Upgrade OR New Built for $1700?

[Darlok9]

Hey guys.. Just have a few questions.. I have an older PC which i build many years ago. The parts are listed below.. My question is.. Is it worth upgrading that OLD SYSTEM with better parts? or am I better off selling it for $350 to a family member and assembling a brand new one with a budget of around $1700? I'm not sure what to do. I'm debating and need suggestions. Don't really like shelling out $1700 for a new system when I can make a decent affordable upgrade.

I basically just want to have the versatility of playing Secondlife (With high settings) GuildWars2, Elder Scrolls Online, and maybe a few of the 3D shooter games on the market right now (or within a year or 2) with moderately decent FPS at 1920x1080 resolution. I'm also not really into overclocking as I like my stuff to run cool.

I know this is alot to look at.. But i've been outta the loop for 6-7 yrs and am now deciding at an upgrade so suggestions from PROFESSIONALS is needed.. The potential build below is only after roughly doing 24 hrs of research so it is most likely not an optimal build.

Thanks


OLD SYSTEM

1. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

2. ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

3. Corsair 4 GB of XMS2 RAM (2x)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

4. EVGA NVidia 260 GTX (superclocked) (mine has 2 GB of ram)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

5. Corsair HK620W Modular PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

6. Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM HD (Primary HD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

6. Western Digital Caviar 1 TB 5400 HD (Secondary HD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

7. Lian Li V1000 Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

8. Zalman 9700 CPU Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW POTENTIAL BUILD
This is the new system I am looking into but am kinda stingy of shelling out $1700 :\ Any recommendations on upgrade/downgrade improvements?

1. Intel I5-3570K CPU $ 224
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

2. ASUS Z77 Motherboard $ 129
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

3. Corsair Vengence 4x8GB (32 GB Memory) $ 269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

4. Asus GTX670-DC2-4GD5 GeForce 4GB $ 439
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

5. Corsair HX 750W PSU $ 139
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

6. Intel 240GB 520 Series Cherryville SSD $ 269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

7. Cool Master Storm Sniper Mid Tower Case $ 159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

8. Zalman 9900 CPU Cooler (I prefer air) $ 77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



TOTAL $ 1705

 

[Termie]

Welcome to the forums, Darlok9!

Definitely do not try to upgrade your old system. I actually have a nearly identical system still running, but I do not use it for gaming. Perfect for a family member (but I'd ditch the GTX260 for something much more efficient, like an HD6570 - better for HTPC/office use).

So on to the new build - let's see if we can get that budget way, way down:
(1) CPU - excellent, but look for deals - it's often $210
(2) Motherboard (Asus P8Z77-V LK) - fine, and notice $15 rebate
(3) RAM - totally wrong - why would you need 32GB? That's an absurd amount to spend on RAM anyway. For your uses (gaming), you only need 8GB. Save $200 right there.
(4) Video Card - very overpriced. You will never need 4GB of VRAM at 1080p, and even if you did, that's not the card to get. An HD7970 for ~$400 would be the better card. Save $40. Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008
(5) Power Supply - far too much capacity. Go for a power supply like this Seasonic G 550 for $80: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151119. Save $50.
(6) SSD - wrong SSD all together at the wrong price. You want top of the line? Get the Samsung 840 Pro for $30 less: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147193
(7) Case - overpriced by A LOT. If you love the style, I won't talk you out of it, but there are immensely better cases at half the price, like this Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 for $70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1
(8) CPU Cooler - poor cooler for the money. If you want to spend that much, of course buy the Noctua, but for your purposes (no overclocking), get the Hyper 212 Evo and save $47: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1

So there you have it - a much better-balanced system for $437 less. Now you're at $1,253AR and haven't lost a bit of performance.

Of course, you'll need an OS, so add back in about $100...

 

[Darlok9]

Welcome to the forums, Darlok9!

Definitely do not try to upgrade your old system. I actually have a nearly identical system still running, but I do not use it for gaming. Perfect for a family member (but I'd ditch the GTX260 for something much more efficient, like an HD6570 - better for HTPC/office use).

So on to the new build - let's see if we can get that budget way, way down:
(1) CPU - excellent, but look for deals - it's often $210
(2) Motherboard (Asus P8Z77-V LK) - fine, and notice $15 rebate
(3) RAM - totally wrong - why would you need 32GB? That's an absurd amount to spend on RAM anyway. For your uses (gaming), you only need 8GB. Save $200 right there.
(4) Video Card - very overpriced. You will never need 4GB of VRAM at 1080p, and even if you did, that's not the card to get. An HD7970 for ~$400 would be the better card. Save $40. Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008
(5) Power Supply - far too much capacity. Go for a power supply like this Seasonic G 550 for $80: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151119. Save $50.
(6) SSD - wrong SSD all together at the wrong price. You want top of the line? Get the Samsung 840 Pro for $30 less: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147193
(7) Case - overpriced by A LOT. If you love the style, I won't talk you out of it, but there are immensely better cases at half the price, like this Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 for $70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1
(8) CPU Cooler - poor cooler for the money. If you want to spend that much, of course buy the Noctua, but for your purposes (no overclocking), get the Hyper 212 Evo and save $47: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1

So there you have it - a much better-balanced system for $437 less. Now you're at $1,253AR and haven't lost a bit of performance.

Of course, you'll need an OS, so add back in about $100...

Termie, TY for your reply! I actually did some more research into components and came up with this system so far:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9900 D/F CPU Cooler ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($246.13 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 680 4GB Video Card ($553.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive ($27.38 @ Newegg)
Total: $1694.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-22 21:01 EDT-0400)

Termie I have a question... Will that 600 PSU be enough to run this rig with a future 780 GTX Card as well as 1 extra 1TB HD and 24 LED Monitor? Thing is.. I need lots of Ram because I play SecondLife which I think (i'm not sure) requires lots of rendering of different textures all the time based on the SIMs I teleport to..

And how about 3D shooter games for about 1-2 yrs into the future on 1980x1080-1200 resolution or 2560x1440 with moderate FPS. Will this rig work?

Someone suggested I get a Seasonic PSU but I like the Corsair brand, and also, is the Noctua a better cpu cooler over the Zalman 9900? I have had a Zalman 9700 in my 7 yr old rig (which I am trying to retire) and I like the performance of the Zalman.. I never heard anything about the Noctua though.. Is it better than the 9900? This is my 2nd day researching components btw. Please recommend improvements.. I think I decided to go with the $1700 build.. and I wont need an OS.. I have Windows 7 Professional.

Thanks

 

[Cerb]

Hey guys.. Just have a few questions.. I have an older PC which i build many years ago. The parts are listed below.. My question is.. Is it worth upgrading that OLD SYSTEM with better parts? or am I better off selling it for $350 to a family member and assembling a brand new one with a budget of around $1700? I'm not sure what to do. I'm debating and need suggestions. Don't really like shelling out $1700 for a new system when I can make a decent affordable upgrade.

Sell the old one, and don't spend all of $1700.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9900 D/F CPU Cooler ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($246.13 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 680 4GB Video Card ($553.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive ($27.38 @ Newegg)
Total: $1694.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-22 21:01 EDT-0400)

The CPU is not that cheap, unless you live near a Microcenter. If you do, that's great. In fact, if you do, you might want to consider getting an i7-3770K, if they've still got deals on those for <$250.

CPU cooler is expensive and offers little. A Thermalright TRUE series cooler will do the job better, and cheaper. The Zalman will work, but you're paying for something that looks interesting in a case window.

The motherboard is nearly $150 too expensive. Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD3H is loaded with features, and is a good overclocker, for $100+ less.The Sabertooth mobos are about marketing to people that will pay, not offering you anything over $100-150 Z77 boards. You can go cheaper than the UD3H, too ($~135 cheaper AR for GA-Z77-D3H?), without sacrificing quality, but at least it does have added features for its cost (though I can't say I like the idea of a clear CMOS button!).

The RAM is hard to beat. But, you won't need that much gaming for a long time to come. Getting 16GB will save you $100. That's might even be a bit much, but it depends on how you use your computer.

Check out the Plextor M5S 256GB. You won't notice the performance difference, it's a good SSD, and it's cheaper.

You don't need anything for CDs or DVDs better than the Asus 24x DVD burner, and if not audio CDs, get the cheapest.

The video card is too expensive. By the time you might need 4GB VRAM, if the new consoles actually do well in that regard, there will be newer gen cards available. At 1080P, much anything above a GTX 670 2GB is going to be overkill, 99% of the time, if you want a Geforce. You'd be best off to spend $150-200 less on a video card, and just upgrade when you end up needing faster.

 

[Termie]

I agree with everything Cerb said.

On the issue of power supplies, if you're seriously interested in a GTX780, then you don't want to skimp on the power supply, but the Seasonic G Series 550W unit is plenty of power - it is not a budget power supply. In fact, it's much better than the Corsair 600W unit you picked, while being just slightly more expensive. Quality is about much more than watts, and that's why I'd pick the G Series 550W every time over the CX600 to power a GTX780.

I don't know much about SecondLife, but I can't imagine it's more demanding that modern first-person shooters in regards to RAM. There's just no way it needs 32GB. In fact, the game's publisher says the recommended configuration is 3GB: http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/?lang=en-US

If you want to play it safe, you can go with 16GB, but 32GB is just wasted money, in my opinion.

 

[Sleepingforest]

One more issue: Zalman coolers tend to be more style than substance. If cooling means that much to you, get a Thermaltake Frio or any Thermalright HSF (roughly around $60 aa well).

 

[Darlok9]

Cerb, Termie and Sleepingforest.. Ty! I have updated my list of components now.. And I do live 20 miles away from a Microcenter and the i7 seems like a sweet deal. So this is my current setup as I have it listed now.. I don't want to really cut corners by saving $20-30 on a part while at the same time sacrificing quality. So is this a better build ? I keep updating them ..

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($78.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($246.13 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 680 4GB Video Card ($553.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1772.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-23 00:35 EDT-0400)

 

[Sleepingforest]

You seem to only have gone up in price. Trust me: the Sabertooth does not offer any higher quality than a $130 board. The price is there because of the longer warranty (it costs them more on average to do so, so they increase the price) and because the marketing is there. In reality, the "heat shield" is more of a heat trap, collecting dust and preventing case fans from properly cooling the VRMs and chipset.

The 4GB graphics card is actually slower than the 2GB one, and any games that need that much VRAM are going to need a stronger card anyway. If you insist on higher VRAM, you should just go with a 3GB 7970 GHz (please don't get the Lightning or Toxic or DCII TOP versions; they aren't even voltage unlocked any more) It has more memory bandwidth and a high amount of VRAM.

YOU DO NOT NEED 32GB RAM. The consoles only have 8GB between the CPU and GPU; there is NO WAY you'll need more than 16 for gaming. If you run VMs or CAD for a living, this discussion would be different, but you don't, so don't get 16GB more than you could possibly need.

At this point, it's not cutting quality: it's falling for marketing and putting money in the wrong places. A $300 card in 2 years will wreck even today's $1000 Titan. It just doesn't make sense to try and "futureproof".

 

[Cerb]

There's no quality loss. Plextor's SSDs are either being liquidated right now to make way for new ones, or they are just feeling pressure, and need to keep prices lower to keep up sales volume. Samsung's 840 Pro are faster drives, no question, though.

The expensive Sabertooth motherboard gets you a useless fan-cooled shroud to cover your motherboard. It's just marketing. You are sacrificing quality going with some boards, such as ASRock's Extreme 4 (hot voltage regulators), or any number of ~$80 Z77 motherboards. A nice $100+ Gigabyte or Asus will do just fine, for a long while to come. If you like Asus, their ASUS P8Z77-V Lk is a very similar board.

Past say, the GA-Z77-D3H, or P8Z77-V Lk, you're paying for some combination of extra features (such as more SATAs or USB 3.0s than the chipset offers, more 16x PCIe slots, on-board mSATA, Dolby/THX software support, included wifi, etc.) and marketing (Sabertooth's fan shroud gizmo, GITD slots, software overclocking utilities, etc.).

With current Intel CPUs, you're going to need to go to water cooling, before you actually need things like big VRM heatsinks, big north bridge heatsinks, or any of that (on good boards, such heatsinks have been pure marketing for several years, now--great voltage regulation is almost always efficient enough to not need them, except under the heaviest highly-overclocked loads, which are only easy to reach with AMD CPUs, today). You also would not want to try the level of overclocking required to need such things, if you intend to keep the system stable and reliable for several years.

Noctua can offer good noise v. performance, but won't actually perform any, or much, if any (somewhat depends on other air flow factors) than a ~$50 Thermalright TRUE derivative, or, the Xigmatek Dark Knight, which was easily found on PCPP.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZhuX

About $1400 w/o OS, sticking to the Samsung 840 Pro, a Geforce, and adding a 1TB HDD.

 

[DSF]

I agree with everything that's been said in here.

You came into the thread stating that you were out of the loop for 6-7 years, and that you recognized that your build was probably not optimal. Yet you seem extremely resistant to changing certain parts of your build that are just wasting money.

Please listen to the advice you're getting. It's all solid.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I'll re-iterate that I think you're spending too much money for little to no performance gain, on:
1) Your RAM
2) Your MoBo - is a
3) (possibly) Your storage

Storage wise, I'd swap the 840 Pro for an ordinary 840 + a 1 TB single platter WD Blue (on sale for Newegg @ circa 65 USD right now). That's probably a matter of taste and whether or not you're going to re-purpose that old 1 TB drive.

You've gotten really good pointers from other folks, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of their advice. They're trying to save you money so you can either a) have more money or b) stretch your budget to include fun peripherals!

 

[Darlok9]

multiple post

 

[Darlok9]

You seem to only have gone up in price. Trust me: the Sabertooth does not offer any higher quality than a $130 board. The price is there because of the longer warranty (it costs them more on average to do so, so they increase the price) and because the marketing is there. In reality, the "heat shield" is more of a heat trap, collecting dust and preventing case fans from properly cooling the VRMs and chipset.

The 4GB graphics card is actually slower than the 2GB one, and any games that need that much VRAM are going to need a stronger card anyway. If you insist on higher VRAM, you should just go with a 3GB 7970 GHz (please don't get the Lightning or Toxic or DCII TOP versions; they aren't even voltage unlocked any more) It has more memory bandwidth and a high amount of VRAM.

YOU DO NOT NEED 32GB RAM. The consoles only have 8GB between the CPU and GPU; there is NO WAY you'll need more than 16 for gaming. If you run VMs or CAD for a living, this discussion would be different, but you don't, so don't get 16GB more than you could possibly need.

At this point, it's not cutting quality: it's falling for marketing and putting money in the wrong places. A $300 card in 2 years will wreck even today's $1000 Titan. It just doesn't make sense to try and "futureproof".

Sleeping. Rest assured.. I am taking all your points into consideration and changing the system as I go along which is what I have done multiple times already. I am not ignoring anything.. This is the 3rd day I'm researching parts/components.

Also, I Just found out the Asus Sabertooth is $199 at a microcenter when bundled with the i7 for $229... Thing is guys... with the way I think is that I don't see why I should penny pinch and save $20-30 per component sacrificing quality on a system that I'm already going to pay $1500 for anyway. So if it means quality, $100, even $200 won't really matter ... Since I'm already blowing close to $1500 saving $100-200 by cutting quality isn't going to make me feel like I saved all that much $... That's just the way I think.. more than $200 and okay that might be some kind of difference.. but I'm giving myself $100-200 leeaway.. My current budget is around $1700 though.

I am still debating on the 32GB Ram.. I might want to run a few instances of MMO games like FIESTA on VMware at the same time which is why I put 32 GB of ram. I think 2-3 yrs down the line 32GB will be standard anyhow.. and when that time comes I won't be motivated buying another 16 GB knowing my system is already old anyway...

Also.. 4-5 yrs down the line I'd probably try to sell my PC to a relative for a lil extra income toward my new rig like i'm doing now.. And telling them the basic specs 32 GB Ram and 4 GB on a video card will give them a little more reassurance that the system I'm selling them is somewhat "up with the times" and not pre historic, even if they just use it for basic stuff like browsing etc.. I'm taking all these points into consideration btw.

Now the NVIDIA vs AMD question.. I heard NVIDIA comes out with better supporting drivers and they do it faster than AMD. I've had a Nvidia 8800 GTS and a 260 GTX and I love both cards.. I never owned an AMD card nor have I read any reviews that compare the 2 side by side. My best friend who moved away switched from NVIDIA to AMD and said there's virtually no difference.. I'm not really sure what to do yet. Someone suggested I wait for the 700 series and even for a Haswell CPU?

My System thus far is:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($78.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 680 4GB Video Card ($553.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1728.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-23 14:17 EDT-0400)

 

[DSF]

The point that you seem to be missing is that you're not cutting quality by stepping down the motherboard. You're just avoiding overspending. The Sabertooth isn't going to make your computer last longer or perform better, it's just going to make it more expensive.

In terms of games you're barely getting more performance out of your build than I get from a $1200 machine I built recently. In terms of handing the system down to non-gaming family members it matters even less.

 

[Torn Mind]

Zalman. Never trust those fools to process a rebate claim properly.

 

[Darlok9]

There's no quality loss. Plextor's SSDs are either being liquidated right now to make way for new ones, or they are just feeling pressure, and need to keep prices lower to keep up sales volume. Samsung's 840 Pro are faster drives, no question, though.

The expensive Sabertooth motherboard gets you a useless fan-cooled shroud to cover your motherboard. It's just marketing. You are sacrificing quality going with some boards, such as ASRock's Extreme 4 (hot voltage regulators), or any number of ~$80 Z77 motherboards. A nice $100+ Gigabyte or Asus will do just fine, for a long while to come. If you like Asus, their ASUS P8Z77-V Lk is a very similar board.

Past say, the GA-Z77-D3H, or P8Z77-V Lk, you're paying for some combination of extra features (such as more SATAs or USB 3.0s than the chipset offers, more 16x PCIe slots, on-board mSATA, Dolby/THX software support, included wifi, etc.) and marketing (Sabertooth's fan shroud gizmo, GITD slots, software overclocking utilities, etc.).

With current Intel CPUs, you're going to need to go to water cooling, before you actually need things like big VRM heatsinks, big north bridge heatsinks, or any of that (on good boards, such heatsinks have been pure marketing for several years, now--great voltage regulation is almost always efficient enough to not need them, except under the heaviest highly-overclocked loads, which are only easy to reach with AMD CPUs, today). You also would not want to try the level of overclocking required to need such things, if you intend to keep the system stable and reliable for several years.

Noctua can offer good noise v. performance, but won't actually perform any, or much, if any (somewhat depends on other air flow factors) than a ~$50 Thermalright TRUE derivative, or, the Xigmatek Dark Knight, which was easily found on PCPP.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZhuX

About $1400 w/o OS, sticking to the Samsung 840 Pro, a Geforce, and adding a 1TB HDD.

Wow Ty Cerb.. Cerb.. i didn't even realize how cost effective that system u put together under that link was! Thing is with me guys.. I don't want to sound off as an ass but I AM an IMPULSIVE Buyer trying to be a smart shopper. This why I sometimes tend to waste money, money I dont really want to waste because I'm not rich. Which is why I came on this site for some professional convincing/suggestions/help.. And btw guys, Just wanna apologize in advance for not doing my homework and researching items before coming here.. Most of my knowledge about this built which I decided upon 3 days ago is from newegg.com reviews...

I can do with a 670 right? I don't really need a 680? Someone told me to wait for the 780's if i really want to blow over $500 on a card

 

[DSF]

I wouldn't ever spend that much money on a video card, especially for 1920x1080. I mean you said in your OP that you just want decent framerates.

The 680 is actually not much better than the 670, so no, you don't need one. You won't need a 780 either.

 

[Darlok9]

I wouldn't ever spend that much money on a video card, especially for 1920x1080. I mean you said in your OP that you just want decent framerates.

The 680 is actually not much better than the 670, so no, you don't need one. You won't need a 780 either.

DSF.. You are right! $550 seems a bit much to spend on a Video Card! What is the difference between a 670 GTX and a 680 btw? In terms of overall performance (% wise) ? If i go the 670 GTX Route should I bother with ASUS or EVGA.. I like EVGA warranty but i heard something about CUDA II technology from ASUS? Also 2 or 1 fan on the Video Card? Thnx

Also quick question, about the 16 vs 32 ram. If I wanted to run multiple instances of a MMO Video game like WOW or SecondLife.. How many more processes would i be able to run on 32GB vs 16GB ram?

 

[Termie]

The 680 is about 12% faster in new games versus the 670. It will likely be less in older games like Second Life and WoW, and to be honest, neither games needs the power of these cards to run well at 1080p. I'd look into something like the GTX660 if you want to stick with Nvidia.

Asus doesn't have any special CUDA technology, since that is Nvidia's to develop, not Asus, and every manufacturer gets the same GPUs from Nvidia. The dual-fan cards will be quieter, but will dump more hot air in your case rather than out the back. Your choice on what you prefer.

 

[Essence_of_War]

If you're only gaming at 1920x1080, the 670 and 680 are overkill too. At that resolution, the sweet-spot for price/performance is probably either the 7870 LE (if you can find them) or the 7950. Both are excellent cards, the former is ~250 USD, the latter is ~300 USD. Unless you're certain that you're also getting a high res monitor (2560x1440 or 1600) in the very near future, or trying an eyefinity set-up (triple 1080s?) I think you're overspending on your video card also.

Tom's Hardware does a chart on the GPU performance/dollar every month and it's a helpful reference.

Someone suggested I wait for the 700 series and even for a Haswell CPU?

If you can wait, there's always going to be something better around the corner. If you can wait, Haswell will be good, but you should know that you're unlikely to get the kind of deal on a Haswell i7 as on an IB i7 from microcenter, especially immediately after launch.

 

[Darlok9]

The 680 is about 12% faster in new games versus the 670. It will likely be less in older games like Second Life and WoW, and to be honest, neither games needs the power of these cards to run well at 1080p. I'd look into something like the GTX660 if you want to stick with Nvidia.

Asus doesn't have any special CUDA technology, since that is Nvidia's to develop, not Asus, and every manufacturer gets the same GPUs from Nvidia. The dual-fan cards will be quieter, but will dump more hot air in your case rather than out the back. Your choice on what you prefer.

Alright.. And I'm not too sure about Nvidia now... If i went the Nvidia route and was getting the 660/670 GTX which cards would you suggest? I'm a Fan of EVGA btw :0 As for the Radeons, I know nothing about them other than what my best friend told me saying that they are good solid cards. What would you suggest for a Radeon? And my i7 would not bottleneck the Video Card would it? They are pretty much up to par?

 

[Darlok9]

If you're only gaming at 1920x1080, the 670 and 680 are overkill too. At that resolution, the sweet-spot for price/performance is probably either the 7870 LE (if you can find them) or the 7950. Both are excellent cards, the former is ~250 USD, the latter is ~300 USD. Unless you're certain that you're also getting a high res monitor (2560x1440 or 1600) in the very near future, or trying an eyefinity set-up (triple 1080s?) I think you're overspending on your video card also.

Tom's Hardware does a chart on the GPU performance/dollar every month and it's a helpful reference.



If you can wait, there's always going to be something better around the corner. If you can wait, Haswell will be good, but you should know that you're unlikely to get the kind of deal on a Haswell i7 as on an IB i7 from microcenter, especially immediately after launch.

Essence I thought about the higher resolution panel, but because I got my DELL 24 Inches not that long ago I probably wont be upgrading to a higher resolution panel until this one breaks down. And yeah.. You guys made some good points.. I'm rethinking the whole NVIDIA/AMD GPU thing right now.

 

[Termie]

Alright.. And I'm not too sure about Nvidia now... If i went the Nvidia route and was getting the 660/670 GTX which cards would you suggest? I'm a Fan of EVGA btw :0 As for the Radeons, I know nothing about them other than what my best friend told me saying that they are good solid cards. What would you suggest for a Radeon? And my i7 would not bottleneck the Video Card would it? They are pretty much up to par?

I think EVGA is a good brand, although more for their warranty and customer service than their card designs, which tend to be louder and less innovative than others.

If you're buying a GTX670, I'd probably go with this MSI for $390: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127685

A good alternative for around the same price would be this Sapphire HD7970 for $400AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

It comes with four free games rather than one, and would be slightly faster in most games than the GTX670.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Essence I thought about the higher resolution panel, but because I got my DELL 24 Inches not that long ago I probably wont be upgrading to a higher resolution panel until this one breaks down. And yeah.. You guys made some good points.. I'm rethinking the whole NVIDIA/AMD GPU thing right now.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great panel, I have one myself and I love it to death.

I just don't think you need to drop 550 USD on a GPU if you're only pushing 1080 or so pixels, and said pixels can be pushed at excellent frame rates for 250-300 USD

 

[Darlok9]

I think EVGA is a good brand, although more for their warranty and customer service than their card designs, which tend to be louder and less innovative than others.

If you're buying a GTX670, I'd probably go with this MSI for $390: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127685

A good alternative for around the same price would be this Sapphire HD7970 for $400AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202008

It comes with four free games rather than one, and would be slightly faster in most games than the GTX670.

EVGA gave me a free upgrade from 8800GTS to a 260GTX w 2GB of Ram which is why i luv those guys.... So if anything I'd pick them over MSI or any other brand Now Just don't know if NVIDIA or RADEON.. I actually am leaning toward a Radeon.. Thanks for those suggestions.. Btw I dont really care much for the different games the video cards come with. I just need nice frame rates in GW2, Elder Scrolls Online (when its released) and BF3 maybe..