Advice regarding upgrade options

[Gman109]

So, every couple of years I budget to upgrade my gaming PC. I've had a lot of health issues the last few years, and barely used the one I built in Nov of 2012. Feeling better now, (experimental drugs working), I've decided to upgrade/build a new system.

So, like I said, I built the following in late November of 2012, got most of the components on a black friday sale, so the total price including tax and shipping was 1800$ (I'm in Canada, so the prices are at least 10 percent higher across the board, or more for every single component).


Corsair c70 case
Sabertooth x79 MB
i7 3820k CPU
2 x eVGA 680 gtx FTW+ LE SLI
Noctua DH14 cooler
Samsung 830 128 SSD + 1TB WD Black spinner
Corsair 850TX PSU
Win7
16 megs Vengeance LP 16GB DDR3 1866MHz CL9 Quad Channel
Asus 24" 144hz LCD "Gaming" lcd


Okay, so not the fastest system at the time, but not too bad, the 690 cards had JUST come out, so it had among the fastest GPU options at the time. I know x79 wasn't the best $/fps deal, but it was on sale cheaper than the 1150 options at the time, so wth right.

My issue now is this - to upgrade to a 4930k cpu, really the only "faster" option without a new MB is still nearly a 600$ jump retail, and from what I've read on this forum from others who have tested it, that CPU compared to what I've got, or any CPU really from 2500k up, isn't going to do much more than 10%, if that even. Then, to go to a 4790 say, or even the x99, it's almost a step sideways, again, maybe 20% tops in overall FPS jump in games. The giant PITA of doing a mb and cpu switch makes me think that doing so isn't really worth it right now.

So, is upgrading the GPU's really my only viable "makes sense" option? I'd appreciate advice from those who do this more often and better than I. My idea is to upgrade both GPU and LCD, I've been considering either a triple monitor setup, a 27" Asus ROG Swift 1440p/144hz, or possibly even a 4k. What are my best options here? I'm thinking about 970 SLI and 2 more Asus 24" 144hz, but should I be going 1440p or 4k instead? Help and advice will be very appreciated. Price wise, I have about 3 to 4k I can spend on an entire new system, but would rather spend less and upgrade what I should/need to.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Clearly, you are a person who enjoys having the best--nothing wrong with that! But I'm not sure you derive much benefit from any upgrades at this point in time. 680s in SLI should be able to run Crysis 3 in 4K! However, if you really want to be able to run games in high quality across 3 1440p monitors (a 33% increase in pixels compared to a single 4K), you may need the GPU upgrade.

So for you, the primary considerations should be what you would prefer. I personally like having 3 monitors much more than having a single big one, because I can put one activity on each one (for example, a Terraria game client in the center, the Terraria wiki to the left, and the Terraria server console on the right.) And I personally feel like 3 monitors, especially with thin bezels, can be a much more immersive experience even if you're running a single game on all three.

Another consideration worth making: other peripherals! A good keyboard and mouse can greatly contribute to your computing experience. You could also get a larger secondary solid state drive to store more applications. Make sure you use the hard drive to store media (music, movies, etc)!

If I were you and price was no issue, I'd go with 3 1440p monitors, get two 970s (likely to have superior price/performance), and then maybe put them under water and/or overclock. But it's really going to depend on how you personally feel about overclocking, price/performance, etc.

 

[Gman109]

When you say put them under water, you're not referring to the Corsair types of h100 coolers, are you. How difficult is it to get a water with the clear tubes I see in pictures of systems, running anyhow?

I've already got lots of peripherals, I've got the latest Razer Mechanical, plus I have an IBM original buckling spring mechanical (ie the best) that I use for most typing. I mainly play DCS and Aces High flight sims, and have the HOTAS situation well in hand. I do have just a regular 50$ Sensie gaming mouse, but it hasn't seen hard use, and still works, and nothing else is all that much better IMO yet, so I'll likely stick with it.

I don't know if I can afford 3 1440p monitors, I can afford 2 more 144hz 1080p, or ONE 1440p or 4k.

What is the deal with gaming on 4k, is it worth it, or should I just stick with the ROG Swift 144hz 1440p single if I don't go the triple 1080p route?

 

[mfenn]

I agree that there's really not a whole lot of benefit to be gained from upgrading the CPU at this time. You can roughly double your GPU performance by upgrading to GTX 980 SLI. However, I would probably figure out the monitor setup that I wanted first and see how the GTX 680's perform before taking the $1000+ plunge on new GPUs.

 

[Sleepingforest]

I think that for you, it makes the most sense to try and find someone with 4K or triple monitors and ask them about the experience. You can decide from there which one you'd rather have. From there you can decide if you need a GPU upgrade at all.

Personally, I don't find 4K worthwhile. Nothing really utilizes 4K well yet.