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Thread: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

  1. #1

    Default Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    Why are you upgrading?
    I want to turn my old Workstation into a decent gaming pc, something that can run games like Total War-Warhammer or the Witcher 3 at High or Very High. i already have the OS and I want to re-use the Case, which is a Coolermaster HAF-912.

    What is your budget?
    My Budget is $1,100, I'd like to not go over

    Where do you live?
    I live in California

    Can you build this computer yourself, or do you need to buy prebuilt?
    Yes I can build it myself, and I have a friend who can help as well

    What are you current system specs?
    OS: Windows 7 Pro- 64 bit
    HDD: WD Caviar Blue 1TB (recently replaced, thank you warranty )
    Ram: Super Talent DDR3-1333 8GB (2 x 4GB) CL9 Dual Channel
    PSU: Coolmax CUG-600B 600w Unplug Power Supply
    MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P67X-UD3-B3
    CPU: Intel I3-2100
    GPU: Asus GTX 550 TI 1GB
    WIFI: D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N PCI-Express Desktop Adapter
    Case: HAF-912

    What screen resolution will you be using?
    1920x1080

    What websites/stores can you purchase parts from?
    Newegg
    PCpartpicker
    Amazon

    Do you need to purchase peripherals?
    No

    When do you plan to buy this computer/parts?
    Now

    Thanks for any suggestions

  2. #2
    z3n's Avatar State of Mind
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    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    Hey man, long time no see.
    For the CPU (and this affects your entire route in regards to the computer) you have two options, either stick with your current motherboard (it seems to have a 1155 socket type) and buy a 3770k (which is a 1155 socket) with some watercooling on top for a clock speed of 4.4ghz or so. Or upgrade your motherboard (costs money and cuts into your budget which could probably take another 970 card or even an EVGA 980ti if you don't upgrade) and go with a 6770k or some other 1150 socket type CPU. As a starting estimate for the graphics card I'd say go for the 970 card however speaking from experience SLI is an option as well (you can only SLI two of the same types).

    It gives some extra needed FPS and keeps you from upgrading for a few years or worrying about sub par FPS (below 30) while running all/any games on ultra or very high. You can even play some older games on 4k DSR (tech from NVidia for 1920x1080 monitors which emulates/scales up frames to 4k then rescales to 1080p keeping some of that 4k definition). The newer CPU may see you make some decent frame rate increases, honestly however I think going with a better graphics card setup + a CPU that doesn't bottleneck them (an i7/i5 + watercooling like the h100i) is a better route than the newer CPU + mb. I recommend EVGA/Nvidia as a graphics card route, their drivers are supported by every single game I've played and they're never really behind in such things, whereas I hear AMD is and not only that apparently their parts break more frequently. They 'used' to be good according to the older two tech guys in my family but aren't anymore, so I'd steer clear of them just speaking from personal experience. The only issue I have with EVGA/Nvidia is the fact that one of my superclocked cards is not working properly, I could cash it in for the warranty/get a new one but I can't be bothered as they're quite high end cards and there's no current disadvantage at stock clock vs superclock. I will be able to give you better information once I get home though, after I do a benchmark comparison of my machine versus a 6770k in Attila as you want to play Warhammer.
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  3. #3
    z3n's Avatar State of Mind
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    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    So here is my results in the Attila benchmark test using extreme settings (with a few visual upgrade tweaks like x16 instead of x4 and MLAA) a 3770k using a h100i cooler overclocked to 4.4ghz.
    Druout's Intel Core i7 5930K beats it by 16 fps but it's not bad considering the chip is now 4 years old and that a 5930k is one of the server type CPU's I overlooked because it was a) more expensive and b) 6 core rather than 4 core. Keep in mind he is the 'top' result in extreme quality.

    Not to influence your own thinking so take it how you will but my thinking is that the 3770k should be fine and will let you spend more on the graphics card setup which will definitely get you through the Witcher 3 (according to my own results). Although I am not 100% sure how it will work with a 970 card or 980ti, in theory it should be fine as my own cards are pretty powerful even to this day. I definitely don't plan on upgrading for some time as I'm still running ultra on the latest games, my thinking is that you probably can as well with that budget. Also, I did also do a few graphics tweaks in the nvidia control panel to maximize my visuals like changing the texture quality to very high, turning on quality ambient occulsion etc. Even if I don't care very much, it's nice to take advantage of such things for the rare moment where you pay attention to the visuals (I'm one of the ones playing ancient games still ). And not to give you an information overload but remember to try to equalize your CPU power vs GPU power, don't get a i3 for example and buy a GTX Titan X or 980 ti, it just won't work. Also, don't believe what people tell you about RAM/video RAM, they said '2gb ram will last you' then '3gb will be fine' and '4gb ram will be fine' etc, it always changes. So if you love to see highly detailed textures, choose the card with the higher VRAM. Hopefully that helps.


    EDIT:
    Actually I just noticed there's a seperate section for SLI, it seems like I got this before as an extreme result in SLI although I guess I was using less graphics settings on that one. And I reccomend going through those, it looks like there's some 970's/980's in there which should give you a good idea.
    max 50 / min 31 / avg 40,7 - z3n, Intel Core i7 3770K, 4.4 GHz, Asus Maximus V Extreme, 32 GB DDR3 RAM 1866 MHz CL 10-12-12-312T@1.50 Volts DualChannel, 2x EVGA Titan, Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit
    Last edited by z3n; May 01, 2016 at 06:10 PM.
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  4. #4

    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    Can you suggest a Water Cooler if i go the i7 3770k Route?

  5. #5
    z3n's Avatar State of Mind
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    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    I have a h100i on mine and it's working great. The reviews on it were very good at the time and it looks like nothing has changed, there might be a newer (or better) version for the same price. It seems really reliable though, so if you're looking for that I'd go with it.


    Actually it belatedly occurs to me to tell you about your PSU.

    Your current one is fine if you only take two 970's or one 980 ti. (both within your budget).
    The 3770k will only take 12 watts more than your current one.
    The 6700k would take 26 watts more.

    Two 970's = 290 watt's, so your current PSU is fine for 970 SLI. However the single 980 TI would be at 250 (anotherwords if you were considering SLI with two of them that would be a little risky in regards to your PSU). I'd say get a single 980 ti but it's really up to you. Also I reccomend comparing the EVGA price on the site directly to others. Also note there's all sorts of 'fancy' things like SC and so on, I'd only bother with the classified one if any. Those are actually tested, unlike the SC which aren't worth it (speaking from experience). You could buy the
    EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti CLASSIFIED GAMING ACX 2.0+, as it is apparently in stock right now if you wanted to right from their site but it is more than the usual price. ACX is just a different type of fan for cooling. I'd look around and compare all the prices, check every single site you trust (ncix, newegg, amazon). And remember backorder can take quite some time, so try to find one that is available.
    Last edited by z3n; May 02, 2016 at 12:06 AM.
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  6. #6
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    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    Seeing as you're already getting advice on the build I'm not going to delve into that, but I have to say one thing about the PSU.
    Quote Originally Posted by z3n
    Two 970's = 290 watt's, so your current PSU is fine for 970 SLI.
    It's wattage is probably enough, yes, but I would absolutely get rid of that PSU and buy a quality product by a quality manufacturer solely for peace of mind. EVGA is an easy brand to recommend, they sell some very good power supplies at reasonable prices.

    For the GPU, it'd be a good idea to wait for the release of the new generation of Nvidia GPUs. That'll both give you more options to choose from and lower the prices of the 900 series GPUs. And SLI is only recommendable if you get the cards cheap so like z3n said I would rather get a single more powerful card (or be happy with a single lower high end GPU like I do - GTX 970 owner here). And by the way if you don't care about ShadowPlay (gameplay recording), AMD R9 390X is a good alternative to the $300-400 Nvidia cards. It's slightly more powerful than GTX 970 and has over two times the video memory.

    And one more thing:
    Quote Originally Posted by b257
    Can you suggest a Water Cooler if i go the i7 3770k Route?
    You really don't need a water cooler unless you're going to overclock the crap out of your CPU. Which is really not worth it. With the money you spend on water cooling you can just as well buy a more powerful CPU and a cheap aftermarket air cooler.

  7. #7
    z3n's Avatar State of Mind
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    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    EVGA is an easy brand to recommend, they sell some very good power supplies at reasonable prices.
    I've also seen people say that, although I went with a Corsair AX1200I because they're (corsair) are apparently very good with their PSU's.
    However I'd say try and get away with your current PSU to save money to spend elsewhere, as your current PSU seems to have served you fine thus far and should be able to further on.

    For the GPU, it'd be a good idea to wait for the release of the new generation of Nvidia GPUs.
    This is a good idea and something I'm actually doing for my uncle before I put his computer together but I'd forgotten as I was waiting for the release days and don't keep up to date with much computer related lately. In fact, I just noticed they're showcasing (not necessarily launching) the new 1080 within the week, I'm not 100% sure whether it will be better than the 980 ti classified but it might be worth thinking about waiting another month or two. Keep in mind they (graphics card makers) do experience delays at times setting them back months, so you could end up waiting longer. I'd check out their showcase, read up on what people are saying (particularly the company if anything) and so on you may be able to get a better sense of the release date that way.

    You really don't need a water cooler unless you're going to overclock the crap out of your CPU. Which is really not worth it. With the money you spend on water cooling you can just as well buy a more powerful CPU and a cheap aftermarket air cooler.
    Keep in mind the 3770k is just about as powerful as they go for the 1155 socket before the price nearly doubles and you hit the mystical land of the server chip. You could alternatively get a 3570k, I hear they're close in comparison to the 3770k's performance not sure whether it's worth doing that though as the 3770k can probably overclock somewhat higher than the average 3570k. And remember not to go past 1.3v when overclocking. Despite k meaning it's an overclock geared chip 1.3v on a 3770k is intels recommended limit if I remember correctly.
    Last edited by z3n; May 03, 2016 at 06:28 PM.
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  8. #8
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    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    Quote Originally Posted by z3n
    I've also seen people say that, although I went with a Corsair AX1200I because they're (corsair) are apparently very good with their PSU's.
    I too bought a Corsair solely out of the belief that if it says Corsair on it, it can't be bad (RM750). But EVGA (and some other brands) does make the better PSUs in the sub-$100 price range, whereas if you buy a $100 Corsair PSU you're paying $70 for the PSU and $30 for the Corsair logo. I'm obviously not saying that Corsair PSUs are bad, just that there are cheaper alternatives that are just as good or better.
    Quote Originally Posted by z3n
    However I'd say try and get away with your current PSU to save money to spend elsewhere, as your current PSU seems to have served you fine thus far and should be able to further on.
    That's up to personal preference. I would not take any risks.
    Quote Originally Posted by z3n
    Keep in mind the 3770k is just about as powerful as they go for the 1155 socket before the price nearly doubles and you hit the mystical land of the server chip. You could alternatively get a 3570k, I hear they're close in comparison to the 3770k's performance not sure whether it's worth doing that though as the 3770k can probably overclock somewhat higher than the average 3570k. And remember not to go past 1.3v when overclocking. Despite k meaning it's an overclock geared chip 1.3v on a 3770k is intels recommended limit if I remember correctly.
    I was thinking about maybe spending the water cooler money on a new low-end Z97/H97 motherboard and an i7-4790K, then slapping a decent $20 air cooler on it. Better performance without the need to overclock (and yet the possibility to do that will exist).

  9. #9

    Default Re: Suggestion For Turning Workstation into Gaming PC

    Turns out i'm not gonna be able to use the case after all, had a little accident taking out the motherboard, I don't wanna talk about it .

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