So i have been thinking about this for awhile now, and the main thing putting me off is that i hear theirs supposed to be some new processors and cards coming out this year, but i haven't kept up with whats new lately so im wondering if i should wait or just build now... My last upgrade was back in 2011 when i bought a 6970 and a 2500k along with a new motherboard, thats been great and i guess its still fine but im sorta in the mood to build a new one even though theirs not a ton of things it struggles with. Any advice would be welcome, thanks!

Wait for the Nvidia 800 series to come out and drop the prices on the 700s unless your going AMD then I am not sure where they are at in their cycle.

There's always new processors and new video cards coming out, so if you're thinking like that you'll always be wait.

That said, a 2500k/6970 system should still be good for another couple of years yet. Maybe update the video card, but if it were me I'd wait another year or two yet.

Was thinking of going with amd for the card and intel for the processor, planned to reuse my harddrives and case... not sure about the power supply (its a Antec 850w sg, i actually bought it back in 2008 on my first build and have never had a issue with it but i wonder if its not a ticking timebomb.

I reckon waiting until this current gen enters it's 2nd year. It's really hard to gauge how powerful a pc you'll need to push the next wave of games at the moment.

just wait until your hardware isn't up to snuff with a game you want to play, or the price drops on a GPU or CPU that would be a significant upgrade from your current setup.

I keep hearing the 800 series may be a ways off yet and wont be that big a upgrade over existing cards, and yea my pc could chug along happily for a another year so running most stuff at reasonable settings but i am looking forward to the new Farcry at years end and im starting to notice some things slowing my pc down like Rome TW 2. Im more worried about Microsoft and what there doing with DX 12, theres a good chance that current cards will work with it but im not sure about AMD GPU's.

EDIT: Also... doing some reading and from what im seeing theres not a ton of reasons to upgrade to haswell chips from a gaming perspective... If i just upgraded my GPU for now i might me dandy for awhile, though still unsure on if i should wait or pull the trigger now. If i was to get something like a 290 or 290x would i have a bottleneck with the 2500k at all or would that still be fine? Thanks

@sanity: You're 2500k will still perform well with a 290x. I think the jury is still out of these "next-gen" games will actually take advantage of parallel computation via hyperthreading or if performance will be core-based rather than thread-based.

You're current PC seems more than fine though. Like you said, it's not having any trouble playing the games you want to play. Not to mention that GPU lines tend to improve at a dramatic rate during the beginning of console generations. You're probably just experiencing the unnecessary yearn for new tech. Don't give into it!

@andorski: Yea i hear yea, and i know it in my head that im fine with what i got for awhile, just that itch needs scratching... Im going to think on it for awhile, but im going to try and be reasonable and wait it out... God damn why can't Bethesda make a new Elder Scrolls game faster so i have a reason to upgrade?

@sanity: Yeah, reasonable thing to do is wait until the new cards come out and then buy the higher tier cards that have recently gone down in price by that time.

We're talking about PC gaming here guys...forget reasonable. Go overboard!

so would r9 290/i5-4670k/16gb DDR3 be overboard? wonder what the chances of solid 60fps on most/all current games would be with that setup.

You don't need crazy amounts of power. I've got the Ivy Bridge version of that CPU 3570K or something and a AMD 270X which I think is about as good as your card, maybe even slower and I run Tomb Raider with everything on highest in 1080p at 40-50FPS. And it looks slightly beter than the PS4 version. Went from 20-25FPS on my AMD 6850.

My PC upgrade philosophy is that you upgrade when you notice a game you want to play is not running well. No point in upgrading if what you are playing already runs well.

@sanity: I never understood "reasonable settings" when it comes to PC games. If I'm playing it on PC, it's because I want to play it in Full HD (or higher) with all the settings maxed out and the framerate demolishing 60. Anything less then the absolute best, and I would pretty much just play on consoles.

I second waiting for another year. I remember when there was a time when pc game devs thought the next step in tech would be have one very powerful processor, but turns out we have a couple of weaker cores to do all share the work.

So thats a vote for buy the big-fancy-expensive card or a whole new build? Because im not sure...

Honestly, there is most likely enough coming out this year to warrant a new card, its just weather to see if the 800 series actually comes out or not and wyhat insane price they want for it. I can guess that The Witcher 3 and Farcry 4 are likely to make my 6970 cry, so where i am at is wondering if i should get something now or wait. I really do get what you guys are all saying about waiting, but if i get a new card and then wait on Intel's Skylake to get a new motherboard and cpu along with DDR4 i would have the best of both worlds now and later right? I mean a 290x or a 780ti would last for a long time still. I know im thinking too much about this and driving you guys nuts in the process, so please excuse my indecision.

I second that philosophy. Except if you absolutely want the very best, in which case, go nuts. And, yeah, sure, both Intel and Nvidia are about to release their new generation of hardware, but it's not like they'll immediately crush down a top-of-the-line gaming rig built in 2014.

On Intel front, we're talking about CPUs, and not a lot of games are CPU-intensive, so missing out on their shiny new tech shouldn't be that big of a problem. I mean, some people are still using Phenom CPUs from years ago and manage to run recent games on high and sometimes even ultra. By the time you need to replace your high-end Intel CPU, we'll be uploading our minds in the cyberverse through the Oculus Rift 4.0, seriously.

As for Nvidia, as you alluded to, it's looking like it's not going to be that big of a jump. I heard they were mostly going to improve power consumption, which is always good, but doesn't really scream bitchin' ass graphics. Although this is all hearsay from tech news sites, so grain of salt and all that. But even if they do come up with incredible cards, replacing yours a few years down the line wouldn't be that horrible? would it? That's just PC gaming 101, right?

Anyway, my overall point is, the graphics arms race is fast, but not so fast that high-end rigs become trash overnight. Especially when next-gen consoles are already a few generations behind hardware-wise. So yeah, build the heck out of that PC.

@cosmokramer: Yea, what im thinking i may do is get either a 290x or a 780ti now... not sure on which but if i go high end now i'll be good for quite awhile since i stick with 1080p (and yea i know its extreme overkill at that res but thats the point). Then if theres a good reason to upgrade to a new cpu in the future i'll do that then and have a solid build untill at least 2017-early 2018 when i'll be in the same situation again. This is also nice because i can afford a higher end gpu now then if i was to build a completely new pc, spreads the cost over a span of time rather then having to drop 1200-1500 bucks all at once.

Now... 290x or 780ti... The 290x is the better value obviously, but the 780ti runs cooler, faster, and nvidia has better drivers usually... Anyone here running either of these?

Im sure you guys think im nuts, but i decided to get this... 600 bucks and watch dogs free, so i guess im going to check that out. Im mainly interested in maxing ot Rome 2 Total war though as that game never ran great on my 6970. Also i may pick up Wolfenstine and Dark Souls 2 soon. And of coarse Far Cry at the end of the year. Also, sorry bout the doublepost... I think i spent more time contemplating this then was necessary.

Might try and sell my 6970 for 80 bucks or something to ease the pain.

@sanity: If you got the money the sure why not spend it. It's 95% of a GTX Titan for about half the price.

Yea, thats what i figure, and dont get me wrong its still a shit load of money but i'll be good for awhile. Will post some pictures of it in my case if i get a chance when it comes ( =

@sanity: If you're fine gaming at 1080p you may also want to consider a high refresh rate monitor. I have a 144hz monitor and man do games look buttery smooth when you change the settings to crank the frame rate up.

@sanity: From what you've said you'll probably be able to coast for awhile on just a new GPU, later on when DDR4 and new processors come out you could just build something from the ground up and move your GPU you are getting now over to it.

@mikey87144: Yea was looking into that, im pretty happy at 1080p as i like having a smooth gameplay experience over the crazy high res. Might grab one in a few months time.

@depardieuj: Thats my plan, i'll wait and see how Broadwell or Skylake turns out and just upgrade my mobo, cpu, and ram then.

God no wait for about 4 years when these consoles are long in the Tooth then it will be the right time.

@sanity: I use to have the Asus VG248QE 144Hz monitor. If you plan on going the +60Hz route, you should know a few things.

1. Getting your FPS up to +120fps means your PC needs to pack a lot of power. If you go to PC subforums where they discuss monitors, you will find that most of them are either playing old Quake/CS/UT on a regular gaming rig or they're running at least dual GPU configurations. A 290x/780Ti might run games that were built for the 360/PS3 at +120fps, but graphical settings will need to be dropped heavily once games are being developed solely for the PS4/Xbox One/PC.
2. Personally, I think the picture quality of 120Hz/144Hz monitors look like complete ass. Being primarily made with TN panels, the color reproduction is severely limited, viewing angles are narrow, and blacks come off as a very light grey. If you are competitive fps player, input lag is prioritized over picture quality. Others though might not like the trade-off they get when losing image quality for smooth animations.

Thanks, all good points, im not sure what i'll do yet, honestly im ok with my current monitor for now, so i'll look into it more seriously when i feel like upgrading it. I also want to wait and see what G-Synch ends up doing as that seems like it could be a game changer if it works like there saying.

I'd wait for the new generation of stuff to drop (NVIDIA 800 series, Intel Broadwell) and pick it all up during black Friday. You can easily save over $100 and you'll have the first computer hardware that's come out after the new gen has started.

Thing is i honestly dont want a reference cooler, and its going to be at least 2-3 months after that until we see aftermarket coolers on those cards, plus at that point id be better off waiting until the 880ti and be stuck waiting even longer. Dont get me wrong its smarter to wait, but i am still going to wait it out for everything besides the gpu, if the 880 comes out and its great that means the 780ti will likely drop in price and i could see myself grabbing a second one which is guaranteed to outperform anything on offer at that time anyways. I just feel like if i wait i'll never buy anything as theres always something down the road.