I have a 5 year old CYBERPOWERPC computer with the specs shown below.  The only change I made was to upgrade the  primary HD is a Samsung EVO 500gb,  I want to upgrade to be able to run my PMDG, Carenado, Rex,  ASN, and similar with all the bells and whistles on 3 screens at least 25FPS with decent slider settings.  Thinking I want at least a new 970 card, and an overclocked I7 6770 chip.  Advice on what to keep, what to replace appreciated,  particularly with respect to the MB, CPU, Video card, Ram,  cooling etc.   If you think I should just buy new,  that's fine -- I value your opinions!!    Budget isn't really an issue -- I want a great rig,  without wasting money. 

 

Old system:

ID-INFO          260535 BLKPEARLZ                         1
MODEL1           C SERIES                                 1       
KB-152-101       BLACK XTREME GEAR MULTIMEDIA/ INTERNE        
MO-115-101       BLACK XTREME GEAR OPTICAL USB GAMING   
CU-197-108       OEM INTEL i7-950 3.06GHZ 8M LGA 1366    
HD-504-106       80GB INTELl X25-M 2.5 INCH SATA MLC S    1      (NOW A 500 GB SAMSUNG SSD)
HD-403-301       640GB SATA III 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB CAC 
RM-317-405       A-DATA GAMING SERIES 2GB DDR3 1600     
FA-WATER-104     ASETEK 550LC 120MM WATERCOOLER         
FA-104-116       CASE FAN 120 MM                        
CS-130-158       BLACK COOLERMASTER HAF 912 MID NO POW 
CD-135-302       ASUS 8X BLU-RAY COMOBO DRIVE          
MB-340-121       GIGABYTE X58A-UD3R 3WAY CROSSFIRE & S   
MISC             NO SLI/CROSSFIRE                      
PS-117-115       COOLERMASTER SILENT PRO 850W POWER SU    1      
MISC             ONBOARD 7.1 SOUND                        1        0.00        0.00
VC-207-102       NVIDIA GTX 570 1.2 GB GDDR5 PCI-E        1 

If budget isn't an issue, I would build new. The only thing I would keep from your existing system is the Samsung Evo SSD. The case is quite good but would limit your options if you go for an AIO liqud cooling upgrade which you'd need if you go for a serious overclock. I live in the UK and this is the system I'm looking at upgrading to in the summer:

CPU:                   £275      Intel i7-6700K
Motherboard:      £175     Asus Maximus VIII Hero (or, to save a little, Asus Maximus VIII Ranger for £145)
RAM (2x8Gb):     £90       G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series F4-3000C14D-16GVR 16GB (8GB x 2) DDR4 3000 MHz CL14-14-14-34
SSD (500Gb):     £110     Samsung 850 Evo 500Gb
HHD (2Tb):         £60       Western Digital WD20EZRZ WD Blue 2TB
PSU (850W):      £115      EVGA SuperNova G2 850w 220-G2-0850-XR (10-year warranty)
CPU Cooler:       £100      Corsair H110i GT Hydro
Case:                 £70        Phanteks Enthoo Pro (big, well made and easy to work inside with lots of cooling options and as good as cases costing much more - why pay the extra?)

Total:                £995 + a GPU of your choice.

The prices would likely be less if you live in the US. You'd obviously save some more by not needing the SSD. I've already upgraded my current system with the case, cooler and a GTX 970 in anticipation of my new build.

 if you go for an AIO liqud cooling upgrade which you'd need if you go for a serious overclock. 

 

 

 

No, that's not correct at all!!

 

You don't at all "need" an AIO liquid cooler if "you go for a serious overclock".

 

The Noctua NH-D15/15S... are both coolers that can handle a "serious overclock". Even the old NH-D14 that I have in my Ivy Bridge PC handles a serious overclock and it's quiet. The 6700K is pretty consistant, most chips will overclock between 4.6 and 4.8 GHz. The Noctua has you covered.

 

In fact there are quite a few high end air coolers that can handle a decent overclock. 

 

I wouldn't have opted for a D15S for my Skyale PC if it was not up to the task.

Keep the case and PSU and go to a new motherboard, CPU, GPU, and RAM.

Bert and others, do u have any favorite MB and ram for this upgrade?

Asus Z170-A mother board with G.Skill Ripjaws RAM

Thanks,  Bert.

You always seem to have the answer!!  John

A buddy of mine just built a new system...

Bert and others, do u have any favorite MB and ram for this upgrade?

 

 

 

I went for the Asus Z170-A... however, it would be remiss of me to recommend that motherboard to "everyone". It depends on your requirements. For example if you're looking for built in WiFi, you won't get it. If you would like to consider that board, then you should look at the specs and decide if it has everything you need. Your requirements may not be mine.

 

For RAM, myself and Westamn have been promoting GKill Ripjaw V RAM for quite a while. GSkill designed the RAM with Skylake in mind and use the best quality Samsung modules. The 3200 kit is especially good.

 

 

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Whether you upgrade your existing rig or buy all new, this might be helpful. What I went for and why...

 

 

 

I went for...

 

Lian Li X510 - This is the big variable of course. You can buy a case for a few pounds or many hundreds of pounds. My preference is for high end aluminium enclosures.

 

Intel i7 6700K

 

Noctua NH-D15S - I don't favour AIO water coolers. I prefer large tower heat sinks that have zero chance of leaks, no chance of a pump becoming noisy or failing and are quiet. The Noctua enables high overclocks with little noise.

 

Windows 10 - Don't sim much these days, so any incompatibility with W10 and flight sim is less of an issue.

 

Asus Z170-A - Didn't need anything more than this. It overclocks well, seems reliable and has all the features I desire. Good price too.

 

GKill Ripjaw V 3200 MHz. GSkill use top-notch Samsung modules and designed the RAM specifically with Skylake in mind. Great RAM.

 

EVGA GTX 980Ti Classified - Was considering the Kingpin, but a bit pricey and the 980Ti is enough. may switch to the new Nvidia architecture some time in the future. EVGA, so great support and reliability. 

 

Samsung 850 Evo 1TB - Didn't need anything more. Didn't really need M.2 or U.2. Fast enough for now and reliable. I don't subscribe to the multi drive philosophy, not necessary these days in my opinion.

 

Enermax 850 Watt multi-rail PSU - More wattage than I really need but has the advantage of hitting the most efficient 50% range the majority of the time. Multi-rail as it's less likely to damage other components in the system if the short circuit protection fails. This is due to a lower OCP trip point per rail, compared with a single rail PSU.

 

I should add that the Enermax PSU is a "semi-modular" PSU. I don't see the point in fully modular PSU's. We all need certain cables, and they are the cables attached to a semi-modular PSU. Different story if you wish to replace all the cables with fancy coloured ones of course.

 

Samsung Portable Blue-ray writer - My Lian Li enclosure has no optical drive facility, so opted for an external drive for the rare occasions I use optical media. 

 

Still to buy keyboard, mouse and monitor. 

 

Those were my choices and thought process.

Great build, Martin!  I think I concur on the MOBO and Ram,  but don't know if I will pay for the 980 Ti version.  For my use with FSX,  it might be overkill. I was also hoping to be able to have an easy upgrade by saving my Samsung SSD which contains my OS and all the FSX stuff.  Looking further into it,  I see there may be issues, and a re-install of the OS, drivers, etc.,  will all be required.  If anyone has a cookbook recipe for doing such an upgrade without going nuts,  I would love to see it.   Thanks to all~  J

The case is quite good but would limit your options if you go for an AIO liqud cooling upgrade which you'd need if you go for a serious overclock.

 

 

 

You don't at all "need" an AIO liquid cooler if "you go for a serious overclock".

 

The Noctua NH-D15/15S... are both coolers that can handle a "serious overclock". Even the old NH-D14 that I have in my Ivy Bridge PC handles a serious overclock and it's quiet. The 6700K is pretty consistant, most chips will overclock between 4.6 and 4.8 GHz. The Noctua has you covered.

 

 

In fact there are quite a few high end air coolers that can handle a decent overclock.

 

 

I wouldn't have opted for a D15S for my Skyale PC if it was not up to the task.

 

You've misinterpreted what I said. I wasn't saying that he must have an AIO cooler for a serious overclock. He already has a liquid cooler which is quite an old design with a small 120mm radiator. I was saying that he would need to go for an upgrade to his existing AIO cooler if he wanted to overclock his proposed CPU significantly.

Fair enough.