Old pc, any upgrade possible?

[snakefood]

Hi all,

So I have a fairly old box now that I'd like to see if I can get any life out of before I have to look at a new build. Could I upgrade my gpu to something newer, or would my cpu bottleneck?

MB: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
CPU: Core i5 3570K
CPU: MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X 8192MB

Cheers

 

[Journey]

Given you are running a 3570K, you could see if you can get your hands on a cheap 3770K, but it would need to be ~£50 (less really) to be worth while. The RX 480 isn't going to be winning any awards for the fastest card out there so it doesn't need a massively fast CPU to be paired with it, but no point in wasting money on a dead platform.

You could sell board/CPU/RAM for maybe £100-120 if you are lucky, then spend £89 on a Ryzen 5 1600 AF, 16GB DDR 3000, and a cheap B450 board, total cost would ~£210 less what you get back from yours.

 

[Threepwood]

Overclock the CPU and get a second hand vega 56, maybeeeee?

 

[Bug One]

Could I upgrade my gpu to something newer, or would my cpu bottleneck?

Best way to tell is to run some benchmarks. It probably depends on the game.

Very few games actually benefit from having multiple cores, and the clock on that cpu is pretty decent - so I wouldn't expect much of a bottleneck.

I take it you're getting tempted with a 5700XT.

 

[snakefood]

Best way to tell is to run some benchmarks. It probably depends on the game.

Very few games actually benefit from having multiple cores, and the clock on that cpu is pretty decent - so I wouldn't expect much of a bottleneck.

I take it you're getting tempted with a 5700XT.

lol...you hit the nail on head, I am very tempted by a 5700XT

Was just concerned my cpu might hold it back, as it's a few years old now. My psu is 550, would that suffice?
Are there any particular gems out there in the 5700xt market to lookout for?

Edit:
This one is on a decent discount, but isn't a manufacturer I would have gone for. Any bad reviews on these, and more importantly would it suit the rest of my rig?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX VEGA 64 Nitro+ 8GB HBM2 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £299.99

Total: £309.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)
​

 

[Danny75]

That card is not a 5700XT despite being listed in the 5700XT section and your 550 PSU would likely not suffice (at least not without undervolting GPU and it would have to be one with two separate PCIe cables). A decent 550W will be fine for 5700 XT.

Most old games don't benefit from more than two-four threads. Most new games do. And the better the GPU and lower the resolution, the more CPU usage in preparing (more) frames as well.

You're due a CPU upgrade if looking at 5700XT unless sticking to older games, and if it's just older games then no need to upgrade GPU.

 

[snakefood]

aye, but my board won't handle much of a cpu upgrade, only a 3770K up from my 3570K. It was kinda the point I was asking, if I could get away with an upgrade to a something (I was thinking a 5700XT), or if my cpu would hold it back, if that's the case then I am prob better saving up and working on a new build?

I did notice that wasn't a 5700, but couldn't edit my post was too late. Still not a bad card tho but didn't really want to drop both psu & card money on an old rig, about 300 was the limit I'd do, if it could get me a couple of years.

 

[Larok]

I noticed that vega card coming in on the 5700 and 5700XT searches, worth checking for.

 

[Alan1969]

a gpu upgrade would be I would start (and the 5700xt sounds good but I wouldn't go any higher with your cpu) - although it depends on what you want it for. your rx480 has 8gb and for me that was sufficient for my 4k monitor. I tend to play strategy games (like total war Warhammer or xcom) where very high fps is not needed. I do play world of warships but even then you could get by with your rx480.

What games do you play? what is the resolution of your monitor? what is the hz refresh rate of your monitor? do you play pvp shooters and need high fps?

 

[snakefood]

Sorry for late reply, busy week with work.

I play a mixture of games, some old some new. borderlands 3, ark survival, assasin's creed, anything really I like the look of. Current monitor is 1080p @ 60hz.

Seems quite a split opinion on if my machine is too old and won't use a newer card to other indicating my chip has adequate grint and wold do the job.

 

[Alan1969]

your cpu has a passmark score of 7190 https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

one of my gaming PC's still has a AMD FX8350 which has a passmark score of 8958 and plays all my games fine (on a 4k monitor although sometimes I use it at 1080 resolution) - with a Radeon R9 fury graphic card (a passmark rating of 9193 https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php)

your rx480 graphics card has a passmark rating of 8147. overall your pc is slightly slower for the cpu and gpu than my FX8350/fury but not by much. I can game at 4k resolution - admittedly I don't play very fast shooters but if you did then your monitors 60hz refresh rate would hold you back. So depend on what games you play and if you want the screen to refresh a bit quicker (but you will then be limited by your monitor.

I think your machine could handle a better gpu and that you would see some benefit in faster fps - but whether you need any faster fps at the moment depends on how you play your games (like a pro). if you did get a new gpu and then in a year or two get a new cpu/mobo/pc then of course you could transfer your graphics card over.

I recently upgraded to a ryzen 3600 which is quiet cheap and for my games it is overkill - it has 12 threads and most game software still only uses a max of 4 threads at the same time. the ryzen 3600 will futureproof me for years to come 9although I only bought it as a stopgap until the 4th gen 16 core ryzen comes out as my X570 can easily handle that (but even more that cpu will be overkill fo me).

personally I think that your current pc is fine - is there anything that you want to do but cant?

alternatively a new pc would be nice, but you may also want to upgrade your monitor and ultimately I don't think that your games will play that much better.

 

[Alan1969]

if you did want to get a new pc then a ryzen 5 3600 with 16gb of 3600mhz ram and a radeon 5700 should last you for years. I personally like 1440 resolution and a 27" 1440 75hz or more monitor shouldn't be too expensive. and a 1 or 2 TB nvme ssd.

 

[hominid]

Thing is the machine is old but well balanced, there are things you can do to speed it up here and there. Realistically it would be best to use what you have until things aren't playable, or to your liking, then get a totally new machine.

 

[ExoMale]

if i remember correctly, at the popular 3 letter shop you can buy an i7 3770 for under £70 which while isnt a K is still a 4c8t chip, you could even trade in your i5 to make it cheaper otherwise its £100 for the K version or under 80 with trade of i5.

that or just as others said and overclock it and look for a vega gpu, i guess it depends what use it has for you.

 

[EsaT]

if i remember correctly, at the popular 3 letter shop you can buy an i7 3770 for under £70

Change to another very low end CPU would make sense only if cost is at level of pocket money you would be ready spend to candy.

 

[snakefood]

Cheers for all the responses guys, it's much appreciated. As it seems I'm pretty much leaning towards my hardware beife I think I'll just hold off on spending more on my current, and put it towards a new rig instead.

One thing this has made me realise tho is that I also need to look at my cra**y old tft upgrade as well, I'll prob do this now before I do the pc.