17 replies to this topic

[Smitti]

Hi all,

Looking at upgrading my GPU from to a GTX760/770 and keeping the old card (GTX660Oc) to run PhysX, but my motherboard (ASRock Z77 Pro4M) is rather limited with only one PCIe3.0 slot, plus the lack of free room both on board and in the case to fit an additional GPU.

I see two options:

1: Replace motherboard with another Z77 chipset so I don't have to replace the CPU (i5 3470 3.2/3.6ghz), approximate cost of $190 AUD for the mobo I currently fancy (MSI M-power LGA1155), plus cost of an ATX sized case. So round about $280 or less if I shop around. This seems to allow some decent expansion options in the future (i7 3770k for overclocking fun and SLI another card maybe?), but it's an obsolete socket, only offering so much longevity.

2: Upgrade to Haswell CPU, motherboard, case and grab some faster ram. A quick check of local prices brings that to just over three times as much outlay, or a third more than I payed for the rig in the first place! But it shouldn't need attention for (I hope) a good couple of years?

Tl;dr: Spend a bit now and and a bit more later when required or spend lots and lots right meow?

Also, I've only recently got back into the hardware side of things, so I probably know a lot less than I think. If someone smarterer wants to correct me, or save me squillions, please do!

Edit: Full system specs as it stands:

Intel LGA1155 i5 3470 @3.2/3.6ghz turbo boost
AsRock Z77 Pro4-M
Gigabyte GTX660oc 2gb
16gb corsair ddr3@1600mhz
Asus Xonar DX PCIe sound card
Corsair HX650 modular PSU

I think that's it...

Edited by Smittiferous, 31 August 2013 - 07:05 PM.

[darqsyde]

If you want to stick with LGA1155, I'd go for an ASUS Maximus V Gene. Stays in the mATX form-factor, decent for O/Cing, and has slots and space (assuming Dual-slot) for an SLI/xFire setup.

Otherwise...well, how deep is your wallet?

[Smitti]

darqsyde, on 31 August 2013 - 06:50 PM, said:

If you want to stick with LGA1155, I'd go for an ASUS Maximus V Gene. Stays in the mATX form-factor, decent for O/Cing, and has slots and space (assuming Dual-slot) for an SLI/xFire setup.

Otherwise...well, how deep is your wallet?

Well, it'll be deep enough either way. Spending isn't so much the problem, it is more "I'm upgrading my motherboard to make way for dual GPUs, is it worth spending up to or upwards of a grand to update the socket/RAM as well, or is will my current setup hold out for a while longer with the incoming motherboard/gpu combo?"

Edited by Smittiferous, 31 August 2013 - 07:16 PM.

[darqsyde]

Smittiferous, on 31 August 2013 - 07:00 PM, said:

Well, it'll be deep enough either way. Spending isn't so much the problem, it is more "is it worth splashing out about $1k right now, or is what I currently have good enough (motherboard swap notwithstanding)?"

Haswell is not significantly better than Ivy Bridge(at best +10%, at best) so I'd wait out the Haswell/Haswell Refresh/Broadwell cycle for the Sky series. Of course you could always go IVB-E in a few weeks. Aside from an increase in Core/Thread count however there is little actual processor improvement. I might wait to go for a Haswell-E later next year. DDR4, probably SATA Express and USB3.1.

TL/DR: not worth it IMO

[Smitti]

darqsyde, on 31 August 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Haswell is not significantly better than Ivy Bridge(at best +10%, at best) so I'd wait out the Haswell/Haswell Refresh/Broadwell cycle for the Sky series. Of course you could always go IVB-E in a few weeks. Aside from an increase in Core/Thread count however there is little actual processor improvement. I might wait to go for a Haswell-E later next year. DDR4, probably SATA Express and USB3.1.

TL/DR: not worth it IMO

And that's my questions answered! Thanking you!

[Narcissistic Martyr]

Better plan sell GTX660 on ebay for $150-180. Take additional funds+ motherboard replacement funds and buy GTX780.

[Gremlich Johns]

Faster RAM has not been shown to actually make anything run faster. Stay with the 1600/12800 RAM

[Troggy]

This is not precisely true. And is even less likely to hold true in DDR4, which should have better timings relative to its frequency.

http://www.anandtech...-with-gskill/14

Also, I completely agree that the logical upgrade would be to get a GTX780 right now and wait another 18 mo to 2 years for Skylake and DDR4.

Also, OP, if you don't have an SSD, get one. Yesterday.
--
Troggy

Gremlich Johns, on 02 September 2013 - 12:39 PM, said:

Faster RAM has not been shown to actually make anything run faster. Stay with the 1600/12800 RAM

Edited by Troggy, 02 September 2013 - 04:52 PM.

[Smitti]

Troggy, on 02 September 2013 - 04:50 PM, said:

This is not precisely true. And is even less likely to hold true in DDR4, which should have better timings relative to its frequency.

http://www.anandtech...-with-gskill/14

Also, I completely agree that the logical upgrade would be to get a GTX780 right now and wait another 18 mo to 2 years for Skylake and DDR4.

Also, OP, if you don't have an SSD, get one. Yesterday.
--
Troggy

SSD is on the cards, I'll probably pick one up next time I drive past the computer bits shop.

[EyeDie I]

if gameplay or fps is causing you to consider upgrading,maybe you should wait till DX11 is added.then decide how or if you want to upgrade.the game runs in DX9 and doesnt fully utilize your graphics card and uses your cpu for operations the graphics card would do in DX11.

[Peter2k]

Keeping the gtx 660 for PhysX is not going to help you realy

Sell it and buy a fast gtx 770/780

Those have enough power to run graphics and PhysX without you noticing

what makes a bigger difference is overclocking you're CPU
Or rather using a board(Z77) that turboboosts the frequency of the CPU automatically (mine overclocks additionally 500 MHz, depending if the CPU has that much load)

I haven't looked up you're board, but the M at the end means Mobile?
If yes than it could be that it has no turboboost

By the way, good games that I liked to play and use PhysX are so rare, that I can count them with one hand

MWO doesn't use PhysX and isn't going to (the CryEngine doesn't make use of it)

[Smitti]

Yeah, mobo supports turbo boost, and the i5 3470 boosts up to 3.6ghz from 3.2. Food for thought regarding physx however, as MWO is what I play mostly.

My wanting a better gpu is because when I originally planned my setup I had a gtx 760/770 in mind but a bargain popped up that would have been too stupid to ignore.

Dx11 due launch isn't it? I'll wait a few weeks.

[Smokeyjedi]

Id buy the biggest nastiest GPU u can afford. Max your CPU out till it doesnt cut it anymore(its not a bottleneck yet is it?Id say NO! ) (probably a year or better). Than do your upgrading and possible SLI OR Crossfire with 2nd beast card.....when next best thing CPU MOBO DDR4 hits the fan.

Edited by Smokeyjedi, 06 September 2013 - 12:26 PM.

[Gremlich Johns]

Troggy, on 02 September 2013 - 04:50 PM, said:

Also, OP, if you don't have an SSD, get one. Yesterday.
--
Troggy

I have been avoiding SSDs like the plague for my main drive since the Vertex2 80GB I got worked for a month then died. I never installed the replacement. I did get a Crucial 128 GB to use as my OS backup drive though.

[Peter2k]

Gremlich Johns, on 06 September 2013 - 01:23 PM, said:

I have been avoiding SSDs like the plague for my main drive since the Vertex2 80GB I got worked for a month then died. I never installed the replacement. I did get a Crucial 128 GB to use as my OS backup drive though.

I'm using a Samsung 830 since they came out as my main drive

Still works like a charm and performed stellar

Samsung SSD's are nice :-)

[evilC]

You will notice zero difference in MWO with a GPU upgrade.

Your GPU is already way way over anything that will make any significant difference to FPS in MWO - CPU is THE bottleneck with MWO at the moment.

This may change significantly once MWO moves to DX11, but for now you want to get that CPU to >= 4Ghz.

I have a GTX660Ti and an i7-930 CPU.
Clocking my CPU from 2.8 to 4Ghz makes all the difference, dropping my GPU to a GTX550 makes sod all difference.

Oh and +1 to the SSD comment. I had an OCZ Vertex 4 fail (Ceased to exist in BIOS) within 6 months, and then the replacement failed after one day. The second time it went, it knackered the SATA bus - any time it was plugged in it would cause errors with all the other SATA devices on the bus.

Edited by evilC, 13 September 2013 - 06:01 AM.

[p8ragon]

I'm surprised that no one has suggested the 7970 ghz. It performs in the same class as the gtx 770, and is a good hundred bucks cheaper. Grabbed one for $290 as an upgrade from gtx 570 sli...and the extra vram is just a godsend, even at 1080p

I also suggest holding off and waiting for something better than haswell. I'm also on ivy bridge (3570k-and an investment in a better cooler/mobo will help you overclock, which will(ironically) prolong the longevity of the chip by allowing it to match newer chips in speed.

[Bullseye69]

I will go with the same suggest just upgrade your GPU to a 780 or get a 7970. You have a good system already, you could get a faster cpu and stick in taht motherboard you have already by I5 is nothing to sneeze at. When direct x 11 comes out then you would know for sure if a upgrade is needed you could download the public test server and wait for the direct x 11 to go up on the server this month.

I am making do with a quad athlon 2 processor and a hd7770 playing low res and low setting on low medium get ok could be better but not bad waiting for direct x 11 and to see if they fix the game or really keep screwing things up they fix them but it a take 2 steps forward the 2 steps back then 1 step forward again kind of thing,

I don't build many intel system mostly amd build would suggest if you doing it on a budget to look at AMD 8350 it not as strong as a new intel but it is about a $140 cheaper than the new haswell processor the mother board is cheaper to. Like I said not a intel builder but I always put the bang in the GPU. The crytek engine we are using for mechwarrior online not the best optimized from what I see in game could be a older version of the engine or just not optimized yet. Really think the best bet for you money is better graphic card and just hold off on new motherboard / cpu upgrade, if you have to you can always use the gpu in you new build.

Check out these card on the AMD side here is the link.

http://www.newegg.co...20GHz%20Edition

Here is the link to the Nvida side too.

http://www.newegg.co...%20700%20series


I really don't think you need to hold on to that card for the phys since the new version of direct x12 will change up everything again.

My two cents hope it helps or at least doesn't hurt/ See you on the battlefield.

Edited by Bullseye69, 13 September 2013 - 10:31 AM.