Upgrade or get a new rig?

[imarikurumi]

Currently on a 4 yr old rig and been contemplating if i should just upgrade certain components or get a new PC. Issue is i probably can't afford a new PC because i'm saving up to buy a motorbike which takes priority since i need it to commune to work. A friend suggested i just upgrade to a new gfx card like GTX 1070 which literally costs as much if not more than my current GTX 680 when i bought it(looks like 1070 is the new x80 lol), i was thinking a 1050 Ti or 1060 but he mentioned the performance improvement is minimal, theres also the issue of the new gfx card being bottlenecked by my current parts. While another friend recommended saving up for another 1 or 2 years bonus and buy a new PC altogether. Any suggestions?

 

My PC specs:

I7 3770k 3.5ghz w/ Corsair H80I cooler(used to OC 4.2ghz but went back to stock about 1.5 years ago after i started having BSOD issues)

Asus Maximus V Extreme Z77 motherboard

G.Skill Ripjaws 16gb RAM

Gigabyte GTX 680 OC 2GB GDDR 5

Plextor M5 SSD 256gb

3x HDD

[tripletiger]

IMHO i would just upgrade your gpu if your rig is still running good to atleast a gtx 1060 6gb or gtx 1070 or maybe a rx 480 8gb not sure on amd cards i have never used them. Compared to your gtx 680 these cards will be a breath of fresh air to your rig.

Edited December 4, 2016 by tripletiger

[JimboUK]

A new GPU would give you a few more years.

[L3s7ing]

Even due to the fact that your cpu is somewhere about 4 years old now I doubt that it will bottleneck current graphics card.

So you could go for a new graphics card now and eventually upgrade your mainboard and cpu in the next few years ... if it will be necessary.

If I'm right the 680 should be somewhere around the performance of an 1050 ti and an 1060 6GB will give you (depending on title) around minimum 50-60% more performance then the 1050 ti. The 1070 should easily double a 1050 ti.

 

I would go there with the advice of tripletiger to go with something around an gtx 1060/1070.

Edited December 4, 2016 by L3s7ing

[TheMastersSon]

> I7 3770k 3.5ghz w/ Corsair H80I cooler(used to OC 4.2ghz but went back to stock about 1.5 years ago after i started having BSOD issues)

 

If it were my system I'd check for a happy medium between the two. Run a system monitor while gaming to see what your upper end is for cpu (and gpu) temps. If you don't see much difference between 3.5 and 4.2 and neither temp is abnormally high, the BSODs might be caused by something correctable (e.g. memory timings too tight etc) rather than heat.

 

Even if you can only get to 3.9 or 4.0 you'll still see some benefits, especially with current games and a new graphics card.

[tripletiger]

Let us know which direction you go i am always curious to know. I looked up the gtx 680 vs 1050 ti and the 1050 ti won in about every game mainly because of better driver support from nvidia being a newer card. Nvidia is known for abandoning support for older cards real quick after there newer stuff hit's the market. I had the MSI 680 4gb card then went to the msi 970, still have it the ME Edition plus my gaming rig has a msi 1070 x version only reason being is a guy on ebay was hard up for cash and the card was a month old out the door i paid $300 for it. If you plan on just 1080p gaming or less i believe the gtx 1060 with 6gb of vram will last you for the next 4 years or a rx 480 8gb vram. After that then upgrade it all.

 

I have been building and repairing computers, laptops & etc in my area for the last 10 years or so, i feel like i know what i'm talking about i am constantly keeping up with the latest hardware & to be honest you will benefit far more with a new gpu then upgrading your whole rig unless there is any issues with your other hardware mainly being your motherboard or very rare but i seen it once a cpu take a dump on you. I had a amd fx4300 take a dump after 2 months on a person once. They were not a gamer and who knows what happened i just replaced it and moved on. Also if you do decide to start a new i would look at micro center if you have one nearby for a new i7 because of motherboard bundled deals when buying a new cpu from them & Ebay for used cpu's i picked up my i7 6700k for $275 new also a regular i7 6700 for $240 used but perfect shape. Also the new amd zen cpu chips will be hitting the market very soon & rumor is for around $150.00 you will get i7 performance, we will see if that is true. Also one other thing to consider when you see these so called gamers or youtubers saying you got to have this or that most of them are after ultimate graphics and fps i usually set my games to high setting never maxed out and maybe i'm old and blind but i see no difference, they still blow away a console for me & also a lot of games are not that optimized like a skyrim or fallout where a 1060 or rx 480 is more than enough for them at 1080p gaming

Edited December 6, 2016 by tripletiger

[tripletiger]

Also one other question what is your power supply name and wattage you may think about an upgrade there. I have the corsair RMx 850w & a 1000w in my stuff and love them because just like the new video cards the fan does not spin up until the hardware hits a certain temp. EVGA, Corsair, Seasonic , & upper end cooler masters are my choice. A good power supply is as important as anything else you use if not more so if a lower end takes a dump it could take out many other parts.

Edited December 6, 2016 by tripletiger

[imarikurumi]

Thx all for the replies.

 

I probably get a gtx 1060 in the next couple of months, best bang for buck imo. Gtx 1070 is kinda high end and i might as well get a new rig if imma go with a gtx 1070. Besides i'm not all hard for Ultra settings gaming, i'm fine with High quality and 1080p gaming. Just wanna drag this PC's lifespan for 3-4 more years.

I'm using a Seasonic X 860w PSU so should be overkill.

 

@TheMastersSon I'll try OC'ing once i get my new gfx card. Hopefully i can get at least 3.8/9 lol.

[tripletiger]

Power Color rx470 4gb $159.00 Newegg this week comes with a new game called Hitman or a Power Color Red Dragon rx480 4gb for $179.99 this week. Not bad prices. That gtx 680 is long in the tooth by today's standards. If the game does not mean anything i think the best deal is the rx 480 should last you at 1080p gaming for the next 4 years. Both also come with backplates which i love.

Edited December 8, 2016 by tripletiger

[imarikurumi]

Yea, i was browsing a few benchmark reviews, quite a number of them are recommending rx 480 over gtx 1060. Moreover the types of games i play seem to have slightly better performance with the rx 480 in the benchmarks. I'm considering getting rx480 over nvidia now lol. Though i had bad experiences with AMD gfx cards, had to RMA a few.