Do I upgrade?

Discussion in 'Die-hard Overclocking & Case Modifications' started by The Laughing Ma, Oct 6, 2014.

  1. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    Okay folks around a year or so ago I made the last touches to this project log.

    http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=360030&highlight=project+noob

    So anyway, the hardware that I used for that build came from an air cooled build and has had a bit more water cooling bits added as time has gone on, as the log shows.

    The newsest bit of hardware in the rig is my 670GTX and I am pretty happy with that as is, however the CPU and Mobo were bought brand new at launch of the i5 which I just learned is now coming on 5 years.

    So to the point, I have decided to tidy up the build after a year or so and have opted to go for hardline tubing. I have been ordering the bits here and there over the last couple of months and now have everything I need to do the tidy up. The thing is I am now at a quandry, the fitting I have chosen are a one shot deal, requiring that you glue part of the fitting to the tubing meaning later upgrades will require replacement of the plastic collar (not an issue really they are around £5 for 6) but having to rebend the tubing to fit a new motherboard in a year, maybe even less does give me pause for thought.

    So do I just bite the bullet and do the upgrade?

    I am looking at replacing the mobo from a Maximus 3 to a Maximus 7 and the cpu from a i5 750 to an i5 4690K while also swapping out my Raid 0 2 x Samsung 2TB drives and replacing them with a single Sata 3 1TB SSD and since I ll be doing a complete reinstall Ill upgrade from Win 7 to a copy of Win 8 I bought for a media centre that never saw the light of day.

    Downside, an extra £750 to my build cost

    Upside, faster PC, quicker boot times, more reliable primary storage device, new Windows with option to upgrade to Win 10, I can dump my dedicated sound card which will save a little space inside the case.

    So I put it to you folk what would you do?

    The cost isn't an issue, but saying that it doesn't mean I am just gonna throw money around I would prefer to spend a decent amount and get the set up that does the job and then not have to worry about it for a good few years, like I said my current mobo and cpu have been issue free for 5 years but certain features are now starting to show their age.
     
  2. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    OC the i5 to 4.2GHz and get a GTX 970 plus ssd.
     
  3. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    Interesting it's like some deep irony though. Apparently some of the 670GTX waterblocks fit on to certain 970GTX cards without any modification water so ever, brilliant I have a 670GTX and it has a waterblock...











    ..expect that my 670GTX is a Windforce version that uses a 680GTX reference board and as such required a 680GTX waterblock.... hmm I don't suppose if any knows if the 680GTX blocks fit on the 980GTX?
     
  4. Megabiv

    Megabiv Guest

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    Im in a similar Mobo/CPU situation as yourself but I'm sitting it out (trying very hard at least) untill the new Intel stuff arives. I can't bring myself to drop a large chunk of cash on a CPU & mobo which while technically faster isn't really offering me much in the way in an upgrade. A new CPU & architecture and I'll be on it like a fat man on cake.

    I say stick with what you have for the next year, it's enough to play the games at the moment and as Agent-01 said getting a 970GTX will make a nice little upgrade and probably worth more than the CPU/mobo upgrade. This is the route im taking once EK get some blocks out for them, 970 GTX Sli is my upgrade.

    A new 970GTX which is a pretty good boost to your performance or a new CPU/Mobo which will be a small improvement in game performance. Plus you have a 670 waterblock which'll mean you can get a nice OC from that shiny new card.Really it comes down to how much you want a new mobo and when you want to redo the water loop since acrylic pipes are even more annoying to change parts with.
     

  5. fantaskarsef

    fantaskarsef Ancient Guru

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    There's always the next best thing a few months away :rolleyes:
    But if you can't OC your i7 to make it work a few more months, you will surely be amazed by the SSD nontheless. I would surely go for the SSD, and maybe a 970. With MB and CPU there's Broadwell coming along sometime next year.
     
  6. Megabiv

    Megabiv Guest

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    Well quite, but after 4 refreshes of the same CPU's it'd be a shame not to wait for the new Skylake range next year. Also I must have missed that bit about you still having regular HDD's, get those things swapped out ASAP and you wont regret it for a second.
     
  7. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    That's the problem though my current rig uses a 5 year old Sata 2 board the Raid 0 2 x Samsung drives are used for game and large storage purposes the Boot drive is an older model Vertex 2 maybe 3 SSD but the Raid 0 drives are pretty much as fast as a Sata 2 limited SSD, I can't see how getting a newer SSD is going to give me much of an improvement (save the spin up time.) If I upgrade the mobo it makes sense to go for the newer SSD and take advantage of the faster Sata 3 interface.

    I am thinking of sticking it out and seeing what Skylake offers, if it's good Ill just do a full rig upgrade, no point getting a 970GTX just now since I would have to drain my current loop to install it then source a new block for the 970GTX since I don't think I have the spare tubing to by pass it and leave it air cooled.
     
  8. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    Okay so I have the upgrade twitch and weather to do or not has bugged me for the last couple of days, so after some more thinking and on your advice folks, I've just dropped some cash on a new 1Tb Samsung Evo SSD to replace my 2TB Raid 0 HDs, not sure how old they are but they have to be as near to the 5 years as the motherboard and CPU.

    I am also having a look at some 970GTXs, specifically ones that you can get waterblock covers for so I can then add that in to my loop, I've also pushed my CPU up to 4Ghz with just a small tweak to the Vcore.

    Once the card and SSD arrive it'll be time to start some tubing bending and see just what this Acrylic Tubing is like to work with.
     
  9. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Nice, reference is always fine if you do H20, pick wisely if you go custom though.
     
  10. Megabiv

    Megabiv Guest

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    Congrats The Laughing Man, enjoy the new hardware! Remember pics or it never happened :p
     

  11. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    Well isn't this a turn up for the books, I was going to post here a link to an updated or possible new build thread, since yesterday and today I started doing somoe of the pre install and set up work for the build.

    Roughly put I made room for the new res and pump location
    Got the pump and res + bracket modded a bit and the bracket test installed
    Did some layout and measure of the acrylic lines
    Cut the lines

    and then order a few fittings needed for the way things to be shaping up after getting some of the install work done.

    Thing is around 6 months ago I noticed that my media drive would act a little screwy, nothing to serious just you turn the thing on and Windows wouldn't see it, a quick restart solved the issue.

    About 3 weeks ago I noticed that my mouse and keyboard would suddenly stop working, occurring at totally random times, usually after a good few hours up time, I put it down to a system lock up caused by my cheap skating the OC (basically using the auto OC feature in the BIOS instead of setting it up myself.)

    I did my 4Ghz OC manually a few days ago and the system has done the random lock up a few times since but again this was an OC with a tiny Vcore bump, then today boom lock up and BSOD, instant restart...

    ..yeah so this is some serious stuff now, disabled auto restart and within an hour of reboot boom BSOD again, now the previous random lock ups would occur once a day at the most.

    Restart start doing some research and again mouse / keyboard stop working and this time a restart does not fix things. Some testing messing around, safe mode restarts more testing and it looks like NONE of my Mobo, back plate USB slots work or when they do they only work until it all goes t*ts up.

    I am currently typing this because my front USB slots work and I've added a USB back plate with two slots to the last spare header.

    The system works or at least it seems to but I am bang out of USB slots and and I have had to dump my K90 keyboard with it's two USB slots for an MS keyboard because I don't have enough free USB slots to plug my K90 in.

    I had hoped for this to be the start of a new build log, I had pictures and everything but well 5 year old board is starting to act up badly. I'll try some testing tomorrow but it looks like the decision may have been made by outside forces.

    *Quick Edit, I just decided to see how old the board actually is 11th October 2009 so give or take 5 years to the day. Longest I've ever had a Mobo and until now been faultless.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2014
  12. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    You running the latest bios? Make sure you're using the intel USBs not 3rd party.
     
  13. The Laughing Ma

    The Laughing Ma Ancient Guru

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    Well have spent the better part of today mucking around, BIOS update didn't seem to work, tried updating the Intel Chipset drivers again with no success. Thought about doing that when it all started going wonky but questioned it, the BIOS and Drivers are the ones that came with the board the same ones that have worked without issue for 4 and a half years.

    Further testing seems to indicate nothing on this back panel is working right, including the old PS2 (is that right?) keyboard port. Yeah I have one of those keyboards still kicking about.

    Been doing a fresh more up to date backup of my files and the system has been stable using the front USB and USB backplate but the new board and CPU has been ordered.

    Yeah I could continue to use this set up but what's the point of doing all this cool hardline tubing on a board that is potentially on it's last legs? Plus the USB backplate looks rubbish, old school beige cabling and it really can't be hidden well, I guess if the upgrade hadn't already been on my mind I may spend longer tweaking and trying to solve this issue but this has kinda sealed the deal for me.
     
  14. 3rr0r

    3rr0r Banned

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    Get the asus strix 970, that's what Iam getting anway, I read about it that it's very quite even if you're gaming.
     

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