Upgrade advice, to 660ti or not to 660ti

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce' started by SUnSpot, Aug 18, 2012.

  1. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    Hello fellow nerds!

    I need a tad of advice regarding upgrading. You can see my current rig here and I want to replace it but Im looking at upgrading graphics first. Smart or bad move? go with cpu+mobo+ram upgrade first? Been out of the game for to long :/

    1.
    I got a Corsair CX500 with 34A on the +12 is that enough to handle the 660ti from gigabyte reviewed on guru3d. Also since the 670 is only 50-60euro more could it handle one of those?

    I got 2 hardrives in my current rig the rest is external USB nothing else internal(connect dvdrom only when I reinstall OS).


    2.
    Im planing on upgrading my computer to i5 2500k(if someone can explain what an ivy bridge is compared to it please tell).

    3.
    8GB of 1600mhz DDR3 cl9(advice here would be great aswell, lower cl at 1333mhz better?).

    4.
    what is it I need to look at, if I plan on buying an SSD for my OS and currently played game(games).550mb write and 500read @ 128gb seem affordable for this purpose.

    5.Good motherboard for running 660ti+gtx460 for physX(read that if u have an ati graphics integrated physX is nerfed).

    I cant buy everything at once since I just bought a new ipad for 600euro, and I dont want to pay more then 1000euro for a new casual gamer rig.
     
  2. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    You're system is fine for a 660ti just get one and the upgrade the CPU and mobo later just OC that x4 635 for now. For gaming get sandy bridge i5 2500K but if you don't want to OC get ivy bridge it's as simple as that.
     
  3. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    Im trying to find a ivy bridge on komplett.se and cdon.se etc. But I dont really find it. anyone know if its available in sweden yet?
     
  4. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    Ivy sucks it runs hotter than sandy and consumes more power than sandy and it can't OC as well as sandy therefore sandy is faster when OCing is considered. The i5 2500K is still the undisputed best value gamer chip from Intel.
     

  5. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    Then ill stick to 2500k ;)
     
  6. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    If you don't OC get the ivy chip if you are comfortable with OCing get the i5 2500K and OC it around 4.6 and it will be faster than any ivy.
     
  7. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    Well I like to fiddle with OCing, thats the main reason why I first looked at the 2500k
     
  8. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    2500K is the chip and don't think that you are losing out on anything by not going with the newest chip because you're not you will actually gain a bit of performance by going with the 2500K this is a great video on Ivy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuiykscC3ZE
     
  9. XBEAST

    XBEAST Ancient Guru

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    1. Your PSU can handle both 660 Ti and 670. But it can't handle 660 Ti + 460 PhysX.

    2. Ivy has some per-clock performance improvements and lower power consumption when running stock. It all depends on how much you want to overclock your CPU. If you want max OC (~5 GHz), go for i5 2500K. If somewhat lower, around 4.5 GHz, go with i5 3570K. Lastly, ASRock Z77 motherboards allow to overclock non-K CPUs by 800 MHz on all cores. For example, i5 3470 3.2 GHz can be overclocked to 4 GHz (or more if you touch BCLK ;)).

    3. 2x4GB 1333/1600MHz with CL9 is best bang 4 buck. Lower timings and higher clocks have very little impact on performance, but can cost quite a bit. Plus, you can always tweak memory by yourself. Quality RAM can run at higher clocks and lower timings while still being @ stock voltage. Also, make sure they're 1.5V or lower.

    4. Don't look at SSD specs. Look at real world benchmarks. Sandforce-driven SSDs have good specs but at lower price usually get beaten by Samsung and Marvell controlled SSDs. There are some faster SF drives, but they cost a lot more too. Looking at performance and price, I recommend Samsung 830 128GB at the moment.

    5. Any Z77 board with 2 PCI-E slots would do. But I don't recommend keeping 460 for PhysX. Single 660 Ti should handle PhysX well. Better sell 460 and maybe add a second 660Ti/670 in the future. For that you'd need a SLI-certified motherboard. ASRock Z77 Extreme4 and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H are good boards for a good price. For dual cards, of course, you'd need a better PSU too. Quality 650W would do.


    If you play at resolution lower than Full HD, better upgrade CPU+MB+RAM first.
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2012
  10. Slam

    Slam Guest

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    Wrong. I'm not sure why some people dog on IB so much. Sure, it didn't live up to expectations. And yes, SB is generally easier to oc. But I'm running my 3570k at 4.6ghz, and it's faster than a 2500 at 4.6.

    And most people don't even push their oc's that high to begin with. Clock for clock, IB beats an SB. If you're not looking to do extreme oc'n, then IB 3570k is the better performer.
     

  11. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    Sweet this is helping me alot thanks for the replies so far, saved me hours of googling :)

    But now im unsure what to choose between 660ti and 670. the 660ti is only cheaper by 30-60euro I saw a 670 for 28euro more then the gigabyte 660ti one.

    Only downside is I know the gigabyte 660ti is gona be a cool/quiet card compared to the crappier cooling available on the 670 card.

    Db vs performance the never ending struggle ;)

    Just to clarify say that I get this Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Socket 1155 Box
    I would be able to run it at 4.2GHZ without to much struggle?

    Im gona look into the ivy some more before I decide.
     
  12. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    Sandy is better for the gamer IB runs hotter and is not faster in gaming when both are OCed
     
  13. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    Just get whatever is cheaper no need to split hairs they perform the same.
     
  14. Slam

    Slam Guest

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    3570k will hit 4.2ghz easily...unless you get a bad chip. But that could happen with any cpu. Very rare.
     
  15. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    With your reference I decided to go with the quieter 660ti and 2500k sandy cpu. Ill spend the left over 90euro on beer and candy.
     

  16. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    Unfortunately at best Ivy is a side grade from Sandy ;-) Good thing pricing indicates this condition aforementioned.
     
  17. Slam

    Slam Guest

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    Congrats! Enjoy.
     
  18. SUnSpot

    SUnSpot Master Guru

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    Ok I said beer just to sound cool, ill just spend it on candy.
     
  19. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    LOL but honestly man you can't go wrong with ether chip you will not notice a difference between the to as far as performance. I recommend getting the cheaper chip that way you can have more beer candy AND Pizza and have a nerdgasim when benching you're new 660ti in 3dmark while drinking beer and eating candy and pizza at the same time LOL. Do the Dam thang !
     
  20. Black Mesa

    Black Mesa Guest

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    YES YES buy beer. Beer and videos games go together like fly's on **** LOL.
     

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