PC upgrade for UE4

Hi,

I need some help with upgrading my PC to use with UE4.

Current setup is :

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz box
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Memory: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit Vengeance LP Rev. A
SSD: Intel Solid State Drive (SSD) 520 Series, 240GB, SATA 3, 2.5’’
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA-II 7200.12
Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 470 OC
Power Supply: Seasonic M12II-620 Bronze 620W
CPU Cooler: Thermalright HR-02 Macho
Case: CM Storm Enforcer
Display: Monitor LED Samsung 24", Wide, Full HD, HDMI, S24B350H

My current problem is that my GPU is broken: I can no longer use the HDMI with it, but instead I’m using the DVI to VGA cable to connect to my monitor. Because of that, the image is not so good at 1080p, especially the text.
So, I’m thinking to upgrade my entire PC to last another 2-3 year if possible.

I would like to buy a 27’’ monitor with 2560x1440 resolution. I was thinking to buy the Dell Ultrasharp U2713H 27": http://www.dell.com/ed/business/p/dell-u2713h/pd
A GPU to go with that resolution I think would be the GTX 780 TI, right? Or is GTX 780 enough?

I will definitely need more than 16GB of RAM, maybe 24 or 32.

Other than that I’m not sure what else should I replace.
Can I keep the motherboard?

What about the CPU? Would a **i7-4790 **or i7-4770 be way better than my i7-2600k ?
What about i7-4930K (Ivy Bridge) compared to Haswell i7-4790 (or 4770, which one is faster between the two)?

In terms of money, I think I would have around $2500, maybe lower. (the price actually is a little higher, like $3000, but in Europe the components are more expensive).

I would say wait, new card is coming out in 30days, so the 780s should drop in price.
DDR4 RAM is coming in september so prices of DDR3 would drop
and new processors X99s are coming out in sept too so 4th gens I7s will drop.

Just wait. A lot of stuff being released and you will be saving a bunch of $

Well, is what my PC got:

CPU: INTEL Core i5-3470 @ 4,0GHz, Quad-Core
Motherboard: MSI Z77A
Memory: 2x 8GB CRUCIAL DDR3-1600 DIMM
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 OC

I’m working on 2 27’’ (1920x1080) Samsung LED monitors.
Even 8GB RAM seems to be enough to use the UE4.
What I want to say: you do not need to spend so much money on your PC -
mine cost not even 1300$ and everything works smooth.

If you want to upgrade your setup, you should wait for the new generation stuff - like recommended.

I would suggest:

CPU: http://amzn.to/1r7el9R I7 4790K at 340$
Motherboard: http://amzn.to/1r7ex99 ASUS Maximus maybe? at 200$
RAM: http://amzn.to/1pcvIXc 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 180$ (or 32gb at 360$)
SSD: http://amzn.to/1paoDDs 250gb or 500gb SSD seagate 150 - 300$
HDD: http://amzn.to/1sQOwyV 4TB Internal Seagate at 150$
GPU 1: http://amzn.to/1mDWIKD 780 Ti at 669$
GPU 2: http://amzn.to/1z1ECei Quadro K4000 at 777$

Total cost: 2500$.

I am sure you can get build at around 2000 - 2300$ at the end of year though if you want to save. But if time is more expensive than a couple hundred bucks build is good.

[QUOTE=;102741]
I would suggest:

CPU: http://amzn.to/1r7el9R I7 4790K at 340$
Motherboard: http://amzn.to/1r7ex99 ASUS Maximus maybe? at 200$
RAM: http://amzn.to/1pcvIXc 16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro 180$ (or 32gb at 360$)
SSD: http://amzn.to/1paoDDs 250gb or 500gb SSD seagate 150 - 300$
HDD: http://amzn.to/1sQOwyV 4TB Internal Seagate at 150$
GPU 1: http://amzn.to/1mDWIKD 780 Ti at 669$
GPU 2: http://amzn.to/1z1ECei Quadro K4000 at 777$

Total cost: 2500$.

I am sure you can get build at around 2000 - 2300$ at the end of year though if you want to save. But if time is more expensive than a couple hundred bucks build is good.

Can you please tell me how good is the i7-4790k compared to my i7-2600k?

Also, do I really need a second GPU for 3D content creation? Wouldn’t 780 Ti be enough? HP Quadro K4000 3GB DDR5 192-bit costs $1045 in my country, I’m not sure I can afford to buy it.

[QUOTE=;102800]
Can you please tell me how good is the i7-4790k compared to my i7-2600k?
Also, do I really need a second GPU for 3D content creation? Wouldn’t 780 Ti be enough? HP Quadro K4000 3GB DDR5 192-bit costs $1045 in my country, I’m not sure I can afford to buy it.

The 780 ti is definitely more than enough, if you do a lot of advanced 3d simulations (in a different program than UE4), then perhaps it may help you. But for UE4, 3dsMax, Maya etc (building games) the 780ti will be just fine, I am also planning to get one after the 800 series comes out and the price drops.

I have the i5 4670k, and the reason for getting a “k” version would be overclocking. If that is not necessary for you, any other i7 would work just fine as well. I think the CPU you have now would work just fine also, but with a 780ti it might create a bottleneck in your PC’s performance (where the CPU can’t keep up with the GPU).

And also, welcome to the forums fellow ! :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=;102807]
The 780 ti is definitely more than enough, if you do a lot of advanced 3d simulations (in a different program than UE4), then perhaps it may help you. But for UE4, 3dsMax, Maya etc (building games) the 780ti will be just fine, I am also planning to get one after the 800 series comes out and the price drops.

I have the i5 4670k, and the reason for getting a “k” version would be overclocking. If that is not necessary for you, any other i7 would work just fine as well. I think the CPU you have now would work just fine also, but with a 780ti it might create a bottleneck in your PC’s performance (where the CPU can’t keep up with the GPU).

And also, welcome to the forums fellow ! :slight_smile:

Thank you for your welcome and the other info, :slight_smile: .

So the suggestion is to wait for the new 800 GPUs and the Haswell-E CPUs in order to buy the current ones at a lower price, or to wait to buy the new ones? Once they will be out, I think I’ll want the new ones :D.

Either way, what do you think about the Dell Ultrasharp U2713H 27" monitor? Is it good for game development and is it ok to buy it now?
I’m thinking that the blurry text I’m seeing on my current monitor is because of the DVI to VGA conversion, the image not being as sharp with it. So, if I can get a monitor with a DVI input and the image will be sharp again, than I could wait for the new GPUs.
Else, I don’t hnow much longer I can work with the blurry text.

[QUOTE=;102825]
So the suggestion is to wait for the new 800 GPUs and the Haswell-E CPUs in order to buy the current ones at a lower price, or to wait to buy the new ones? Once they will be out, I think I’ll want the new ones :D.

Either way, what do you think about the Dell Ultrasharp U2713H 27" monitor? Is it good for game development and is it ok to buy it now?
I’m thinking that the blurry text I’m seeing on my current monitor is because of the DVI to VGA conversion, the image not being as sharp with it. So, if I can get a monitor with a DVI input and the image will be sharp again, than I could wait for the new GPUs.
Else, I don’t hnow much longer I can work with the blurry text.

Yes I totally understand wanting to get the 880 when it comes out, I am also in the same boat, I was just posting about yesterday, as there was news the the 800 series is supposed to be revealed at gamescom coming up shortly, but we don’'t know if it will be available that day or months from then, see more here:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?22220-GTX-880-Rumoured-To-Launch-Within-30-Days-!-!

As for the monitor, I have never used a Dell monitor, Samsung is usually rated the highest quality, but most brands of LCD/LED screens these days are comparable (just don’t go for the super cheap ones of course :slight_smile: ). I have 2x ASUS 22" screens that work pretty good, have good color, have not lost much of their brightness after 3 years, so no real complaints other than I wish they were 27" screens of course!

And the VGA to DVI converter is definitely causing the blurry text, I have an older computer using the same and the difference in quality is very noticeable. I think a monitor upgrade would be a really good purchase to start.

Here’s hoping that those 800 series cards aren’t way more expensive, I would love to go for the newest if possible as well, hate buying something that isn’t top of the line! :slight_smile:

EDIT: And what Snow says below is very true, I currently have a GTX 660ti and get pretty good performance out of it (it depends how large and detailed the scene is of course) but I also get 60fps for the most part in game, so it should work on your system as well!

EDIT #2: These are the official requirements detailed in the FAQ:

[QUOTE]
Desktop PC or Mac
Windows 7 64-bit or Mac OS X 10.9.2 or later
Quad-core Intel or AMD processor, 2.5 GHz or faster
NVIDIA GeForce 470 GTX or AMD Radeon 6870 HD series card or higher
8 GB RAM

I read that you are upgrading your computer so you can use UE4. If so, then you do not need to upgrade your computer since it can already run UE4 fine. I have a computer with the specs below:
i7-4770K (only a tad better than the i7-2600)
GTX 650 Ti Boost (practically the same performance wise to the GTX 470)

With , I get an average of 60 fps on the elemental demo and as low as 30 fps in the most intense scenes. If you really still want to upgrade your PC, then I suggest you do as someone else mentioned which is wait for the new technology coming out soon.

Use these two pages as a guide for comparing GPUs and CPUs:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

Yes, I will wait for the new technology. Until then I will buy a new monitor to be able to have a good image quality.

Thank you for your help!