advise for upgrading?

[thoo00]

Hi all,

I am currently using:

1) Asus P7P55D-E PRO Motherboard with i5 760 @ 2.8 ghz
(https://www.asus.com/sg/Motherboards/P7P55DE_PRO/)

2) Corsair XMS3 1600mhz 2x2gb ram kit (http://www.corsair.com/en/cmx4gx3m2a1600c9)

3) MSI R6870 Twin Frozr II, 1GB DDR5
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127545)

Currently I am playing witcher 3 and the game lags quite often for me, even at low settings.

Will it be worthwhile to upgrade :

1) My motherboard, since current new gen graphics card requires PC express lane 3.0?

2) My ram to 8gb dual channel kit? My mobo allows up to 1600mhz ram kit. will it be better for me to have a new mobo and buy a newer ram kit with faster speed? Eg 2400mhz, 1800mhz. What will be the recommended ram to buy?

3) To upgrade my graphics to a few tiers higher? what will be the recommended graphics card to upgrade now? (best price to performance ratio)

I dont know will it be better to overhaul to a new system rig or just upgrade the few components and hope it last for a couple of more years. I will still intend to play 1080p games on it on high or better settings.

 

[thoo00]

any...suggestions?

 

[Jian19]

will be better for a overhaul

 

[jedi5diah]

give a budget for the wizards here

 

[kandinsky]

I will still intend to play 1080p games on it on high or better settings.

Methinks if you wanna play current/next-gen 1080p games on high or better for next few years, an overhaul might be inevitable as your CPU, GPU, RAM don't even meet minimum specs for witcher 3. If not urgent, join the Skylake waiting club (until around Aug to year end maybe), to see where prices are then.

Minimum System Requirements

Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660
AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870
RAM 6GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB

Recommended System Requirements

Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz
AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770
AMD GPU Radeon R9 290
RAM 8GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB

 

[superzheny]

You can upgrade your ram first and possibly consider gpu.

These components can reuse when u finally make the skylake upgrade

 

[thoo00]

What GPU do you recommend then?
I only had a PSU 550W though. say budget up to max $350, for a GPU upgrade

 

[Jian19]

Gtx960 $320+

 

[jedi5diah]

Gtx960 $320+

get used one, save up for brand new set for Christmas!!!

 

[dannytan87]

What GPU do you recommend then?
I only had a PSU 550W though. say budget up to max $350, for a GPU upgrade

550w 2 rails(assume cheap PSU) should be 12volt 20amp. 240watt. Any GPU at 80percent of 240 should decent.

960 is nice. Red team Tonga 285 also not bad

 

[jianrong]

Overhaul bah.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

You can upgrade your ram first and possibly consider gpu.

These components can reuse when u finally make the skylake upgrade

You sure you know what you are saying? Desktop Skylake using DDR4 (or at most DDR3L) bro.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Hi all,

I am currently using:

1) Asus P7P55D-E PRO Motherboard with i5 760 @ 2.8 ghz
(https://www.asus.com/sg/Motherboards/P7P55DE_PRO/)

2) Corsair XMS3 1600mhz 2x2gb ram kit (http://www.corsair.com/en/cmx4gx3m2a1600c9)

3) MSI R6870 Twin Frozr II, 1GB DDR5
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127545)

Currently I am playing witcher 3 and the game lags quite often for me, even at low settings.

Will it be worthwhile to upgrade :

1) My motherboard, since current new gen graphics card requires PC express lane 3.0?

2) My ram to 8gb dual channel kit? My mobo allows up to 1600mhz ram kit. will it be better for me to have a new mobo and buy a newer ram kit with faster speed? Eg 2400mhz, 1800mhz. What will be the recommended ram to buy?

3) To upgrade my graphics to a few tiers higher? what will be the recommended graphics card to upgrade now? (best price to performance ratio)

I dont know will it be better to overhaul to a new system rig or just upgrade the few components and hope it last for a couple of more years. I will still intend to play 1080p games on it on high or better settings.

You can't simply change to a motherboard with PCIe 3.0. There is no such motherboard for LGA 1156 platform anyway. LGA1156 is a lone socket platform. Intel just made the shift to PCIe 2.0, PCIe 3.0 wasn't even available back then.

ALL PCIe x16 graphics card first slot is only driven at PCIe 2.0 speed (as limited by processor PCIe controller). Nothing you can do about it.

1. Get another 2GB X2 cheap value series DDR3-1600 RAM sticks. I personally have no issue running different speed RAM sticks on my home ASUS H67 motherboard..

2. Consider PowerColor R9-290 4GB, GTX 970 4GB.

3. You might also wish to renew your PSU (warranty should have been over by now)

Your HD 6870 is around 36% of this chart:

 

[thoo00]

3. You might also wish to renew your PSU (warranty should have been over by now)


Hi all,

thanks for all the replies.
What do you mean by renew PSU though?
I cant continue using it?

mine is 550w seasonic brand. forgot the exact model name though.

 

[shadow84]

3. You might also wish to renew your PSU (warranty should have been over by now)


Hi all,

thanks for all the replies.
What do you mean by renew PSU though?
I cant continue using it?

mine is 550w seasonic brand. forgot the exact model name though.

How old is your psu? BY renew, he meant get a new one as the components in your existing psu might have already degraded throughout the years.

U can consider superflower leadex gold 550w at $129 frm lazada.

 

[thoo00]

How old is your psu? BY renew, he meant get a new one as the components in your existing psu might have already degraded throughout the years.

U can consider superflower leadex gold 550w at $129 frm lazada.

its about 5 years...since i last bought it. How long do i need to buy a new PSU after using?

is 550W sufficient for r9 cards?

 

[evq]

I also have almost the same setup.
I5 750 n 4x2GB ram

Probably just change my mobo n cpu.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

its about 5 years...since i last bought it. How long do i need to buy a new PSU after using?

is 550W sufficient for r9 cards?

As soon as PSU warranty overs and you are getting new expensive, power-hungry parts to replace...

Over the years your 550W PSU no longer holds its max power capacity as its internal capacitors already depreciated.

 

[thoo00]

thanks all for the info and help..

 

[evq]

My setup is abt the same as u, a 5yr old rig.
I upgraded my psu from (also) Seasonic to Corsair last year, then upgraded gpu few mth back. I replace gpu every year.
U may consider to do the same. what's left is mobo & cpu.

For u, u need to add more ram. maybe 4GB x 2 (1600)