Wanting to upgrade - anything salvagable?

[Methonis]

Hi all,

I bought my computer in 2009, and I'm thinking of possibly upgrading some components. I'm really wondering what's worth replacing/saving. I'm not looking to drop a ton of cash, so reasonable recommendations that provide a great performance vs price boost are what I'm looking for.

Here's my current setup:

CM Storm Sniper Mid-Tower
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-940 2.93 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System
FREEBIE_RM: None
RAID-0 250GBx2 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard SAS Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,Dual GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio
6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module Corsair Dominator
CoolerMaster 850 Watts Real Power Pro
NZXT Sentry LX Aluminum High Performance Fan Control, Clock, & Temperature Display
NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 X2 1.7GB 16X PCIe Video Card

My biggest and first hesitation is the motherboard. It was great in 2009, but it's now almost 2014. Only supports SATA II, USB 2.0, not sure what else is limiting on it. Should I replace this? If so, suggestions that would work in my case?

If I replace my motherboard, am I forcing myself into a cpu changeout. I know that my i7 model is discontinued, but surely it isn't a total underperformer, yes?

If I upgrade the motherboard, I'm guessing I may as well upgrade the RAM. I'd like to get 16GB. The RAM I have now has good stats (1600 9/9/9/24), but they're only 2gb modules. G-skill seems to be a common recommendation. Is there a noticeable performance difference between Ripjaw/Trident/Sniper? Or is there other memory I should be looking at?

As far as the hard drives, I'd like to get a SSD for the OS/Main programs, and I'll just keep my existing ones for everything else. SSD buying seems to be whatever is on sale of the main brands and you're probably good, yes?

850w power supply should still be good for awhile I assume.

Lastly, the graphics card... am I going to see a significant performance for price ratio if I upgrade it? What's a reasonable upgrade if so?

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Mandrake4565]

The system you have isn't terrible, the issue is that if you do start to upgrade it the only thing in my mind that makes sense it the Gpu. A SSD is a great investment but due to the SATA II ports is a bit of a waste.

If I replace my motherboard, am I forcing myself into a cpu changeout. I know that my i7 model is discontinued, but surely it isn't a total underperformer, yes?

Compared to the newer processors yes it is an under performer, that said if you don't need the fastest Cpu out there it is still a viable processor.

If I upgrade the motherboard, I'm guessing I may as well upgrade the RAM. I'd like to get 16GB. The RAM I have now has good stats (1600 9/9/9/24), but they're only 2gb modules. G-skill seems to be a common recommendation. Is there a noticeable performance difference between Ripjaw/Trident/Sniper? Or is there other memory I should be looking at?

Depending on the application, you aren't going to see much of a difference going to faster ram. As far as Ripjaws/Tridents and Snipers if the timings are the same you're not going to see a difference. It's only if you're going to overclock them, where you may, this also depends on the Ic of the sticks. As far as going to 16g of ram if you're not already using 80-90% of the 6 gig you already have it's really un necessary.

850w power supply should still be good for awhile I assume.

850w is plenty/overkill for a cpu and 1 Gpu. It's more about quality over quantity, that said some coolermaster units aren't top quality Psu's.

Lastly, the graphics card... am I going to see a significant performance for price ratio if I upgrade it? What's a reasonable upgrade if so?

What are you doing with the Pc, if gaming what games and what resolution?

 

[Methonis]

The system you have isn't terrible, the issue is that if you do start to upgrade it the only thing in my mind that makes sense it the Gpu. A SSD is a great investment but due to the SATA II ports is a bit of a waste.

Which GPU would be a noticeable upgrade do you think? And would my mobo inhibit new GPUs in any way?

850w is plenty/overkill for a cpu and 1 Gpu. It's more about quality over quantity, that said some coolermaster units aren't top quality Psu's.

Fair enough. If I haven't had problems with the unit would there be any pressing reasons to switch it out for a more quality brand?

What are you doing with the Pc, if gaming what games and what resolution?

Sorry, should have mentioned this in the original post. It's a gaming and dev rig. I do lots of coding and process reams and reams of data in Excel for certain projects. I don't do any heavy graphics rendering or anything like that, though. I run two monitors in 1080p. Games are a little of everything. Some mmos (FFXIV, Neverwinter, Rift, Firefall), LoL, the entire Fallout series, Skyrim.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Which GPU would be a noticeable upgrade do you think? And would my mobo inhibit new GPUs in any way?

It all depends on the game, some of the newer Gpu dependent games such as BF4, as an example, will probably be hindered by the Cpu. Also some of the games you mentioned such as Skyrim are a bit more Cpu dependent then Gpu. With that said, maybe a good idea is getting a aftermarket heatsink such as a coolermaster 212 Evo overclocking the Cpu a bit and getting a newer Gpu would be a good idea. When you say you're running two monitors are you gaming on both of them? What budget did you have in mind?

 

[Methonis]

It all depends on the game, some of the newer Gpu dependent games such as BF4, as an example, will probably be hindered by the Cpu. Also some of the games you mentioned such as Skyrim are a bit more Cpu dependent then Gpu. With that said, maybe a good idea is getting a aftermarket heatsink such as a coolermaster 212 Evo overclocking the Cpu a bit and getting a newer Gpu would be a good idea. When you say you're running two monitors are you gaming on both of them? What budget did you have in mind?

I was thinking my max for the gpu would be $400.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Are you gaming on both screens or just one and using the other for other daily usage?

 

[Methonis]

Just one. Other screen is just real estate for other garbage.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Something like this would be a big improvement

 

[Methonis]

Ok, I'll take a look. Thanks for your patience!

 

[Mandrake4565]

Ok, I'll take a look. Thanks for your patience!

Anytime! Just to let you in on my thinking. The newer games coming out are more demanding of Vram. If you're looking for a card that is going to last a few years then you're going to want 3g as a minimum. For 1080p screen resolutions a GTX 770 will run most games at high to ultra settings. I also like the AMD R9 280X, which is basically a revamped AMD 7970. Though, with the demand on them, because they are new and also because of Bitcoin mining, the prices are too high in my eyes, to justify buying one over the 770. If the prices come down or you can find one cheaper then the Gtx 770 I'd buy one of those. Additionally, with the liquid cooler you have you may want turn the knobs on the Cpu a little and overclock it.