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Hey Gerbils! I've had the same system config for the last few years, and I'm debating about the new generation of hardware.

Here's what i've currently got. This system is hooked up to one of those Korean IPS 1440p monitors (60hz refresh rate) via D-DVI cable (only input allowed). Primary use of the system is gaming. I like RTS mostly, with a bit of FPS thrown in there

Motherboard: AsRock P67 PRO3
CPU: i5-2500K overclocked to 4.5Ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR3
GPU: MSI GTX 970 4G GAMING
PSU: 550W ANTEC (i think i've been hearing some odd buzzing from this recently, makes me nervous)
Sound Card: Xonar DG
Storage: 512GB SSD, 250GB SSD, 2TB HDD
OS: Win10 64-bit

The upgrades i've been thinking about are GPU (1070 or 1080), PSU, and monitor (specifically 1440p 144hz or G-sync).

I've been reading about the variable refresh rate technology, I'm more inclined to solve it from the GPU side (get a GPU powerful enough to max out framerate), while the VRR guys get their s**t figured out.

What do you guys think?

RTS.... Like.... League of Legends / Dota 2? Or more complex like Starcraft/Civilization/etc? I wouldn't be surprised if your GTX970 can push > 120fps on LoL or Dota2. Have you tested with FRAPS?

Once you get into modern FPS's good luck maxing out a 120Hz/144Hz monitor with a single GPU unless you turn down the details. That's why VRR is good to have.

The EVGA 550 G2 goes on sale for $60 from time to time. Since your current PSU hasn't died died, maybe save that link to your favorites and keep an eye on sales.

Sputnik7 wrote:

with a bit of FPS thrown in there ... I'm more inclined to solve it from the GPU side (get a GPU powerful enough to max out framerate), while the VRR guys get their s**t figured out.

As DPete27 touches on, what kind and just how important is it to you (FPS that is)?

Re your PSU, depending on how nervous you are, you could replace it with something like the EVGA 550W G2. And then wait for Navi et al.

RTS like Company of Heroes 2, Civ5, Total War series.

FPS like R6 Siege, BF1 (maybe), BF4

It's true that VRR shines when framerates are changing. This is why i was considering 1080 for 1440p, just to make sure I've got the graphical horsepower.

Of course, I could turn down the eye candy, but where's the fun in that! (obviously not being a competitive FPS player)

I think a ~144Hz 1440p IPS Gsync would be a great upgrade for you. CPU isn't bad at all, especially with that OC. If you can afford it, i'd spring for a GTX 1080 + 144Hz IPS 1440p Gsync. That'd be a pretty big upgrade for you. Granted, that's also ~1000-1300 bucks. Do you have a budget you're looking at hitting?

PSU's aren't very sexy, but if they fail they can take other components with them.

On the monitor front, keep in mind that monitors frequently are the components that remain useful for the longest -- I have had monitors stay in service for 8+ years. They are also the one component that you use pretty close to 100% of the time that you are actively using the system -- you're looking at it virtually all the time (give or take a few OCD glances to the side...) Given that, I would recommend taking your time and researching to be absolutely certain that the one you go with is one that meets all your needs and that you like. It's worth spending a little extra up front to get a good one. An extra $100 amortized over 5+ years is a small price to pay for enjoying looking at it instead of constantly thinking "why did I buy this piece of ^%@#$% ?"

On the GPU front, I really think you may be better off waiting a month or three. Let the retailers work through the high-demand/short-supply phase with the new generation of cards and let the models with custom coolers become more available. Right now prices on the cards that are available are inflated somewhat, so you may get a better deal in say early fall than you will now.

You make a very good point K-L-Waster.

It's not like things are unplayable with my 970.

Splitting it up would also help with the high cost that DancinJack brought up. A high end GPU + VRR monitor is essentially a brand new computer tower at this point.

Currently having an IPS panel, am I giving up a ton going back to TN? I'm eyeing the Dell S2716DG. Backup is one of those Asus ROG monitors

Beyond the power supply issue, one of the largest upgrades IMO is a larger monitor. Those 35/34" monitors make a difference (when compared to 27" or smaller).

If it were me I'd stop by a retail chain that has the monitors you'd be interested in and looking at the differences, then figuring-out if you have the graphics card/game requirements to support that monitor.

Yeah, your system is sound. Nothing I would immediately change. I was like you about a year ago with a 3770K, GTX970 and 85Hz Korean 1440p screens and the upgrade itch.

Since I didn't need more GPU, CPU or SSD space, I bought myself new peripherals to scratch the itch; New backlit mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse, and studio-grade speakers. I'm currently looking for a high-refresh curved ultrawide and I think I've settled on 2560x1080 instead of 3440x1440 because I want high framerates without spending megabucks on graphics cards. It's not like many games even have the art assets to justify anything more than 1080p, based on my five years of 1440p experience.

If the PSU is 5+ years old, replace it before it dies rather than when it dies. Seasonic G550, Corsair CS550M, whatever you can find on sale that's 80+Gold.

Sputnik7 wrote:

Currently having an IPS panel, am I giving up a ton going back to TN? I'm eyeing the Dell S2716DG. Backup is one of those Asus ROG monitors

I have an Asus ROG PG278Q, which uses an AU Optronics 8-bit TN panel very similar to what the Dell S2716G uses. It's sitting next to an acer AHVA 27" monitor, and I actually prefer the color rendition of the Asus TN panel. When I first got the monitor, it was a bit washed out, which seems to be a common problem with many Asus ROG Swift monitors with a low gamma preset from the factory, but I downloaded an ICC profile from pcmonitors.info, and it greatly improved the richness and saturation of the colors without losing any detail.

The downsides are the narrower viewing angles of TN vs IPS/AHVA, but there is no color inversion on the Asus until very extreme top/bottom viewing angles, and it is working out very well for me. Your results may vary depending on desk/workplace setup.

Once you go VRR, it's hard to go back, I was running the Asus ROG Swift with a 970 for a couple months, and it did a really good job on the games I play (Overwatch, Witcher 3). Have since upgraded my GPU to a 1070, but the 970 was still doing well for me, just couldn't resist, and found a buyer for my old card.

Voldenuit wrote:

Once you go VRR, it's hard to go back, I was running the Asus ROG Swift with a 970 for a couple months, and it did a really good job on the games I play (Overwatch, Witcher 3). Have since upgraded my GPU to a 1070, but the 970 was still doing well for me, just couldn't resist, and found a buyer for my old card.

Heard that. I play those games on a PG279Q and a 980 ti

Hi Sputnik,
Some coil whine/buzz is not unusual.
Do you know what model the PSU is???????? Antec uses various manufacturers so it's hard to comment without knowing what model.

Others have already mentioned the best value/performance PSU in the EVGA 550 G2.
Just avoid EVGA's cheaper models--Anything Seasonic Gold and up is also worth considering...............

1070 seems a really good value card-thro rumors that NV has supply problems is keeping prices up-don't know when they are likely
to stabilize/drop--Probably not until AMD throws in some competition early 2017................
good luck.

This is my PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

I got it back in 2011.

I'm running the same CPU, GPU, and chipset. There really isn't much performance to be had by upgrading anything there. A better monitor with some form of adaptive sync would be nice, but there aren't many decent options available right now, and the market still needs to figure out where it's going. I say hold off on all fronts, and revisit things after Kaby Lake (which is what I'll be doing).

K-L-Waster wrote:

On the monitor front, keep in mind that monitors frequently are the components that remain useful for the longest -- I have had monitors stay in service for 8+ years. They are also the one component that you use pretty close to 100% of the time that you are actively using the system -- you're looking at it virtually all the time (give or take a few OCD glances to the side...) Given that, I would recommend taking your time and researching to be absolutely certain that the one you go with is one that meets all your needs and that you like. It's worth spending a little extra up front to get a good one. An extra $100 amortized over 5+ years is a small price to pay for enjoying looking at it instead of constantly thinking "why did I buy this piece of ^%@#$% ?"

The monitor is also what determines how much GPU you need. A 970 is about right for a cheap 1440p display, but a high refresh rate monitor would give a reason to care about the 1070/1080.

I run a system similar to the OP but with a GTX 960 and stock clock, a couple of games bottleneck the GPU on account of having a 1920x1200 display but otherwise it runs everything fine. More RAM wouldn't hurt, and replacing a cheap five year old PSU isn't a bad idea. Do bear in mind that the 2500k is the ancient kung-fu master of the CPU world and newer silicon doesn't have nearly the same OC potential.

Yeah I'm thinking about replacing my PSU and getting a VRR monitor.

I agree that my 2500K was one of the wisest PC component purchases I've made since starting to build PCs. Perhaps Kaby Lake will have enough cumulative 5% improvements over Sandy Bridge that I'll finally be tempted for a new CPU + mobo +DDR4.

Given that my PC at home is only used ~20-30% of the day, on average, should I expect my PSU to be wearing out by now?

Sputnik7 wrote:

Given that my PC at home is only used ~20-30% of the day, on average, should I expect my PSU to be wearing out by now?

Are you sure the buzzing isn't from the fan?

It could also be coil whine, as others have said.

If you're getting Voltage droops, you might be able to see this in motherboard monitoring tools (speedfan, motherboard-specific tools like Easytune, PC Probe, etc)

If you're getting noisy (electrical) output from the PSU, the onboard sound is often the first place this will show up. I had a (lousy) aerocool PSU that caused crackling on my onboard sound.

But a new (good) PSU would be quieter, more efficient, and probably more reliable anyway, given the age of your unit.

I can get a bit of coil whine out of my 970 in some very specific situations. I'm not familiar with that Antec specifically, but it looks like it was more towards the economical side of their PSU lineup at the time.

Bascially, I wouldn't be overly concerned about the PSU unless you're having an issue, but if you do a new build (Kaby Lake or what have you) I'd get a new one for sure.

K-L-Waster wrote:

On the monitor front, keep in mind that monitors frequently are the components that remain useful for the longest -- I have had monitors stay in service for 8+ years. They are also the one component that you use pretty close to 100% of the time that you are actively using the system -- you're looking at it virtually all the time (give or take a few OCD glances to the side...) Given that, I would recommend taking your time and researching to be absolutely certain that the one you go with is one that meets all your needs and that you like. It's worth spending a little extra up front to get a good one. An extra $100 amortized over 5+ years is a small price to pay for enjoying looking at it instead of constantly thinking "why did I buy this piece of ^%@#$% ?"

Yep, been there, done that. Had a few cheap TN monitors, and finally bought a pair of used U2412M's. I only wish I'd done it sooner. (Been wanting those for a while, but they're $300 new. Didn't really occur to me to hit up craigslist either, which worked out pretty well here - got them for $100, this stuff doesn't get outdated much, so I expect to use them for a while.)

Also as you are targeting high framerates, you will need to upgrade the ram for the highest speed you can reasonable afford something 2133+mhz helps with the framerates when over 100.

Your system is plenty powerful. I would hold off until you can build a system with PCI-E 4.0. Cannonlake in end of 2017? That would future proof your system a bit versus buying Skylake or Kabylake.