Toribash
Original Post
Mid range gaming upgrade/build
So in this summer or at the start of fall i want to upgrade my actual pc to a gaming one, and i was wondering what you think about it:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 3.3Ghz (my actual cpu is an i3 3220 3.3Ghz and i don't think is good enough for games from our days)
GPU: nVIDIA GeForce GTX590 3GB 2X384 bit (this card is actually A BEAST, wuat you think?)
RAM: 8GB ofc.
Power Suply: I don't know something with more than 500W+
Motherboard: i will use my actual board which is a GIGABYTE H61M-DS2H.

What you think about this configuration? Good for gaming in these days? How many years will this build resist? And best question: WILL THERE BE ANY BOTTLENECK?
Um, I think the 590 buy is a bit weird, it's a 5 year old card almost. The GTX 750 or 750Ti is around the same price range.

In such a low end build 8gb of RAM might be a bit pricey ($100 GPU + $50 RAM? A bit strange), if you think you will use it then go ahead. You might be better off getting 1x4gb to start with then you can add another 1x4gb later.

The 3220 will probably be fine. Both CPUs are 1155 so you can use what you have, and if you notice that you /are/ bottlenecking on cpu, then upgrade. Otherwise I don't see the need to. In exchange you could delay CPU to buy a better GPU for example.

500W PSU is fine, just make sure to get one that's 80+ Bronze rated. You can consult the tier list http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...tier-list.html and try hunt ebay for a bargin (eg I noticed a SILENT NIGHT SD500-ARM for sale cheap). Or just get whatever you can find from a decent brand. In my opinion 500W is a good wattage to aim for in the mid tier, for example I doubt your suggested build will peek at more than 200W, so using 500W gives you a lot of headroom to work with and keeps temps down a bit.

I'm not too sure about your mobo, it's an old model for sure.

It looks like your total out of pocket will be around $250, which makes it a nice upgrade I think. To protect against bottlenecks at this budget I highly suggest incremental upgrades; run some games and see what part is creating bottleneck, upgrade that part then repeat. There's no need to upgrade CPU, GPU and RAM all in one swipe. If you upgrade them all then it's practically a guarantee that 2 of the components will be underutilized. Remember that gathering data and being smart about your choices is the key to economical upgrades. By spreading upgrades out you also get more out of your money, and have more time to build up your budget - eg if you upgrade only the gpu now, then in a few months you can upgrade your RAM or CPU, you will have more money and prices will probably have dropped.

By making these kinds of upgrades you can also keep yourself open to the future. So long as you keep your computer clean and the temperatures cool (don't cook your computer!) I can see this build running games for a long time to come. You won't be maxing any graphics out, but you can certainly still play games!

As prices drop more you will want to eventually swap over to a better motherboard, with quad channel RAM (that way you can bring along your 1x4gb or 2x4gb and work towards getting up to 4x4gb) and a newer chipset.
<Faint> the rules have been stated quite clearly 3 times now from high staff
I already have 4GB RAM but for gaming in our days we need 8GB. Also the GTX590 is and old card from 2011 yeah i have to admit, but i found it on second hand with less than 100$ and it is a must buy. Even if it has kinda old technology it is still a BEAST, i think this card can still run games from our days on Ultra with more than 40FPS even 60 if the other components fit it. So i really want the GTX590, upgrading to a GTX750/750Ti isn't that much a good upgrade. Also i think the cpu will bottleneck the GTX590, that's why i thought upgrading to an i5 is a good idea.

Also yeah upgrading the motherboard would be a good idea but i don't really have all the money right now for all the components. Maybe a 30$ to 65$ motherboard idk something less than 60$-70$ that fit our days requierments.
For gaming 4gb is fine, are you really using more than 4gb just in gaming? I would be surprised. Like I said, try it and see, no point in guessing.

590 definitely will not run todays games on ultra, but if the games you want to play will, then that's fine. I think the 750 is a better buy, but you seem attached to the 590 so its ok I think... Just don't have too high expectations for such an old card :S I think you would be surprised how quickly GPU technology advances.

I doubt a 590 will bottleneck the 3220, but again I think you should try it instead of making assumptions.

If you wanted a new mobo there are plenty that are great and within your price range like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=5961731&SID=0
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=5961731&SID=0
<Faint> the rules have been stated quite clearly 3 times now from high staff
I don't know why you think this card is so old... It is from 2011 and it's still a beast, thinking of that it is a fucking dual SLI GPU of 2 GTX580. I think this beast can handle any game from our days atleast on high detailes with no lag if the other components also fit the req.

Also forgot about the god damn monitor, got an old Philiphs 170S from 2005...Shall i change this shit too? If i put a GTX590 on this shit monitor i think the bottleneck will be more hard xD
Originally Posted by azzeffir23 View Post
I don't know why you think this card is so old... It is from 2011 and it's still a beast, thinking of that it is a fucking dual SLI GPU of 2 GTX580. I think this beast can handle any game from our days atleast on high detailes with no lag if the other components also fit the req.

thanks moore's law

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Originally Posted by azzeffir23 View Post
I don't know why you think this card is so old... It is from 2011 and it's still a beast, thinking of that it is a fucking dual SLI GPU of 2 GTX580. I think this beast can handle any game from our days atleast on high detailes with no lag if the other components also fit the req.

Sure, if you play games only from 5 years ago (but even then I'd recommend a newer card...) it will perform on high or ultra, but not on today's games. It depends what games you play, don't expect new releases to play at good frame rate at high settings, even brand new top of the line cards struggle with that.

Compared to other cards, I think it's really not good. For example the GTX 670 (1 generation later) also sells around $100 and performs 30% better. GTX 760 is around the same performance for $100 too. But each of these newer cards are more reliable, put out less heat, and use less power. Plus they support newer display ports, can support more monitors and higher resolutions, they are physically smaller and support newer technologies.

Personally I don't advise buying old cards, but so long as you make an informed decision it's ok. I think you want this card for nostalgia reasons, not because it's the best value card at your price range.
Originally Posted by azzeffir23 View Post
Also forgot about the god damn monitor, got an old Philiphs 170S from 2005...Shall i change this shit too? If i put a GTX590 on this shit monitor i think the bottleneck will be more hard xD

That monitor won't cause a bottleneck, and unless you play on low graphics the 590 won't saturate the full 75Hz I think. I think it's an ok monitor, but it has very very slow pixel response time. For modern monitors they advertise 1ms (which IMO is still bad, but I'm a CRT gamer so I have different standards), whereas the 170S has 16ms (very noticeable to me, I've used displays with half that and felt like it's very obvious). It also has low contrast and not great colors and some unsettling aberration at wide angles. It's also VGA only I believe, which I wouldn't want to use on a digital display...

If it's ok for you then good, but otherwise you can look for something better. For monitors you can get really really good CRT monitors cheap or free, but for LCD or IPS monitors the good ones are super expensive (for comparison, a free CRT is often a lot better than a $600 or more LCD, and IPS's just can't compete at all at that level).

Really I think it's up to you. You seem to have a very limited budget, so if it were me I'd look for local second hand parts to keep cost down and value up, and if you can find a good local monitor go for it, otherwise I wouldn't be too fussed.

I live in a rather isolated part of my country, it's more than 2500km to the next nearest city, so it can be hard to find bigger things like monitors cheap. But even so I have found a lot of good things like FP1355 or 2007WFP
<Faint> the rules have been stated quite clearly 3 times now from high staff
Just did a little more research about the all 3 cards we talked about, and the GTX590 always wins, but the monither is kinda a problem. Since the GTX590/GTX760/GTX670 has DVI/HDMI ports only and my monitor supports only VGA i think i will find another card :C , i really can't get a new monitor too now. So sad. Well i think i will get that shit GTX750 Ti Gaindward Editiong 2GB GDDR5 -_-
Last edited by azzeffir23; Jun 27, 2015 at 09:41 AM.
The DVI has 3 types: DVI-D which is digital, DVI-A which is analogue, and DVI-I which supports DVI-D and DVI-A.
DVI-A is just VGA over the DVI interface. Thus it's possible to use a small adapter to plug a VGA monitor into a DVI port.

Just make sure the card has a DVI-I plug (all 3 of those cards do)

Here are comparative benchmarks for the 3 cards in question:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/co...1&cmp[]=35
As you can see the 670 and 760 are, respectively, 32% and 22% faster than the 590.

The 750Ti benches approximately 10% lower than the 590 so I wouldn't recommend unless you are saving a proportional amount at least.
<Faint> the rules have been stated quite clearly 3 times now from high staff
Originally Posted by azzeffir23 View Post
Just did a little more research about the all 3 cards we talked about, and the GTX590 always wins, but the monither is kinda a problem. Since the GTX590/GTX760/GTX670 has DVI/HDMI ports only and my monitor supports only VGA i think i will find another card :C , i really can't get a new monitor too now. So sad. Well i think i will get that shit GTX750 Ti Gaindward Editiong 2GB GDDR5 -_-

that shit 750TI? lol. the 700TI series are in competition with today's 900 series. a 590 won't be able to do anything, really, whether it's sli or not. yeah, you can run tb. grats. now try to run gta v or witcher 3 at max settings. that's something the 700TI series are able to do with a 30+ framerate.

and oh, the card should have a vga output/input. reviews and specs told me the same thing when i bought my 980, but i still had the vga right there, chilling.
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