Upgrade your .... PC! Need some awesome NF advice!

[starpuck]

Hey all!    I am in the market to upgrade my 6.5 year old PC and like to get as much advice/opinions as possible then put it all together and determine what things are necessities versus indulgences.    I have purchased both of my previous gaming rigs from Cyberpower PC - when on sale (like Labor Day Mega Sale) they really can't be beat ... even building your own most of the time!   The games I typically play run the gambit from MMO's like WoW/Rift/Defiance to some open world/shooter types (just starting to try Fallout New Vegas/Skyrim) and anything from Origin/Biowar (Mass Effect/Dragon Age).     Also saw the trailer for The Division and ... well that might win me over too.

 

So, as an idea of where I've been at for the past 6 years.  

Intel Core Two Quad - 2.50GHZ

4GB RAM

Nvidia Geforce 9800GTX+ 512MB GPU

500GB SATA HD (Not even remotely close to being filled up.)

 

For the new rig - here are the options and debates:

 

I debated over i5 and i7.   Most advice suggests i5 for gaming is more than good enough.   i7 shines if you are doing CAD work or intense video/graphic editing.

 

Video Cards I put in the line up ranged from the the GTX 660, GTX 760, AMD 7870 and GTX 770 (with the 770 being the big guy).

 

SSD or not ...

I had myself ALL convinced I don't need the extra cost on an SSD for gaming.   Then I saw trailers for The Division, and found out Dragon Age Inquisition is going to be open world.   And I've been advised that for open world games, the SSD can improve performance on the game itself.

 

8GB vs 16GB RAM - pretty much convinced myself to save the $90 upgrade cost on bumping it to 16GB for now, since RAM is about the easiest thing to upgrade down the road.  That, and I've been told that 8GB is more than enough for gaming.

 

Obviously sticking with Win 7 Prof as the OS and a 1000watt PSU is set up on all configs.

 

All the systems I am debating on have the following:

CAS:Cooler Master Elite 431 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window [-43]
CD:24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CS_FAN:Maximum 120MM Color Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+15] (White Color [+0])
FAN:Cooler Master Seidon 120M Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator (Dual Standard 120MM Fans (Push-Pull) [+9])
HDD:120GB Corsair Neutron GTX SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 555MB/s Read & 330MB/s Write [+78] (Single Drive)
HDD2:500GB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+59] (Single Drive)
KEYBOARD1:(Keyboard & Mouse Combo) Razer Cyclosa Gaming Keyboard & Abyssus Gaming Mouse [+0]
MOTHERBOARD:[CrossFireX] GIGABYTE Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Ultra Durable 4 Plus, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16 (1 Gen3, 1 Gen2), 2 PCIe x1 & 2 PCI (Pro OC Certified)
OS:Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional [+31] (64-bit Edition)
POWERSUPPLY:* 1,000 Watts - Cooler Master Silent Pro M 80 Plus Power Supply [+90]

 

The i7-4770K with 8GB RAM and the GTX 770 comes up to $1434

The i7-3820 with 16GB RAM and the AMD Radeon 7870 comes up to $1429

The i7-477K with 8GB RAM and the AMD Radeon 7870 comes up to $1408

The i5-4670K with 8GB RAM and the GTX 760 comes up to $1373

 

So --- what extra advice can the Rebels at NF offer?
 

[Endor]

I'm too out of touch with hardware these days to offer you any proper advice other than SSD is essential. Post up your spec here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/7 it's full of hardware propeller-heads that love to help out

[Knight Solaire]

At the end there where you list the 4 options I assume you that includes motherboard and hdd and case yes ? Also if you're looking to save a bit of money why not make the switch to an AMD rig ? I did and its served me quite well so far although if you really are looking for the best of the best then there is a certain point where AMD can't compare anymore i.e the i7.

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