Is it time to upgrade?

[Carlaslas]

Hello folks. I currently built my computer about 3-4 years ago (give or take)

I have the following components in my computer. As far as budget (if the upgrade would be actually worth doing) is around $1500 USD. And I don't need monitors, speakers, keyboards, or mouse.

ASRock Z75 Pro3
Intel I5 3570k
Samsung SSD 840 Series
Western Digital Blue 1TB
AMD 7970 Ghz Edition
Antec 520W Power supply
G.Skill DDR3 1600 8gb RAM
NZXT Phantom ATX Full Tower Case
Windows 7 64 bit

Thank you very much.

[Thunderball]

Are you overclocking? Your build is still pretty strong, you mostly need to replace a videocard.

[Carlaslas]

Are you overclocking? Your build is still pretty strong, you mostly need to replace a videocard.

Yes overclocking both my cpu and gpu.

[Fascinate]

Like stated above you have a really strong PC still, what games do you play the most?

[Carlaslas]

Like stated above you have a really strong PC still, what games do you play the most?

Right now: WoW, Doom (2016), Xcom 2, Fallout 4, and waiting on new releases coming out like dishonored 2 and no man sky.

[Fascinate]

Right now: WoW, Doom (2016), Xcom 2, Fallout 4, and waiting on new releases coming out like dishonored 2 and no man sky.

Realistically you don't have to upgrade anything, but you would see some gains simply by going to nvidia for WoW. The rest of your system i wouldn't touch just put a good overclock on your CPU if you havent already.

Keep an eye on this page, avoid the zotac mini (poor cooler design) and any model made by pny (only 1 year warranty).
http://www.nowinstock.net/computers/...vidia/gtx1060/

[Thunderball]

New platform:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.98 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 8GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($438.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1023.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-31 12:29 EDT-0400

Upgrade:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 8GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($438.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $514.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-31 12:27 EDT-0400

You might not need a PSU depending on which 520w Antec PSU it is (if it's High Current Gamer you're fine), other than that I really suggest a new PSU and also expanding memory to 16gb.

[Fascinate]

What are you talking about? A 1070 has a 150w TDP the max overclocked they could draw is ~180w. His CPU maxxed out with an OC will be maybe pulling ~125w, a 520 is more than enough juice.

As a side note i bet it is the HCG model, ive had that exact one in my PC for 5+ years now, still going strong : )

[Thunderball]

What are you talking about? A 1070 has a 150w TDP the max overclocked they could draw is ~180w. His CPU maxxed out with an OC will be maybe pulling ~125w, a 520 is more than enough juice.

As a side note i bet it is the HCG model, ive had that exact one in my PC for 5+ years now, still going strong : )

High Current Gamer is a good PSU (especially semi-modular version) but it's 80+ Bronze certified. That voltage stability does wonders for overclocking, which OP is planning to do.

[Carlaslas]

As a side note i bet it is the HCG model, ive had that exact one in my PC for 5+ years now, still going strong : )

Just want to chime in here. It is a HCG model. I guess I have these forums to thank. They did give me some solid advice on parts.

[Fascinate]

Just want to chime in here. It is a HCG model. I guess I have these forums to thank. They did give me some solid advice on parts.

Ya keep an eye out on that 1060 page i linked, its about double as fast as your 7970. I assume you have a proper aftermarket heatsink? IIRC 3570k's should be able to hit 4.5ghz pretty easily before they run into the dreaded thermal wall of that generation.

[Deleted]

Depends on what you want to play, at what Resolution and what Framerate. But for 1080p/60FPS you should still be fine.

[Deleted]

You are fine for 1080p/60FPS.

[Thunderball]

Just want to chime in here. It is a HCG model. I guess I have these forums to thank. They did give me some solid advice on parts.

You can keep the PSU then but I wouldnt overvoltage the GPU with this setup.

- - - Updated - - -

IIRC 3570k's should be able to hit 4.5ghz pretty easily before they run into the dreaded thermal wall of that generation.

Not really. For Haswell and Ivy Bridge stable 4.5ghz is usually pretty hard to achieve without a supercooler. I still dont get it why would they gut overclockers that much.

[Fascinate]

You can keep the PSU then but I wouldnt overvoltage the GPU with this setup.

- - - Updated - - -



Not really. For Haswell and Ivy Bridge stable 4.5ghz is usually pretty hard to achieve without a supercooler. I still dont get it why would they gut overclockers that much.

Depends on the chip tbh, some hit the thermal wall at 4.3 some even higher. I cant remember what voltage it was, but most chips would go from 65c to 80c with just a small voltage increase...that is because they used crappy thermal paste instead of interal solder like they had on sandy bridge.

[Thunderball]

Depends on the chip tbh, some hit the thermal wall at 4.3 some even higher. I cant remember what voltage it was, but most chips would go from 65c to 80c with just a small voltage increase...that is because they used crappy thermal paste instead of interal solder like they had on sandy bridge.

Depends on the chip, sure, but I'm talking on average. With Sandy Bridge reaching 4.5ghz stable was a given, for Devil's Canyon and Skylake it's a most likely, for Haswell and Ivy Bridge that's probably. And good thermal interface unfortunately doesnt help much - they have that transparent polymer glue under the lid that is way worse than any good thermal paste and wont even cover all of your cores if you're unlucky.

[Carlaslas]

I overclocked my CPU to about 4.0, saw some good things from WoW around that mark. And my heatsink is a Zigmatek GAIA SD1283. As far as overclocking my GPU. It came "overclocked" out of the box. So, I didn't really mess with it. My FPS have been pretty good without tweaking with it.

Ya keep an eye out on that 1060 page i linked

So, what would be better the 1060 or 1070?

[Thunderball]

So, what would be better the 1060 or 1070?

If it's mostly for WoW and you dont have plans of buying a 1440p monitor go with GTX 1060. Otherwise go with GTX 1070.