PC Upgrade - Looking for advice/opinions

Hey everyone.

I haven't really kept up with new hardware for quite a while now—so I could probably use some advice or just a second opinion on whether I should upgrade my current setup or just wait. I originally picked this rig up as a gaming PC back in December 2012.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P
Motherboard: Asrock s1155 Z77M
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz low profile 4 GB x2
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB
SSD: Intel SSD 120GB
GPU: MS GTX660 OC TF 2GB GDDR5 Twin frozr III
Optical: Samsung DVDRW Drive
PSU: OCZ Silencer MKIII 500W modular
Case: Silverstone Precision PS05B

I'm guessing the biggest upgrades would be the graphics card and/or more RAM. I wonder how much sense it makes to grab maybe two more 4GB sticks? From what I can tell, the board has two PCI-E x16 slots—though the primary one where the GPU sits is 3.0, while the second one is 2.0. The manual mentions support for ATI Crossfire, but it doesn't say anything about NVIDIA SLI🤔. I'm honestly pretty clueless when it comes to GPUs—I've always been 😛

If you think there's something else worth swapping out, please let me know. Any input helps, I guess. 😁

George Sanders37 said:Hey everyone.

I haven't kept up with new hardware in ages, so I need some advice. Should I bother upgrading my current rig or just wait? This thing was built as a gaming PC back in December 2012.

The CPU.Intel Core i5-3350P
Motherboard.Asrock s1155 Z77M motherboard.
RAM.Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz low profile, 4 GB x2.
Hard drives.WD Caviar Blue 1TB.
SSD.Intel SSD 120GB.
Graphics.MSI GTX 660 OC TF 2GB GDDR5 Twin Frozr III
opticalSamsung DVDRW Drive
Power supply.OCZ Silencer MKIII 500W modular.
The case.Silverstone Precision PS05B.

The biggest wins here would be the GPU and maybe more RAM. Does adding another 2x 4GB sticks actually make sense? From what I can tell, the board has two PCI-E x16 slots, but only the primary one is 3.0—the second one is just 2.0. The manual says it supports ATI Crossfire, though it doesn't say anything about NVIDIA SLI.🤔I've always been pretty clueless when it comes to graphics cards. Honestly, I'm a total amateur in that department. 😛

If you've got a better idea, just say it. I'm all ears. 😁

Yeah, I'll eventually upgrade the GPU. Thinking about an AMD Radeon R9 280 or 290.
The rest is fine.

George Sanders37 said:I suspect my biggest path forward involves upgrading either the graphics card or the RAM. How much sense does it actually make to pick up another 2x 4GB sticks of RAM? From what I can gather, the motherboard features two PCI-E x16 slots, though the primary slot currently houses the GPU at 3.0 speeds while the secondary one is limited to 2.0. The manual mentions support for ATI Crossfire, but it’s strangely silent on anything regarding NVIDIA SLI.🤔

There are two slots available, but only one is an x16; the other runs at x4 mode. As far as I know, Crossfire doesn't support an x16/x4 configuration.
I actually went through the same thought process regarding an SLI setup with the GTX 660, but I ultimately decided against it. When you look at the math, a single NVIDIA GTX 970 outperforms two 660s anyway, plus you get native DirectX 12 support and nearly double the VRAM. It just makes much more sense to go with the single, stronger card.

I think the suggestion regarding the Samsung Flatron is perfectly fine. That said, if you aren't in a rush to move on from the GTX 660, there’s really no need to hurry the upgrade. It still holds its own quite well at 1080p, managing around 30fps even on ultra settings.

AMD Radeon R9 290 🙂

David Sanders4 said:That said—if you aren't bothered by playing on a GTX 660, there isn't really any rush to swap it out. It still holds its own at 1080p with ultra settings—getting maybe 30fps or so.

Honestly, that's my biggest dilemma right now. Everything I play currently runs just fine—at least for what I'm interested in. Nothing on the upcoming release schedule really catches my eye.
The suggestion regarding an AMD Radeon R9 280/290 is noted. In your opinion, what do you think I could get for my current card in a resale?
http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N660_...#hero-overview

Does it have any kind of warranty? ~$300

It really comes down to the warranty coverage, but you’re looking at prices ranging from $800 to $400...

Picked this up late in December 2012 over at Accenture. The receipt shows a 36-month warranty on the graphics card—so I guess that leaves about 9 months left.

and maybe give $333
a shot too

In my opinion, jumping from a GTX 660 to an R9 280 isn't worth the investment. Sure, it’s more powerful, but it’s hardly a massive leap forward that justifies the cost. As for RAM, you really don't need more than 8GB for gaming purposes.

Regarding the wait, if you happen to be looking for graphics cards, you might want to hold off until summer. That's when we expect new AMD cards and the GTX 960Ti/965 to hit the market.

Timothy Kim60 said:In my opinion, jumping from a GTX 660 to an R9 280 isn't worth the cash. Sure, it's faster, but it's not such a massive leap to justify the cost. As for RAM, you don't really need more than 8GB for gaming.

Regarding the wait, if you're looking for graphics cards, maybe hold out until summer. Some new AMD cards and the GTX 960Ti/965 should be hitting the shelves then.

Look, you're seeing performance gains of up to 45% in some cases, so it's not exactly a bad move. I think upgrading to a 290 would be the smartest play, obviously, but if money is tight and you can't wait or spend more, you won't be making a HUGE mistake going with the 280.

Timothy Kim60 said:IMO, jumping from a GTX 660 to an R9 280 isn't really worth it. It's faster, sure, but maybe not enough of a jump to justify the cost. As for RAM—I guess 8GB is plenty for gaming right now.

Regarding waiting—if you aren't in a huge rush, maybe hold off until summer. New AMD cards should be dropping then, along with the GTX 960Ti/965 series.

First off, thanks everyone for the input, I appreciate 👍
I think I'll just wait a while longer—for now, I'll stick with what I have.
If I wanted to play heavy AAA titles, I’d probably look into a GPU upgrade, but the demanding games I actually care about won't even be out until later this year... which gives me enough time to wait for the next generation. 😛

George Sanders37 said:Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I appreciate 👍
I think I'll just hold off for a bit. Leave things as they are for now.
If I were playing heavy AAA titles, I'd probably swap out my GPU, but the games I actually care about won't even drop until late next year. That gives enough time for the next generation of 😛

In that case, just stash your cash. No reason to upgrade anything right now.