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| Thread ID: 139261 | 2015-04-03 06:07:00 | Gaming PC upgrade advise | cagesen (16448) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1397899 | 2015-04-03 06:07:00 | I am looking to upgrade my gaming PC. I want a new MB, CPU, RAM, PSU and possibly a GPU. I bought a Radeon HD7950 in October last year, but I'm wondering with Arkham Knight and Witcher 3 coming soon if I should upgrade again to a GeForce 970 or 980. Also, should I be worried about the 970's VRAM issue (only using 3.5GB)? Any advise on my 2 options would be appricated: pricespy.co.nz or pricespy.co.nz Cheers. |
cagesen (16448) | ||
| 1397900 | 2015-04-03 06:21:00 | If you plan on overclocking I'd get a better cooler, if you're not I'd stick with the stock cooler. The one you chose is no better than some intel stock coolers and not worth buying IMHO. Even the humble hyper 212 evo is much better. Also if you want to save some cash you don't really need 16GB of RAM (although I do intend to get that much myself next build). And while those PSU choices are probably ok myself I'd go with a seasonic, especially over the cooler master. The rest of the parts look good, and no you should not worry about the 970's VRAM "issue" Despite all the bad press it caused the card still performs just as good as it did before anyone knew about the VRAM and is still a great bang for buck option. For 1080P gaming it's currently all you need. On the other hand, why upgrade the graphics card before it actually fails to play something adequately. Until you get a game that doesn't look or run good enough for you sticking with what you have will save you money in the short term and possibly let you skip to the next generation if it lasts long enough. Don't listen to me though, I upgrade for the hell of it on a whim fairly regularly :) I got a 980 because I wanted one not because I needed it. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1397901 | 2015-04-03 06:52:00 | Thanks dugimodo. I def want to overclock so I will look at some cooling. Maybe something like this (www.playtech.co.nz), which might be quieter when not gaming. I'm pretty confident with just going with the cheapest PSU, out of Seasonic, Corsair or CM. From what I've read (I very recently got my degree in Googleology), they are relatively similar in performance for what I plan to do. I forgot to mention I might be running 3 x 24" at 1080p for gaming in the near future. I'm haven't decided yet, but I want the option open. I too am looking at 980 just "because I wanted one". Alternatively I could get 2 x 970 SLI (cheaper than 1 x 980), but I've heard it can be more trouble than it's worth. |
cagesen (16448) | ||
| 1397902 | 2015-04-03 09:22:00 | Alternatively I could get 2 x 970 SLI (cheaper than 1 x 980), but... Oops. I got that wrong. That's not necessarily true. |
cagesen (16448) | ||
| 1397903 | 2015-04-03 09:31:00 | Wouldn't bother with 2x970s, multi gpu setups are best suited to multimonitor setups. I imagine with 3x1080p monitors the 970 will be a mess (assuming you're using more than 3.5gbs of the vram). +1 for a Seasonic psu. Although both the PSUs you listed are fine. The Corsair RM series is particularly nice. As for the cooler it's probably worth spending a bit more than $11. The price on the AIO liquid cooler you linked is a joke, you're paying what you would for an h100i (see: www.dtconline.co.nz and www.pp.co.nz). If you wanted to go with an air cooler the Noctua D14 is an easy recommend. |
icow (15313) | ||
| 1397904 | 2015-04-03 09:41:00 | I'm pretty confident with just going with the cheapest PSU,PSU's are one component you dont skimp on. While the ones listed are OK, I Agree with dugimodo - Seasonic would be the One I'd suggest. The 970 Card is the same one I just put into my sons new gaming machine, runs really nice. :) |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1397905 | 2015-04-04 03:29:00 | It's a tough call. I'm influenced by all the hype surrounding Skylake CPUs which will be out within a year (maybe a bit longer for the 'K' versions) So your new MB, CPU and memory will be out of date in a year... On the other hand, what you're proposing is a very good rig. It is probably what I would do if I really had to upgrade now. (I would follow Dugimodo in only getting 8 GB of the DDR3 RAM. Because you might not want to re-use it in a future Skylake rig. I believe Skylake supports DDR3, but it runs DDR4 at 2400 MHz without overclocking. That's quite a step up on 1600 MHz. I will be getting 16 GB when I eventually go to Skylake)) Apparently the GPU is the most important item for gaming? (See PCtech in an earlier thread) So the most cost-effective option is probably to keep everything you've got (whatever that is) and get a GT 970. That will still be a very good card when Skylake arrives. It is what I will probably do in the meantime (except that I want the GT 970 for its CUDA cores - for video processing rather than gaming) |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
| 1397906 | 2015-04-04 04:22:00 | It's a tough call. I'm influenced by all the hype surrounding Skylake CPUs which will be out within a year (maybe a bit longer for the 'K' versions) There's never an end to the waiting game. |
icow (15313) | ||
| 1397907 | 2015-04-04 08:29:00 | Thanks for your advice. I'll let you know what I go with when it happens (if it happens). | cagesen (16448) | ||
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