PC GPU died, need help with what to go for next

[Randelmire]

Ram is so cheap now, there's no point in getting less than 8gig. Actually it would be stupid to get anything less than 8gig. Yes, if you only play FFXIV, you won't be close to 4gig of usage. But if you play in window mode, with a music player running, web pages, some other tools, you do get close to 4gig. You are still ok, but the day you will want to run that new cool software while playing if you go over 4gig of ram usage, you will cry.

It is more about being futureproof for about 20$ more (4gb vs 8gb) than actually needing it.

Also the i5 3450 is cheaper, newer and better than a i5 2500. But if you want to overclock, get the 2500k.

[Dhalmel]

Ram is so cheap now, there's no point in getting less than 8gig.

Also the i5 3470 is cheaper, newer and better than a i5 2500.

This, at most you will spend $15 more to go from 4GB to 8GB depending on that rated speed and latency. If you play BF3 it can and will use more of that extra memory. 8GB is the new gaming standard. I have 16GB but I actually use that (hover around 12GB use often) but you will definitely won't need that for any video game any time soon, or till at least 32bit windows is finally dead.


Speaking of speed and latency, on SB chips don't bother going over 1600MHz @ CL9 latency or on IB 1866MHz @ CL9 latency. Anymore adds stress on your CPU's IMC and can and probably will effect your possible CPU overclocking result.


As for I7 brand, ignore it unless you need the the extra threads for video encoding, folding, 3D editing, or bit mining. Stick to either the 2500k or the 3570k, to which i personally say the 3570k for it's lower power consumption and PCI-E 3 feature.

You will most likely get a Z77 motherboard and I've seen alot of users have issues using SB chips with Z77 on all brands, (MSI, Gigabyte,ASUS) in particular with OCing, and S-states (hibernation, sleep mode), another reason to just get the 3570k to avoid compatibility problems.


I also see you're interested in AMD, if you're going that route don't bother with FX "Bulldozer", they're slower than their previous generation Thuban/Phenom II clock to clock. FX is widely known in the OC community using an absurd amount of power use when overclocked also.

For AMD stick to either Thuban X6 or the Phenom II X4 960T (Thuban chip with 4 cores, has similar overclocking and better IMC compared to Deneb) or 970.


and lastly

BUILD IT YOURSHELF AND SAVE.

[Esk]

When 6 years ago? 8GB is the minimum now.

Hardly 8GB is the norm lol

Anyway I think:
i5/7, Make sure it has a K for Oc'ing (7 if you'll use the PC enough to take advantage of HT, if your just gaming i5)
Mobo : to many to pick from and all dependent if its OC or just plug and play you want.
4-8GB ram,
SSD (at least for OS),
Gtx 670 (factory OC if your not ok with doing it yourself) Asus holds the win here last time i looked for factory OC

IMO this sort of build is the best all around package,taking cost/performance into it, While AMD were king of the budget gaming rig imo (3 AMD builds but 2 with nvidia gpu's), atm i just cant get systems i think will overall be worth the money saved when I'm helping m8's put together rigs.

Speaking of speed and latency, on SB chips don't bother going over 1600MHz @ CL9 latency or on IB 1866MHz @ CL9 latency. Anymore adds stress on your CPU's IMC and can and probably will effect your possible CPU overclocking result.


As for I7 brand, ignore it unless you need the the extra threads for video encoding, folding, 3D editing, or bit mining. Stick to either the 2500k or the 3570k, to which i personally say the 3570k for it's lower power consumption and PCI-E 3 feature.


I also see you're interested in AMD, if you're going that route don't bother with FX "Bulldozer", they're slower than their previous generation Thuban/Phenom II clock to clock. FX is widely known in the OC community using an absurd amount of power use when overclocked also.

For AMD stick to either Thuban X6 or the Phenom II X4 960T (Thuban chip with 4 cores, has similar overclocking and better IMC compared to Deneb) or 970.


and lastly

BUILD IT YOURSHELF AND SAVE.

100% on the above comments, my only pondering is in favour of the SB over Ivy but I Oc and Ivy is a fair bit warmer once the volts start flowing.
Not sure which way i would go if i was building one today, but i think SB still.

[Dhalmel]

100% on the above comments, my only pondering is in favour of the SB over Ivy but I Oc and Ivy is a fair bit warmer once the volts start flowing.
Not sure which way i would go if i was building one today, but i think SB still.

Yeah IB is warmer, but anything below 85'c~90'c is fine. IB can take the higher temps. This OC temp issue maybe fixed in a future revision due to tri gate transistor manufacturing need to mature and Intel using a real flux solder to the IHS and cpu die, not cheap TIM.


My 3770k tops at 75'c in normal use @ 4.5GHz. Prime95 pushes it to 84~86'c with small size FFTs, during a 48 hour stress test.

[Achtzen]

Ram is so cheap now, there's no point in getting less than 8gig. Actually it would be stupid to get anything less than 8gig. Yes, if you only play FFXIV, you won't be close to 4gig of usage. But if you play in window mode, with a music player running, web pages, some other tools, you do get close to 4gig. You are still ok, but the day you will want to run that new cool software while playing if you go over 4gig of ram usage, you will cry.

It is more about being futureproof for about 20$ more (4gb vs 8gb) than actually needing it.

Also the i5 3450 is cheaper, newer and better than a i5 2500. But if you want to overclock, get the 2500k.

I lol'd at the part about future proof

[Randelmire]

I lol'd at the part about future proof

Why?

It's kinda true. I know future proof in computers doesn't really exist, but having 8 gb at start will most likely prevent you from having to upgrade your ram in a few years.

You should also consider the fact that in 2 or 3 years, who knows, maybe DDR4 ram will get released. (Some websites I have read say maybe next year) In this case, DDR3 will get rarer and prices will go up. A lot. (I know, I had to buy DDR2 ram not long about. 4 GB of DDR2 ram was the same price as 8 gb of DDR3 ram...)