Last minute suggestions

I've read this forum as much as possible & came up with some hardware ideas for my upgrade. Last time I upgraded was in 2008. Still running like a charm but struggles a times in rF2 & AC. This is a budget build I suppose so here goes;

Intel i5 -4690 (I don't OC)
AsRock H97 Performance ATX LG1150 MB
Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb DDR3-1600 RAM
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 3GB (this is where I'm unsure)
EVGA 750W PSU
Kingston SSDNow V300 240Gb
current 500 gb HDD Western Digital I think

I'm in it for around $700 which is fair for me. Is it worth upping the GPU or more RAM?

Any ideas appreciated.

 

There is a particular G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz kit which comes with 7-8-8 timings rather than the more standard 8-9-9 (or higher) timings that most of these types of kits come with. They aren't more expensive either, in-fact, they were a few dollars cheaper the last time I saw them.

RAM performance impact is generally very small compared to CPU and especially GPU performance, but you might as well get that RAM if you can since it doesn't cost any more.


Spend as much as you can on the GPU.

If not overclocking, and just using the PC mostly for simracing, then going with a non-hyperthreaded, non-K, top-end Haswell chip (i5-4690) - and pairing that chip with an H97 motherboard (rather than Z97[more expensive]) - is pretty much one of the best price-to-performance ratio (while maintaining great overall performance) combinations out there.

 

I think I'll be going with a different setup after all. It seems the gpu is most important so I'll splurge on a 970. Instead of the i5 I'll be going with an AMD FS-8350 with 8gig ram. I've yet to choose the motherboard. Thanks for the help.

Spinelli: Do timings affect performance overall? There are too many to choose from...

 

I would seriously go with Intel, if the 4690 is too high-priced, then go with a more inexpensive model like a, for example, a 4590.

The RAM speed makes the least difference, however - since they aren't more expensive than the slower models - you might as well get the fast ones. For 1600MHz there is a 7-8-8 timing G.Skill model that Newegg sells. However, if you can't buy from Newegg for whatever reason, then the there is no reason to get anything slower than 8-9-9 timings as that is pretty much the performance standard when it comes to 1600MHz DDR3 RAM. Don't get anything like 9-9-9 or 9-10-9, or 10-10-10.

With 1600MHz DDR3 RAM, if you can't get a hold of the harder-to-find 7-8-8 kits, then you should have absolutely no problem getting 8-9-9.

 

Alright, I think I finalized it...

i5 4690
AsRock H97 Anniversary
G Skills 8G (2x4) F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM - not listed in mb supported list though
EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0

A bit over $800 but I only do this every 5 years or so

 

Hi Mike.. long time no see!

I'm on a GTX770 with no problems at all. I'm guessing the GTX970 is very comparable to the GTX770 so with a single screen you should be set for sure. I'm only on a i5-2500K. But CPU isn't really a problem in rF2.. mainly GPU.

Edit: out of curiousity, what GPU do you currently have?

 

For a GTX970 could be worth to wait a little bit, Price could come down ;-) because of the massive returning goods...

 

Ummm... GTX 260 with a Phenomx4 965

 

Spot on choice
GTX660 is too weak and GTX770 only has 2 GB of ram.


I have same memory on same chipset
List never shows all memory supported
Run XMP profile let it do its thing, it will be fine

 

gtx 970s have problems with the last 500megs of V-ram, look it up before you purchase that card!!

 

I assume he is running a single screen which means he will never use 3.5GB vram

If you are running 3 screens well you going to get a GTX980, I certainly would not recommend less for 3 screens or 4K hi quality, never have , never will.




http://www.pcgamer.com/why-nvidias-gtx-970-slows-down-using-more-than-35gb-vram/

This .........

http://www.pcgamer.com/nvidia-working-on-driver-update-to-address-gtx-970-issues/

 

I understand that but for future upgrades, maybe when 4k drops in price......

 

I would not even consider a GTX970 for 4K really.

How can I recommend a GTX980 to a guy on $ 700 budget ?


My names billy not silly as some here try to make out.

 

lol, yes I was just letting him know about the known issues with the 970's vram, Maybe look at what ATI has to offer.

 

Nvidia all the way but then again depends what else he plays.

 

loool

 

Apparently the AMD R9 390X is going to blow away even the GTX 980. Exciting times ahead for GPU fans.

 

Well everything came in & after some trouble with Windows 7 (stupid anti-virus), it is now running. I never noticed that I was missing an IDE connector on the new board for my older dvd drive. I had to make a usb boot of WIN 7 - loaded it up & spent most of Saturday d'ling everything. After playing rF2 at minimum settings since it came out, I finally got to see its full potential! WOW! Graphics are what I hoped they would be. Max graphic settings, full on rain & 15 cars & the fps never dropped under 60. Holy sh1t! It was worth the extra dough but now this thing runs like a top.

My final hardware choice was an AsRock Pro4 H97M board, i5-4690, Kingston 2x4gb ram & the killer Asus Strix GTX970 OC card. A bit over budget but worth it. I also had a bit of dough left over from my '69 Firebird build so I also got a G27 from Newegg for $180.
Now I'm in business.

Thanks for all the help gents. It made a difference.

 

Good stuff man, glad to hear everything is working awesome

 

Sounds great Mike, you ran some good laps at Belgium other day too.