Is this normal? +random question

[TurtleDerps]

Alright so about 3-4 years ago i bought myself and pretty awesome second hand PC. got this bad boy for $1000 quite a steal if you ask me

I want to know if it's normal to feel some sort of attachment to my hardware. Now obviously it's in a funny sort of way but i feel like my CPU and my GPU are my bros. They've been with me for awhile now and are quite old but yet, the amount of performance i get out of these two pieces of hardware is nothing short of amazing. I feel like they have my back.

I can play crisis 2 at max settings with MaLoHD at 60FPS max settings on top of the mod. I can play crisis 3 at max settings with 2x AA at around 30-40 FPS. 2-4k skyrim with ENB at 30 FPS and every other game i can usually run over 40-60 FPS at max.

These pieces of hardware have just aged extremely well. But. I find myself wanting more, i find myself wanting to game at extremely high resolutions. I can use DSR but my 680 just cannot handle it at all :T

Should i upgrade my GPU and monitor? Would my CPU bottleneck a 970 or 980? What would you suggest i go for in terms of bang for buck and future proofing?

My specifications:
Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z
Gigabyte Windforce GTX 680 OC Edition
1TB WDD Black
16 GB corsair dominator platinum
Intel Core i7 2600k @4.2Ghz
Corsair AX860 Platinum Power Supply

 

[shambles1980]

i7 2600k should be fine with a 970/980 although you are limited to pci-e 2.0 "but i doubt you would notice a difference"
I dont think the 970 is actually suited for gaming at above 1080p though. I think of it as a 780ti with better thermals and lower power consumption. (and to me that makes it a 1080p card)

personally the only things id be "thinking" about is getting a reasonable sized ssd. and probably grabbing a 980 with the mind to overclock it if i was hoping to game at higher resolutions.

the 680 is not a slow card though. so what % increase you can get from the upgrade vs cost may be a factor (i know it always is for me) but if you factor in overclocking too then you are looking at an increase. But again you are limited by the 2nd gen intell cpu's only using pci-e 2.0 "which shouldn't be an issue unless we are talking sli"

but the SSD thing, provided its big enough for the OS drive + 2-3 of your most played games is probably something that will make the system feel a Bit snappier.

(personally i would be relatively happy with that set up, well i have a 780gtx overclocked and a 2500K over clocked)
But i am aiming to game at 1080p so that is where i am at, and would consider a 3770k as a viable step up without having to swap out major components.
this would only be for the extra HT and pcie 3.0 which again i dont think is an issue untill you start throwing multiple cards at the system.(at least not yet any way. i dont know what dx 12 will bring to the table in regards to pci-e lanes) and given you have a 2600k all you would be really gaining is pci-e 3...

So For me personally its difficult to advise an upgrade, because cost vs performance increase does not balance out for my budget.

 

[TurtleDerps]

Oh yeah i always look at overclocking. It's one of my favorite things to do when i get new hardware that and running benchmarks. Yes the GTX 680 is not slow and is a very very solid card even to this day. SLI is a thing i am considering slightly but after seeing some benchmarks the 980 TI actually destroys two 970's which was very surprising and deterred me from getting two GPU's some games also do not fully support SLI which worries me.

I will be picking up a 480GB kingston SSD shortly for windows 10. I am sort of happy but not really, i really feel like now the card is starting to struggle with newer games.

 

[S_I_N]

my biggest mistake was trading off my 2600K and gigabyte Z68 -UD7 a few years ago. Ever since I've been on a quest to find that same kinship with my gear lol. I know what your feeling and if anything I'd suggest if you want to upgrade do it but keep your old stuff for a backup or a second rig that way you wont feel the loss as I did.

 

[TurtleDerps]

my biggest mistake was trading off my 2600K and gigabyte Z68 -UD7 a few years ago. Ever since I've been on a quest to find that same kinship with my gear lol. I know what your feeling and if anything I'd suggest if you want to upgrade do it but keep your old stuff for a backup or a second rig that way you wont feel the loss as I did.

Well it was my first high-end gaming PC which is why i felt so attached to my hardware >.< so i completely understand and yeah i feel like if i buy another system or upgrade components i probably won't get the same feeling, but instead i will be getting that oh what a feeling, toyota experience XD. I will send off my CPU and GPU with a salute and a prayer....after i send them off to a random buyer...R.I.P ;-;7