Criticise my build/what should I upgrade?

[Jarob22]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice on what I should upgrade on my current rig. I play WoW (heroic 25m raiding), rift, dota 2, sometimes warframe and will occasionally buy and play new AAA games, but not very often. My specs:

2x 4GB DDR3 RAM
GTX 780 (non ti)
i5 3570k @3.40 GHz
450W corsair PSU
P8Z77-V LX Z77 motherboard
2x Seagate 7200rpm HDDs

My issue is that I usually cannot play most newer games on anything like ultra, and usually have to turn the settings right down, otherwise I get FPS issues. I understand with WoW that the current number issues mean that this is unavoidable, but it would be nice to be able to play non mmos on high/ultra, and unless I'm mistaken, my rig should allow me to do this.

So in a nutshell: why is my rig underperforming?

Thanks!

[Ohmygonzo]

Hmm, 450W PSU seems a bit low for that setup.

Did you try overclockin your CPU?

What are your temperatures while idle-ing, playing games, did you take any tests?

High temperatures can, and will cause your components to not perform as they should.

8 gigs of ram is more than enough for current games, CPU good, GPU, more than good.

Are you playing on a 1080p monitor, or higher resolutions?

[Jarob22]

Surely if the PSU was an issue, parts simply wouldn't work? I've added up the power consumption previously and I'm pretty sure it all came under 450W.
I tried overclocking once, but I think I got it a bit wrong and I couldn't boot afterwards, so had to revert and haven't tried since. I find overclocking from the bios a little difficult =/
Not taken any tests.
1440p monitor and a 1080p monitor (dual setup)

Also I forgot to add I have a P8Z77-V LX Z77 motherboard.

[Ohmygonzo]

Try playing games on the 1080p monitor, and you will see the difference ( Ultra details on pretty much all of them ), my opinion, you need a bit more juice ( gpu power ), to get those 2 working at the same time...

[Jarob22]

Well I had this issue even before I hooked up the dual monitors (and before I got the new 1440p one), so that isn't really the problem here.

[Prediator]

I have similar setup as you do but I have little more powerful PSU and samsung 840 Evo 128gb SSD. I can run every single game on all maxed out and still have high fps. For instance for Wow I have everything maxed out (also shadows) and have 40 fps on ordos if not tanking it.

But check your temperatures with HWMonitor or Speedfan and see if your temperatures are high. Do you have after market cooler on cpu? And if PSU is not strong enough, your hardware shoudnt be starting or you should have lots of crashes which can damage your hardware.

[Jarob22]

I've got a separate fan on the CPU, yes.

I'm not getting hardware failure issues/crashes, so I guess the PSU isn't the issue? It's a good quality Corsair one

Will an SSD make a difference to how fast games run? It doesn't, right?

[Deleted]

As other have said you should try overclocking that cpu abit, you payed for it anyway by buying a k cpu and Z77 mobo. An ssd would be a good addition, it will give better response to the system. It will not give you any better performance in gaming than you got now , other than faster loading screens. Also that 450W psu is quite tight with a 780 in your rig. With all at full load the psu will be running close to its max and most likely a less efficiency than it would at 70-80% (depends really on exact model).

[Prediator]

I've got a separate fan on the CPU, yes.

I'm not getting hardware failure issues/crashes, so I guess the PSU isn't the issue? It's a good quality Corsair one

Will an SSD make a difference to how fast games run? It doesn't, right?

Here is perfect answer to SSD over HDD on playing mmorpg games so I wont take credit for it:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...me-performance

So for short, SSD just has faster transfer speed than HDD has

Edit: PSU might not be problem but it is very close to its maximum potential with that GPU. But ye, propably not that.

[Jarob22]

Apologies for sounding dumb, but what difference does a Z77 make to overclocking? I didn't even know that mobo models can affect OC...

If I were to make an upgrade, I guess a 650W PSU would be a good replacement?

Lastly, can you recommend a good guide to overclocking my CPU/CPUs in general? Or should I just google

[Deleted]

Just google and find thousands
about the mobo, the "z" mobos are the ones that let you overclock a cpu, ie a H87 board doesn't have overclocking features.
I answered to the psu question above, 550-650W is ideal usually for 1 gpu. If you wanna play it safe and have room for better gpu later on, i'd say Antec's High current gamer 620W is usually the cheaper of the good psu's. Obviously there are other good quality ones like Seasonic, Rosewill, Silverstone,Rosewill, Corsair RM650 is a great choice (its quiet and expensive).

[Ohmygonzo]

650W would be good, yes. What I meant was already said by Kostattoo, it doens't put all your components at max usage, as it can't, 780 needs more power, IMO.

There are guides all over the place for overclocking just about any CPU out there, but make sure you have another computer at the desktop you are overclocking ( youtube, google ), possibly a laptop, while doing it.

Also, watch your temperatures, and which CPU cooler do you have atm?

[Jarob22]

I see, TIL
Nah I don't really need SLI, and I'd rather not skimp on the thing that's providing power (and could potentially fry) all of my internals, so I'll go with Corsair I'm using a Corsair HX 450W atm by the way

[Ohmygonzo]

One example when i was trying to OC my GPU.

My old PSU, was a bad quality 500W one, when i tried to OC the card, it will start to crash...

Got a new PSU Fractal Design R2 750W, did more OCing then on the previous PSU, and it is working like a charm.

[Jarob22]

650W would be good, yes. What I meant was already said by Kostattoo, it doens't put all your components at max usage, as it can't, 780 needs more power, IMO.

There are guides all over the place for overclocking just about any CPU out there, but make sure you have another computer at the desktop you are overclocking ( youtube, google ), possibly a laptop, while doing it.

Also, watch your temperatures, and which CPU cooler do you have atm?

I have a smartphone and tablet

Not sure exactly what cooler it is, it's not water cooling, just a decent fan.

[Deleted]

You won't fry anything with the one you got. As i said, the psu will run close to its max @ full load. Ie doing a stress test on cpu-gpu everything. That doesn't usually happen in everyday gaming. I wouldn't worry much about it unless its old, which means there some degradation going on. If its 4-5years old then i would consider that it is probably worth getting a new one. If its 1-2 years old then i'd keep it, especially since you don't have any problems.

[Jarob22]

One example when i was trying to OC my GPU.

My old PSU, was a bad quality 500W one, when i tried to OC the card, it will start to crash...

Got a new PSU Fractal Design R2 750W, did more OCing then on the previous PSU, and it is working like a charm.

We're talking about OCing the CPU, not the card here But I guess the same applies

- - - Updated - - -

You won't fry anything with the one you got. As i said, the psu will run close to its max @ full load. Ie doing a stress test on cpu-gpu everything. That doesn't usually happen in everyday gaming. I wouldn't worry much about it unless its old, which means there some degradation going on. If its 4-5years old then i would consider that it is probably worth getting a new one. If its 1-2 years old then i'd keep it, especially since you don't have any problems.

The PSU is really the only thing (along with my main HDD) that is the same since I built it about 4-5 years ago, everything else has been changed recently.

[Deleted]

In that case is probably worth to invest on those 2, get a decent ssd and psu. ssd's i would reckon for 128gb the samsung, for 256-512gb Crucial Mx100 series.

[Ohmygonzo]

Not sure exactly what cooler it is, it's not water cooling, just a decent fan.

If you are not sure which fan it is, then follow your temps closely when overclocking.

My final thoughts, first try upgrading your PSU first, and then go on with overclocking, and other stuff.

[Jarob22]

If you are not sure which fan it is, then follow your temps closely when overclocking.

My final thoughts, first try upgrading your PSU first, and then go on with overclocking, and other stuff.

Ok, cheers. Will probably go with the RM650 Any program you recommend to help follow temps?

- - - Updated - - -

In that case is probably worth to invest on those 2, get a decent ssd and psu. ssd's i would reckon for 128gb the samsung, for 256-512gb Crucial Mx100 series.

Righto, and would it be worth putting my OS on the SSD as well as WoW?