Spec me a... 5 year upgrade bump

TreeUK

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I'm a developer + gamer feeling that I'm reaching the limit of my current 5-year-old spec that the awesome community here created for me. I don't think I can afford to upgrade the graphics card right now but would appreciate a spec for a meaty everything else upgrade.

Options in the range of £1-1.5k would be amazing.

Current hardware
Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML16GX3M2A1600C10)
Asus Z77 Sabertooth Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA115611551366AM2AM2+AM3AM3+FM1)
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Corsair 600T White case

Keepers
Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbs Solid State Hard Drive (CT256M4SSD2)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

You rock, thanks!
Tristan
 

Quartz

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If gaming is your priority, probably all you need is a new GPU. Fire up Task Manager on a second monitor and look at performance while you game. If you don't max the CPU, you don't need a new CPU. And you are overclocking the CPU, aren't you?
 

southernorth

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^^^ Try that first if you haven't. A 3770k is still quite capable with an overclock. But I'm going to assume it is overclocked with such a big cooler.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,571.01 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​


You could save money by:
  • 1070ti instead of a 1080
  • Cheaper PSU
  • i5 8600k instead of i7 8700k
  • Re-using CPU cooler instead of 280mm AIO

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,230.98 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​
 
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TreeUK

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@Quartz No, I'm not overclocking the CPU, I looked into it but couldn't find enough information to be confident with it. The few attempts I did make resulted in the system not booting.

I'm more after the general system bump, upgrading to DDR4 etc and being ready for a shiny new graphics card in the new year. The 970 is still doing a decent enough job for the most part.
 

TreeUK

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I'll try and gather some metrics to check where the bottlenecks might be.
I'm getting the impression you're saying that not much has significantly changed in 5 years. I've been already been GPU jumping over the past 5 years.
 

southernorth

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TreeUK said:
I'll try and gather some metrics to check where the bottlenecks might be.
I'm getting the impression you're saying that not much has significantly changed in 5 years. I've been already been GPU jumping over the past 5 years.
Click to expand...
GPU's have changed a lot in the past 5 years, much more so than CPUs.

For now I would overclock the CPU, upgrade the PSU and get a new GPU. This would give a bigger performance bump than just leaving the GPU and upgrading the CPU. Also, the longer you wait to upgrade your CPU, the better Coffee Lake prices will be as stock becomes more plentiful.
 
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tamzzy

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as others have said (and i'm echoing), if the main purpose of the upgrade is gaming, then a graphics card upgrade would be of better value.
personally, i'm still rocking a 3770k with a 1080ti. lol
 

southernorth

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TreeUK said:
Cool, thanks for the advice guys. I'll change my focus to a PSU and GPU combo and get back to reading on the overclocking.
Click to expand...
What went wrong last time you overclocked? It's usually just a matter of increasing the multiplier to something reasonable - like 42x - and either manually controlling the voltage or leaving on auto.
 

TreeUK

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southernorth said:
What went wrong last time you overclocked? It's usually just a matter of increasing the multiplier to something reasonable - like 42x - and either manually controlling the voltage or leaving on auto.
Click to expand...
To be honest I can't remember it was 5 years ago... do you have any useful resources that might help?
 

southernorth

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TreeUK said:
To be honest I can't remember it was 5 years ago... do you have any useful resources that might help?
Click to expand...

I would try a conservative overclock, like 4200mhz, at first. This would be represented in the BIOS by a 'core ratio limit' of 42. The video I've linked uses an ASUS motherboard.

If you want to overclock more, go up in 100mhz increments, so go from a ratio limit of 42, then 43 etc. Make sure you're syncing all cores together.

In between raising the overclock each time, exit the BIOS and go play a CPU-intensive game for 15 mins as quick stress test. If your PC crashes or freezes at this new higher CPU speed then that overclock is unstable, and you either need to increase the voltage or reduce the core ratio limit.
 
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TreeUK

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Thanks @southernorth, legendary help.
One last question, I remembered that a couple of the case fans have stopped on my current case.
Would that Be Quiet case still be your recommendation for a direct swap given the overclocking and PSU upgrade?
Given the cost reduction on a full upgrade I'm happy to spend bit more if there are sound / performance benefits to be had.
 
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southernorth

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TreeUK said:
Thanks @southernorth, legendary help.
One last question, I remembered that a couple of the case fans have stopped on my current case.
Would that Be Quiet case still be your recommendation for a direct swap given the overclocking and PSU upgrade?
Click to expand...
That case comes with 2 good case fans. There are certainly cases with better airflow, but I included the BeQuiet as it's well made, on offer, and fairly quiet. If you wanted a case that prioritizes airflow (and lower temps) over noise then I would suggest something else. But that isn't to say the BeQuiet would cook your PC, it's a good balance.

Cases are quite subjective, so I just picked a neutral one. Do you have any particularly preferences on windows, lightning and colour scheme?
 
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tamzzy

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the corsair 600t is still a pretty good case, even by 2017 standards, just grab a couple of fans to replace the old ones
(of course if you need want to change your case, then by all means)
 

TreeUK

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The BeQuiet looks good, my concerns would just be around the temps with the overclocking. Style is less important than performance for me. Decent cable management would be appreciated though.
 

southernorth

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TreeUK said:
You're right, didn't even consider doing this.
Click to expand...
Which fans broke? Corsair website says your case comes with:

Front: (x1) 200mm
Top: (x1) 200mm
Rear: (x1) 120mm


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £101.69 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

I would choose that case (with 2x 140mm fans in the front) if airflow is the priority.

Although your case right now should be pretty good as well; dual 200mm fans should push a lot of air.
 
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