Hardware & Technical Upgrade time

[bootsam]

My PC is now 5yrs old. Bought from OCUK as one of their gaming specials. Has been terrific but I guess its time for an upgrade bundle. My current spec is a Z68 Socket 1155 mobo, an i7 (3.0Gz ???? cant remember), 16Gb DDR2 and 2x 6950 and a 1kW PSU and watercooling. I intend to just replace mobo, cpu, ram and gpu. Howver as I dont keep up with current trends, I have no idea which cpu to upgrade to. This upgrade is intended to last another 5yrs. (ish).

So is x99 or z170 or z97 etc the way to go? Essentially the mobo dictates what i do. But I am unsure what path to follow. I only want to build a decent spec gaming rig with legs to cope with 4k and oculus when the retail version arrives.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Surfinjo]

Unless you really have to upgrade now, and your current rig is not bad at all, I would advise you to wait for the latest equipment available when you do need to upgrade.

Research is really important, to keep up with the latest trends, avoid the pups and have a good idea of where the market is going when you finally need to do some buying.

If you must upgrade now then you could do a lot worse than start where Porina left off https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=175662

If I may, can I suggest you look at Motherboards. You either go for Intel or AMD. Brands, I personally prefer Asus. They are rock solid and work. Others like different brands. I'm sure we eve have a few gamblers who go for Gigabyte, but there you are!

Others might have more ideas. Personally, one thing I've learnt is, its down to what you want, what you can afford, what you want to pay and what you plan to do.

Once you get a few ideas, as about those specifically.

Good luck

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

I'm in a similar position to you except my system is even older.

So is x99 or z170 or z97 etc the way to go?

If you want the very latest tech then it has to be the Z170. If you have the money then performance wise X99 still has the edge but for how long and will Intel make this EOL sooner rather than later? If money is tighter and you don't need the latest editions then Z97 will get you good bang for your buck especially if you overclock.

I'll be going with a Skylake K once they've come down in price a bit and there is more stock. Simply because it's the latest tech and like you I want something that will last a few years (besides, I have the money now but I know I won't be able to spend the same amount of money in a year or two's time).

If you're not aware of it I can recommend the pcpartpicker website. My only other advise would be to make sure you read as many expert reviews as you can (especially on the motherboard as feature sets can vary quite a bit).

 

[bootsam]

Thanks for the pcpartpicker link, useful. After reading its prob not a good time to change mobo. Altho do I need cpu speed? Prob not really, esp reading Toms Hardware Guide. So Ive opted to buy an R9 390 and an 500Gb SSD for now and wait and see.

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

After reading its prob not a good time to change mobo.

What makes you say that?

I just ordered an i7-6700K - I was expecting to wait at least a month but ebuyer suddenly had some in stock at a good price (less than the 4790K). Guess I'd better start researching the rest of the system LOL. Considering a 390/390X but it feels weird spending more on the graphics card than the CPU

 

[Surfinjo]

After reading its prob not a good time to change mobo.

The truth is, with the fast changing market and technology, the only good time is when you need to buy soemthing new.

So, it really depends upon how much you need to upgrade at this time. Your current system isn't too bad at all. But if you do need a new system ,for whatever reason, then look at what is available and get the best you can reasonably afford.

 

[adoredtv]

If you have any Sandy Bridge class i5 or i7 (preferably 2500 and upwards) you probably don't need a CPU or mobo upgrade. Your graphics cards combined will still be really fast however not all games make use of Crossfire so you might be better served just going with a faster single card like the Fury or Fury X. AMD has a really big lead in VR which will last until Nvidia's next gen and they also look well set for DX12. Otherwise a 980 Ti is a fast card at a similar price.

TLDR, consider a new single graphics card near the high end. If you can wait 6 months we'll know an awful lot more about the new cards from each company and also about VR.

 

[bootsam]

I was reading about forthcoming processors and I got even more confused as to which chipset to aim for. I may have misunderstood but theres a new skylake or something coming soon, that might change what mobo i went for. Despite reading various items Ive become convinced that I should get at least another yr out of mine. Its a Sandybridge 2700k i7 and it was OC'd and watercooled by OCUK (4.5 or 5Ghz springs to mind but its been a while since i checked as its run flawlessly apart from topping up fluid reservoir). I dont mind a lower spec cpu but I dont want to buy an EOL mobo and chipset. Been there done that.

Its the Rift I am upgrading for and even they have quite a low spec which surprised me. I have 2x6950's and theyve worked really well considering their age. So I bought a R9 390 8Gb with a view to pairing it up later.

Ive wanted an ssd for a while now and it was this that made me think about upgrading all. I tend to do things like that. Upgrade everything for the sake of 1 new part. Ive put together quite a few machines for myself in the past but after I bought a beefed up OCUK special, I never kept up with whats what from a consumer point of view and lost my modest insight.

Toms hardware guide convinced me that my money would be better spent on a new graphics card. My current CPU is fine for games, which is all this pc does. Game. Besides I have my eyes on some carbon fibre wheels for my Duck and maybe I should just spend money there instead. Plus Im trying to restore an old vw camper. But I need to keep the pc ticking along or else I'll be too skint to do so because i'd have spent it elsewhere. Plus its never good to have spare cash floating around when my wife might suggest new carpets. Stuff that, I'd sooner sit on bare floor.

So GPU and SSD for now. Then Rift when its released and upgrade the rest afterwards.

 

[Surfinjo]

So GPU and SSD for now. Then Rift when its released and upgrade the rest afterwards.

A few SSDs are a must now. They are so fast.

I suggest you get a few smaller ones, max 250Gb rather than one big. They are quite cheap now and if one goes wrong, you won't loose everything.

 

[adoredtv]

Yeah an SSD is the "no-brainer" upgrade, they just make such a difference to loading times and general system responsiveness.

A 2700K at 4.5GHz is as fast as anything out there and will be for the foreseeable future.

 

[bootsam]

I have several 1Tb 'normal' hard drives. 1 is full of all my old rubbish from the dawn of my 1st pc. A 486dx66 in 92 or so. ie programs that are so legacy as to be considered antiques. Another has another ex pc's contents and so on with the other. I thus have plenty back up space, so 'losing' the ssd isnt an issue, although maybe i shouldve bought smaller but i havent. I bought a 500Gb Crucial MX200.

Its pleasing to know my cpu is fine. I really should pay it more attention and understand the o/c etc but I have a habit of 'if it aint broke, dont fix it'. If I meddle, i'll break it. Even my ram has been clocked. So i chose to leave it well alone. Been there, done that once again. I know where I am with a spanner and a porting kit for 2 strokes but electronics etc my knowledge and skill is limited. ie none. But I know how to pair bits and bobs to build a pc as you cant fit ram in a gpu slot.

Thanks for all your advice. I'd like to give more rep but once is all I can give.

I'd like to do a clean win10 install on the SSD, I'm guessing all I need is to transfer all the frontier folders etc from user/app data/local to ensure i keep all my binds etc. I wont be overwriting my current HD until I am satisfied ive got all my data across and even then I doubt I'll overwrite it all. I never with my others. Each still has the old windows install on them. I might bin pc's but i always keep the HD's.

 

[Zelos1983]

I recently bought X99 and I can recommend it.
Other plattforms have less memory channels, less PCI-E lanes and the available CPUs have less cores.

That said, Broadwell E should be GA soon.

PCPart Picker generally lacks a lot of components, so I don't find it really usefull.

 

[bootsam]

So I install win 10 cleanly, sit there smug about to re-instal all my other pros, when the catalyst won't install for new x9. Eh? Somehow instead of the 64bit win10, I'd downloaded and installed the 32bit win10. offs what a tool am I...