Yay for PC upgrade time!

[GoinAllTheWay]

Considering pulling the trigger on an upgrade. Almost purely for gaming. Right now, my current rig has:
1) Asus Maximus Hero VII MOBO
2) 6 gig of Corsair Vengeance RAM
3) Intel i5 4690k CPU @ 3.5 Ghz
4) Geforce 9700 OC Vid card
5) Cooler master V850 gold P/S
6) 250 Gig Samsung SSD for the O/S and a 1TB WD blue data drive

I'd also like to change my case but not crucial. It's a Cooler Master Cosmos. Been great for years. Plenty of space but various panels are starting to hum and buzz with vibration. Not to mention, the thing is mammoth and quite heavy. Bit of a PITA carrying it outside to blow it out.

I don't really need to upgrade but figured I could send some of my current components to my brother who doesn't have the funds to upgrade (new business owner) and figured me upgrading could help him upgrade too.

I'm basically looking to future proof. What would you guys do, if anything? I'm hoping I bought a good enough MOBO that I can keep that as well as the P/S but everything else is fair game.

[DoubleK]

What's the total budget? I might copy this build.

[GoinAllTheWay]

I figure I'm probably somewhere in the $1500 range assuming things don't snowball.

Which is unlikely.

[jaginla]

Does your mobo support NVME m.2 drives? Much faster than your SATA SSD.
If not you could get a PCIe adapter.

Other than that things I would upgrade:

GPU -> $650-$700 GTX 1080 (Look at EVGA Bstock deals on Wednesday, free shipping & cheap pricing even for USD)

RAM -> Does your MOBO support DDR4? If not I'd hunt for some used matching sticks to go from 6 to 12 or more.

What are you currently running for cooling? Could look at overclocking your i5.

With 1500 you could probably buy a very good new computer. If you multitask more than you game, probably a good idea to look at upgrading everything and getting a 8 core Ryzen, fast ram, fast storage & a mid range GPU over a 1080.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by jaginla

Does your mobo support NVME m.2 drives?

RAM -> Does your MOBO support DDR4? If not I'd hunt for some used matching sticks to go from 6 to 12 or more.

What are you currently running for cooling? Could look at overclocking your i5.

Hmmmm. No and no it would seem. Damn, maybe I should look at a new MOBO.

The cooler is just a tower air cooler.

Thanks for your post, this is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. I assumed I was good to go with the DDR4 RAM.

I think October is the typical time for new hardware to come out which may also lower the price of existing hardware?

**EDIT**

Wait, maybe wrong about the drives. Found this on a spec sheet I found online regarding my current MOBO:

Storage Devices

SATA 6Gb/s8 x SATA 6Gb/sM.21 x M.2 Socket 3 with M KeySATA RAID0/1/5/10


Is that what you're getting at?

[jaginla]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Hmmmm. No and no it would seem. Damn, maybe I should look at a new MOBO.

The cooler is just a tower air cooler.

Thanks for your post, this is exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. I assumed I was good to go with the DDR4 RAM.

I think October is the typical time for new hardware to come out which may also lower the price of existing hardware?

**EDIT**

Wait, maybe wrong about the drives. Found this on a spec sheet I found online regarding my current MOBO:

Storage Devices

SATA 6Gb/s8 x SATA 6Gb/sM.21 x M.2 Socket 3 with M KeySATA RAID0/1/5/10


Is that what you're getting at?

Yeah, I think that should mean it's m.2 compatible. If you look into. The mobo itself you can see the slot where you slide in the m.2 ssd. It's the same form factor as laptop storage.

They are clearing out a lot of the 960 evos which are really good drives and a good future proof upgrade.

If you don't want to upgrade the cpu just yet, maybe get a better cooler and look into overclocking the 4690k. Should be fine day to day, you don't necessarily need the fancy 8 core chips yet. I struggle with this debate cause I have a 4770k but I really want the ryzen for some video work.

[PsYcNeT]

OPTION 1

If you are just gaming, throw $1000 at a video card (1080Ti), buy a CPU water block ($120-$160 depending on brand), and a case that supports a 240mm or 360mm RAD depending on the size of the water block. Overclock the CPU/RAM. Maybe throw another $100 at a matching 6GB stick set for your RAM.

Voila, you have a $1500 upgrade and gaming will be excellent.

That said, if you are gaming at 1080p, this might be overkill. At 1440p, it will be perfect.

OPTION 2

Get a GSync 1440p monitor

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX59699 - $850 on sale right now

Get a GTX 1080

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX62942 - $710

For 1560 + Tax, you will have an immaculately better gaming experience.

I'm not even joking, option #2 is more recommendable from me.

[codynw]

1440p is life

[jaginla]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

OPTION 1

If you are just gaming, throw $1000 at a video card (1080Ti), buy a CPU water block ($120-$160 depending on brand), and a case that supports a 240mm or 360mm RAD depending on the size of the water block. Overclock the CPU/RAM. Maybe throw another $100 at a matching 6GB stick set for your RAM.

Voila, you have a $1500 upgrade and gaming will be excellent.

That said, if you are gaming at 1080p, this might be overkill. At 1440p, it will be perfect.

OPTION 2

Get a GSync 1440p monitor

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX59699 - $850 on sale right now

Get a GTX 1080

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX62942 - $710

For 1560 + Tax, you will have an immaculately better gaming experience.

I'm not even joking, option #2 is more recommendable from me.

Also, if you want to see if you can snag a vega 56 + freesync. You end up saving a ton on the monitor for the same specs. G sync and free sync are the same except the 200 dollar markup.

[PsYcNeT]

Freesync looks worse. No argument dude. I have never seen a freesync monitor as smooth as a gsync.

[jaginla]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Freesync looks worse. No argument dude. I have never seen a freesync monitor as smooth as a gsync.

I think it depends on the monitor. I didnt notice anything wrong with freesync on my mg279q. Also with freesync 2 coming out it's definitely worth looking into if you don't have 200 to blow on essentially the same technology.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Ok, monitors, ya......

It's easily the most outdated part of my system. Shortly after starting this thread I looked up the release date of my monitor and apparently that was 2008! So I guess Option 2 is the way to go for sure PsYcNeT? Just gonna have to hack my desk apart as it's a corner hugger with a monitor cubby that barely has enough room for my current 22".

But more than happy to do this. This desk is on borrowed time and can't wait to replace it.

[PsYcNeT]

I think it would be the best use of your money based on the components you already have. You already have a capable gaming CPU/RAMset/Mobo/PSU, the 1080 I linked is one of the "smaller" models so it will fit your rig no problem, and a Sync-enabled monitor, nearly 3 years on for me, is by far my most favorite PC-component purchase I've ever made (out of a lot of them).

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I think it would be the best use of your money based on the components you already have. You already have a capable gaming CPU/RAMset/Mobo/PSU, the 1080 I linked is one of the "smaller" models so it will fit your rig no problem, and a Sync-enabled monitor, nearly 3 years on for me, is by far my most favorite PC-component purchase I've ever made (out of a lot of them).

please detail the benefits you got from a sync enabled monitor?

[Ashasx]

If you are looking for a good gaming monitor for a decent price, I recommend this 24-inch Dell 1440p 144 Hz with G Sync: https://www.amazon.ca/Dell-S2417DG-2...5160181&sr=8-1

Has a really thin bezel display as well. The only concern is that it's a TN panel, but if you are gaming, that shouldn't be an issue. Plus it doesn't look all gamey.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Awesome, thank you very much. Always appreciate your contributions in threads like this.

As far as video cards go, the abyss that is the inside of my case has a ton of room. Would a larger video card be more useful? I have no issue spending the extra $ now if it is worth it.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

please detail the benefits you got from a sync enabled monitor?

Well the one I linked is IPS, which has amazing deep blacks and vivid colors. So upgrading from a TN panel from 2008 will be an instant visual upgrade even on stationary images.

The basic gist of "sync" is that the monitor has an embedded GPU-type chip which drives the monitors refresh rate. First some background on why this is necessary.

In the general sense, most PC monitors run at a 59 or 60 hertz cycle, which means they refresh the visual image at 60 frames a second. Better monitors run at 120/144/160hz cycles, which means they refresh much faster (like the “fake” 120/240 refresh rates some HD TVs have, but unless you pay 8k+ for a TV, this is “tweened” framing, which interpolates between existing frames and gives that weird soap-opera effect to non-sports or gaming).

Nearly all Gsync/Freesync monitors are 120 to 160 hz, with the exception of Gsync laptops, which usually run 75-100hz.

Now, some people will come in and say “ACKSHUALLY the human eye can only see at 22/24/30 frames a second so it’s useless to have higher refresh rates!” This of course means nothing, because the way the monitor displays the information bears more relevance than the eye’s ability to see it. It’s about smoothness of motion and proper movement between frames.

On all PCs you can enable a mode called “V-Sync” or, Vertical Sync. Non-sync enabled monitors (so, every monitor prior to 2014) and TVs drive their own refresh rate (eg they cycle at 60hz regardless of the input). So when you play a game on an older monitor, without V-Sync you might get what’s called “tearing” or “shearing”, especially in fast paced FPS or 3PS games. This happens because the video card is outputting frames at a lower speed than the monitor refreshes, eg. 42 frames to 60hz, so there are 18 “missing” frames. This doesn’t matter much for static images or slow pans, but fast movement or visually striking scenes often result in tearing. V-Sync forces the video card to run at 30 FPS or 60 FPS, but this can actually make your video card a bit crippled for various reasons (30 fps caps are pretty much what you see with lots of console games, 60 fps caps are much smoother).

Now a 144hz Gsync monitor, while it can output at 144hz at the top end, will have its imbedded chip driving its own framerate to match that of the video cards output. As a result, regardless of frames (generally if they stay above a 45 fps minimum) look realistically smooth with zero tearing and without additional “artificial” caps.

It has to be seen to be really appreciated. It’s an amazing tech.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

If you are looking for a good gaming monitor for a decent price, I recommend this 24-inch Dell 1440p 144 Hz with G Sync: https://www.amazon.ca/Dell-S2417DG-2...5160181&sr=8-1

Has a really thin bezel display as well. The only concern is that it's a TN panel, but if you are gaming, that shouldn't be an issue. Plus it doesn't look all gamey.

Despite being a TN panel, these Dell monitors actually look pretty great IMO.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by codynw

Despite being a TN panel, these Dell monitors actually look pretty great IMO.

Yes absolutely. Unless you are doing pretty detailed multimedia work, I can't justify paying an extra $300 for an (although great) Acer IPS panel.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Yes absolutely. Unless you are doing pretty detailed multimedia work, I can't justify paying an extra $300 for an (although great) Acer IPS panel.

$250 for IPS and 3 extra visual inches, which really are justified if you're moving to 1440p.