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Time to upgrade PC


dpabrams

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Well, it was time for an upgrade and the PC is slowing. Still able to get Windows 7 64-bit and I thought I better get, while the getting is good. It has been three years since the last build. At least this time I will have an SLI ready motherboard for the duel cards at some point. The 4.0  SBPro PE has some demands. I have tried the MSI burner but I am still creeping at <10 fps during some intense firefights. Here are the major parts of the new PC:

 

Processor            1 x Intel® Core™ i7-6700K Processor (4x 4.00GHz/8MB L3 Cache) - Intel® Core™ i7-6700K

Memory              1 x 32 GB [8 GB x4] DDR4-2800 Memory Module - ADATA XPG Z1

Video Card          1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 - 6GB (VR-Ready)

Motherboard    1 x MSI Z170A Gaming M5 -- 3x PCIe 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.1, 2x USB 3.0, 2x M.2, DDR4 Memory

Power Supply    1 x 750 Watt - Thermaltake SMART SP-750PCBUS

Primary Hard Drive          1 x 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64MB Cache, 7200RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive *Free Upgrade to 3TB Hard Drive*

Sound Card         1 x Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Rx [PCIE] -- 7.1 Channels, 192kHz/24-bit, 106 dB SNR

 

I hope I get some serious gain here.

 

Pete

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I mean, that system WILL definitely boost your framerates over what you have. The question is if you can get a better bang for the buck with a few modifications that I would consider. Since others might read this thread too, here are my thoughts:

 

  • CPU is good
  • RAM is good. 16 GBytes would suffice if you need to pinch the penny and if you're not planning to do a lot of map conversion work once that the new terrain engine is out.
  • Sound card: Certainly a good choice - but also an optional item. It's worth some consideration to buy it later and to rely on on-board sound for a while
  • Graphics card: SLI is rarely cost-effective, jacks up power consumption, and thus the cooling fan noise. Rather than a 1060, maybe consider a 1070, or a 980. You'll have a fast CPU, you'll achieve a better balance with a faster (single) graphics card. Two 1060s might deliver maybe 20% more frame rate than a single 1080. I would totally understand if you rejected the 1080s as overpriced. But last year's top of the line 980 would still deliver better performance than a 1060, so it's worth some consideration.
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Yes... because most of the time SB Pro is CPU limited. We are however determined to make our engine more efficient. This is one of the reasons why I'm not recommending SLI configurations. You won't double your framerates with that. From a "bang for the buck" perspective it's not the greatest of ideas. Even when it comes to absolute performance, one 1080 will outperform two 1060s in many (if not most) situations.

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7 hours ago, Ssnake said:

 

 

  • CPU is good
  • RAM is good. 16 GBytes would suffice if you need to pinch the penny and if you're not planning to do a lot of map conversion work once that the new terrain engine is out.
  • Sound card: Certainly a good choice - but also an optional item. It's worth some consideration to buy it later and to rely on on-board sound for a while
  • Graphics card: SLI is rarely cost-effective, jacks up power consumption, and thus the cooling fan noise. Rather than a 1060, maybe consider a 1070, or a 980. You'll have a fast CPU, you'll achieve a better balance with a faster (single) graphics card. Two 1060s might deliver maybe 20% more frame rate than a single 1080. I would totally understand if you rejected the 1080s as overpriced. But last year's top of the line 980 would still deliver better performance than a 1060, so it's worth some consideration.

I appreciate the feedback. Best price break is at the 1060. The SLI is more of a year or two down the road thing when a 1060 card is really cheaper and the extra 20% fps may be worth it.

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4 hours ago, 2-pies said:

I would consider a 250gb or 500gb SSD(solid state) drive for your windows/c_drive/boot partition.  Prices are reasonable and do increase performance particularly load time if you install Steel Beasts on it.

There were a lot of option on the SSD but I have no idea how this stuff works as far as partitions and the like.

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8 minutes ago, dpabrams said:

What about a M.2 drive?

Ths is just a different form factor (enclosure size).  It is smaller and designed for laptops and tablets - the motherboard must have and support an M.2 connector. 

I wouldn't bother with this M.2 form factor for a gaming PC with plenty of internal dive bays, and say get a standard 2.5" SSD (Price could also be a little less).

In my experience, smaller form factor components generally have lower performance specs, the trade-off for fitting into a smaller volume.  One of the reasons laptop computers will have lower specs, price-for-price is due to the use of small form factor components - memory, CPUs and displays, for example.

 

BTW Don't forget to look at a good case design for housing your new PC.   Size, the number and type of drive bays and cooling arrangements are important.  Cases are a neglected part of a good gaming PC - although good cases can come quiet expensive, so consider your budget.

 

I'm not suggesting you buy this, but this is my PC case:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitfenix-ghost-silent-tower-case-black-ca-087-bx.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-7EkexalU

Not exactly a small footprint desktop!  But it is quiet.

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I have been using Thermaltake

 

Thermaltake Suppressor F31 Gaming Case
Spec  
Type Mid Tower
Case Material SPCC
Motherboard Support E-ATX / Standard ATX/ Micro-ATX
Side Panel Window
Expansion  
External 5.25" Drive Bays 2
External 3.5" Drive Bays 3
Internal 3.5" / 2.5" Drive Bays 3
HardDrive Dock 3.5" / 2.5" Bays 1
Expansion Slots 8
Front Ports  
Front Ports 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x HD Audio
Physical Spec  
Dimension 19.50" x 9.80" x 20.30" (H x W x D)
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9 minutes ago, dpabrams said:

I have been using Thermaltake

That looks a good quality case.

My point was that I have seen people spend a lot on components and then cram them into a small desktop case and subsequently get over-heating problems - which affect performance and ultimately lead to component failure in a shorter time than using same components in a better case.  Airflow is important !

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My personal preference is not to have large capacity hard drives in a gaming PC.

I run a 250GB SSD and a 1TB 3.5"sata.

 

The Reason: Drive Failure !  If you have a lot of data on a 3TB drive and it dies - you're gonna be p****d - I was when it happened to me !

 

Personally I do not store data on my gaming PC (any PC), I use external data storage, mainly USB memory sticks and some DVD-RW.

Just my thoughts and personal experience for your perusal :)

 

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5 hours ago, dpabrams said:

There were a lot of option on the SSD but I have no idea how this stuff works as far as partitions and the like.

 

Get the 500GB Samsung 850 EVO.  Unlike most other brands, Samsung makes its own SSD controllers, firmware, and NAND, which means it gets first dibs on the good stuff and is able to design the entire SSD to work together from the start.  It's not the fastest SSD out there but it's close enough without having to pay a top end price.  If you are looking for something a bit cheaper, the 512GB SanDisk X400 is worth a look.

 

Definitely read up as much as you can on SSDs before making a decision.

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500 MByte/s read/write is about as fast as it gets for the SATA interface. Faster SSDs require a PCIe slot with 16 or more PCI lanes, which either limits what graphics card you cam still use to its full potential, or seriously jacks up the mainboard price since you would need a server chipset with extra PCI lanes.

I agree though - both the Samsung 850 series and Intel SSDs are good choices.

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Solid State drives are expensive, but definitely worth it. I will never be able to go back to using mechanical drives.

 

The 1060 should be fine; there are occasional framerate drops on Steel Beasts, but you'll get that with anything right now. My 2x 980Ms slowed to a crawl during this last TGIF. An update should fix it, when it is released.

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15 hours ago, 2-pies said:

I would consider a 250gb or 500gb SSD(solid state) drive for your windows/c_drive/boot partition.  Prices are reasonable and do increase performance particularly load time if you install Steel Beasts on it.

+1

 

Once your hard drive starts to fill up with different programs, Windows boot-up will get annoyingly slow (even after streamlining start up programs in msconfig). My SSD is solely for Win7 and SB, everything else goes in the hard drive. Instant boot-up is worth the investment, IMO. SB load times are quicker too.

 

When I installed mine, I followed a recommendation to have the SSD as the only storage device installed/connected while installing Win7. Worked without a hitch, but wouldn't know if it would've really made a difference (I do have an older mobo).

 

 

Edited by Scrapper_511
Re: SB load times
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My system specs:

 

Gigabyte GA970 motherboard, and I am using the on board sound.

Running Win7 Professional, 64 Bit (Also have the option to boot into WinXP Pro in either 32 or 64 bit)

AMX FX-8350 processor (8 cores at 4.0Ghz, with a turbo feature up to 4.2) and that has a Cooler Master water cooler attached.

24Gb of DDR3/1600 RAM, that I can overclock a little by adjusting my BIOS.  I do have Kingston Hyper-X RAM with heat spreaders, but I don't like to push it too much.

Nvidia GTX-760 graphics card, with 2gb of video RAM

1TB 7200rpm Western Digital Black edition HDD for my OS and games

I have a second 1TB WD HDD, Green Edition I think, that runs at the slower 5700rpm speed, and that's all my backups, music, movies, etc.

 

This system cost me less than $700 when I put it together.  Originally I had only 4gb of RAM, a much crappier budget graphics card, and only the first hard drive.  I went with the fastest AMD processor I could get when I built it figuring that I could tack on more RAM quite easily, and a video card upgrade would be simple.

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There are hybrid solid state/platter HDD now.  Regular capacity HDD with 8/16GB SSD added on.  The SSD functions like a giant non-volatile cache.  After a file gets accessed 2 or 3 times, it gets copied onto the SSD and runs from there.  You don't get the massive jump in speed like you do when you go from physical to solid state, but there is small and noticeable increase.  Works well for a game drive, especially if you only play 1 or 2 games at a time.

 

I got a 1TB/8GB Seagate for $75 from Newegg.

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