P55-UD3 based system upgrade: do these parts fit?

[Szark]

Hello!

I'm looking to upgrade my current system (see below) with a new GPU and an SSD. I thought I'd ask some advice from Gigabyte forums as the system is Gigabyte-based (motherboard).

Specs (from Piriform Speccy):
Motherboard: Gigabyte P55-UD3 (Socket 1156)
CPU: Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.67GHz, Lynnfield 45nm (stock speeds, stock cooler, no OC currently nor before).
RAM: 4,00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 662MHz (9-9-9-24), manufacturer is Crucial I think, not sure.
GPU: 896MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 (ASUS) - again, no OC.
PSU: Chieftec 750W, CFT-750-14CS
HDD: 596GB Western Digital WDC WD6401AALS-00J7B1 ATA Device (SATA), SATA-II 3.0Gb/s.
DVD: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS40 ATA Device, WZUTGHQ YZ4DQ74T27 SCSI CdRom Device (basically an LG DVD reader/writer).
Audio: Realtek, integrated on motherboard.
Case: Xigmatek Asgard (stock cooling).
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
Monitor: BenQ ML2441 (1920x1080@60Hz) - this is the resolution I'm currently looking to play/work on.
Mouse: Razer Copperhead (to be Taipan + Megasoma 2 in the future).
Keyboard: Logitech Ultra-Flat Y-BP62a

The new GPU I'm planning: Gigabyte GTX 770 OC (http://ee.gigabyte.com/products/page/vga/gv-n770oc-2gd/)
New SSD: ADATA XPG SX900 256GB (http://www.adata-group.com/index.php?action=product_specification&cid=3&piid=169&lan=en)

One of the better ideas may be to build a totally new system, but unfortunately the budget is too tight. Currently these upgrades would cost me about 428 euros (592 USD) and the maximum would be about 500 euros I'd say.

I could also use some suggestions for upgrading the CPU cooler (so I could overclock it a bit, safely) and a suggestion for upgrading RAM to 8 GB in the future.

I've also included some pictures, excuse all the dust and sub-par cable management
https://www.dropbox.com/s/plhkb16x0cir5df/20140325_0661.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t714zl6vn0qpgnq/20140325_0663.jpg

Best regards,
Szark from Estonia

[dmdilks]

One of the better ideas may be to build a totally new system 

I know you don't want to hear this but that would be the best thing you can do. I totally understand the budget.

But the thing is you dealing with old stuff. #1 is you are going to buy this really nice video card & SSD that the board doesn't really support.

Yes they should work by what they are saying. But if you buy them and run into problems than you are going to be mad.

The SSD is sata 6 and you board is sata 3. The 770 card is 3.0 and the board is 2.0. If the card does work it will run as a 2.0 card.

If the SSD should work but again it will run as sata 3 drive. I'm not going to say don't buy them but you have to look at all option first.

What I would do is look at a nice Z77 board with a Ivory bridge CPU. I know this isn't the newest board out there but it does have the new UEFI bios.

It will support the 770 card & SSD. Like I said that if you want to try the card & SSD that is up to you. I'm only throwing in my 2 cents.

[Szark]

Thanks for the answer, I guess I kinda felt that coming. I think I'll still consider the SSD because the speed increase should still be quite noticeable and I can use that new SSD later in a new system. Truth is - the hard drive perfomance is what bothers me the most at this time. I wasn't sure about the GPU, but as you've pointed out - it would really be "in the chains" in my rather old system. It was built in late 2009 by the way.

Thanks again - I now have a much clearer direction. 

[dmdilks]

On the SSD if you are not going to do any gaming. Than go with the 256gb. If you are going to do some gaming.

You could go with a 128gb and game off a hard drive. You are not going to see much of performance change with a SSD vs hard drive when gaming.

Your board Supports this:

4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 2200/1600/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules
Support for non-ECC memory modules
Support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules

What I would do is look for some 2-1333 sticks at 4gb each. And 2-1333 sticks at 2gb each. that way you can run 8gb or up to 12gbs. 

Yes it says that it supports up to 16gb of memory. But I have read when you try to max it out some times the board will not boot.

Then try and find a nice ATI 6000 series or nice nvidia 500 series card. The thing is the whole board thing is going to change next year.

They coming out with DDR4 memory and will the boards today support it more likely not. One thing I can is you smart enough to ask.

Before you jump in with both feet and than have problems. Work with you have now and than down the road upgrade when you have the money to do the whole ball of wax.

 

[Szark]

Well that's what I'm here for - to not just jump in with both feet at the corner shop with ridiculous prices 

Anyway, I'm not going to change anything in the system for now. It does just fine in my favorite games (for example Skyrim).

The problem is mainly with the hard drive. I regularly operate with large amounts of photos and some movies and there the HDD speed really slows things down. Start-up time isn't something to be proud of either, and I think I don't have many unnecessary start-up services and programs. I haven't formatted the hard drive a single time during these five years. General cleanup and management has kept the thing relatively well oiled. But I feel the old age is getting to the trusty HDD . So I feel an addition of an SSD would be a good move (in terms of general data, not games), even if it's bottlenecked a lot by the motherboard. Besides, I could always move the SSD to a new shiny machine.

So, points taken and I'm not rushing to purchasing anything right now. Thanks again for the tips. I guess I better start saving up for the time when boards are gonna take a step forward. I bet the 770 won't be such a teaser by then, too.