I think its about time for an upgrade

[Luke]

Thinking of upgrading, been quite a while.

Currently on i7 920,6gb ram, tri channel mobo, 5870.

Thinking 3770k unlocked, 32gb ram (because its so damn cheap and i could use it) and 7970. I don't really keep up to date with new developments in the tech industry anymore, any new stuff on the horizon?

 

[PP Mguire]

What exactly will you need all the RAM and CPU for? If you can afford it fine, but a 3570k and 8/16GB would be perfectly fine.
Also, GTX 680 instead.

Closest to new comes between March and June next year. Honestly, your CPU is perfectly fine. I would grab a nice SSD and GPU for the cash.

 

[Luke]

rendering, virtual machines etc. all the cpu? its a mainstream cpu, not like im buying a thousand dollar cpu. Also no a 3570k would not be perfectly fine because i usually go four years between upgrades, so i go an extra step to make me more satisfied in that four year period. 8 gb no, 16 perhaps would do me fine, but ram is so bloody cheap right now there really is no point to not get the 32 gb especially since i could really use it, very limited right now with 6gb.

by what i have read 680 and 7970 difference is negligible for like 60 dollars more.

 

[PP Mguire]

All the CPU as in gauging what your needs are, so you can drop the hostility. Also, the 3770k is exactly the same CPU as the 3570k with HT and a single bump in the multiplier for 100 dollars more. So both would last you a good 4+ years, as well as your 920 would.

If you want so much RAM, so be it. Your money. I personally review with and work 2 VMs with 8GB of RAM just fine. I also do video editing, encoding, and let a friend borrow my machine for Photoshop work. The cheapest 32GB kit is $144 for what you can use on an 1155 setup. That isn't cheap to me.

The drivers alone are worth paying the extra money. The 680 in most games is 10+ FPS over the standard 7970. More worth it. Up to you, I was just suggesting the obvious.

 

[Luke]

All the CPU as in gauging what your needs are, so you can drop the hostility.

Hostility?

Also, the 3770k is exactly the same CPU as the 3570k with HT and a single bump in the multiplier for 100 dollars more.

didn't know there was an unlocked version of the 3570. Just discovered this. But the extra threads are still beneficial, for 100 dollars more im not thinking so atm, if i can get an unlocked 3570k for 100 dollars less then might do that instead, not sure yet. This upgrade is still a ways off. Probably do it around January-February.

If you want so much RAM, so be it. Your money. I personally review with and work 2 VMs with 8GB of RAM just fine. I also do video editing, encoding, and let a friend borrow my machine for Photoshop work. The cheapest 32GB kit is $144 for what you can use on an 1155 setup. That isn't cheap to me.

like i said 16 gb would most likely do me fine, but 16 gb is around 100 bucks, 32gb 150 that is not much difference to me when im upgrading a system. Since I could make use of it not like its wasting it, sure is a little overkill, but I can afford a little overkill atm

The drivers alone are worth paying the extra money. The 680 in most games is 10+ FPS over the standard 7970. More worth it. Up to you, I was just suggesting the obvious.

hmm, 50 bucks for 10 frames isnt bad. I will have to look into it more.

I personally review with and work 2 VMs with 8GB of RAM just fine. I also do video editing, encoding, and let a friend borrow my machine for Photoshop work.

missed this. I run servers in the backgroun, render after effects and premeir projects, VM's, photoshop i use but no need for that much ram for photoshop. It would be beneficial for me to have at the very least 16gb, 32 would be ideal to have some breathing room.


What do you use ur 3960x for? Just wondering because you said a 50-70 dollars difference spending on ram is a lot to you, yet you have a 1100 cpu.

 

[PP Mguire]

Sorry, you aren't KSoD (Mak) and your posts came off kind of rude hence hostility. My child had me pretty ****y last night so I was just sitting here like "This guy".

The only way to overclock these new Intel chips is with an unlocked multiplier. The X79 platform has a little FSB wiggle room but not much. So the most you can get out of a 3820 is around 4.6ghz and that's why the 3930k exists. So they better have an unlocked i5 as well as i7 to meet demand or everybody would have just stayed on the X58 platform till X79 went down.

If you really run that much in the background currently, then how do you do it with 6GB of RAM? That's where I was getting at. I can understand your want for it though.
As for my CPU and setup, my fiance won this CPU and board at Quakecon. She realized she wouldn't use it and so therefore gave it to me. Before this I had a used 2500k setup as that is all I needed. Trust me when I say, this CPU is NOT worth the money unless you meet 2 requirements.
Have more money than brains or
Do a ton of encodes all day.

Encoding is the only thing that makes this CPU shine. 44 to 2GB file in less than 20 minutes makes me go "damn" every single time lol. Currently I'm folding on the CPU just to make "use" of it. The VMs, reviewing, and photoshop work hardly touch it.

 

[Luke]

Sorry, you aren't KSoD (Mak) and your posts came off kind of rude hence hostility. My child had me pretty ****y last night so I was just sitting here like "This guy".

sorry if i came off as rude, I am a very direct person lol.

If you really run that much in the background currently, then how do you do it with 6GB of RAM?

i dont thats my problem, i have my old system, thats on 8 gb running some server stuff, i cant run vm's that well. After effects is very slow and when i do use it i have to make sure i have nothing else using up my ram. I would love to be able to render stuff out faster.

damnnn thats a pretty awesome win lol. I would never spend 1000 dollars on a cpu, unless i needed it professionally and had the money to buy it. I have been looking into the benefit of using the extra threads on the 3770, if i have the money i will get it because it will help rendering faster, but it is the first cut i will be making on my upgrade if i dont have the funds. I should by the time i want to do this, but you never know what expenses might come up. I think im gonna need some wiring repairs on my car soon so have to be prepared for that (dash is all buggy sometimes same with radio deck. i cant see it being that expensive but i am by no means a car person what so ever).

Not sure i want to spend that much on a 680 as well, seems a little steep for a video card IMO.

 

[PP Mguire]

Ah I see, so you want to be able to just do everything all on one system. Yea that makes more sense. If you can cut it, why not try and go for a 3930k? 2 more cores and 4 more threads to work with. I don't forsee myself needing a CPU upgrade for even the next 5+ years. 3930k is essentially the same thing minus some L3 cache and the 1000 dollar price tag.

Depends on the wiring problem in question. If you do it yourself with a guide and simply need to replace the harness then that could be anywhere between 5 and 25 bucks. Having a professional do it can cost over 100 depending on the place.

Even a 7970 is pretty pricey when a 660ti will run everything fine long as you have a single monitor. Thing is though, everything is becoming more GPU than CPU demanding as I demonstrated for newer people in my article. Where your CPU will last you 5+ years your GPU probably wont last 2 years depending on how the gaming market goes. In the next 2-3 years we are looking at new DX11 capable consoles and from there new game engines capable of taking advantage of full GPU power. It's a gamble whether to buy a cheaper card now and wait, or take your chances with a more expensive card and hope like hell it holds up to newer game engines.

 

[Luke]

If you can cut it, why not try and go for a 3930k? 2 more cores and 4 more threads to work with. I don't forsee myself needing a CPU upgrade for even the next 5+ years. 3930k is essentially the same thing minus some L3 cache and the 1000 dollar price tag.

im doing some other upgrading as well, im wanting an 256 gb ssd, another hdd (3tb) i hate the haf too big bulky loud etc. so i want something smaller, thinking corsair 650D. With these other upgrades i can't afford a 300 dollar leap in the price of the cpu. I would have to drop the gpu upgrade entirely.

I am already a bit over the budget i had set for my self with the 680, i think i will be dropping to the either the 660ti or 670. most likely 660 ti. Seems like a better bang for your buck card. I game on one screen, so i think i should be fine, i also dont mind running a game on some medium settings here and there so i think the 660 ti should hold me over for the 4 years between my upgrades.

I am actually only not upgrading the PSU right now, so im probably going to just sell my entire comp with only 1 Drive, and then just buy another PSU probably the same one lol, its harder to part a comp out, so im just gonna throw it on kijiji (canadas craigslist) and hope someone buys it soon for a good price for me. thinking 900 for everything, see if i can get someone to pay that.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Hey guys, I'm curious to know what you guys use the VM's for, and what you do as far as rendering goes. Are these things that relate to work type things, or some kind of lab setup for personal knowledge and certification development? I understand what a virtual machine is, and I actually have a VM XP machine which I can run on my laptop to play an old game which won't run on anything newer than XP, but that is literally all I use it for, 1 game, and it starts up when I choose to play the game, and shuts down when I am done.

My main reason for asking, is that I am in the research stage for a server build for my house.
http://www.techist.com/forums/f76/has-anyone-built-rackmount-server-thoughts-261412/

My main goal is to build a RAID 5 or 6 rackmount enclosure with a bunch of hot swap bays for easy access. The server will at this point, will do little else than connect the drives to the network, run PLEX media server (transcode audio or video for my PS3 or anything else that needs it), and possibly a small web server and FTP server.

Sorry to hijack, I will at some point start a thread related to this topic, but this thread really was focusing on the hardware to back up this specific software, just wanted to get your experience.

-Thanks!!