What would you change first? (pc components)

[Zippoflames]

Hey guys,
I have a fairly old system now and with a Christmas bonus coming and nothing to waste it on I thought I would waste in on my pc (£300-£500)

My current system now is
Motherboard - GA-880GM-UD2H
Cpu is - Phenom II X6 1055T running at 3.8GHz (corsair h70 cooler)
Memory is - Corsair 4GB XMS Memory kit for dual channel systems, 1600MHz, 9-9-9-24, x 2 (8gb total)
Graphics card is - HD7890 (2gb)
Power supply is - Thermaltake smart series 850w
Case is - Antec 1200 (although I doubt I would change this as I like the dust filters)

I play WoW, BF4, CoD Ghosts etc and looking to try some new games now I have pretty much stopped playing wow and don't really fancy a console.

I normally play everything at 1920x1080

Cheers

[Toffie]

First your GPU is great for 1080p, you can however overclock your 7870 for a 10-15 % performance increase.

Not sure I would upgrade your CPU with such a beastly overclock though, especially seeing you don't play WoW that benefits from better single thread performance.

Do you have problems playing BF4 & COD with your setup? Seems pretty good to me :P

[BicycleMafioso]

Thread moved to sub-forum.

1) More RAM.
2) Overclock the bajesus out of the CPU.
3) Wait for mantle!

[Chocolatez]

Would adding more ram really help? I think 16gb is overkill

[BicycleMafioso]

Would adding more ram really help? I think 16gb is overkill

M'bad, didn't finish reading the line.
Only thing I would even start to consider upgrading before Mantle would be the CPU. Since Mantle is coming anyway, eh, wouldn't see a benefit to.

[Zerat]

change motherboard+cpu to go to intel i5-4670k and maybe a asus p8z77 mb or something like that

[Zippoflames]

First your GPU is great for 1080p, you can however overclock your 7870 for a 10-15 % performance increase.

Not sure I would upgrade your CPU with such a beastly overclock though, especially seeing you don't play WoW that benefits from better single thread performance.

Do you have problems playing BF4 & COD with your setup? Seems pretty good to me :P

Tbh both games run well, But the money is burning a hole in my pocket haha

If it helps I may possibly look into streaming some games so not sure if that makes a world of difference to my spec.

[n0cturnal]

Get a Haswell CPU and a fitting motherboard, possibly a soundcard and some nice headphones.
You should also consider getting a new keyboard, mouse or monitor.

[Chocolatez]

Soundcard, im thinking about getting one. Are people really able to tell the difference?

[Zippoflames]

Tbh my cpu is overclocked pretty well at the moment I feel, I don't want to flat out kill it but 2.8>3.8 (got it stable at 4 but as its aged I have knocked it back a little)

I actually did think go for a motherboard/cpu change but not 100% sure if it will fit in the budget? as I would also follow it up with a newer h100i I think it was so not really looked too much but possible.

What is the programme called that lets you see the fps of games? as I just bloody remember what its called and I could have a look at what bf4 etc run at as I have all on ultra aside from motion blur is off as it makes me a bit sick and post process.


I already have a decent mouse/keyboard combo as my missus bought them for my birthday a few months ago,
I could look into going 2-3 monitor though as that interests me esp for driving games with the wider fov (iracing mainly)

[Larwood]

No reason not to just wait.

You're going just fine now, and when something new comes out you'll regret not saving. Just call it "money saved for oculus rift" if you like, that's pretty much what I'm doing :P

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What is the programme called that lets you see the fps of games?

You're probably thinking of fraps but fraps has a performance penalty (plus it's not legally free). Use MSI Afterburner.

[Deleted]

Soundcard, im thinking about getting one. Are people really able to tell the difference?

For games, not so much. Listening to music is entirely different story. If you have a decent headset or a pair of speakers, better sound card can make a HUGE difference.

[Zippoflames]

No reason not to just wait.

You're going just fine now, and when something new comes out you'll regret not saving. Just call it "money saved for oculus rift" if you like, that's pretty much what I'm doing :P

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You're probably thinking of fraps but fraps has a performance penalty (plus it's not legally free). Use MSI Afterburner.

Ah yeah it was fraps I was thinking of, I will have a look at MSI Afterburner cheers

I could save the money but you know when you get that upgrade itch... it just has to be scratched lol.

[BicycleMafioso]

Upgrade itch? Well, for QoL upgrades;
SSD. Sound equipment. Image quality. Noise reduction (fans et c).

[n0cturnal]

Ah yeah it was fraps I was thinking of, I will have a look at MSI Afterburner cheers

I could save the money but you know when you get that upgrade itch... it just has to be scratched lol.

What do you use the computer for except for playing the games you listed?
You mentioned driving games, do you have a nice setup for that? Good chair, steering wheel and pedals?

[Deleted]

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You're probably thinking of fraps but fraps has a performance penalty (plus it's not legally free). Use MSI Afterburner.

The performance penalty is only there if you're recording, having it running just to see the fps doesn't change anything

[Zippoflames]

I currenty have a Samsung 840 evo 120gb SSD which is in fact bloody good so getting a bigger ssd is deffo an option, I do have decent wheel and pedals knocking on a bit in the age department but still work well (Logitech g25) My chair I gotta be honest I stole it from work as its the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in haha..

I really only use the pc for gaming and forums/web browsing and the more im saying the parts I have it does actually seem it is not a terrible system for another year. So maybe I will use the money on 1 or 2 more monitors or a better ssd.