Looking for guidance and suggestions on rig upgrade

[BKR]

I'm long overdue for an upgrade to my system and it's time to make this happen. I haven't really kept up with the market so any guidance will be helpful. Thanks in advance.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
- Primarily gaming followed by Adobe Creative Suite, web browsing, and the occasional video edit.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
-What can I do with $550-$650. I’m currently running a Q6600 with an HD 4890 and looking to upgrade the heart of my system(Video card, CPU/MOBO, RAM, add an SSD)

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
- USA and yes I have access to a Microcenter.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
- No preference

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
- Antec P150 Case
- Corsair GS600
- Sony DVD Burner
- WD1600JD (might be able to dump this drive)
- WD7501AALS (might be able to dump this drive)
- Samsung SyncMaster 2494
- Window 7 Home Premium
- Keyboard/Mouse
- Creative speakers

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
- Default

8. What resolution will you be using?
- 1920 x 1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
- ASAP

 

[Cerb]

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
-What can I do with $550-$650. I’m currently running a Q6600 with an HD 4890 and looking to upgrade the heart of my system(CPU, Mobo, RAM, SSD)

Even though your video card is a bit old, can I take this to mean that you would prefer to get a better CPU/RAM setup, and possibly a faster SSD, v. slower CPU and/or less RAM and a new video card, for right now?

 

[BKR]

Even though your video card is a bit old, can I take this to mean that you would prefer to get a better CPU/RAM setup, and possibly a faster SSD, v. slower CPU and/or less RAM and a new video card, for right now?

No that was my mistake, I'd like to include a video card in this upgrade as well. The components I'd like to upgrade are video card, CPU/MOBO, RAM, and add and SSD. My budget is slightly flexible, if $50-$100 more makes a night and day difference I could probably go a little higher.

 

[Cerb]

Well, I don't know if it's just me, but Amazon is slow, and PC Parts Picker, Microcenter, and Newegg refuse to load, and Tiger Direct is pretty much unusable, though it does load. So, I can't price anything. But, without an SSD, a nice CPU/mobo/RAM and a nice new shiny video card upgrade should be no problem, with Microcenter nearby. Depending on prices, maybe SSD, too, but I can't get to them, ATM.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Gotta put an SSD in there IMO, even if you have to add a few dollars to the budget. It really does make your general experience so much better.

 

[Cerb]

MSI Z87-G43 w/ i5-4670K is $260, then figure $60-70 for 2x4GB RAM. You basically want the cheapest 1.5V (or lower) 1333 or faster RAM rated for CAS 10 or lower (lower=better=more costly). If you want more, make it 2x8GB.

Then, Microcenter has the Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB for $90, or the Samsung 840 120GB for $100. If they only have one of those in stock, that's the one to get. Note that the Sandisk Ultra Plus is a newer Marvell-based one, and has good steady-state performance, should you use for things like VMs, or do other things that give the SSD oddball write patterns. Just as Windows gaming box, get the cheaper of the two they have in stock (they aught to have at least 1 of them). If you want a bigger SSD, the same prices seem to hold true for ~250GB models.

That way, you'll walk home with a working set of parts.

Video cards, however, you might want to look online for, right now, unless your Microcenter has deals I'm not seeing. Microcenter's website doesn't list the GTX 760, and their prices on others haven't caught up to it. Unlike usual, it was released at a price a bit lower than the competition. Between that and all the Radeon Steam games having dried up, it's a mighty good buy.

For around $200, a Sapphire Raeon HD 7870 for $200 AMIR (link) is hard to beat, though a HD 79750 for $250 AMIR (Asus, MSI, GB, Sapphire) or GTX 760 for $260 (Asus, MSI, GB) would be even better, but push towards the budget's edges. The latter two are well-matched, each doing better or worse by game. The GTX 660 has a bit more fragile performance than the HD 7870, owing to reduced RAM bandwidth and ROPs.

 

[mfenn]

Overall, I agree with Cerb. Here's some links:

i5 4670K + ASRock Z87 Pro4 combo $265 (Pro4 is $5 cheaper than the G41)
Kingston HyperX Blu DDR3 1333 8GB $60 - note that there are several very similar Kingston kits, be sure to get the 1.5V version
Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB $90
Sapphire 7870 2GB $200 AR
Total: $615 AR + MC tax

 

[BKR]

Thanks for the info! Does adding another 100 bucks to the budget make any significant difference in the components I can choose and their performance?

It looks as though the choices are really coming in Mobo/CPU and videocard. For RAM and SSD I'm just looking for the cheapest price with the specs provided?

 

[Cerb]

Thanks for the info! Does adding another 100 bucks to the budget make any significant difference in the components I can choose and their performance?

You could move up to a Core i7, instead of the i5, for 0% in some games, and up to 20% better min FPS in others.

A GTX 760 will be enough of a jump in performance that I doubt putting the extra money into a video card would be worth it, compared to replacing it with something newer in a few years, instead. IE, there are faster more expensive cards, but for a single monitor at 1080P, it's probably not worth going to a $300-350 card, at least not without included bennies. FI, until just a couple weeks ago, most Radeons were coming with 2-4 top-name games (on Steam), making them easy pills to swallow, even if you might only have "needed" a $200-250 card.

For RAM and SSD I'm just looking for the cheapest price with the specs provided?

I like to buy from a brand I know has decent support, in case a stick is bad, since they don't package consumer RAM well. But, that basically means Crucial, Kingston, Patriot, A-Data, G.Skill, Mushkin, Corsair, and GeIL, off the top of my head. The only brand likely on the shelf I'd avoid is PNY. My experiences with their memory and video card support has been poor, over the years. But, aside from that, RAM is RAM. It all pretty much works to spec out of the factory, and has been binned and QCed to no end.