Well, WATMM...it's time to build a new PC

Thanks, Goffer! That looks like a beauty...I kinda feel like I just need to pull the trigger on a case, so that's coming today. Once I have a case and PSU, everything else will just fall in line.

re: goffer's offer, you could get a cheaper memory and try to stretch it to a better GPU budget wise, in games this is thing that'll make a difference. though currently 7850 will have no problem tearing through pretty much everything, with the exception of new far cry it seems.

this is useful: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=548

I'm also admittedly tempted to just buy a new GPU for my existing machine and see if I can eek out another year or two of enjoyment.

The GTX 560 Ti will run damn near everything on the market and run it very well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683

$245 and it competes with the majority of PCi 3.0 cards.

Intel motherboard + Intel processor is supereffective. I got them both in 2010 - believe me or not, I didn't push the reset button or had any instability isses since (*knocks on wood*). I put in on hibernate every night, and the only time I had to restart it was system updates or when not being at home for several days in a row. Very happy about it. My next purchase will be an SSD and some additional RAM.

Yeah, the one thing that has me leaning toward building an entirely new PC is new motherboards and support for PCi 3.0 and solid state drives.

In addition, if I buy a nice mid-tower case, I'll be set for future upgrades.

I have a stupid question about SSD, though. Will it work with your typical SATA?

Here's where I'm currently sitting, thoughts or suggestions welcome!

yep, the connectors are the same.

same goes for the PCI-E slots, physically they are the same and you can stick either card in any of them and it'll work. you've also chose some stupidly expensive 560ti, but overall it's not a bad idea i think, get a new GPU and an SSD and it should give a really nice boost, if not - upgrade further.

I just saw a prompt letting me know that the Antec case I selected is not compatible with the Onboard USB 3.0 Headers on the mother board.

Anybody have an idea what that means?

  On 12/10/2012 at 6:10 PM, eugene said:

yep, the connectors are the same.

 

same goes for the PCI-E slots, physically they are the same and you can stick either card in any of them and it'll work. you've also chose some stupidly expensive 560ti, but overall it's not a bad idea i think, get a new GPU and an SSD and it should give a really nice boost, if not - upgrade further.

Ahh, so even my current and quite old motherboard has SATA, so if I really want to, I can upgrade the SSD and GPU, install Windows 7 (now on Vista), and maybe I'll feel a lot better about things.

My CPU is really quite old now, 2008 era technology, but maybe the GPU really does matter more than anything else.

  On 12/10/2012 at 6:07 PM, The Overlook said:

 

Here's where I'm currently sitting, thoughts or suggestions welcome!

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.98 @ Outlet PC)

Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.00 @ B&H)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $677.94

 

650ti is kinda weak, i think you need hd7850/gtx660 and up

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=680

what are you current pc specs ?

My current PC is pretty shit...

It's a Core 2 Duo, I have 2 gigs of ram, a 7200 RPM hard drive, and the Radeon HD 4870.

I upgraded the power supply with a 700W OCZ.

The problem I'm having with even attempting an upgrade of this current machine is that, let's be honest, I'm dealing with a Dell here. It's a proprietary mess inside.

Right now, if I can come up with a good Case and Motherboard combination, I'll pull the trigger and buy it to get the ball rolling. I just want to be sure they're compatible before doing it!

eugene -

I could also just go with a VelociRaptor drive @ 10,000 RPM which would represent a significant performance boost without going SSD. I'm reluctant to install an SSD on this old Dell.

This WD VelociRaptor drive from Amazon is only $139.

Then I could pick up a GeForce GTX 560 Ti, but you seem to think the $245 one I found on NewEgg was overpriced. Do you know of a cheaper outlet for them? Thanks!

well, it would be smarter to upgrade step by step and see if it helps, but i think i would also go full-upgrade if i had the cash and similar situation...

anyway, while i can't imagine the layout of that dell case, adding an SSD is easy, it's very small and light so you just plug another sata and sata-power to it (chances are you don't have a proper tray for it but it's not really a problem due to its size and weight), and then you do a fresh win 7/8 install on it.

the hd7850 is even more compact than your current 4870 (the basic version of it, at least) and only needs one power connector (as opposed to 2 with 4870), so you just swap them. it's about 2.5 more powerful and actually eats less power ! nvidia's are worth checking out too, though.

Yeah, the HD 7850 is also PCi 3.0 so that won't work in my machine. That's why I've been mentioning the 5000 series from nVidia.

  On 12/10/2012 at 6:38 PM, The Overlook said:

eugene -

 

I could also just go with a VelociRaptor drive @ 10,000 RPM which would represent a significant performance boost without going SSD. I'm reluctant to install an SSD on this old Dell.

 

This WD VelociRaptor drive from Amazon is only $139.

 

Then I could pick up a GeForce GTX 560 Ti, but you seem to think the $245 one I found on NewEgg was overpriced. Do you know of a cheaper outlet for them? Thanks!

while still more expensive per GB, even the simpler SSDs are significantly faster than this raptor, you can also keep your old hdd for storage and use the ssd for OS/programs and games, there's really no reason not to buy it, it works with sata 2 with no problems, unless dell's motherboard is really something devious.

the 7850 goffer linked you is 175$ ! and according to that anandtech comparison thing it's faster than 560ti in most of the cases

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451

the closest nvdia gpu to hd7850 is gtx 660.

  On 12/10/2012 at 6:51 PM, The Overlook said:

Yeah, the HD 7850 is also PCi 3.0 so that won't work in my machine. That's why I've been mentioning the 5000 series from nVidia.

it will ! that what i was saying before..

the pcie 3.0 offers more bandwidth, which isn't even taken advantage of in current games but pcie 2 and 3 are completely compatible.

my current board is pci-e 2.0 and i a have an hd7850 inside.

Well, shit, now don't I feel dumb.

The 7850 and a SSD in my current rig is sounding more and more reasonable.

I have this hunch that the current generation of console hardware is holding back software/games significantly.

It seems like it'd be smart to wait for the next generation of consoles first before doing a major upgrade of all my components.

So my motherboard only supports SATA II. Does that make a big difference to what I can expect from SSD upgrade?

  On 12/10/2012 at 7:12 PM, The Overlook said:

I have this hunch that the current generation of console hardware is holding back software/games significantly.

oh absolutely, there are those battlefield 3/far cry 3/witcher 2 and even skyrim with proper mods that can challenge more or less modern pcs, but most of the games are just console ports with pretty low requirements from pc hardware by today's standards.

  On 12/10/2012 at 7:19 PM, The Overlook said:

So my motherboard only supports SATA II. Does that make a big difference to what I can expect from SSD upgrade?

not unless you're aiming at some really badass SSD or some Raid config, and it seems that you're not. sata II max bandwidth is 3gbits which is 375mb/sec, most current ssd's don't reach that as far as i know.

Very nice.

So there we have it. I either man up and pay $750-800 for a whole new rig - or - for around $250, I can buy a 128gb SSD and a vastly better GPU.

Given the current state of gaming, I have to admit that the latter idea sounds more rational.

You know what fucking floors me?

I have this old G5 tower lying around - a work of art - and it's fucking useless. Why can't computers be more compatible for fuck's sake?!

I would love to gut that fucker and stuff it full of modern gear. :(

Apple and their goddamn lawyers.

this may come in handy for you

Get some more ram perhaps? 2 gigs seems way too little and you should be able to find some cheap.

  On 12/10/2012 at 6:25 PM, The Overlook said:

It's a Core 2 Duo, I have 2 gigs of ram, a 7200 RPM hard drive, and the Radeon HD 4870.