Upgrading PC

[Asimov]

Hi guys, not sure if you remember me. I disappeared due to work and real life, but here I am again and I have a question for you. 

 

I had been running STEP on my computer with these current parts:

[CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W Power Supply]

[GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GeForce GTX 470 1280MB x 2 in SLI]

[intel Core i7-930 2.8GHz]

[Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0]

[Western Digital WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive]

[G.SKILL 6GB 3 x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800]

[ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard]

[ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2, CPU Cooler 92mm PWM Fan]

120G Intel SSD Hard Drive

 

And I wanted to upgrade a bit to try to run extreme STEP. My question is this, can I just buy the new GTX 770 or do I need to replace the processor, board, and ram. My budget isn't unlimited so I'd rather just spend it all on the graphics card, but I was hoping for some input. I have built my pc before, but I am not great at figuring out what I really should go with. Any help is appreciated. 

 

PS. Looks like you guys have put together a terrific set up here!

[DoYouEvenModBro]

Hi guys, not sure if you remember me. I disappeared due to work and real life, but here I am again and I have a question for you. 

 

I had been running STEP on my computer with these current parts:

[CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W Power Supply](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010)

 

[GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GeForce GTX 470 1280MB x 2 in SLI](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125338)

 

[intel Core i7-930 2.8GHz](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?tem=N82E16819115225)

 

[Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021)

 

[Western Digital WD Black 1TB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284)

 

[G.SKILL 6GB 3 x 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225)

 

[ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359)

 

[ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2, CPU Cooler 92mm PWM Fan](https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)

 

120G Intel SSD Hard Drive

 

And I wanted to upgrade a bit to try to run extreme STEP. My question is this, can I just buy the new GTX 770 or do I need to replace the processor, board, and ram. My budget isn't unlimited so I'd rather just spend it all on the graphics card, but I was hoping for some input. I have built my pc before, but I am not great at figuring out what I really should go with. Any help is appreciated. 

 

PS. Looks like you guys have put together a terrific set up here!

Just wanna point out that while extreme STEP does need a pretty good card, you are still limited by the 3 GB RAM limit of Skyrim so if you get a beefy card and download the highest res mods, you will end up crashing all over the place and will have to lower the texture resolution anyway regardless of how good your GPU is. Believe me, I bought a 7970 for extreme step and found out the hard way :-/

 

EDIT: Also, your links don't work

[Asimov]

Well that's unfortunate.

 

How to people run extreme step then? Any advice on the cpu though? Would it be a limiting factor at all?

[DanimalTwo]

Well that's unfortunate.

 

How to people run extreme step then? Any advice on the cpu though? Would it be a limiting factor at all?

The limiting factor in your setup are your graphics cards. I had a setup similar to yours with dual GTX 470 1.25GB in SLI and upgraded to a single EVA GTX 680 4GB and now have close to constent 60 FPS even with ENB. With the previous graphics cards I could not run ENB at all or I would be at 8 FPS. You will have to optimized textures though or you will easily run into the 3 GB RAM limit and CTD.

[Aiyen]

Any core i5 or i7 will do.. they are the current best ones on the market for gaming purposes.

For memory then just having 8 or more Gb should be enough.

 

Gfx card is only relevant if you want to run with ENB etc. Most cards higher then GTX400+ will run vanilla skyrim at 60FPS without a sweat.

 

An SSD always helps if you want to throw the money after it. In your case then just getting a GFX with 2Gb + would do the trick.

[MontyMM]

You might like to take a look at the article I posted here: https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=1879&pid=38025#pid38025

 

Its general advice on upgrading ready for next gen games. I agree with their conclusions.

 

My advice is also that if you are going to upgrade, look to a graphics card with plenty of vram. You can easily add more ram later, and it remains to be seen how significant a CPU upgrade will be.

 

 

BUT, my best advice would be to wait a bit longer if you can. As the next wave of GPUs come out, there could be some very good deals on the current models.

[Asimov]

Yeah. I am getting that feeling as well. I might just wait till after the Haswell comes out to do it, but still leaning towards getting the 770 now and upgrading the chipset later.

 

Thanks for all the quick feedback!

[DoYouEvenModBro]

You might like to take a look at the article I posted here: https://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=1879&pid=38025#pid38025

 

Its general advice on upgrading ready for next gen games. I agree with their conclusions.

 

My advice is also that if you are going to upgrade, look to a graphics card with plenty of vram. You can easily add more ram later, and it remains to be seen how significant a CPU upgrade will be.

 

 

BUT, my best advice would be to wait a bit longer if you can. As the next wave of GPUs come out, there could be some very good deals on the current models.

I honestly don't think the 770 or 780s are worth it. Correct me if I'm wrong but I read somewhere that a 780 is only ilke 25% better than a 7970 ghz? Also, they cost about $250 more. If you overclock a 7970 ghz you can easily get a 15-20% boost which would make it slightly worse than a 780.

[Asimov]

From what I have been reading this morning. The 770 and 7970 are both very similar is both performance and cost with the 770 coming out a bit better but the 7970 coming with free games. I am honestly a bit torn at the moment. 

[MontyMM]

Yes, I'm not overwhelmed by these new cards, but my point is that they should drive the price of the current models, and there could be some deals. For example, the new 770 is priced at 400 bucks - same as the 670, which must surely now be looking at a price drop, and is an excellent card.

[DoYouEvenModBro]

Yes I'm not overwhelmed by these new cards, but my point is that they should drive the price of the current models, and there could be some deals. For example, the new 770 is priced at 400 bucks - same as the 670, which must surely now be looking at a price drop, and is an excellent card.

I'm honestly not upgrading until the new 8xxx series come out from AMD. I think AMD has an excellent opportunity to improve. If they improve their drivers as well then they'll be golden. I was considering buying another 7970 ghz but I honestly dont want to have to deal with crossfire ever again.

[Asimov]

From what I have read and heard the 8000 series isn't going to be out till 2014. :-/, but the actual series for desktops is going to be the 9000 series 8000 is just the mobile stuff.

[MontyMM]

I expect that's true. If AMD were about to drop a 'generational leap' chip, Nvidia wouldn't be releasing this warmed over batch now. If I had to buy soon, I would forego the slight advantage of these new cards, for the value proposition of the 600 series - they are still the same family of chips, and very much in the same ballpark of performance.

[Asimov]

Just as a guess, what kind of fps do you think I would pick up from my SLI to the 770?

[MontyMM]

hard to say, but I went from 2 x 280's in SLI to a 4gb 670, which is a somewhat similar situation. With the old cards I used to get between 20 and 35 fps with Step. With the 670, I'm at 60 fps plus, unless I mess about with ENBs.

[Aiyen]

Anything above 580 or similar will provide 60+ FPS in the vanilla game. The best value is as monty says the 600 series.. specifically the 660 3Gb. It has the best cost/performance ratio. The better models in the 600 series have a bit better performance, but the cost in power consumption is also comparatively higher.

Just my upgrade from a 260 to a 660 is showing on my powerbill ;)