New Gaming Build - Some questions

[Holesto]

It has come again. Where my amazing super epic gaming PC cannot play the new and exciting games like it used to. I guess I'll first list the parts of my PC that I know for sure, but I'm sure they all need upgraded.

MOBO
Asus P5k-e

CPU
Intel e8400

GPU
eVGA 8800 GTS 512MB

Memory
4 gigs corsair memory (not sure of the specs on it..)

PSU
500w thermaltake (again not 100% sure)

HDD
500Gb seagate 7200rpm

I built this machine about 2 years ago. Now I know the mobo/cpu/memory/gpu could use upgrading, but I'm unsure of the PSU and the HDD. Are HDDs really that important for gaming rigs? I'm going to mostly be playing MMOs such as RIFT.

Any suggestions on new parts? I'd like to keep the build at about $1000 USD. I've been looking at the new 550 ti vid card from nVidia. Any thoughts on that, or is it really not good? (its only 150 bucks)

I know this is all kind of vague and such, but I've been out of the game for a long time, so I'm completely clueless once again when it comes to parts!

[birddog_61]

You can keep you HDD I would however buy another one and run 2 drives. Pretty much everything else I would scrap and go new. The 550 is not a high end gaming card, it will play most games but your going to be turning the eye candy way down. Personally the smallest Nvidia card I would go with for a serious gamer playing at 1920x1080 is the gtx 560. I don't know what games you play, but if you enjoy games like crysis and metro, and BFBC2 then your going to want at least the 560 and ideally the 570. The 570 will play any game on the market maxed out at 1920 resolution, as for the rest.
Cpu
i5 2500
Motherboard
Asus p67
Memory
8gb 2x4gb corsair,kingston,or A-data
PSU
Corsair atleast 650 but avoid the builder series
HDD
If you decide you want another one go with a WD black

[Holesto]

Hi thanks for the reply!

I was actually looking at the 570 after I posted, so it seems I have good taste! lol

Was also looking at motherboards and found the Sabretooth. So would the ASUS p67 would be better than the ASUS Sabretooth X58 model?

For processors I was looking at the i7 950 Bloomfield. I just went to i7 cuz it was a higher number than i5, but the numbers of the i5 look impressive. Would you recommend it over the i7 then?

Was also curious about my heatsink. It is the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. Would I be able to re-use this as well with new thermal paste?

Thanks for the recommendations!

[birddog_61]

The 950 is socket 1366 and is a very good processor, however it won't game with the much newer i5 2500 or i7 2600 processors that perform pretty much equal in gaming. The two new processors are socket 1155, and and you should look for motherboards with that socket. There is a sabertooth 1155 board and its extremely nice, but fairly expensive. Depending on which version of that heatsink you have it could work, if you have the early model I don't believe it will fit however if you have the rev 2 model that came out later it will. Basically any heatsink that will fit socket 1156 will fit 1155.

Are you planing on overclocking, if your not going to overclock just use the stock cooler that comes with the cpu. If you are then you need to look at the k models of both processors and decide which one you want.

[David M]

You really don't need to start from scratch.

I think all you need is a graphics card upgrade and possibly a new PSU upgrade depending on which card you choose. Your 8800 GTS graphics card is the current speed limit by a very large margin.

An E8400 is not a slow processor especially if you put a mild overclock on it which you could do with a stock heat sink. Hitting 3.1 GHz to 3.4 would not be unreasonable. The vast majority of games are not yet written for more than two cores.

Four gigs of RAM is plenty for gaming.

I would try that first because a new graphics card and a new PSU can be added to a new motherboard, CPU and RAM in the future in case you find that what you did is still not fast enough.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by David M You really don't need to start from scratch. I think all you need is a graphics card upgrade and possibly a new PSU upgrade depending on which card you choose. Your 8800 GTS graphics card is the current speed limit by a very large margin. An E8400 is not a slow processor especially if you put a mild overclock on it which you could do with a stock heat sink. Hitting 3.1 GHz to 3.4 would not be unreasonable. Even higher with an aftermarket heat sink. The vast majority of games are not yet written for more than two cores. Four gigs of RAM is plenty for gaming. I would try that first because a new graphics card and a new PSU can be added to a new motherboard, CPU and RAM in the future in case you find that what you did is still not fast enough.

If I can find the link again, I read about the 8400 oc to 4.4ghz, and it was bottle necking with the GTX 295 and the 5970. While it will game fine with his current processor he will be leaving a lot of what the 570 has unseen. Also if he is going to be playing some modern games that are very cpu intensive aka GTAIV he will need more cpu.

EDIT: here is the link
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...k,2625-16.html

[David M]

The point of my post was to try to save money and not to debate the merits of new versus old.

He would not be wasting money were he to buy a new graphics card and probably a new PSU and then using them in his current rig. If he is still unhappy with the results, then buy a new motherboard, CPU and RAM. My options saves him money if he ends up happy with only a graphics card and PSU upgrade because the parts he just bought are still compatible with a new motherboard, CPU and RAM if he is not happy with the results.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by David M The point of my post was to try to save money and not to debate the merits of new versus old. He would not be wasting money were he to buy a new graphics card and probably a new PSU and then using them in his current rig. If he is still unhappy with the results, then buy a new motherboard, CPU and RAM. My options saves him money if he ends up happy with only a graphics card and PSU upgrade because the parts he just bought are still compatible with a new motherboard, CPU and RAM if he is not happy with the results.

I understand that, but buying a 570 to run with a 3.0 ghz 8400 is like buying a ferrari and only driving it in town with a 30mph speed limit.

[Holesto]

Haha nice analogy birddog. Well I have no experience with overclocking, so I'll just stick with buying a new processor. So the i5 2500 is much better than the i7 950? I'll go with that one then.

I can only find one Arctic Freezer Pro 7 on newegg, and it looks like mine, but is there any way to make sure? If I can't be sure I guess I'll use the stock cooler (never done that before...makes me nervous even though I don't overclock).

I downloaded RIFT on my computer today, and I'm getting about 40 FPS on LOW settings...I've heard this game is beautiful, but my rig just won't handle it at this time. Gotta upgrade!

[birddog_61]

Since your not overclocking stick with the provided intel fan, it will work perfectly fine and it keeps the warranty safe.

[David M]

Originally Posted by birddog_61 I understand that, but buying a 570 to run with a 3.0 ghz 8400 is like buying a ferrari and only driving it in town with a 30mph speed limit.

You still don't understand that I am suggesting trying the least expensive method first and then seeing if it is good enough. I already know that the most expensive way of doing this will produce the faster computer. Some people do not want the fastest and most expensive when something less is good enough.

[glc]

I would recommend you buy a new video card FIRST and put it in - along with a better PSU. Both items COULD be reused if you decide to upgrade the CPU and motherboard at ANY time.

Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply