Upgrade advice please.

[Tim]

TL;DR (but please, read): Computer has possible issues. Maximum budget of $275 right now, what should I upgrade first? CPU/mobo, Video card, or SSD?


I currently have the following system, and I use it mainly to play Battlefield 4, or whatever other games I'm into at the time.

OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
Processor: Intel i5-750 running at 3.4ghz (Cooling via Corsair H-50 push/pull fans)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55-USB
Ram: 8GB (4x2) Gskill Ripjaw DDR3-1600
PSU: Silverstone ST75F 750watt modular
Video Card: Sapphire HD 6950 2gb (Bios flashed to HD6970, but running at HD6950 speeds/voltage)
SSD 1: Intel x25-v 40gb (OS and a few necessary programs)
SSD 2: Intel x25-v 40gb (Battlefield 4)
HDD 1: Samsung F3 1tb HDD (Storage)
Optical: Lite-on Blu-ray disc reader DVD/CD burner combo drive
Case: Fractal Design Define R3

This system currently has the following issues:

1. Most fan headers on the motherboard are not working. I have all of my fans hooked up to a 5-1/2" bay 5-fan controller. This problem does not seem to affect system stability.

2. If the computer has been off for a day, and I turn it on, I get green artifacts on the windows loading screen and on anything else requiring 3D effects for a couple of minutes until the system warms up. It only happens if the system has been off for a while. If I reboot, or something similar, I do not get these artifacts. This problem does not seem to affect system stability.

3. I hear some sort of chirping when I first turn on the computer, and it goes away shortly thereafter. I am not sure if it is coming from the PSU, motherboard, or video card. This problem does not seem to affect system stability.

4. I can not play Battlefield 4 at 1080p on the highest settings. On the next level of settings down, I get 50fps. Battlefield 4 crashes often, although from everything I read, this is more of a problem with Battlefield 4 just being somewhat broken. I also assume that any given expansion pack released will soon completely fill up my little 40gb SSD, and BF4 load times on an HDD are rumored to be atrocious.

I have a maximum budget of $275.00 to spend right now.

Would a CPU/Motherboard upgrade do me any good? I live near a Microcenter, what is the best bang for the buck in my price target area?
OR
Should I upgrade the video card instead? I'm not sure my budget of $275 will get me much better than what I currently have... you tell me.
OR
Should I spend the money on a larger SSD instead? Which one should I get?

Thanks!

 

[Termie]

OK, so you have several potential issues that need addressing:

(1) A failing video card - the green artifacts are almost certainly caused by this. Could be related to your BIOS flash, particularly the memory speeds or any damage to the memory that has occurred.

(2) Failed motherboard fan headers - seems like you've worked around that, so it's not a critical issue.

(3) Chirping noise - that could be from fans not spinning up to the proper startup RPM due to receiving too little voltage. Try setting your fan controller to maximum and see if the noise still occurs. May also be either the PSU or video card fan, or coil whine from the PSU. Unlikely to be coil whine from the video card as it's not at load when booting.

(4) SSDs - you need a new SSD, period. Those Intel models aren't just small, they're slow. I say you budget $170 right now to a Samsung Evo 250GB or similar drive.

Honestly, your budget won't let you address all of these issues, and the least of your issues is the CPU/motherboard. To get a solid video card upgrade from a 6950, you'd have to spend at least $250 (GTX 760, which is 30-40% faster), and that blows your budget. While there are 770 models available for $300 after rebate, you'd really start to run into a CPU bottleneck with them.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

1. Flash 6950 back to stock and see if artifacts go away. If not, spend most of the budget on a gtx 760 or 280x.

2. Save a bit more for new mobo/cpu

 

[Tim]

1 person for SSD upgrade, 1 for Video card followed by CPU/mobo.

Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[lehtv]

Keep saving. $275 just isn't a big enough budget to upgrade what you have. The i5-750 is a pretty good match for the 6950, upgrading them one by one will not have nearly as good a result as upgrading them at the same time.

Since you already have an SSD, an SSD upgrade makes little sense. I wouldn't count the good old X25 out just yet, they're still miles ahead of hard disk performance, and an SSD isn't even necessary for a gaming rig. The X25-V is roughly the same speed as my OCZ Vertex 2, and I don't see myself replacing this drive until it dies because there's just no real world benefit in a faster SSD; not for me.

About $600 would be enough for a proper upgrade:
i5-4670K $220 (OC) or Xeon E3-1230V3 $250 (non-OC)
Z87 motherboard $120 (OC) or cheaper motherboard $80 (non-OC)
video card $250

Even better if you can save $650 and increase the video card budget to $300. For a bit more, you could afford a CPU cooler for overclocking as well.

Regarding (2), have you tried adding a little more volts to your GPU? I wouldn't worry about (1) or (3), though you might be able to narrow down the source of the chirping if record using a microphone near each possible source while the chirping is happening, then compare the recordings.

 

[Tim]

Regarding (2), have you tried adding a little more volts to your GPU?

That's one thing that I was a little worried about doing. The stock voltage for the HD6950 was 1.100 and when I flashed the card to the HD6970, the stock voltage changed to 1.175. I didn't notice that had changed for at least a week, and when I finally figured it out, I changed it back to the HD6950 stock voltage of 1.100. How high should I bump it up to try it out? I certainly don't want to fry the card, then I'm forced into an upgrade.

 

[lehtv]

You can test the voltages with as small steps as you want, but being too careful will just waste your time. Something like +25mV at a time is good. As long as it stays fairly cool and quiet during testing (I use Heaven 4.0 benchmark), you have nothing to worry about.

 

[mfenn]

Since you already have an SSD, an SSD upgrade makes little sense. I wouldn't count the good old X25 out just yet, they're still miles ahead of hard disk performance, and an SSD isn't even necessary for a gaming rig. The X25-V is roughly the same speed as my OCZ Vertex 2, and I don't see myself replacing this drive until it dies because there's just no real world benefit in a faster SSD; not for me.

The main problem is that the X25-V's that he has are 40GB. Not only is that hard to manage, but running with a small amount of free space really reduces performance consistency, often resulting in noticeable pauses. I definitely recommend getting a new, bigger drive like the M500 240GB for $145.

I agree with the others that you don't have the budget to get a substantial upgrade from your 6950 2GB.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Newegg has a REFURB (WARNING) OCZ Vertex 2 480GB SSD for $199.99 right now.

As long as you just use it for installing games, and don't put any irreplaceable personal data on it, then you wouldn't care so badly if it dies.

 

[lehtv]

The main problem is that the X25-V's that he has are 40GB. Not only is that hard to manage, but running with a small amount of free space really reduces performance consistency, often resulting in noticeable pauses.

I really don't see where you're coming from. It's not difficult to install Windows on one drive, and on the other drive, any programs that don't fit in the first one. If you have a ton of program files (not counting games) then sure, even the second drive may fill up, but you can still use the hard disk for programs as well. And if you mess something up, create a few symbolic links. I just don't see the justification for spending $150 on an SSD for a gaming system with outdated graphics and CPU performance

 

[Termie]

I really don't see where you're coming from. It's not difficult to install Windows on one drive, and on the other drive, any programs that don't fit in the first one. If you have a ton of program files (not counting games) then sure, even the second drive may fill up, but you can still use the hard disk for programs as well. And if you mess something up, create a few symbolic links. I just don't see the justification for spending $150 on an SSD for a gaming system with outdated graphics and CPU performance

BF4 on its own is nearly 30GB already, and will get bigger with expansions. Running it off a 40GB drive will soon be impossible, and trust me, he doesn't want to move it to a hard drive. Furthermore, that drive is probably providing 50% of its theoretical performance now and will quickly go down as it approaches maximum capacity.

He needs a new SSD.

 

[lehtv]

If BF4 is 30GB, don't put it on the SSD. I don't see any problem running it from a 7200 RPM hard drive. I've run BF3 from a 5400 RPM hard disk with absolutely no issues. Of course the loading times were slower, but not slow enough to actually matter, ever. We don't play games to avoid loading times, we play them to enjoy smooth framerates and pretty graphics, don't we?

An SSD is not a necessity, it is a luxury item, period. The OP cannot afford it because upgrading his CPU and GPU first is a many, many times higher priority. Even if his current SSD's suddenly died, I would still recommend upgrading the CPU and GPU first.

 

[Freddy1765]

Meh, BF4 loading times on my 840 EVO last too damn long in-between maps, especially when a round only lasts ~15 minutes. When playing with my friends who use HDDs I'm in the game well before they are, couldn't imagine wanting to wait THAT long.

2x 40GB SSDs does sound like a bother, I'd probably just buy a larger one now and upgrade GPU and CPU at the same time when I'd scraped the cash together.

 

[lehtv]

The waiting time could well be due to network and not hard disk performance

 

[Charlie98]

of course the loading times were slower, but not slow enough to actually matter, ever.

d:d:d:d:d:d:

 

[Termie]

Loading BF4 from my 5400rpm drive takes three minutes per round. It's definitely unacceptable.

Takes 30 seconds off my 830 pro SSD. Still slow.

He has a balanced system and terribly outdated SSDs. That's his priority upgrade.

 

[mfenn]

I really don't see where you're coming from. It's not difficult to install Windows on one drive, and on the other drive, any programs that don't fit in the first one. If you have a ton of program files (not counting games) then sure, even the second drive may fill up, but you can still use the hard disk for programs as well. And if you mess something up, create a few symbolic links. I just don't see the justification for spending $150 on an SSD for a gaming system with outdated graphics and CPU performance

I think you missed my second point. Two 40 GB buckets is much much worse than one 80 GB bucket in terms of performance consistency. An X25-V controller will start to have trouble keeping pages clean when you're above about 80% full, resulting in a much higher probability of it having to do a long read-erase-write operation whenever it goes to write. A stock Windows 7 install is over 30GB w/o swap and hibernate once the SxS component store has some age to it.

As you know, consistent performance is one of the most important parts of the SSD experience, if you get one slow blocking write every minute, it is going to feel like you're on an SSD. That's why caching setups and hybrid drives are not recommend except when there is no other option.

 

[lehtv]

Loading BF4 from my 5400rpm drive takes three minutes per round. It's definitely unacceptable.

Takes 30 seconds off my 830 pro SSD. Still slow.

He has a balanced system and terribly outdated SSDs. That's his priority upgrade.

Well I admit, I didn't expect such a huge discrepancy between BF3 and BF4 loading times. From a 5400RPM hard disk, loading a BF3 conquest round didn't take even near long enough to be an issue, the way I remember it.

 

[Termie]

Well I admit, I didn't expect such a huge discrepancy between BF3 and BF4 loading times. From a 5400RPM hard disk, loading a BF3 conquest round didn't take even near long enough to be an issue, the way I remember it.

There may in fact be something wrong with BF4 currently (well, there's a lot wrong), but assuming the load times aren't fixed, it's basically impossible to have a competitive round if you're loading off of a hard drive.

 

[mfenn]

There may in fact be something wrong with BF4 currently (well, there's a lot wrong), but assuming the load times aren't fixed, it's basically impossible to have a competitive round if you're loading off of a hard drive.

Hear hear!

 

[Termie]

Hear hear!

LOL!

After not being able to finish a single round yesterday due to crashes, I just played three hours straight and had a blast - with the Battlefield series, it's always a love/hate relationship!

 

[RaistlinZ]

You may have to piecemeal this upgrade. With Microcenter nearby you can nab an i5-4670K and motherboard bundle for about $280.00. You can get a 250GB Samsung EVO for $169.99 on Newegg. 120GB models are only $89.99.

In total that does put you over your budget, but maybe you can sell your i5-750 to help offset the cost. As far as video cards go you may want to consider a used 670 or 7950 (if you can find one).

 

[lehtv]

Also, Crucial M500 240GB $145

 

[hackerballs]

My chime-in: a choice whether to have faster loading times vs better Graphics. While a better/faster SSD will speed up the load times, it will do almost nothing for gameplay. $275 will not even buy you a great card like the 7970's/50's. (you could have bought one on Black Friday sale for under $300).
So this leaves us with a faster SSD. Will you kick yourself in da butt when you still have low FPS but can get to it in faster load times. Faster to be frustrated when the game is loaded.
Most of your advice comes down to this. You need EVERYTHING. Start saving now.

Use your money plus a few more dollars to upgrade your GPU and you can take it with you to the next build. Losing out 3 minutes to load on an hour game map is acceptable if you have great graphics.

 

[mfenn]

Most of your advice comes down to this. You need EVERYTHING. Start saving now.

That is definitely true, but I think you're overlooking the fact that a new SSD has non-BF4 benefits.

Also, Crucial M500 240GB $145

:thumbsup: