Upgrading PC - not sure what to upgrade

[PWRone]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my current PC as it can barely run games like CoD BO3 anymore, even on the lowest settings it seems.

This is what I currently have:
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro3 SE
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k 3.30GHz
Video card: 2x AMD Radeon HD 6870 (I believe it was one card that carried both or something, making it a more high-end card at that time)
RAM: Kingston 8gb 667MHz
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Monitor: Samsung S27A750D (27", 1920x1080, 120Hz)
Power Supply: Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W

I expected that my computer could still run games like BO3, but apparently that is too much to handle (lowest settings I won't even get 60fps). Or perhaps I'm doing something wrong and you can help me with that.

My wish is to be able to play new games on at least medium settings (preferably higher). I have about 800 euros to spend but I simply have no idea what I should upgrade and if components would still be compatible with each other.

As you might have noticed by now, I am not an expert in this area, and I would therefor really appreciate your help :)

Thank you in advance!

Maikel (Netherlands)

p.s.: If you need more info, just ask, I wasnt sure what more to post.

[Alchemist79]

Blops 3 is very resource heavy considering. you'll need a gtx970 or better, and probably16gb ram, for high settings. The rest of your system should be fine for another couple of years.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/call_of_duty_black_ops_iii_vga_graphics_performance_benchmark_review,7.html

maximum settings,
http://www.gamegpu.ru/images/remote/http--www.gamegpu.ru-images-stories-Test_GPU-Action-Call_of_Duty_Black_Ops_III-test-bo3_1920.jpg

[PWRone]

thank you for the fast reply. I'll look into a couple of cards and RAMs and then post some options. Is everything compatible with each other, or are some things excluded?

[Meurock460]

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my current PC as it can barely run games like CoD BO3 anymore, even on the lowest settings it seems.

This is what I currently have:
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro3 SE
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k 3.30GHz
Video card: 2x AMD Radeon HD 6870 (I believe it was one card that carried both or something, making it a more high-end card at that time)
RAM: Kingston 8gb 667MHz
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Monitor: Samsung S27A750D (27", 1920x1080, 120Hz)
Power Supply: Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W

I expected that my computer could still run games like BO3, but apparently that is too much to handle (lowest settings I won't even get 60fps). Or perhaps I'm doing something wrong and you can help me with that.

My wish is to be able to play new games on at least medium settings (preferably higher). I have about 800 euros to spend but I simply have no idea what I should upgrade and if components would still be compatible with each other.

As you might have noticed by now, I am not an expert in this area, and I would therefor really appreciate your help :)

Thank you in advance!

Maikel (Netherlands)

p.s.: If you need more info, just ask, I wasnt sure what more to post.

All you really need is a better GPU. Go for at least a GTX 970, but with that 800 euro budget, I'd suggest grabbing a GTX 980ti. Bumping the ram to 16gb might also be an idea, as some newer titles are more ram intensive. 8gb however is still plenty for most games.

If you are still running the stock cooler, grab a Hyper 212 EVO or something similar and give that CPU a nice overclock.

[PWRone]

I think cooler wise I'm good. The housing (thermaltake) has three ventilators itself, and there is another Scythe inside. Is that good enough?

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my current PC as it can barely run games like CoD BO3 anymore, even on the lowest settings it seems.

This is what I currently have:
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro3 SE
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k 3.30GHz
Video card: 2x AMD Radeon HD 6870 (I believe it was one card that carried both or something, making it a more high-end card at that time)
RAM: Kingston 8gb 667MHz
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Monitor: Samsung S27A750D (27", 1920x1080, 120Hz)
Power Supply: Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W

I expected that my computer could still run games like BO3, but apparently that is too much to handle (lowest settings I won't even get 60fps). Or perhaps I'm doing something wrong and you can help me with that.

My wish is to be able to play new games on at least medium settings (preferably higher). I have about 800 euros to spend but I simply have no idea what I should upgrade and if components would still be compatible with each other.

As you might have noticed by now, I am not an expert in this area, and I would therefor really appreciate your help :)

Thank you in advance!

Maikel (Netherlands)

p.s.: If you need more info, just ask, I wasnt sure what more to post.

All you really need is a better GPU. Go for at least a GTX 970, but with that 800 euro budget, I'd suggest grabbing a GTX 980ti. Bumping the ram to 16gb might also be an idea, as some newer titles are more ram intensive. 8gb however is still plenty for most games.

If you are still running the stock cooler, grab a Hyper 212 EVO or something similar and give that CPU a nice overclock.

[Meurock460]

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

I think cooler wise I'm good. The housing (thermaltake) has three ventilators itself, and there is another Scythe inside. Is that good enough?

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

All you really need is a better GPU. Go for at least a GTX 970, but with that 800 euro budget, I'd suggest grabbing a GTX 980ti. Bumping the ram to 16gb might also be an idea, as some newer titles are more ram intensive. 8gb however is still plenty for most games.

If you are still running the stock cooler, grab a Hyper 212 EVO or something similar and give that CPU a nice overclock.

Do you mean Scythe case fan or Scythe CPU cooler?

If its the CPU cooler, do you know which particular Scythe model?

[PWRone]

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

I think cooler wise I'm good. The housing (thermaltake) has three ventilators itself, and there is another Scythe inside. Is that good enough?

Do you mean Scythe case fan or Scythe CPU cooler?

If its the CPU cooler, do you know which particular Scythe model?

Well, it sits about 4 to 5 cm above the GPU. And I cannot read the model, most be hidden somewhere on the back. So I dont really know what kind of cooler it is.


Then for the GPU and RAM:
Just looked at these two products

GPU: Gigabyte GV-N98TG1 Gaming-6GD [www.gigabyte.co.nl]
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 [www.corsair.com]

How is the GPU? are there other better cards for the same price? I saw quite some brands with the 980ti.

Also, I read somewhere that 8GB is usually enough. What do you think?

[Meurock460]

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

Do you mean Scythe case fan or Scythe CPU cooler?

If its the CPU cooler, do you know which particular Scythe model?

Well, it sits about 4 to 5 cm above the GPU. And I cannot read the model, most be hidden somewhere on the back. So I dont really know what kind of cooler it is.


Then for the GPU and RAM:
Just looked at these two products

GPU: Gigabyte GV-N98TG1 Gaming-6GD [www.gigabyte.co.nl]
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 [www.corsair.com]

How is the GPU? are there other better cards for the same price? I saw quite some brands with the 980ti.

Also, I read somewhere that 8GB is usually enough. What do you think?

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and EVGA are all good brands to go for. Whichever is cheapest of those I would say. I use Gigabyte cards myself and haven't had any issues with them.

8GB is plenty for now. There are a couple games such as ARK that may benefit from more, but at the moment you'll be fine with 8gb. Of course, if you want to go to 16gb thats up to you.

Try and get your CPU to 4ghz, the 2500k is a very good overclocker.

[PWRone]

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

Well, it sits about 4 to 5 cm above the GPU. And I cannot read the model, most be hidden somewhere on the back. So I dont really know what kind of cooler it is.


Then for the GPU and RAM:
Just looked at these two products

GPU: Gigabyte GV-N98TG1 Gaming-6GD [www.gigabyte.co.nl]
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 [www.corsair.com]

How is the GPU? are there other better cards for the same price? I saw quite some brands with the 980ti.

Also, I read somewhere that 8GB is usually enough. What do you think?

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and EVGA are all good brands to go for. Whichever is cheapest of those I would say. I use Gigabyte cards myself and haven't had any issues with them.

8GB is plenty for now. There are a couple games such as ARK that may benefit from more, but at the moment you'll be fine with 8gb. Of course, if you want to go to 16gb thats up to you.

Try and get your CPU to 4ghz, the 2500k is a very good overclocker.

you lost me there :P Sorry, I have no idea what overclocking exactly does, let alone how to do it. With the 2500k, you mean the ram? Also, if I'll overclock, should I go with the cooler you suggested just to be sure?

[Meurock460]

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and EVGA are all good brands to go for. Whichever is cheapest of those I would say. I use Gigabyte cards myself and haven't had any issues with them.

8GB is plenty for now. There are a couple games such as ARK that may benefit from more, but at the moment you'll be fine with 8gb. Of course, if you want to go to 16gb thats up to you.

Try and get your CPU to 4ghz, the 2500k is a very good overclocker.

you lost me there :P Sorry, I have no idea what overclocking exactly does, let alone how to do it. With the 2500k, you mean the ram? Also, if I'll overclock, should I go with the cooler you suggested just to be sure?

I'll try to explain overclocking as easily as I can. I'm sure someone here will be able to do a better job at exaplaining it than me though.

To put it simply, overclocking the CPU means running it at a higher clock speed than what it was originally rated for. Intel CPUs models that end with a "K" (such as your i5 2500k) were designed with overclocking in mind.

For example, the i5 2500k is rated at 3.3ghz. If you were to overclock it, the cpu would no longer be running at 3.3ghz but at a higher clock speed, such as 4.0ghz.

There might also be videos on youtube that explain it better than I do.

As for your CPU cooler, which one of the 3 below looks most like the one you are current using?

1 - http://markyb.applefool.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/corei5750_hsf3.jpg
2 - http://www.quietpc.com/images/products/shuriken-large.jpg
3 - http://www.scythe-eu.com/uploads/pics/Mugen-2-Unit2.jpg

[PWRone]

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

you lost me there :P Sorry, I have no idea what overclocking exactly does, let alone how to do it. With the 2500k, you mean the ram? Also, if I'll overclock, should I go with the cooler you suggested just to be sure?

I'll try to explain overclocking as easily as I can. I'm sure someone here will be able to do a better job at exaplaining it than me though.

To put it simply, overclocking the CPU means running it at a higher clock speed than what it was originally rated for. Intel CPUs models that end with a "K" (such as your i5 2500k) were designed with overclocking in mind.

For example, the i5 2500k is rated at 3.3ghz. If you were to overclock it, the cpu would no longer be running at 3.3ghz but at a higher clock speed, such as 4.0ghz.

There might also be videos on youtube that explain it better than I do.

As for your CPU cooler, which one of the 3 below looks most like the one you are current using?

1 - http://markyb.applefool.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/corei5750_hsf3.jpg
2 - http://www.quietpc.com/images/products/shuriken-large.jpg
3 - http://www.scythe-eu.com/uploads/pics/Mugen-2-Unit2.jpg

Overclocking it more clear now. I'm sure I can find videos that will help me further, thanks!

I'd say 2 or 3, but with 4 silver blocks behind it.
It looks like this: link [www.tweaktown.com]

[Meurock460]

Messaggio originale di PWRone:

Messaggio originale di Meurock372:

I'll try to explain overclocking as easily as I can. I'm sure someone here will be able to do a better job at exaplaining it than me though.

To put it simply, overclocking the CPU means running it at a higher clock speed than what it was originally rated for. Intel CPUs models that end with a "K" (such as your i5 2500k) were designed with overclocking in mind.

For example, the i5 2500k is rated at 3.3ghz. If you were to overclock it, the cpu would no longer be running at 3.3ghz but at a higher clock speed, such as 4.0ghz.

There might also be videos on youtube that explain it better than I do.

As for your CPU cooler, which one of the 3 below looks most like the one you are current using?

1 - http://markyb.applefool.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/corei5750_hsf3.jpg
2 - http://www.quietpc.com/images/products/shuriken-large.jpg
3 - http://www.scythe-eu.com/uploads/pics/Mugen-2-Unit2.jpg

Overclocking it more clear now. I'm sure I can find videos that will help me further, thanks!

I'd say 2 or 3, but with 4 silver blocks behind it.
It looks like this: link [www.tweaktown.com]

That cooler will be fine.

In my last post, the first link (cooler 1) was the intel stock cooler. Pretty much anything is better than the stock cooler.

The i5 2500k was designed with overclocking in mind, and was quite a popular CPU. There are many guides out there that will help you.

[_I_]

sign up to overclock.net
http://www.overclock.net/t/1100100/info-intel-2500k-2600k-overclocking-tips

they are very helpful

[PWRone]

Alright, thanks for the help! Really appreciated :)
I think I might upgrade the RAM as well, then I'll be fine for a while again

[Alchemist79]

Gtx980ti's are nice cards. Make sure the gigabyte will fit inside your case, as I believe it is quite long. Evga superclocked are quite good, if you can find a good price.

Also, you only need to buy another 2 x 4gb ram (8gb) modules to go with the 8gb you already have. Try to buy the same brand and speed if you can, failing that just match the speed.

[PWRone]

It fits :)
Just ordered the products and I'll look into overclocking next week, thanks again for the help!