Its finally time to start saving for a new system - Advice on my build please

[Rezza]

The time has come to start looking at upgrading my system. Looks like it may take a fair bit of time, so i'm going to approach it in a modular kind of way.
Hopefully it will only be a 4 step process.... Ill be doing it GPU first, PSU, SSD, mobo+cpu+RAM+Cooler.
My thinking is that I will see the best short term performance increase if i get the GPU first and it should tide me over in my games until I can afford the rest of the parts.
Going to be keeping my drives and case (an old, bare bones thermaltake xaser III which will be modded)

The most important parts of my current set up are -

Intel Sandybridge i5-2500k Clocked @ 4.5ghz
8GB (2x4gb) Corsair vengeance 1866mhz -9-9-10-9-27
AsRock z77 extreme4 mobo
Nvidia GTX 670 OC 2gb.

Other less importand bits are 2x 140gb HDDs. Never gotten round to upgrading to an SSD!

This last build was built on a budget and has served me really well! It still handles games well, but its showing its age in newer titles. I've also heard it is now a viable performance increase to go from Sandybridge to skylake, whereas before it wasn't so much.


So the new build I have in mind looks to amount to roughly the same as I paid back when I build this system and should go with the bang for buck principle I based the purchase of my current board, cpu and gpu. They were decent parts, but were very popular because they all overclocked well.

Currently the build I have in mind is -

CPU - Skylake Intel i5-6600k - 229,77 euro
MoBo - Gigabyte GA-Z170x Gamer 3 - 138,68 euro
GPU - Nvidia GTX 970 Inno 3d Gaming OC - Yes a reference board is cheaper, but it doesnt have the improved cooling. - 310 euro
RAM - 16GB G.Skill RipJaws V 3000mhz - 92,28 euro
SSD - Crucial 240gb BX200 - 62,96 euro
CPU cooler - Enermax Ligmax II 240 (Seems to have good reviews and from what I have read can handle an overclocked 6600k) - 70,47 euro
PSU - Something 700w but still havent decided on a good performing PSU that doesnt cost the earth.

Total - 904.16 euro (minus cost of psu)

Ill keep my HDDs and may get rid in the future and opt for a larger 1TB.
I will also be running windows 7, but may upgrade to 8, or 10. I just HATE HATE HATE the windows 8 interface.

So the best Price ive managed for this is 980 Euros. Usually I would do it in pounds, but as I moved to Germany last year it seems getting stuff from the UK and shipping it over will be a killer. Plus, when you convert the German prices they all seem to be cheaper on every single item.

Ill be looking to attempt to get the board to a stable 4.5 (hopefully i get a good chip) and then it will be run at that all the time - like my current set up. The overclockability is the most important thing for me.
Im not fussed about SLI/crossfire. I always thought it is a good idea with my current build to have the option, just incase, but ive always been happy with the single card perf and cant really ever see myself using SLI/crossfire (until im rich....).

Can anybody suggest any better parts, that may work out cheaper, whilst being better? Just need the suggestions for the parts and I can do the searching. Hopefully ill be able to bring the final price down by checking ebay etc for cheaper, but new, parts. Also by the time it comes round to buying the most expensive parts the prices should have dropped anyway

Thanks!

 

[GhostRyder]

Well first I am guessing that's a typo and you currently own a GTX 670 not a 970.

Second, your system may finally be getting a little dated but even with that processor you could really max any game out at those speeds no problem so I would suggest instead to focus on just a GPU, SSD, better cooler, and PSU. You could push the CPU a bit further if you feel your lacking in any way in my book as Sandy Bridge is pretty good to 4.8+ghz usually.

My suggestion would be to just invest into a very nice GPU. Maybe something like a GTX 980ti or an R9 Nano/R9 Fury, then get a pretty big SSD, and go from there with the PSU and cooler.

 

[Rezza]

Fixed the typo!

The problem with the CPU is that I seem to have hit a wall with the OC. It doesnt seem to like to stay stable over 4.5ghz.

Would a GTX 980 ti not be bottle-necked? Its also very expensive for me eg. double the price. I believe upgrading to the GTX 970 would be the better option for me. It offers both a decent price and a good performance boost, compared to my GTX 670. Looking at the whole system and the funding stream available to me, buying a GPU that is double the price just isn't viable.
Although a GPU upgrade will be my first port of call.

I would like to future proof the build aswell. Recently I was looking into a replacement mobo, just incase mine died. Its very hard to get my current model new or something else decent, from what I found.
Its come to a point for me now where it would be a much more viable option to invest into the newer tech. I had the same problem with my conroe e6300, I kept that for years until it was no longer good enough.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

2x 140gb HDDs

Do you have any idea how slow those are, even in comparison with a 2TB HDD?

 

[Rezza]

I realise they will be slow, but you know, I don't have the means to spend huge amounts of money. I will eventually upgrade, but its going to take a while.
I have to use and make do with what I have, or what I can afford when my funding allows it.

Again, i know how slow they are...I have to live with the load times.

 

[GhostRyder]

Fixed the typo!

The problem with the CPU is that I seem to have hit a wall with the OC. It doesnt seem to like to stay stable over 4.5ghz.

Would a GTX 980 ti not be bottle-necked? Its also very expensive for me eg. double the price. I believe upgrading to the GTX 970 would be the better option for me. It offers both a decent price and a good performance boost, compared to my GTX 670. Looking at the whole system and the funding stream available to me, buying a GPU that is double the price just isn't viable.
Although a GPU upgrade will be my first port of call.

I would like to future proof the build aswell. Recently I was looking into a replacement mobo, just incase mine died. Its very hard to get my current model new or something else decent, from what I found.
Its come to a point for me now where it would be a much more viable option to invest into the newer tech. I had the same problem with my conroe e6300, I kept that for years until it was no longer good enough.

Ah well that's odd but it happens with the silicon lottery on CPU's. 4.5ghz though is still plenty.

No it would not, plenty of friends and people even here are still rocking 2500K's and 2700K's and they still max out any game. Even in CPU intensive ones your not going to be strained at that overclock. Last few years we have been a bit slow on CPU improvements compared to years past so while each iteration up from sandy-Bridge has offered ~10% performance clock to clock, even with 3 generations up your not getting an extreme performance jump. You could easily get another couple years off that chip or higher in my book. I would not even worry about failing because your board is not that old overall based on release. I've kept machines much longer than that without issue so if it was me I would still keep it.

As far as future proofing goes, I can understand that as we all want our machines to last as long as possible. I would still say get a few more years off that system and just grab an SSD, GPU, and PSU (Also maybe a cooler if you want) to keep the system going and feel smooth. But I will say going to that new i5 6600K is not going to be much more future proof then your current system is now. I would also say your board and system is not old enough to worry about it failing (Chip and board). So I still stand by spending the extra on the GPU and other components and keeping what you have going for a couple more years. You will definitely see much more out of that then dropping to something like a GTX 970 and buying all new parts.

Here is some reference for you:
i5 2500K Stock
i5 6600K Stock

That is not much of a jump considering it also has 200mhz clock speed difference as well. Plus your is way exceeding those numbers overclocked as far as it is (1.2ghz) so your no where near the end of its performance.

How about this:
PSU:
EVGA 600B
GPU: (In order of performance highest to least)
GTX 980ti
R9 Nano
GTX 980
SSD:
Crucial BX200 480gb (Or similar/cheaper)

With that you will see a nice difference in the system.

 

[Rezza]

Ah well that's odd but it happens with the silicon lottery on CPU's. 4.5ghz though is still plenty.

No it would not, plenty of friends and people even here are still rocking 2500K's and 2700K's and they still max out any game. Even in CPU intensive ones your not going to be strained at that overclock. Last few years we have been a bit slow on CPU improvements compared to years past so while each iteration up from sandy-Bridge has offered ~10% performance clock to clock, even with 3 generations up your not getting an extreme performance jump. You could easily get another couple years off that chip or higher in my book. I would not even worry about failing because your board is not that old overall based on release. I've kept machines much longer than that without issue so if it was me I would still keep it.

As far as future proofing goes, I can understand that as we all want our machines to last as long as possible. I would still say get a few more years off that system and just grab an SSD, GPU, and PSU (Also maybe a cooler if you want) to keep the system going and feel smooth. But I will say going to that new i5 6600K is not going to be much more future proof then your current system is now. I would also say your board and system is not old enough to worry about it failing (Chip and board). So I still stand by spending the extra on the GPU and other components and keeping what you have going for a couple more years. You will definitely see much more out of that then dropping to something like a GTX 970 and buying all new parts.

Here is some reference for you:
i5 2500K Stock
i5 6600K Stock

That is not much of a jump considering it also has 200mhz clock speed difference as well. Plus your is way exceeding those numbers overclocked as far as it is (1.2ghz) so your no where near the end of its performance.

How about this:
PSU:
EVGA 600B
GPU: (In order of performance highest to least)
GTX 980ti
R9 Nano
GTX 980
SSD:
Crucial BX200 480gb (Or similar/cheaper)

With that you will see a nice difference in the system.

Thanks for those links, that does put it into perspective a bit. I had read that the jump to previous iterations wasn't really worth while, but the newer skylake was worth the investment - but going by those numbers it really doesn't seem to have the wow factor performance upgrade I was led to believe.

In an ideal world I would go with a 980ti first, but its not possible. The 970 looks to offer the best kind of power for the price and with a bit of clocking *fingers crossed* I may be able to squeeze out a little more performance. I have looked at AMDs offerings, but i'm put off by the power usage - Although, in the grand scheme of things, it is probably negligible.

Your suggestions certainly give my something to thing about. If I can get those kind of parts with my current cpu/mobo/ram, still be okay for the next couple of years and eat up newer titles then it seems like a very good idea. PLUS I wont have to deal with these 140gb hdds anymore

Hopefully the time in saving will help with the GTX's getting cheaper. That or ill sell a liver.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

If you look at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html, you'll see that your 2500K is still only one tier behind. It's not your "weak" link. The "weakest" part of your system are those HDD's. I'd recommend an upgrade to a 500GB SSD and then reevaluate.

 

[GhostRyder]

Thanks for those links, that does put it into perspective a bit. I had read that the jump to previous iterations wasn't really worth while, but the newer skylake was worth the investment - but going by those numbers it really doesn't seem to have the wow factor performance upgrade I was led to believe.

In an ideal world I would go with a 980ti first, but its not possible. The 970 looks to offer the best kind of power for the price and with a bit of clocking *fingers crossed* I may be able to squeeze out a little more performance. I have looked at AMDs offerings, but i'm put off by the power usage - Although, in the grand scheme of things, it is probably negligible.

Your suggestions certainly give my something to thing about. If I can get those kind of parts with my current cpu/mobo/ram, still be okay for the next couple of years and eat up newer titles then it seems like a very good idea. PLUS I wont have to deal with these 140gb hdds anymore

Hopefully the time in saving will help with the GTX's getting cheaper. That or ill sell a liver.

Its mostly if you want some of the new features but in all honesty I would not worry.

As far as power consumption goes, the Nano for instance is actually pretty decent so I would not worry about that. As for the rest, it really makes no difference in the end as were talking pennies in additional cost to run the machine.

Any of these cards (Except dual GPU) will not cause a spike in power consumption on your bills even if you stressed the card consistently most of the day. If your considering the GTX 970, I would recommend the R9 390 as its a bit better in the "Future Proofing" department mostly with its additional VRAM and performance. Otherwise I would say spend al ittle extra and get either the R9 Nano, R9 Fury, or GTX 980 if you do not want to spend on the GTX 980ti as all of those will be enough better in the long run (Especially if you plan on keeping them for a few years).

Its not to say any of the choices provided will be bad (Like the GTX 970 which is a powerful card), I am just saying you may want to invest to the next step up since you like to keep them for awhile. I just think you should look at what your willing to spend, find the card on the chart that hits the optimal performance at that price point, then find the one with the cooler you like and purchase it.

 

[xfia]

its all well and good to be liberal but if your going to be honest about what gpu will be better into the future there would no doubt in my mind fiji takes a win there.. brand new vram tech and architecture that is built for async compute.. more than important for dx12. nv needs some driver tricks to get it working and it takes away a lot of the performance/quality boost amd is shown to get in dx12.

 

[Rezza]

On a side note - I know my hdds are crappy and rubbish and probably at least 10 years old. But will they have an noticeable, negative, effect on the fps? As I had never thought they would, or I've never experience using an ssd so know no better.
I know they provide me with terrible load times - a game like rust takes a hell of a long time to load in, as do most newer titles and I guess also cause the occasional stutter. Oh and booting isn't the fastest, not the slowest either ... Painfully average.

 

[GhostRyder]

On a side note - I know my hdds are crappy and rubbish and probably at least 10 years old. But will they have an noticeable, negative, effect on the fps? As I had never thought they would, or I've never experience using an ssd so know no better.
I know they provide me with terrible load times - a game like rust takes a hell of a long time to load in, as do most newer titles and I guess also cause the occasional stutter. Oh and booting isn't the fastest, not the slowest either ... Painfully average.

Not really, but they can have an effect if they are too slow. Most modern HDD's are fine but if its overly slow it could cause things like stutter or load improperly. I really don't see it very often but I have seen it before. With big HDD's being so cheap, I would just say grab a 1tb 7200RPM drive if your worried.

 

[CJCerny]

SSD upgrade and new video card is all you need. SSD will make a huge different on boot up times, but little or no difference on frame rates. Samsung 850 EVO or Pro are both quality SSDs, as is Crucial BX100 (but not BX200).