Upgrade advice on current build <3

[phai]

Hello guys,

I'm currently asking myself whether I should update my computer or my current build will run Skyrim smooth (which I doubt).


Current specs:
Intel Core i5 760 (original state, no overclocking done)
Some ASUS P7P55D-E Motherboard
Corsair 1333C9DHX 2 x 2 GB
2x WD VelociRaptor 300GB, 10'000RPM, 600GB in a Raid-0
nVidia GTX285


This is what I would buy:
Intel Core i5 2500k
AsRock Z68 PRO3-M, Intel Z68
8 Gigs of RAM (1600MHz?)
Some SSD (Suggest me something between 100 - 120GB)
2x WD VelociRaptor 300GB, 10'000RPM, 600GB in a Raid-0 (from old build, game storage)
MSI GTX-560 Ti Twin Frozr II


This wouldn't cost me that much ... but the question is if that build is stable for another year?
Should I really upgrade my i5? Is it worth it? Or is the 760 running fine for now?

For the info: I don't overclock stuff. It's bad. ;D


Thanks in advance,
phai<3

[Dexiefy]

phai

Upgrade advice on current build <3
Hello guys,

I'm currently asking myself whether I should update my computer or my current build will run Skyrim smooth (which I doubt).


Current specs:
Intel Core i5 760 (original state, no overclocking done)
Some ASUS P7P55D-E Motherboard
Corsair 1333C9DHX 2 x 2 GB
2x WD VelociRaptor 300GB, 10'000RPM, 600GB in a Raid-0
nVidia GTX285


This is what I would buy:
Intel Core i5 2600k
AsRock Z68 PRO3-M, Intel Z68
8 Gigs of RAM (1600MHz?)
Some SSD (Suggest me something between 100 - 120GB)
2x WD VelociRaptor 300GB, 10'000RPM, 600GB in a Raid-0 (from old build, game storage)
MSI GTX-560 Ti Twin Frozr II


This wouldn't cost me that much ... but the question is if that build is stable for another year?
Should I really upgrade my i5? Is it worth it? Or is the 760 running fine for now?

For the info: I don't overclock stuff. It's bad. ;D


Thanks in advance,
phai<3

Honestly i dont see a reason for upgrading for you. Im guessing big majority of games you play runs just fine.
IF You however do want to upgrade then i would say wait a little. Tomorrow AMD is releasing Bulldozer (efing finally!) and while i personally dont think it will challenge sandy bridge in gaming, the 8 core one is to cost around 240$ or so, which is cheap and if it will be near sandy performance in gaming, then bulldozer will be clear winner thx to being cheaper and AMD boards being much cheaper than intel boards. Note: Intel is to release Sandy bridge-E in november if im not wrong.

Till end of the year AMD is also releasing Radeon HD 7000 series graphic cards with 28nm architecture. I would wait for that before upgrading GPU (oh wait i already am doing that :O) and just for the record nvidia wont release gtx 600 series for another few months... I guess we will see them at the end of february/beggining of march.

As for the build you are looking for.
i7-2600k performs just like i5-2500k gaming wise, so unless you run applications that like alot of cores, go with i5-2500. Yes i5-2500 not i5-2500k. As you say you arent going to overclock, there is no point for you to pay more for unlocked version of the processor ;] (k at the end of model states that multiplier is unlocked and can be overclocked thx to that)

You chose motherboard with z68 chipset because you probably heard that " its newest and the best amagad"... Fact is, you might just aswell go wtih h67 chipset as you wont be overclocking, you wont be using onboard graphics and you wont be using ssd for caching of regular hdd espcially when you intend to raid velociraptors in your new pc. Basically you would pay more for newer chipset but you wouldnt use its features.
If however you change your mind about overclocking, then go for p67 chipset motherboard. Here im not gonna give any recommendations as i dont know the budget and w/e you are going to go through with this upgrade at this time or not. However when chosing motherboard within the same chipset, look at PCI lanes layout (to fit all your pci card you might want to install inside your rig) and pci lanes speeds. Basically if you want to sli/xfire you want 2 lanes that can work in 8x/8x mode (16x/4x is inferior in performace in comparision to 8x/8x and 16x/16x will drain cash from you for less than 5% performance boost over 8x/8x). Two brans i recommend tough is Asus and Gigabyte, after those MSI and EVGA. Asrock belongs to Asus btw and Asrock is lower price and quality "division" of Asus :P

The version of 560ti You chose is good because you can overclock it further thx to cooling:P Seeing as you dont intend to overclock and manual overclock might void your warranty, i would rather recommend you going for Gigabyte Gtx 560ti Super Overclocked version. Its overclocked to the limits (1000mhz vs reference 822mhz and vs 880mhz of twin frozr on core and 4580Mhz vs 4008Mhz stock and 4200Mhz twin frozr on memory) and performs on par or even slightly (really slightly) better than stock gtx 570 while being MUCH cheaper than actual gtx 570. Plus ofc you have peace of mind that warranty will work if card fails.

SSD depends on money ou want to put into it. I recommend ocz vertex 2 (if you are looking for something around 250mb transfers) and corsair force series 3/gt, ocz vertex 3 and ocz agility 3 if you are looking for something around 500mb/s transfers. Speed wise it would be ocz vertex 3/ Corsair force series 3 GT>Force series 3> agility 3 but they are all hovering around 500 mb/s so its all about which one is better bargain at the time imo.

Memory, 1600mhz is the way to go with sandy bridge. Overall Very well scoring memory is G.Skill ripjaw x 1600mhz 1.5v and its relatively cheap aswell (50-60$/€ range for 2x4gb)

However I would wait in your place. Your pc obviously handles any game your throw at it (maybe not COMPLETLY maxed out with 100+ fps or w/e but sure its playable). Tomorrow amd releases new processors, in 1 month we will most likely see sandy bridge-e and Radeon 7000 series and that would be the best time to upgrade/build pc.
Im personally waiting for reviews of bulldozer and then im gonna build a rig most likely, depends on funds. I might wait till 15th of november (supposed date) for release of sandy bridge-e but they are 300$, 550$ and 1000$ priced processors. But then again 1 month of waiting might boost mu budget and i might go for this 550$ (or well, most likely 550€ :|) extreme processor (1k one is complete overkill), all depends on its performance vs i7 2600k and fx8150.

Hope this helps

[phai]

More than enough, thank you very much Dexiefy