PC upgrade v2:

[Pott]

Hi all,

I'm looking into upgrade my PC a little in view of the games coming up this autumn.

Here's what I currently have:
Core i5-760 on P7P55D
Vertez 2 SSD
1TB + 500GB Samsung Spinpoints
4GB Corsair XMS RAM
Samsung B2230 22" screen
GTX460 768MB Cyclone

I have around 500 euros to spend. I don't have to spend it all, and I could spend a bit more if worth it.

I do NOT use my PC for anything processor or RAM intensive. I don't program, I don't process photos or convert movies. I game a little (I'll get Battlefield 3 and CODMW3, right now I play a lot of BF BC 2) but otherwise it's all pretty low requirements stuff. I do love gadgets and assembling electronics though

I was thinking screen + new graphics card (in fact I'm mostly set on the graphics card but I'd like to hear suggestions nonetheless). Then in a year I can upgrade the PC as a whole (new mobo + processor) as right now I feel I have all the processing power I need.

Thanks!

 

[lehtv]

Yeah, you could get a good 24" 1080p monitor for 200-250 eur and a HD6950 or GTX 570 for 250-300 eur. Would improve the gaming a lot.

Another option is waiting until the 28nm GPUs which will give you much more fps than any of the current GPUs you could buy, a similar price point and power consumption.

What's your current PSU?

 

[Pott]

My PSU is an OCZ ModXtreme 600W modular. I wasn't looking for anything really fancy.

I've not yet heard of these 28nm GPUs, when are they coming out?

 

[lehtv]

They're the AMD 7000-series and NVIDIA 600-series. They were expected at first to be released in 2011 but got delayed quite a few times... Currently, it's pretty certain that the NVIDIA chips will be in stores in early 2012 (probably Jan/Feb), while the AMD chips might make it in December this year, but 2012 is a safer bet.

Current GPUs are based on a 40 nanometer manufacturing process. The 28nm manufacturing process, being smaller in scale, allows the chip makers to fit more processing power onto a GPU die of the same size. Therefore it'll perform much better without increasing power consumption and production costs.

My PSU is an OCZ ModXtreme 600W modular. I wasn't looking for anything really fancy.

OK. That PSU would be enough for a GTX 570, probably any 28nm GPU too.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, you could get a good 24" 1080p monitor for 200-250 eur and a HD6950 or GTX 570 for 250-300 eur. Would improve the gaming a lot.

Agree! :thumbsup:

 

[lehtv]

BTW your current monitor is already 1080p so I'm not sure if upgrading just two inches is worth it, unless you go 120hz. Would be if you can sell your current 22" for a good price

 

[Pott]

It's a fair enough point. What had limited me to 22" was the size of my desk but now I can move on. I was about to give my existing one away to a bud, there's no second hand market in Luxembourg at all.

I looked at GTX570s but they're at least 300 to 350 euros here And based on what I read, a 6950 wouldn't be a huge improvement over a 560ti (I was looking at the GTX 560 ti Hawk) [URLhttp://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B004W5XCNQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1X6FK5RDHNB96[/URL]

Other choice could be the 6950 2GB Twin Frozr III http://www.amazon.fr/MSI-Carte-Graph...7111257&sr=1-8

 

[lehtv]

GTX 570 is maybe 10-20% faster than 560 Ti. Not a huge difference, but that's how it goes with the higher-end stuff. MSI 6950 2gb power edition is much better performance for the money than a 570, but whether it's a better deal than 560 ti is debatable... The extra VRAM isn't needed for the vast majority of titles at 1080p, but a few titles already benefit from it and future games are more likely to do so too. It's more "future-proof" but also a bit more expensive.

You can compare their performance in Guru3D reviews below. The test setup is identical. Note that the 6950 overclocked almost 100MHz more.
560 ti hawk vs 6950 power ed.

 

[mfenn]

I think that a ~$250 6950 2GB is worth it over the a ~$200 GTX 560 Ti. Likewise, I could make the case for a ~$290 GTX 570 over the 6950 2GB. Once the prices creep above that, it's not worth it IMHO.