[Future proof] Gaming PC

[WarTV]

Hello,
I want to invest in a new Gaming pc. will post my current build and see where i can take it from here.
Current build:
-Cpu: Intel Core i7 extreme 975 (released in 2009)

-Mobo: Asus p6t Deluxe v2

-Ram: Kingston 4x 2gm @ 1300

-Gfx: gtx 470

-PSU: epslon 1000w

The parts that i am looking at for upgrades mainly are the Mobo / CPU / gfx

i can still run older games decently well, but when it comes to newer games like skyrim / wildstar my pc can't run them at max settings ( i prefer to play games at max settings always )

i thought that it might be time to upgrade my pc since it has been years since i touched the mobo / cpu and rams. (used to have a gtx 670 but it died on me)

for someone who wants to have a reliable and strong / future proof gaming machine for the next few years what would you advice me to get ? ( i only upgrade my pc once every 5+ years so i prefer to buy the high end rather than the budget hardware )

ps: i do not OC my processors. i tried to do so before and i just kept on failing, so please keep that in mind when picking a new processor for me.

[Deleted]

Well might as well keep the current cpu if you arent going to overclock. The difference between that i7 and the newest i7 isnt worth spending $400 on for under 20% performance difference if running at stock speeds.

Might as well overclock the cpu tho as its designed for it and just upgrade your gfx card.

You could buy a whole new system but would get roughly same results as just upgrading the gpu and overclocking a bit. For about 1/4 the cost.

[WarTV]

thanks for the advice.
the reason i did not bother with overclocking is because every time i would get into overheating issues.

looks like i will have to stick to what i have.
seems weird that my 2009 model cpu can still hold its ground vs the newer generation ones oO

[Deleted]

Yea i think in the last 4 generations of cpu the performance has increased under 15-20%.

If you get a decent cooler for the cpu it will be fine, overclocking with the standard cooler is dangerous and will ruin the cpu as its not designed to cool an overclocked cpu.

Your cpu should run at 4.1ghz fine with a decent cooler and will still give newer cpu's a run for their money.

The extreme versions of cpu are designed for overclocking anyways, thats why they cost so much more so would be a waste not to overclock it..

How much you want to spend on a new gpu?

[powerstuck]

You can get a pretty good CPU cooler for around 30-40$ that would be a cheap investment and allow you to OC without problems.

[Deleted]

Yep, get a decent cooler, such as NH-D14 or Dark Rock Pro II/III. It has to be good, your CPU produces quite a bit of heat compared to current generation. Don't buy an all-in-one water cooler, though, unless you're short on space inside your case.

Depending on price range, you could invest on GTX 770, 780 or even 780 Ti. AMD R9-290 isn't out of the question either, seeing that you've got an overkill PSU.

Your current CPU is roughly on par with FX-8350.

[WarTV]

managed to get my cpu to 4.0mhz with temps hovering around ~65c-70c while running WoW. hopefully it remains stable this time. otherwise i will invest in a new cooling system as advised.
i am still really shocked that my 5 year old cpu can still keep up with the new generation cpus. i honestly didn't expect that.

as for the GPU the gtx 770 is at my budget range.
-
so i should totally skip out on the cpu upgrade it seems, and i should get a new gpu. is that all i need to get my pc to run newer generation games at high quality ?

[theWocky]

as for the GPU the gtx 770 is at my budget range.?

It is a fine card!

Consider a water-cooler - will make your PC a bit quieter and temps more stable. I don't overclock either, but I use 'em to keep my PC nice and quiet.

[lordmatthias]

I am not sure what benchmark you guys are pulling that CPU information from, but the current 4770k (non extreme edition) is approximately 65% faster then the 975 Extreme overall, and ~57% faster core for core.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/:
Multi Thread Bench
i7 975: 6280
i7 4770K: 10374

Single Thread Bench
i7 975: 1464
i7 4770k: 2294



As far as graphics go, the gtx 770 is great. I use the 670, and I have no problem playing pretty much any current game (although I do OC both my CPU and GPU). If you do want to get into overclocking I highly recommend getting the Gigbyte Windforce series 770 (something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125462 or this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125463) because they offer a much quieter and cooler experience over most other similar cards as they tend to use the stock OEM graphics card cooler which is LOUD and doesn't cool nearly as well.

As far as the CPU cooler goes, liquid cooling is have, I have friends that use the kit water coolers which really are great and easy to setup, there really is very little need for building your own liquid cooling system (they can be a bit more quiet, although they tend to be a lot more expensive). I personally use a after market heatsink http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608018 with a pretty aggresive OC (4.8 ghz 2600k) I am usually running ~27C idle and it pops up to 69C under full load with Prime 95 (playing games between 40-60C depending on how cpu intensive the game is) this is all at 21C ambient temp.

Long story short, you should definitely see a significant performance improvement if you upgrade your CPU and GPU. If you intend on playing MMOs you will find the CPU upgrade especially significant as they are usually very CPU intensive per core. If you get the better after market coolers you should also be able to fairly easily OC for another noticeable step up in performance.

-Addition-

Also as far as air cooling goes, it can be pretty much just as quiet as long as you get high quality low DB fans, liquid cooling still requires fans to keep the rad cool, but usually just 2 fans, which you still need to get high quality low DB fans if you want to keep the rig quiet.

[WarTV]

@lordmatthias
looks like a cpu upgrade is needed.
going to invest in a 4770k then and a gtx 770
will follow the advice given regarding the cooling.

appreciate your reply

[Deleted]

Liquid coolers are more expensive, louder and run only slightly cooler than best air coolers. They can also fail, while air coolers are rather foolproof. It frankly isn't a good buy unless your case is space restricted and can't fit a large air cooler.

While it is significantly slower than 4770k, I would skip upgrading the CPU. With some overclock almost all games will be GPU bottlenecked. Pretty much only MMOs including WoW will benefit from an upgrade, but even then 4770k isn't sensible. 4670k only lacks hyperthreading compared to 4770k.

[Deleted]

@lordmatthias
looks like a cpu upgrade is needed.
going to invest in a 4770k then and a gtx 770
will follow the advice given regarding the cooling.

appreciate your reply

You'll also need to get a Z87 chipset or Z97 chipset motherboard (The latter is due out sometime soon).

[Tehterokkar]

Liquid coolers are more expensive, louder and run only slightly cooler than best air coolers. They can also fail, while air coolers are rather foolproof. It frankly isn't a good buy unless your case is space restricted and can't fit a large air cooler.

While it is significantly slower than 4770k, I would skip upgrading the CPU. With some overclock almost all games will be GPU bottlenecked. Pretty much only MMOs including WoW will benefit from an upgrade, but even then 4770k isn't sensible. 4670k only lacks hyperthreading compared to 4770k.

I think if he bought the old i7, he needed it for something(even more so considering it's an extreme CPU, like i7-4960k/x is for current gen). Also a newer CPU would support faster RAM, not that RAM speeds matter that much, but he could do with an upgrade probably considering his RAM is pretty old by now.

OT: OP has 2 options, upgrade to i5-4670k or buy a CPU cooler and hope the old CPU can still run well with OC.

[Deleted]

You'll also need to get a Z87 chipset or Z97 chipset motherboard (The latter is due out sometime soon).

This, so you looking at a different budget than just a gpu. Also your current mobo has PCIe 2.0 and GTX770 needs PCIe 3.0?
Could be wrong here but you either have to find a less powerfull gpu or go for an almost new built, mobo-cpu-gpu and maybe ram.

[lordmatthias]

It all comes down to how much you are willing to spend. I don't know your budget, but I was assuming you are planning to drop some cash since you are currently running an extreme edition CPU.

You will have to decide if the performance increase is enough to justify the money spent. Personally if I were in your situation I would first try getting a better heat sink and try OC'ing to see if that gets you were you want to be (and if you burn out your CPU you can always fall back on getting a new one). I can say a 50-60% increase in performance baseline will be noticeable, and that was just with the regular i7 (unlocked in case you do decide to OC in the future). As other have posted the i5 is actually very close in performance, it is a ever so slightly slower clock speed, but it does not have hyper-threading. Most games do not take advantage of hyper-threading, however some of the new ones are (I know crysis 3 does, I can't remember what other new games do although more and more will start making use of the extra threads as time goes on).

If you want to do streaming while gaming or video rendering in general you will absolutely notice the extra performance you gain with hyper threading. If you really want to future proof the best you can, getting the i7 would probably be best your bet as gaming architecture evolves and can make better use of extra threads. Currently there is no Haswell i7 extreme, they do make a 6 core (12 including hyperthreading) Ivybridge CPU, it has better overall performance, but per core it is slower then the 4770k.

For the price you are better of getting the 4770K, but if you really want to bank on gaming using extra cores, the i7-4960X ivy bridge will technically be about 36% faster then the 4770k although it is over twice the price, and per core it is a bit slower.

You will definitely need a new motherboard with a new CPU, but like I said if you are willing to put some money down you can definitely get a pretty huge performance boost.


@ Kostattoo

He can run the 770 on PCI-e 2.0, the performance is actually relatively close right now (at least they were as of the 600 series, I have not checked in on the comparisons on the 700 series). He will get a little extra performance if he gets a mobo with PCI-e 3.0, but not a huge amount (on the 600 series high end cards it was like 1-2% performance increase).

[Deleted]

16x PCI-E 2.0 does not bottleneck any current GPUs.

[WarTV]

Receiving my new build today.
CPU: i4770k
Mobo: ASUS MAXIMUS VI EXTREME
Ram: 1x16gb 2300 (forgot the brand name :/)
PSU: epsilon 1010w (didnt replace it. people here said it is solid)
GFX: 770gtx 2gb
Case: Cooler master trooper tower
Cooling: Thermaltake CLW0217 Water 2.0 Extreme (took the advice and went with a water cooler)
HD: kingston 250gb Hyperx (my old model was kingston 120gb v+)
Sticking with win7 till next year when win9 is out

Thanks for the advice that everyone shared with me. You made it much easier on me.
Hope this new build lasts for the next 5-6years and i mainly hope that the performance jump would be very significant

[Zhira]

Even though you already ordered your computer (nice by the way!) I want to address something that is often misunderstood.

The key to a gaming build is not the CPU. Many buy I7 processors when they ought to buy an I5 and use the extra cash on a bigger GPU. Unless you also do large scale picture processing or AutoCAD an I7 is not really needed for gaming. Better spend the extra cash on the graphics.

I wont get into technical details but an I5 is actually often better tailored for gaming than an I7 because Hyper Threading (I7 feature) can decrease gaming performance.

That said, good luck with your new "baby". It looks awesome

Z.

[Dnusha]

i7 not worth it for games dude, go for i5 and save the money for a videocard

[FAILoZOFF]

As it was mentioned, for gaming there is not that big difference between i5 and i7, specially considering price difference.