i5 3570k and Monitor Upgrade Question?

[alexx]

Hey guys,

I built up my pc some years ago now when the i5 3570k hit the shelves.

I don't game (League of legends occasionally). so really only need the power for having around 20 tabs open on chrome and PHPStorm, Database stuff and Lightroom / Photoshop / Illustrator.

I'm wondering if it's worth going to one of the newer Lake CPU's and taking advantage with faster ram at the same time? Whats the best bang for buck at the moment?

Also any recommendations to replace 2x 24" dell monitors? it needs to be colour accurate for design work and ideally just 1 screen. Not opposed to something crazy wide if they are good but under £700 I'd imagine in total.

Thanks

 

[alexx]

I also just noticed M2 storage is much faster than SSD - I guess that has some real world performance too?

 

[Pocah]

Without knowing the rest of your system...
I have a 3570K that I upgraded about a year ago, in the sense that I replaced the case, PSU, cooler and HDD's and popped a GTX 960 in there. With the new cooler I overclocked the CPU a little. The end result was a perfectly acceptable general purpose PC. Not only that, but you could even replace the i5 with an i7 cpu. Point of course I am trying to make here is that if you spend money on it, the last thing I would do is throw away the motherboard and RAM. If you were a gamer, sure, but you aren't.

As for a monitor then I think you are probably looking at a 27" 2560x1440. Although I wouldn't be quick to throw all of the 24" monitors out, second monitors are very useful in a work environment. You could go higher resolution for that money but if you do you will struggle to game.

 

[tamzzy]

I also just noticed M2 storage is much faster than SSD - I guess that has some real world performance too?

minimal difference, not really appreciable outside of benchmarkings.
i'd only get a m.2 nvme drive over a sata if there's extra budget not being spent elsewhere.
also it needs to be nvme. m.2 is just the form factor. there's m.2 sata which is exactly the same as a 2.5' sata speeds.

 

[Chris Merrills]

Hi, sorry about this but couldn't see where to add a new thread. I am looking at buying/building a gaming rig and sea of thieves has inspired me to do this. I don't need anything to fancy but would even like a case and bits that may be future proof for possible VR Gaming. I have come across this 2nd hand rig, what do you think?
Alienware Aurora R4 - Superface
Intel i7-3820 3.86Ghz CPU
8 Gig Fast RAM
Geforce GTX 1060 6GIG
1TB HD
24" 2ms screen
Roccat gaming keyboard and mouse
£500
Do you think this is worth it? And that the case itself is capable of allowing future upgrades such as an extra SDD / 2nd graphics card?

 

[Pocah]

Hi, sorry about this but couldn't see where to add a new thread. I am looking at buying/building a gaming rig and sea of thieves has inspired me to do this. I don't need anything to fancy but would even like a case and bits that may be future proof for possible VR Gaming. I have come across this 2nd hand rig, what do you think?
Alienware Aurora R4 - Superface
Intel i7-3820 3.86Ghz CPU
8 Gig Fast RAM
Geforce GTX 1060 6GIG
1TB HD
24" 2ms screen
Roccat gaming keyboard and mouse
£500
Do you think this is worth it? And that the case itself is capable of allowing future upgrades such as an extra SDD / 2nd graphics card?

I am never a good judge on what's worth such and such, but I would say that you really need to get an all-round more powerful rig if you really want VR. That's not to say it's not great value, rather that you are perhaps expecting too much from it.

 

[Chris Merrills]

Thank you for your comments, VR would be much further down the road but interested if the case itself will be future proof to allow such upgrades.

Is this spec acceptable for modern games, I'm not particularly fussed about 1080 at the moment and game settings set to maximum quality, just wondered if that specification would be suitable to get into gaming straight away, or are the parts considered pretty old now?

I appreciate your thoughts, thank you.

 

[Kurgen]

Thank you for your comments, VR would be much further down the road but interested if the case itself will be future proof to allow such upgrades.

Is this spec acceptable for modern games, I'm not particularly fussed about 1080 at the moment and game settings set to maximum quality, just wondered if that specification would be suitable to get into gaming straight away, or are the parts considered pretty old now?

I appreciate your thoughts, thank you.

it would be fine for games out now, 1060 is a great card at 1080p. ive noticed it doesnt have an SSD or not listed. my personally opinion is thats essential for at least Windows.
note you cant SLI a 1060 so you cant add a second card you would have to replace it to upgrade. Im also not sure on alienware (Dell), never know what non standard parts they fit.

 

[alexx]

Hmm ok so it sounds like there maybe legs in going with the i7.

I've got 16gb of ram (corsair vengeance) looks like ram is expensive now as that only cost me £120 years ago!
I've got a corsair 120mm water cooler

Whats the fastest i7 I can get on the currect socket type?

My board is a gigabyte z77 ds3h.

Thanks

 

[alexx]

Is it a i7 3770k Ivy Bridge?


Edit*

I don't mind upgrading and moving this system to a entertainment system behind the tv if theres anything really good value about?

Using illustrator this morning was bogging with a large vector file so I want to prevent things like that.

 

[NeverWinter]

Is it a i7 3770k Ivy Bridge?

Yep.

 

[alexx]

They seem to be selling for close to £200 for those CPU's and mine sells for around £60-70 tops so is it going to be worth a £130-150 upgrade?

 

[Pocah]

Is it a i7 3770k Ivy Bridge?


Edit*

I don't mind upgrading and moving this system to a entertainment system behind the tv if theres anything really good value about?

Using illustrator this morning was bogging with a large vector file so I want to prevent things like that.

The 3770K is Ivy Bridge and will fit in your motherboard. You would benefit from the i7 mainly for work type applications. As an entertainment PC I would just leave the 3570K in place and perhaps change a few things to make the PC quieter. Buy a wireless keyboard with built in mouse-pad for easy operation from the comfort of your favorite chair! But really the 3570K is a very competent CPU. With a few upgrades specific to what you want to do with it, it is more than capable of most modern tasks. With a decent graphics card it will happily handle most games at 1080P.

 

[NeverWinter]

The 3770K is Ivy Bridge and will fit in your motherboard. You would benefit from the i7 mainly for work type applications. As an entertainment PC I would just leave the 3570K in place and perhaps change a few things to make the PC quieter. Buy a wireless keyboard with built in mouse-pad for easy operation from the comfort of your favorite chair! But really the 3570K is a very competent CPU. With a few upgrades specific to what you want to do with it, it is more than capable of most modern tasks. With a decent graphics card it will happily handle most games at 1080P.

I'd concur with this, the only reason I upgraded my 3570k to the 3770k was to get some extra grunt in certain titles in VR (Sim Racing, Elite Dangerous). Other than that, no issues with gaming in general.

I don't do any sort of production work on it though so I can't comment on that.

 

[alexx]

Interesting thanks guys.

I think it'll either be a complete new system then and place this for the media pc. (it's already silent) and I've got wireless keyboard and trackpad so thats no hassle.

I'll treat myself to a larger monitor first though and a fresh install and see where we are at!

 

[VonScar]

Question, is your 3570k overclocked? Mine was rock solid 4.2 Ghrz for over 5 years. I suggest you save your money and see if you can get more oomph from your current CPU.

It was only in 2017 that there was a major jump in CPU consumer level power. Before that 5 years of 10 percent or less jumps 6700k vs 7700 difference was neglible...

Either overclock, or buy new CPU and motherboard/RAM. I think.