Build Advice Upgrade Advice for gaming rig [Haswell or IB-E?]

Updated from original request!

Hi all, I'm considering upgrading my gaming rig, however I'm not entirely sure which upgrade would give me the best return. I don't exactly have a specific metric on this, which makes things a little vague as a result, so may be best to start with the template:

Budget:
No specific budget as such, but not silly money either! For example, if the £150 MoBo is better than the £100 then I'll go for that, but not the £350...

Main uses of intended build:
Gaming (including new releases, AC4:Black Flag etc.)

Parts required:
Motherboard, RAM, CPU

Previous build information (list details of parts):
Intel Core i7 920
Foxconn Renaissance x58 (V1)
3GB (3x 1GB) Corsair Dominator 1600MHz 8-8-8-24 (that runs at 1333MHz according to Win8.1 task manager and 533MHz according to CPU-Z)
GeForce GTX 560 Ti (very soon upgrading to EVGA ACX GTX780)

Monitor resolution:
1920x1200

Storage requirements:
recently bought an SSD so not part of this scope!

will you be overclocking:
not intending to...

Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers):
not specifically... I'm not intending to use SLi which might affect MoBo decision, but options are nice!

Extra information about desired system (updated):
Through extensive internet searching and recommendations/suggestions from this thread so far, I have tried upgrading my RAM with a straight swap-out for 3x 4GB which resulting in a ridiculously slow system that I have not been able to solve, even with overclocking or multiple BIOS tweaks. My conclusion is that either the memory controller of my i7 920 or the BIOS of the Renaissance is simply not up to task.

This leaves me with the following options:
1. replace the motherboard with a decent one (e.g. Asus P6T Deluxe) secondhand for between £100 and £150 inc postage based on eBay prices after a quick search - and perhaps find the CPU is the part that is lacking, requiring a better CPU as well
2. upgrade the CPU with a secondhand i7-975 I've seen online for £210 - and perhaps find the MoBo is still the problem
3. Return the 3x 4GB RAM, pass this system on to my partner (who has lower gaming requirements than me!) and upgrade completely in March (bonus! woo!).

After weighing up my options, I have decided to do 3. Partly for the "throwing good money after bad" potential from options 1. and/or 2. especially when a quick tot up for a completely new upgraded system to the latest architectures is not far off the combined cost of 1. and 2. anyway...

The question, therefore, is whether I go for Haswell (i7-4770K, unnecessary on-board GPU) or Ivy Bridge E (i7-4820K, more costly, no unnecessary GPU, quad-channel RAM, completely unlocked core in case I do want to overclock later)

Some reviews around are suggesting there is not a huge performance difference between 4770K and 4820K but there are surprisingly few 4820K reviews to compare with...

Thanks all for your help so far and ongoing!

 

I would up the ram to at least 6GB if not 12GB and invest in a cooler and overclock. The 920 should still be good for sime time to come if you do otherwise you'll have to invest more in a new CPU and possibly motherboard which isnt necessary currently. Maybe look at a new GPU but again your card isn't bad. While your not looking at storage, a fresh install and new disk is always nice since it gives that fresh snappy feeling. Tho that shouldnt be an issue with your ssd.

 

12GB RAM is certainly the amount I was thinking of if I was to upgrade the RAM...

Perhaps I should add that I am already seeing drops in frame rates and issues with certain aspects of games (the giant bell in the windy tower of Tomb Raider being an example that slowed to a slide show until I turned off Ambient Occlusion) so there is something about the setup that is insufficient; I'm just not sure which is the bottleneck as in OP.

I am not really intending to over clock simply because I have never done so before and would rather not learn the hard way! I have a Noctua tower cooler and a Silverstone FT02 so am not short on cooling power.

 

Overclock the CPU a bit, add some more RAM and get a new GPU, maybe a 770.
That should keep you going for a good time yet. The 920 still has plenty of grunt.

 

OK, that's two votes for stick with CPU, shall go the upgrade GPU and RAM route then unless additional people advise differently!

 

I had a near identical base setup to you (it looks like I ordered the parts 5 years ago yesterday so it has really put in some work!). 2 years ago I upped it to 12gb of RAM, put in an SSD and a 570 and it's done everything I've asked since. I did do a mild OC on the 920 and I have to say it is really easy, even for someone cack-handed like me, who had no idea what they were doing.

However it sounds like you are more of a gamer than me so I can't attest to how it handles the new and flashy stuff.

I'm putting in a second hand 770 tomorrow, so I can let you know if it makes any material difference if you like.

 

Likewise it was pretty much around this time 5 years ago I built this system, too! Original GPU was a GTX 280 which crapped out on me so I upgraded the warranty replacement for the 560 Ti. It has played things at mostly full graphics since, but games like Skyrim and Tomb Raider stressed it a bit too much at the full top end. Now seems like the right time for me to upgrade now that frame rates are starting to down unless I drop the settings...

GPU upgrade results would be useful as a benchmark!

 

I upgraded from a 560ti to a 670 not too long ago on my i5 750 and it made quite the difference... though I upgrade to 1440p display as well so... I do kick myself for not going with a 4GB vram GPU. I agree with budget GPU + more system ram would make more sense. A whole platform upgrade would need 2x to 3x the budget allotment.

 

Had a trusty 4850 originally, still going strong in another box.

My guess is you're going to be fine with the RAM/GPU bump. Skyrim ran pretty smoothly on mine with 12gb & 570. Assuming no catastrophes I'll let you know on the 770...

 

I put in the 770 over the weekend and it easily handles Skyrim on ultra as far as I can tell. I have to say I'm not blown away by the difference as yet, I wouldn't pay full price meself...maybe something a bit cheaper would give you more bang for your buck over the 560ti?

edit - also it is a good inch and a half longer than my old card, I don't see what case you have but just something to keep in mind if space is tight.

 

I have a FT02 so space is not really an issue (and those air penetrators mean the GPU barely spins up!) unless the power connectors are on the end of a long card rather than side...

When you say not blown away by difference, do you mean not a huge improvement and you're still seeing some dropped frames, or is it because above a certain FPS you can't visibly see any further improvement?

 

I wasn't having a huge amount of frame-rate problems with the 570 before it broke. New games will show the improvement I'm sure...

Power connectors are indeed on the side, just thought I would mention it. I've got a decent sized lian li and it can't take too many more generations of expansion if they keep this up.

But in summary, RAM/GPU and I reckon you'll be golden!

 

Well I'm now completely stumped...

I went for the RAM upgrade first and a pack of 12GB Corsair Dominators (3x 4GB) arrived today. When I swap out the old RAM for the new sticks and boot up, however, the PC is an absolute DOG slow...

I just don't understand; nothing else has changed, but the PC is slow as hell...

I've already tried changing between "Auto" and "XMP" in the BIOS to no effect, and I can't see anything extremely out-of-ordinary on CPU-Z other than the "auto" config giving me 7-7-7-19 when they should be 9-9-9-24. All 12GB are registered in CPU-Z and Task Manager and I already tried checking that there aren't any duff sticks.

I will confess to not knowing a damn thing about memory timings (I assumed I could just swap out the RAM for bigger sticks and be on my way) and when I try and use the "manual" RAM timing in BIOS there are... extra... entries that I don't know anything about in addition to the quoted-on-package timings. The default RAM voltage is 1.5V compared to quoted-on-packaging 1.65V but even setting that in BIOS doesn't change anything!

Searching the internet is no help here, as all the results for "RAM increase slows down PC" (and similar) gives results for DDR1 and 2, and only one result for a "modern" rig about 32GB of RAM and they fixed that with a tweak to an onboard graphics card, which I obviously don't have...

Anyone have any clue what could be wrong here?

 

Have you got 64-bit Windows installed?

 

Of course. Windows 8.1 64-bit, all 12GB are listed as available in task manager (right this moment "in use" = 3.3GB, "available" = 8.7GB)

The Page File is currently 2944MB according to Windows settings so I don't think that's the problem...

 

Not sure if that's any help, but those are mine (triple channel slots are identical for 1,3,5).

Seems like there is quite a lot using Google for something like "Triple Channel RAM slows computer"...

 

Have you tried resetting the bios since upgrading the ram?

 

How come you are running such sucky speeds? It not do its rated speeds?

 

Yours are almost identical to mine, so why are yours working but mine not? Only the tRFC is different (much higher for me atm, something like 138) but searching for explanation of tRFC says higher = stable?

I hadn't tried those specific search terms so I'll have a dig. Quick searching before bed last night hinted I might have more luck in dual channel but you're clearly doing ok... are you using XMP or manual timings in BIOS?

yes, no improvement
Also checked that I'm running the latest BIOS version, which it appears I am (Foxconn haven't updated it since 2010 it seems)

The memory clock is a multiplier of the base CPU clock, which in the case of the i7 920 is 133.3 MHz giving 2.66 GHz CPU (x20 multiplier) and 1066 MHz memory (x8 multiplier, DDR!)

 

Page file settings might be worth a look actually. Are they all set to 'auto'?

I'd probably do an install of Windows on a spare HDD as a test, but that's just me. Other things ringing bells - Chipset drivers, video drivers...