p gave me some issues at first which is why I added the second card, but they suit my purposes. Of course 7970s would be better, but I have these OC'd to a stable 1100mhz which is enough to have my main bottleneck be my CPU in most games I run.

Actually, seeing that you have a decent sound card but gimmick headphones, you might want to take a look at, for example, Beyerdynamic DT-770s.

-I've thought about headphones in the past, but generally the only thing I use them for is raid leading and other things that require me to be in voicechat. If I'm just going to be playing or listening music, 9 times out of 10 I use the speakers. Besides, I got the wireless headphones intentionally because I tend to get "squirmy" and got tired of unplugging my headphones and/or running over the wire with my chair during raids.

I think right now I'm leaning toward the second SSD and/or decent speakers, but I'm all ears for further input...

[DeltrusDisc]

If you can, ask for the Samson MediaoNE 4a or 5a, as the 3as are smaller. Still sound big, but hey, you might miss some bass or something. :P

[moremana]

Samsung 500 GB 840 Evo just a tad over 300 bucks, cant go wrong.

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

I can attest to the sound of the Samson 4as. That is what I have for my speakers, and while they do not have a ton of thump, it is clean and un-distorted bass.

Also, having more SSD space is not really a bad thing!

[Mister K]

Second SSD, your current SSD is rather small (256GB is small for me so 12X is very small tbh). Your CPU is great, GPUs are fine so another SSD would be the best possible option (or save up for the 2014/15 systems).

[Sorphius]

I think I'm probably going to go with asking for the Samsung 840 Pro.

I've been meaning to wipe my machine anyway to clean up the "junk" it's accumulated over the past year, I'll just take the opportunity to make the 840 Pro my primary drive for my OS and most-used programs, then probably dedicate the Crucial M4 (my current primary drive) to Steam.

I'll probably go ahead and replace the HDD too, but it's not a priority since it's really just used for bulk storage and my collection of midget pr0n.

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

No reason to go for the Pro. The EVO is in a better spot, $/performance.

[Deleted]

I think I'm probably going to go with asking for the Samsung 840 Pro.

I've been meaning to wipe my machine anyway to clean up the "junk" it's accumulated over the past year, I'll just take the opportunity to make the 840 Pro my primary drive for my OS and most-used programs, then probably dedicate the Crucial M4 (my current primary drive) to Steam.

I'll probably go ahead and replace the HDD too, but it's not a priority since it's really just used for bulk storage and my collection of midget pr0n.

Get the 250 or 500GB EVO.

[DeltrusDisc]

Samsung 500 GB 840 Evo just a tad over 300 bucks, cant go wrong.

Exactly what does the OP need so much SSD space for?

[Deleted]

Exactly what does the OP need so much SSD space for?

Because their SSD in their current system is tiny, and that will provide that largest real increase, as that CPU the OIP has is actually a 3570K.

[Deleted]

128Gb is tiny now? Well, perhaps it is if people are using 16gb page- and hiberfils.

[Fluorescent0]

I'm still kicking myself for not getting the "K" cpu,

Because their SSD in their current system is tiny, and that will provide that largest real increase, as that CPU the OIP has is actually a 3570K.

No, no, it's not. I'd go for an SSD or, if the stuttering from the video cards from crossfire is noticeable, a single 770.

[Sorphius]

Yeah, don't really need a 250GB SSD.

It's taken me over a year to fill a single 128, and that's only due to a lot of poor management on my part (not setting custom install directories for random programs, etc). By wiping my current system and doing clean installs of everything I'll be able to dedicate one drive to Windows, WoW, WoT, Diablo, Starcraft, (maybe office) and drivers, then use the second SSD exclusively for Steam (having to run Boil is ftl). That'll cover pretty much everything I have installed now with room to spare, and still leave me with a completely empty HDD for bulk storage, backups, and the like.

As far as the GPU goes, I really haven't noticed any microstuttering issues. Of course the titles I play the most are old enough that I'm usually operating at a higher FPS than my 60mhz monitor's refresh rate anyway, but that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to. It's a non-issue at this point.

*Edit: And it's not a K cpu. If it were, I'd probably be running it closer to 4.5ghz. It's the basic 3550 with the ghetto overclock (Turboboost or something like that) maxxed out.

[Deleted]

I'd go for a (smaller) secondary monitor - it's nice to have an extra desktop while gaming and the it really shines when you're doing desktop work (programming, multi media, even excel).

[Deleted]

-RAM isn't really bottlenecking me since I don't do much any photo/video editing, so it's low on the priority list.

16GB really doesn't cost that much more than 8 though. I really recommend it if you're running programs while you run games.

I play Minecraft and even 16GB is a bit short for me.