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Rig Specs - Room to Upgrade?

HeadcrabZ0mbie
Level 7
Hello all! First time poster here. My rig specs are below, what room do I have to upgrade? I feel like I've finally completed this build (taken me a year to get this far) but wanted to run it by you much smarter people. I've custom built everything and know my way around but am not too current on whats new and awesome. Any constructive input would be awesome. Also I have no idea how I stack up to other rigs or what kind of place I'm in as far as keeping up with or being ahead of the gaming graphics curve. Thanks!

CPU - i5-2500K (No OC, 3.3GHz)
CPU Fan - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
GPU - EVGA FTW GTX 670 4GB SLI
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600MHz
HDD - OCZ Vertex 3 120GB (System) Western Digital Black 1TB 7200RPM (Games)
Motherboard - Asus Sabertooth Z77
PSU - OCZ 1000W
Case - Cooler Master HAF 932
OS - Windows 7 x64
Capture Card - Avermedia Live Gamer HD (Internal)
Monitor - 3x Asus VH238H 23"
Keyboard - Razer Deathstalker Ultimate
Mouse - Cyborg R.A.T. 7
Headset - Astro A40 2013
Cam - Logitech C920
Asus Sabertooth Z77 • i5 2500k @ 4.4 ghz + Corsair Vengeance 16G 1600
2xSLI EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GB • OCZ Vertex 3 120GB + 1TB WD HD
OCZ 1000W Fatality • Cooler Master HAF 932
Razer Deathstalker Ultimate • 3x Asus VH238H • Astro A40 2013
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14 REPLIES 14

chrisnyc75
Level 12
There's always room to upgrade. 😉 That's a nice looking system you've got there, though. Before you put any more money into upgrading it, though, you should probably focus on maxing out the potential of the hardware you already have, i.e. overclock that cpu.

Otherwise, the obvious route for upgrade would be your ram and/or graphics. Your current ram and graphics are both good, but neither is the newest best hardware available. 1600 is "mediocre" speed for ram, and GTX 670 is mid-level from the last generation. Upgrading either will cost you a good bit of cash, though, and for a minor performance increase at best.

OC that cpu and sit tight until next year -- there's a LOT of new tech coming to market in 2014, you'll get a lot more bang for your buck then. 🙂
Asus RIVBE • i7 4930K @ 4.7ghz • 8gb Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133 CL8
2xSLI EVGA GTX 770 SC • Creative X-Fi Titanium • 2x 840 SSD + 1TB Seagate Hybrid
EVGA Supernova 1300W• Asus VG278H & nVidia 3d Vision
Phanteks Enthoo Primo w/ custom watercooling:
XSPC Raystorm (cpu & gpu), XSPC Photon 170, Swiftech D5 vario
Alphacool Monsta 360mm +6x NB e-loop, XT45 360mm +6x Corsair SP120

HiVizMan
Level 40
You know you have a pretty good system right there.

If you wanted more performance well it is sitting right in front of you, OC the CPU to 4.6GHz - I did not see your cooling solution so maybe that is the one area you could push.
To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

HeadcrabZ0mbie
Level 7
@chrisnyc75 Thanks a ton for the info! I didn't know about the RAM speed and the status of the 670 so I really appreciate that. If the performance increase is going to be marginal I will take your advice and wait until next year for new gear!

@HiVizMan Thanks your reply! I have the stock cooling from the Cooler Master HAF 932. So far heat has not been even close to a problem. I know Overclocking would change that though. My CPU Fan is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO so I feel confident I could overclock safely. I can't believe I forgot to throw that info in there *Edits Post*

I'm new around here so forgive my ignorance, I've never overclocked anything before. I don't know what the procedure is but I know that it's pretty easy to light my CPU on fire. I know that Overclocking varies by Motherboard and CPU and other stuff that I probably don't even know about. So my question is, how do I go about this? How much should I increase my voltage in the BIOS, how much time between burns, etc. I'm totally terrified of this but with the proper help I would be more than willing to try.
Asus Sabertooth Z77 • i5 2500k @ 4.4 ghz + Corsair Vengeance 16G 1600
2xSLI EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GB • OCZ Vertex 3 120GB + 1TB WD HD
OCZ 1000W Fatality • Cooler Master HAF 932
Razer Deathstalker Ultimate • 3x Asus VH238H • Astro A40 2013

@HiVizMan

Dude, thank you so much. I have seen all that before but didn't know enough to mess with it. Is it really safe to jump to 4.4GHz? I don't know if I just have dated knowledge (which is likely) but when I talked with some friends a long time ago it was mentioned to do it in steps. 3.3 to 3.6 etc until you reach your potential. Let me know man, thanks again so much, I am very excited to get off work and try this.
Asus Sabertooth Z77 • i5 2500k @ 4.4 ghz + Corsair Vengeance 16G 1600
2xSLI EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GB • OCZ Vertex 3 120GB + 1TB WD HD
OCZ 1000W Fatality • Cooler Master HAF 932
Razer Deathstalker Ultimate • 3x Asus VH238H • Astro A40 2013

Yes, it's safe. This newest generation of processors overclock pretty easily, you just have to be careful not to exceed the voltage ceiling (vcore) or the thermal max. I can't counsel you on voltage/temp for your particular hardware, my expertise is with a different socket, but HiVizMan is the guru, he won't steer you wrong.

Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it turns out 🙂
Asus RIVBE • i7 4930K @ 4.7ghz • 8gb Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133 CL8
2xSLI EVGA GTX 770 SC • Creative X-Fi Titanium • 2x 840 SSD + 1TB Seagate Hybrid
EVGA Supernova 1300W• Asus VG278H & nVidia 3d Vision
Phanteks Enthoo Primo w/ custom watercooling:
XSPC Raystorm (cpu & gpu), XSPC Photon 170, Swiftech D5 vario
Alphacool Monsta 360mm +6x NB e-loop, XT45 360mm +6x Corsair SP120

HiVizMan
Level 40
OK here is what you do.

in BIOS F5 for defaults.

Set your mode of OC in the BIOS to XMP profile.

Now change your multiplier to 44 across all cores.

Navigate down to the digi+ section. CPU LLC (it is the first setting) to regular or medium.

Vcore to offset mode
+
0.020

Leave all else on auto. (if you have RAID select RAID as your sata mode)

F10 enter to save and boot to OS.

Your system should be clocked at 4.4GHz now.
To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

I got home and tried to do this. Your directions were amazing, I had no problem finding everything and changing the values as you suggested. I rebooted and I am unfortunately still at 3.3GHz. I went back into the BIOS to make sure everything took and it looks like it did. The only part I may have not read properly is this :

HiVizMan wrote:


Now change your multiplier to 44 across all cores.



I presumed this was towards the top of that section a few lines below changing the profile. There were four different values, one for each core. This was already set to 42 so I changed them to 44. Let me know if I may have screwed something up or why the OC didn't seem to take. The RAM is set to 1600 so there shouldn't be a problem there. Thanks again you are amazing!
Asus Sabertooth Z77 • i5 2500k @ 4.4 ghz + Corsair Vengeance 16G 1600
2xSLI EVGA GTX 670 FTW 4GB • OCZ Vertex 3 120GB + 1TB WD HD
OCZ 1000W Fatality • Cooler Master HAF 932
Razer Deathstalker Ultimate • 3x Asus VH238H • Astro A40 2013

HiVizMan
Level 40
What you have heard is how I do it the first time I get to play with a CPU. But with SB I have maybe OC'd close to 1000 different CPUs since they came out. They are without doubt the best of the bunch when it comes to ease of OC.

The only thing your ram will have to stay at 2133MHz or below so if your kit has a XMP profile of 2400MHz then just set it down to 2133MHz.
To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

fbm211
Level 7
Do you have cpuz and core temp installed to monitor your CPU speed,ram speed, and temps.
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