What should I upgrade? Best bang for my buck.

[Pwellzor]

Hey guys. Was playing Blade and soul and getting pretty poor performance, but its been a while since I've upgraded anything so I wondered what you thought the best upgrade would be from my setup. I would like to keep the upgrade under $300 but am willing to budge for significant upgrades.

CPU
3.40 gigahertz Intel Core i5-4670K
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
6144 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

GPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 [Display adapter]

MOBO
Board: Z87-G45 GAMING (MS-7821) 1.0
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
UEFI: American Megatrends Inc. V1.1 05/03/2013

RAM:12GB

HDD:
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NS95 [Optical drive] 1TB


Thanks guys!

[Lathais]

Do you have an aftermarket CPU cooler and have you OCed you CPU?

If not, that's your best bet. You could get a new GPU as well, but right now is a bad time for that. I would wait until later this year when pascal is out.

You should also maybe look at an SSD, though that will not improve game performance other than load times.

[Pwellzor]

Do you have an aftermarket CPU cooler and have you OCed you CPU?

If not, that's your best bet. You could get a new GPU as well, but right now is a bad time for that. I would wait until later this year when pascal is out.

You should also maybe look at an SSD, though that will not improve game performance other than load times.

I do not have an aftermarket cooler and I am not experienced in overclocking. Always been a bit intimidated of frying my cpu. If you could suggest a cpu cooler and maybe an overclocking guide I could look into I'd appreciate it.

[Bellatryxx]

Your CPU is great for gaming. You also have plenty of RAM. You just need to update your graphics card. An AMD R7 360 is relatively cheap ($120) and would play Blade and Soul and plenty of other games at high settings. For around $200, you could go for the AMD R9 380 or Nvidia GTX 960 to play most modern games at ultra settings. Here's a great list of options: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html

[Lathais]

I do not have an aftermarket cooler and I am not experienced in overclocking. Always been a bit intimidated of frying my cpu. If you could suggest a cpu cooler and maybe an overclocking guide I could look into I'd appreciate it.

Well, the thing on the CPU is, you could get a Skylake and it would be a 5-10% increase and that's about it, unless you OC. If you OC both chips, due to silicon lottery, you actually have a chance of your current chip being a good OCer and the new one being a bad OCer and possibly actually get -less- performance from the new CPU. Not likely but possible. In reality, even both OCed, the 6600K would still only be about a 5-10% increase, with a chance of being even or worse.

As for an aftermarket cooler, depends on how much you want to spend. There are some decent coolers in to $30-40 range:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/be-quiet-cpu-cooler-bk009
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7

Some better in the $60-90 range:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/be-quiet-cpu-cooler-bk018
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

As for a guide, just google Haswell OCing guide. There are tons out there and it's super easy to do. The K on your CPUs part number means it is unlocked and meant to be OCed. Do not worry too much about frying it, these chips have protection built in. If it starts getting to dangerous levels it will just shut off your PC then you can go back in to BIOS/UEFI and reduce the clock again and all will be fine.

If you are still intimidated by it, many motherboards have preset OCs that are decent. You should be able to get away with somewhere in the 4.4-4.6 range with ease.

[Deleted]

Your CPU is great for gaming. You also have plenty of RAM. You just need to update your graphics card. An AMD R7 360 is relatively cheap ($120) and would play Blade and Soul and plenty of other games at high settings. For around $200, you could go for the AMD R9 380 or Nvidia GTX 960 to play most modern games at ultra settings. Here's a great list of options: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html

You are joking right? He should replace his gtx670 with a R7 360????? The 670 has like 85-100% more performance than the R7. The gtx670 is almost same as gtx960 (within 10%).

[Lathais]

Your CPU is great for gaming. You also have plenty of RAM. You just need to update your graphics card. An AMD R7 360 is relatively cheap ($120) and would play Blade and Soul and plenty of other games at high settings. For around $200, you could go for the AMD R9 380 or Nvidia GTX 960 to play most modern games at ultra settings. Here's a great list of options: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html

Do not listen to this guy. The 360 is a downgrade and the 960 a side grade. The 380 would be a slight upgrade, but with your budget you could get a 390. As I said though, now is not a great time to upgrade your GPU, better off waiting for Pascal, but if you absolutely had to get something right now I'd look at a AMD R9 390.

[Deleted]

You should definitely OC your CPU, even with a very cheap Cooler you can it OC quite a bit. You maybe want to save your money and wait until Pascal comes out and get the new Card in the 970 Price-Range.

[Pwellzor]

Well, the thing on the CPU is, you could get a Skylake and it would be a 5-10% increase and that's about it, unless you OC. If you OC both chips, due to silicon lottery, you actually have a chance of your current chip being a good OCer and the new one being a bad OCer and possibly actually get -less- performance from the new CPU. Not likely but possible. In reality, even both OCed, the 6600K would still only be about a 5-10% increase, with a chance of being even or worse.

As for an aftermarket cooler, depends on how much you want to spend. There are some decent coolers in to $30-40 range:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/be-quiet-cpu-cooler-bk009
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cryorig-cpu-cooler-h7

Some better in the $60-90 range:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/be-quiet-cpu-cooler-bk018
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15

As for a guide, just google Haswell OCing guide. There are tons out there and it's super easy to do. The K on your CPUs part number means it is unlocked and meant to be OCed. Do not worry too much about frying it, these chips have protection built in. If it starts getting to dangerous levels it will just shut off your PC then you can go back in to BIOS/UEFI and reduce the clock again and all will be fine.

If you are still intimidated by it, many motherboards have preset OCs that are decent. You should be able to get away with somewhere in the 4.4-4.6 range with ease.

Thanks a ton for the help. I feel a little more comfortable after reading a guide I found. I think I'm going to invest about 60 into a cooler because my temps are a little high as is. I'll see how it goes with overclocking and then consider busting my budget for a gpu. It just doesnt seem like the current midrange gpu's are THAT much better unless you are spending 400+.

Update: I'm glad I made this thread. Just checked out my cpu temp for the first time in a while and its running at 60C idle :x. Gonna order this new fan and see what kind of difference it makes before attempting the OC. Did some research and my mobo appears to make OC'ing very easy. Can't wait to try it out!

[Lathais]

Thanks a ton for the help. I feel a little more comfortable after reading a guide I found. I think I'm going to invest about 60 into a cooler because my temps are a little high as is. I'll see how it goes with overclocking and then consider busting my budget for a gpu. It just doesnt seem like the current midrange gpu's are THAT much better unless you are spending 400+.

Update: I'm glad I made this thread. Just checked out my cpu temp for the first time in a while and its running at 60C idle :x. Gonna order this new fan and see what kind of difference it makes before attempting the OC. Did some research and my mobo appears to make OC'ing very easy. Can't wait to try it out!

Not a problem at all, it's why I post here, I like helping people.

You're absolutely right on the GPUs, however, next gen(Pascal for nVidia) comes out this year and that will change things alot. Pascal is supposed to be a much bigger upgrade than previous generations. Unless someone is just incapable of gaming currently I recommend waiting.

Be sure to come back and let us know the results.

[Pwellzor]

Not a problem at all, it's why I post here, I like helping people.

You're absolutely right on the GPUs, however, next gen(Pascal for nVidia) comes out this year and that will change things alot. Pascal is supposed to be a much bigger upgrade than previous generations. Unless someone is just incapable of gaming currently I recommend waiting.

Be sure to come back and let us know the results.

New fan has the idle temp to 40C . I was impatient and found the noctua cooler that was linked. Found a good guide and got my clock speed to 4.0Ghz. Without going further i checked B&S performance. Seeing about a 5fps increase, which is awesome for 65 bucks.

[Afrospinach]

I do not have an aftermarket cooler and I am not experienced in overclocking. Always been a bit intimidated of frying my cpu. If you could suggest a cpu cooler and maybe an overclocking guide I could look into I'd appreciate it.

God knows I have tried. I have mounted coolers with the plastic still on, I have turned the voltage up rather high on some AMDs in an attempt to revive some disabled cores, mounted coolers with toothpaste for TIM. You name it. I have never fried a CPU and I actually don't personally know anyone who has.

Find out what is an acceptable voltage(this is entirely within your control) and find out what is an acceptable temp and keep an eye on it. High temperatures should really not kill you CPU quickly and they throttle themselves if it really gets toasty. All in all it is rather safe if you do a bit of reading.

[Lathais]

New fan has the idle temp to 40C . I was impatient and found the noctua cooler that was linked. Found a good guide and got my clock speed to 4.0Ghz. Without going further i checked B&S performance. Seeing about a 5fps increase, which is awesome for 65 bucks.

Keep pushing it. Like I said, you should be able to get 4.4-4.6 pretty easily. One of the OCing guides I had read had spoken with ASUS and ASUS had said that in their tests they found 4.6 to be about the average OC on i5 Haswells. What was recommended in that particular guide was to start at 4.6 and see if you boot. If you can boot, you know you have an average or above CPU. If not, then you can dial it back and go from there.

[Pwellzor]

Keep pushing it. Like I said, you should be able to get 4.4-4.6 pretty easily. One of the OCing guides I had read had spoken with ASUS and ASUS had said that in their tests they found 4.6 to be about the average OC on i5 Haswells. What was recommended in that particular guide was to start at 4.6 and see if you boot. If you can boot, you know you have an average or above CPU. If not, then you can dial it back and go from there.

I read the same guide actually. I tried 4.6 and my bios on reboot said that it failed and was resetting to defaults. tried 4.4, same thing. I'm not so confident as to say I have a lower percentile cpu as I am to say that I'm doing something wrong OR my cpu is damaged from being under an idle 60C for so long (I'm not sure what it was hitting playing witcher 3/B&S)

Honestly I'm thrilled that the temp went down so considerably switching out the stock cooler. I've only ever run relatively average builds and never thought it would make that big of a difference.

[Deleted]

OR my cpu is damaged from being under an idle 60C for so long (I'm not sure what it was hitting playing witcher 3/B&S)

No worries. Those CPUs have their thermal limit at 95 or 105 degrees Celsius. After that they start to throttle or the computer turns of in order to protect the system.

[Lathais]

No worries. Those CPUs have their thermal limit at 95 or 105 degrees Celsius. After that they start to throttle or the computer turns of in order to protect the system.

Yeah running at 60 for extended periods will not hurt anything. I think running at over 80-90 for extended periods can start to shorten the life some, but in reality, the life is 10-20 years and you are likely to replace it far before it starts having issues. You won't start causing real damage until above 95-105 like Zeara said here.