Rig or Components

[krashx90]

Hi Guys.

I have been shopping around online looking for a used rig as a cheap upgrade. Upon comparing components I thought my setup may not be as poor as I original thought. I am unsure if I need to just upgrade components or if I need to buy something new. It needs to be under £350. I have a feeling this may just need a RAM and GPU upgrade, but I am unsure if my motherboard will allow this. Rig was bought at university a few years ago when I didnt really know what I was doing. I am able to afford a second hand rig if that it recommended however I cannot buy from new. Id also like to put in an SSD but I also unsure if my current setup would allow this as i dont know the process.

I already upgraded the graphics card around a year ago which I had to buy a new PSU to accommodate the power to the GPU. I am unsure whats inside but if I recall it could be Corsair CS or CX series and i think it was 750w. I can open it up if its absolute necessary. It was around £75.

What I want to achieve.
I am not really interested in 4k at this point. When I transition into full time work I will potentially buy a new rig anyway. However I would like to achieve 60 FPS. I dont not believe I am in the master race at the minute but the games I would possibly play. Warcraft, Overwatch, Arma, Battlefield,Modded skyrim. I would like to play in high settings. I have never built my own rig but I am able get hands on with everything apart from the CPU.



Please post if you require more information.

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770 @ 3.40GHz 49 °C
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8H61-M LX3 R2.0 (LGA1155) 28 °C
Graphics
EF240a (1920x1080@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (CardExpert Technology) 36 °C
Storage
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-1CH164 ATA Device (SATA) 31 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NS95 ATA Device
Audio
VIA HD Audio(Win 10)

[Fascinate]

Umm to be honest your rig should be capable of 60 fps in most of those titles, is it not doing it? Gtx 660 is right at the "recommended" level of GPU in WoW, and from my experience is right about where diminishing returns start to kick in when buying more spendy hardware. If you want to future proof yourself a bit a gtx 1060 would be a good choice, its over 2x as powerful as a 660 but you want see a ton of benefit in games that do not require much graphics horsepower like wow or overwatch. Your memory and cpu are more than fine still, you have a fairly high end rig even by todays standards.

[krashx90]

I have not done much gaming on it for a long time, Im just playing WOW right now. The game puts the settings to 6 when I hit recommended. I do experience drop in FPS when in larger groups. My girlfriend does play sims 4 on high detail, I never played it so im not sure how demanding the graphics are. I used to play Dayz but was only ever able to play in low/medium graphics. I want to stop using the Xbox and switch to PC for all my gaming now but doubt my computer can handle this from experience.

I did notice in speccy under the motherboard specs that the graphics card runs in 32bit. Should this be the case?

Would you say that I am better to just upgrade the GPU and ride this rig out for a bit more time then? The confusion then lays in which cards would be compatible, I am not too well educated in motherboards. I have considered the 970 as this is a cheap upgrade on ebay. The 1060 in my price range has less memory.

I appreciated your post, thanks.



PCI Data
Slot PCI-E
Slot Type PCI-E
Slot Usage In Use
Bus Width 32 bit
Slot Designation PCIEX16
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 0


http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computi...d=t&awid=47868

http://www.ebuyer.com/756396-palit-g...060015f9-1061d

edit: I do recall running Arma 3, and it was on minimum settings and low framerate, I stopped playing straight away because of this.

[Fascinate]

Absolutely the 3gb 1060, its quite a bit faster than the 970 and uses a lot less power. As for your low FPS in large groups that isnt related to hardware, even super high end PC's experience this it boils down to WoW's network limitations and its graphics engine. Rest of your rig is really good still, a GPU would make your PC good for at least another 3 years maybe even more.

I would also consider getting an SSD for your rig, then it would be truly a beast of a machine and could still fit well under your original 350 pound budget.

[Acelius]

If you intend to play Arma you need a faster CPU but beware. Arma is horribly optimized so even with a high-end CPU you still won't get 60+ fps in crowded online games.

[krashx90]

Going to be getting Overwatch and BF1 for now. I am going to look at preloved cards. The 1060 seems to be selling for around 170 whilst the 970 is as low as 100. I will weigh up the cost and make a decision. I dont think I will return to Arma due to the bad experience.

Final questions.
Are there any reconmendations on RAM. If its cheap enough would it be better to opt for 8gb of faster memory?
How would I find out if my system can accomodate an SSD, is it worth upgrading if its cheap enough?

[Acelius]

Going to be getting Overwatch and BF1 for now. I am going to look at preloved cards. The 1060 seems to be selling for around 170 whilst the 970 is as low as 100. I will weigh up the cost and make a decision. I dont think I will return to Arma due to the bad experience.

Final questions.
Are there any reconmendations on RAM. If its cheap enough would it be better to opt for 8gb of faster memory?
How would I find out if my system can accomodate an SSD, is it worth upgrading if its cheap enough?

It's a shame if you rule out Arma entirely, it really is a great experience when it works but the engine is so horrendous that it's infuriating. I'd personally go for the 1060 and I would probably get 8 gb of DDR5. Realistically I don't think you'll exceed 8 gb of RAM in terms of usage so might as well get some faster RAM for those gigs that you do use.

I'm not a pro at these things at all so someone might have better knowledge on the subject.

[Fascinate]

Ya if you can get a 970 for 100 go for it (evga especially some may still have warranty left). Ive heard some people say faster ram matters in some games, but imo its not worth spending money on it you already have 16gigs of 1333 memory that is fine. As for SSD ya any system supports one, in the US you can get a 240gb model for only 60 bucks.

[Denpepe]

Ya if you can get a 970 for 100 go for it (evga especially some may still have warranty left). Ive heard some people say faster ram matters in some games, but imo its not worth spending money on it you already have 16gigs of 1333 memory that is fine. As for SSD ya any system supports one, in the US you can get a 240gb model for only 60 bucks.

The faster RAM is a Skylake thing, won't do much for older PCU's.

@Op more ram wont add much to your gaming performance, an SSD will make your pc a lot snappier and yes it is compatible with your computer don't expect more fps with it though. Ideally you could do a clean install of windows on it and put your most played game son it and/or the ones that stream the most data.

Btw going from a GTX 660 to a 970 should more then double your fps in overwatch, I would still not advise getting one but go for a 1060 instead even if the 3.5gb thing is not a big issue it might hinder you in the future when games start to use more vram but that is something completely up to you, you can always carry the 1060 over to your next machine.

[krashx90]

Thanks for the post Denpepe. My reply never went through, mmochamp keeps logging me out. You have pretty much summarised my feelings though. I will in fact go for the 1060. Thank you for confirming my board will be happy to accommodate it. I will just include my original response however you cleared most things up.

<Br>

The huge servers on Arma were so exciting but it just led to disappointment, especially with the addition of complex controls. Just running Iron docks 5 man now with an FPS spike down to 20.

Is the bus the same for DDR5? THe ram I have is 666.5 MHz, very slow. From my research for gaming the sweet spot is 8GB, which is more than sufficient.

I guess I need to research more on SSD as I dont know about connections etc. Its only really going to hold the OS and main games.

As for the GPU I guess I should just go for it and hopefully futurproof my build for a bit longer. Ill go for the 1060, the price preloved is probably on the more generous side at the moment with the release of the 1080.

Again I appreciate any post.

Edit: I am feeling much more upbeat about the situation, I was about to bid on another system today but glad I didnt. It had a weaker CPu but improved memory and better card. It just seems logical to upgrade what I have.

[Fascinate]

Good choice your CPU is still a monster, a GPU/SSD and windows reinstall would make your system fly.

[krashx90]

PErfect. I am going to open the case up later and double check the PSU has two GPU power outputs as it seems the 1060 needs two. Then I will buy.

Thanks guys.

[Fascinate]

PErfect. I am going to open the case up later and double check the PSU has two GPU power outputs as it seems the 1060 needs two. Then I will buy.

Thanks guys.

Every 1060 ive seen is only one 6 pin, what model are you looking at getting?

[krashx90]

I was going to go for this one and saw the cable in the photo. If the price goes up however I will just buy the brand ive not heard of, palit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EVGA-GeFor...IAAOSwmLlX4fkK
http://www.ebuyer.com/756396-palit-g...060015f9-1061d

[Fascinate]

Oh thats a molex to pci-e adapter, it actually only requires one pci-e cable if your PSU has them.

Also dont buy that specific EVGA model it has a really poor quality heatsink, the evga SC 1060 has a proper quality heatsink:

03G-P4-6162 EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB SC


Thats the one you want if you go EVGA. You also want to avoid any palit cards with one fan, they also have really bad heatsinks. Anything else or with 2 fans is fair game.

[krashx90]

Ok so now you just completely lost me.

Theres only two on ebay the other is too expensive. Not sure if you are from UK but if im just in need of a card I wouldnt really want to go over £175. Definitely not over £200. I am planning to buy some new peripherals too.

Palit is the cheapest, this is the only one that comes in under £200
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/zotac...=affiliate/tag

[Fascinate]

There are two models you should not buy of the 1060, the palit you linked above and the evga 1060 non SC edition, IE this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EVGA-GeFor...IAAOSwmLlX4fkK

The reason for this is because they come with ultra cheap heatsink material, similar to what stock CPU's come shipped with from the factory. The EVGA SC 1060 3gb is the model you want, the MSRP is only 10 dollars more and it comes with both a much better quality heatsink and is factory clocked higher.

This is the model you want to purchase, i dont know UK sites maybe you can find it cheaper elsewhere:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EVGA-NVIDI...MAAOSwMgdXyQ-H

[krashx90]

Is this a personal preference or is it a cooling issue.

Sub 200 these two fit the brief. Id be drawn towards the familiar brand MSI. Else I could always wait for a price drop on amazon.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/zotac...=affiliate/tag
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/nda-...z-gpu-1759mhz-

Edit: This is now nearing the 6GB price range, i guess this is over budget.

[Fascinate]

Is this a personal preference or is it a cooling issue.

Sub 200 these two fit the brief. Id be drawn towards the familiar brand MSI. Else I could always wait for a price drop on amazon.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/zotac...=affiliate/tag
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/nda-...z-gpu-1759mhz-

Edit: This is now nearing the 6GB price range, i guess this is over budget.

Just from reading a ton of reviews when the 1060 launched, for not a lot more money the SC edition of the EVGA is just a far smarter buy. Runs cooler, quieter and faster. I cant say anything for UK pricing, but the 1060 SC 3gb is 209.00 in the states and the 6gb SC is 259.00,. so not sure what to tell ya.

[Denpepe]

This is the one he means I think https://www.overclockers.co.uk/evga-...gx-30e-ea.html

Don't get to hung up on a certain model, most of these cards are good for what you want and it really does not matter much if it runs at 60° or 62°C. Some brands are lesser known in the US because they don't get sold there, does not make them bad.