McCordRm Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 My last system ran me about $5K. I'm not looking to spend near that much this time around. I've been waiting for the new Nvidia 1080 card to come out, so now it's time to upgrade my aging system. This system will be for Gaming, that's the priority. Thus, the Nvidia 1080 card is the only absolute must. I'm looking for suggestions on the rest to make a high-end gaming system without going overboard and spending a fortune on stuff I don't need. I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and Operating System already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted June 13, 2016 Moderator Share Posted June 13, 2016 What was your old system, just so we can compare? What's your new budget? Below 5k, I know, but what are you looking to spend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 Well, is there a CPU (for example) which would be bottlenecked by the video card for Gaming purposes? If so, then obviously not that CPU. That's the kind of advice I'm looking for. If that means I still have to spend $5K to optimize the system, then say so. And I'm not in a position to replace any parts. It's definitely going to be a full build. Preferably a small form factor, so only SSD drives is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindovermaster Moderator Posted June 13, 2016 Moderator Share Posted June 13, 2016 (edited) I'm not asking you to replace anything. What is your old GPU? CPU? PSU? RAM? Board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvo Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Specs of your current rig would helpful for us to help you out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 (edited) Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE MINI ITX CPU: INTEL CORE I7 3770K 3.5G RAM: CRUCIAL 8GB 1866MHZ DDR3 GPU: EVGA GEFORCE GTX680+ 4GB Hard Drive 1: CRUCIAL M4 256GB SSD SATA3 Hard Drive 2: WD CAVIAR GREEN 2TB SATA3 Edited June 14, 2016 by McCordRm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted June 14, 2016 Global Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2016 youre still not going to bottleneck anything w/ that setup. it's still fairly modern. i'd hold out for a while and just buy a new 1080. at the very most, add another 8GB of RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan R. Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 4 minutes ago, McCordRm said: Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE MINI ITX CPU: INTEL CORE I7 3770K 3.5G RAM: CRUCIAL 8GB 1866MHZ DDR3 GPU: EVGA GEFORCE GTX680+ 4GB An i7 from any recent generation is still fine and won't be bottlenecked. You've got a 3770K - have you overclocked it? I would do that to get more life out of it if you feel you need the extra CPU cycles. 8GB of RAM is decent. Unless you're doing more than just gaming, this should suffice. GTX680+ is decent as well. What resolution are you playing at? Do you need more FPS from the games you're playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JHBrown Subscriber¹ Posted June 14, 2016 Subscriber¹ Share Posted June 14, 2016 I agree with the advice given thus far. No need to overhaul your entire setup. Get a new video card, an SSD if you don't have one, and call it a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 This was a pre-built, tiny system. There's no room for the video card, thus my specifically pointing out that I'm doing a full build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted June 14, 2016 Global Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2016 i dont know the 1080's specs, but is it that much bigger than the 680? i have a couple 680s at home. i figured they were pretty much standard length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted June 14, 2016 Global Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2016 well let's break this down a bit further into two scenarios: 1. buy a 1080, 8GB RAM and a new case. transplant the rest of your hardware into the new case 2. start from scratch - buy a modern 6 series i7, 16GB DDR4 RAM, GTX1080, PSU, Z170 motherboard, etc. which would you like? 1 or 2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 (edited) Option 2. So, why that motherboard? (And I appreciate the input on specs. I'm asking the question because I haven't kept up with the Pros/Cons of parts in quite a while.) Oh, and another reason for a full build is it lets me hand-down this system. But that wasn't the main focus of starting from scratch, just a side benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JHBrown Subscriber¹ Posted June 14, 2016 Subscriber¹ Share Posted June 14, 2016 7 minutes ago, McCordRm said: This was a pre-built, tiny system. There's no room for the video card, thus my specifically pointing out that I'm doing a full build. If you have current room for a GTX 680, you will have room for a GTX 1080. The GTX 1080 also produces less heat, and uses less power. Edit: The GTX 1080 is .5 longer. Do you have that to spare? Just trying to save you some money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Minded Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 8 minutes ago, McCordRm said: This was a pre-built, tiny system. There's no room for the video card, thus my specifically pointing out that I'm doing a full build. I agree with a lot of people saying that you really don't need a CPU upgrade. Maybe more RAM and a nice SSD would do you just fine. What about buying a new case and putting the parts from your old rig into the new case so you have room for a bigger GPU? A full ATX MB would be OK but new socket 1155 motherboards are getting harder to find if you want full ATX and it's a dead platform as well. I have the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 and it's been great. I think you can still find them new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted June 14, 2016 Global Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2016 Agree with others. Keep your current setup. Pop in a GTX1080 ... maybe get a total of 16/32GB of RAM ... a new SSD or two. Win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 I'll have to check inside again, but when I pulled the side off (tough, because the water cooling fan is attached with a really short hose) it didn't look like there's any margin for error. I added my harddrives to the system post, but here it is again: CRUCIAL M4 256GB SSD SATA3 WD CAVIAR GREEN 2TB SATA3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted June 14, 2016 Global Moderator Share Posted June 14, 2016 14 minutes ago, McCordRm said: Option 2. So, why that motherboard? Z170 chipset for the 6000 i7 series. i dont have any recommendations for a specific motherboard, though. im quite out of the loop. Corsair Carbide case 16GB DDR4 6700K CPU Z170 motherboard 700W PSU GTX1080 Corsair H-series loop cooler 1 or 2 SSDs Optical drive if required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidosho Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 39 minutes ago, McCordRm said: Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE MINI ITX CPU: INTEL CORE I7 3770K 3.5G RAM: CRUCIAL 8GB 1866MHZ DDR3 GPU: EVGA GEFORCE GTX680+ 4GB Hard Drive 1: CRUCIAL M4 256GB SSD SATA3 Hard Drive 2: WD CAVIAR GREEN 2TB SATA3 And you call that AGEING? My mothballed gaming system is a Core 2 Quad with HD6870 1GB! Mine's a fossil! I'd have your "old" system anytime! I'm building a new rig myself next month, Windows 10 has encouraged me to get back into it instead of just the console, and that GPU of yours looks really tasty for Forza 6! I want the 1070, eventually, but it isn't urgent. I'm waiting to see which high end Win 10 games with achievements come out apart from Forza 6 Apex and Tomb Raider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 I used to upgrade every time something new came out-- a CPU here, a GPU there. Then I retired from the military (Medical discharge. Sad face.) and decided to buy a top-of-the-line system (at the time). I got a Falcon Tiki system and it's still OK, but after 5 years without a single upgrade, I'm dying over here. So yea... relatively, of course, my system is a dinosaur to me. hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelxin Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 ASRock Extreme 7 $228.21 (It has 3x PCIe M.2 ports for the fastest SSDs in the world right now) Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD $349.00 (The fastest SSD in the world right now) Your pick of an Nvidia 1080 (They all seem to have crappy reviews right now) ~ $800 Pick a case you like $28 - $300 Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB Kit (8GBx2) 2400 MT/s UDIMM DDR4-2400 $57.99 Thermaltake TOUGHPOWER 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Full Modular Power Supply PS-TPD-0750MPCGUS-1 $89.63 Intel Boxed Core I7-6700K 4.00 GHz 8M Processor Cache 4 LGA 1151 BX80662I76700K $346 A very high level system with large amounts of upgrades available for around $2000. The SSD supports up to 2500 MB/s, blowing away any SATA SSD (that maxes out at 600 MB/s), motherboard can be upgraded to 64GB of ram, and has plenty of SATA ports on it if you want to add any spinning drives for larger storage, or additional PCIe M.2 ports if you want more super fast storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan R. Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 2 hours ago, McCordRm said: I used to upgrade every time something new came out-- a CPU here, a GPU there. Then I retired from the military (Medical discharge. Sad face.) and decided to buy a top-of-the-line system (at the time). I got a Falcon Tiki system and it's still OK, but after 5 years without a single upgrade, I'm dying over here. So yea... relatively, of course, my system is a dinosaur to me. hehe I think we all see where you're coming from but the consensus is you don't need a overhaul. You said the case is small. Just find a case that suits for style and fit everything in it. Like I said, your i7 is plenty fine and you could overclock it easily - that's what the "K" is for. Other than that, it really comes down to what else you want if you have the budget... Examples have been thrown out - SSD, GTX1080... But that's about it; your system doesn't have many bottlenecks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 Yep, I'm looking into it now. I'm just glad I won't need a $1000 CPU. The new video card is a killer. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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