Upgrade advice

wij · 28 Apr 2014 at 12:53

Hi,

My current system is:

Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68
i5-2500K 3.30GHz (never clocked it)
16GB RAM
Radeon HD 5870
650w Corsair PSU (very old now, according to OcUK I bought it in June 07!)
Crucial M4 256GB SSD

The way I see things is that the CPU, RAM and motherboard are all getting on for a couple of years old and the graphics card is a fair bit more than that.

Is it worth me upgrading the graphics card to something a bit more modern like a GTX760/770 although then will I basically be limited by the aging CPU?

Modern games are pretty much bringing this to its knees at anything other than low quality but would I probably be better off just building a new rig from scratch?

Fulax · 28 Apr 2014 at 12:57

Your 2500k shouldn't bottleneck a 760 or a 770. Get a CPU cooler to overclock it and a new GPU and you're sorted. If you feel you need a new CPU you could search the members market for a 2600k or a 3770k (your motherboard should support it with a BIOS update: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/...C,HT,77W,rev.E1)&pcb=ALL&sincebios=3201&memo= )

What would your budget be for that?

danclivo · 28 Apr 2014 at 13:24

First thing I'd do is buy an aftermarket CPU cooler and overclock the i5, should manage at least 4.20GHz easily. The 2500K although a few years old is underrated and still a good clocker. As long as you stick to a single GPU then it should be fine.

After that, if you still feel the need to upgrade the CPU you can always keep the cooler and use it in the new build. Not much to lose

Graphics card would depend on your budget and also what state that PSU is in after 7 years

wij · 28 Apr 2014 at 13:32

OK, thanks for the advice on my CPU.

Graphics card wise I was considering:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-117-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

Seems it is probably worth it over the 2Gb cards if I want to crank up some of the detail settings.

Budget for a replacement CPU I hadn't really thought that much about, but I will have a look on the MM and see what is on offer, would probably go for an i7.

I guess I could do the card upgrade and see how things go (the CPU cooler I have is a fairly decent collermaster one and I have an old style CM Stacker case with a lot of big 120mm fans so it has very good airflow) so a bit of clocking on the 2500k probably isn't that hard to achieve.

OverDrive · 28 Apr 2014 at 13:33

The 5870 is really what's holding your system back, that is a very old card now and even pre-dates your CPU by a couple of years. Upgrade the card and you'll feel like you have new system.

The 5870 was awsome in it's day though...I had one until I built my current rig in July 2012.

wij · 28 Apr 2014 at 13:33

danclivo said:
Graphics card would depend on your budget and also what state that PSU is in after 7 years

Yeah, the PSU is probably a little bit tired - I've not really noticed any problems with it but I wonder if a 770 + a bit of OC on my 2500K may be just enough to push it over the edge!

Fulax · 28 Apr 2014 at 13:37

Doooon't spend £320 on a 770. You can get a 290 for that kind of money that will beat it by a country mile. If you want an Nvidia card, spent the little extra on a 780.

4gb VRAM will only matter at higher resolutions, and if you're gaming at 1440p you should be looking at something as powerful as a 290 or 780 anyway.

wij · 28 Apr 2014 at 14:04

Fulax said:
Doooon't spend £320 on a 770. You can get a 290 for that kind of money that will beat it by a country mile. If you want an Nvidia card, spent the little extra on a 780.

4gb VRAM will only matter at higher resolutions, and if you're gaming at 1440p you should be looking at something as powerful as a 290 or 780 anyway.

Going down the 290 route would probably mean a new PSU too I'm guessing?

Quartz · 28 Apr 2014 at 14:07

The only things you need to update are your CPU cooler and GPU.

Fulax · 28 Apr 2014 at 14:37

wij said:
Going down the 290 route would probably mean a new PSU too I'm guessing?

650w will power a 290 no problem, although 2007 was a long time ago. What model is your PSU? If it is a decent unit it will probably do a job for a bit longer, but I'd certainly put one on your upgrade list whatever GPU you go for.

wij · 28 Apr 2014 at 15:05

Fulax said:
650w will power a 290 no problem, although 2007 was a long time ago. What model is your PSU? If it is a decent unit it will probably do a job for a bit longer, but I'd certainly put one on your upgrade list whatever GPU you go for.

Corsair HX 620W so not a 650 like I thought, but certainly it's a few years old now.