Old vs Potential rig - Worth the cost?

Azen

Azen

Azen

Associate
Joined
8 May 2012
Posts
220
Location
The Padded room
I am really on the fence on this decision and will welcome any input others may have. I have a 4 going on 5 year old PC, with newer r9 290's in it, and am considering upgrading it. Will the "new build" offer much of an improvement?

Some review sites say yes the Skylake chip is finally the chip to replace the Sandy with, others say not so much, and it's more about the general improvements in RAM/PCIE SSD etc. In other words, I am hesitant.

Current build
mainboard Asus P8z77-V Deluxe
CPU - Sandybridge 2700K @ 4.7 GHZ
Cooling H100 with Cougar vortex in a push pull, plus h90 for GPU1 again with push pull. (additional side and front fans per case)
Ram - 8gb CL 9 1600mhz Ballistix led ram.
OS Windows 7 64 bit on a 240 gb M4 SSD.
Samsung 240gb ssd as storage
All in a HAf X case

2x R9 290 In xfire (MSI) - one stripped down and a Kraken + corsair h90 installed for water cooling (primary card). I will be keeping these since they are 2 years old and I plan on the below and maybe even doing my first water cooling loop on it:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,282.84
(includes shipping: £15.90)
​


​
 
Last edited:
Not sure why you want to upgrade , the tech really hasn't moved on that much in the last few years and neither have the games.
Your just going to be disappointed, even if it is disposable income.
I get the upgrade itch, but these minor improvements are really not worth the investment at the moment.
 
If upgrade itch is too strong, then you may be better off getting the FuryX xfire or 980ti sli. Within reach with the amount you are willing to spend. Sell 290's and use that money to upgrade your case and psu if necessary.
 
Last edited:
Unless your wanting to go 4k or something similar i wouldnt upgrade yet, looks like a cracking rig ya have there still.
 
Thanks all for the responses, I must admit the more I looked into it the more the "must have new shiny" urge was fading. You've helped concrete my ideas.

Think I will for the moment get a new case (one above), transpose all the bits in, add a Kraken and cooling to my 2nd 290. the Haf X has good airflow but it's a bugger to work with.

I'd consider 980ti but these 290's are only (less than) 2 years old, and I went through quite a task adding the kraken and cooling only in the summer.
So 1.) want to see some benefit for longer
2.) not sure anyone would buy my card as it's got thermal adhesive of the vram to hold the heatsinks in place.
3.) resell on these has to be below 200 (?) not worth it
4.) I've heard of thermal issues (top card maxing out) on SLI cards same issue I had on my R9 290's

So going from 1300-1500 spend to £250
 
That doesn't look like a worthwhile upgrade to me OP, considering how much you'd spend on it. I'd go with faheem's suggestion though if you're determined to drop some money on improving your build.
 
no decided against the core upgrade, though i did look at the x99 option, and decided as single core wasn't as fast as current or skylake, and with the slowprogression of multi core gaming It wasn't for me. Yet. Maybe the next gen of games / processors will move this on.

For now I will case upgrade, clean out and transfer the rig, use a Kraken G10 and fans to cool 2nd card and wait for the next gen. Provided I don't blow the thing up transferring it :D
 
There's no point upgrading a PC to an equivalent (low/mid/high end) system for at least 3 years. I'm only just bothering to upgrade my 7-8 year old mid-range PC with a modern high-end PC, and I'm still not expecting the performance increase to be truly astonishing.

Instead of trying to put a time on it, though, I'd always ask "What's wrong with the current one?"

If you're genuinely struggling to play a game you really enjoy on medium-high, or you're desperate to keep it on super-high settings and your PC isn't managing that, then sure, upgrade. Otherwise, you're better off waiting until you have that moment (Hence 7 years for my own upgrade...)
 
Read this thread mate, I went threw this "uprgade" :-


https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18714014




I will add a bit more to your thread here after some dinner and advice you a bit on what would make your current system shine and make it a much better experience to use at hardly any performance loss from Skylake.

Be back a bit later to reply. In the mean time don't go ordering a Skylake.
 
I upgraded from a 2600k to a 5960x and the difference is night and day, but saying that the 2700k you have is still a decent chip. If you do decide to upgrade just go for x99 for the extra cores.
 
Not enough of a performance boost to upgrade yet. I'd hold off until there is a substantial gain. The rig you have is plenty powerfull as is.
 
Purgatory said:
Read this thread mate, I went threw this "uprgade" :-


https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18714014




I will add a bit more to your thread here after some dinner and advice you a bit on what would make your current system shine and make it a much better experience to use at hardly any performance loss from Skylake.

Be back a bit later to reply. In the mean time don't go ordering a Skylake.
Click to expand...

Read this thanks, I am now convinced, whilst there might be some small gains from doing it. IT's not worth the 1200 + to do it.

So for now will add an closed loop to the 2nd card and overclock both r9290's and replace the case for better cooling. Will save money for later and maybe the 980ti replacements.

Monitor is only a couple of years old (Benq 144 1080p) so again not in a rush to replace, 1440 144 ones are too expensive at the moment.
 
Azen said:
with the slowprogression of multi core gaming It wasn't for me. Yet. Maybe the next gen of games / processors will move this on.
Click to expand...

I've been saying this since the E8500 vs Q6600 Core2Duo days!

Dual core was worthwhile for letting the OS run things in the background, Quad Core is just about becoming useful now 9 years after the Q6600 released! But even so a 6 or 8 core in gaming is still entirely pointless.

The only reason to upgrade your core count for gaming is if you use the machine for other things too, otherwise Quad core is plenty for the next few years. No game I've seen on the horizon takes any real advantage of 4 cores, never mind 6-8
 
I can't see me upgrading from my 4 year old i7 for at least another 3 years yet... It still feels new!
 
why don't you just treat youself to a new case. it almost feels like a new pc, Iv done it myself.. new fans and flashy lights will surpress that itch
 
Kurgen said:
why don't you just treat youself to a new case. it almost feels like a new pc, Iv done it myself.. new fans and flashy lights will surpress that itch
Click to expand...

I did something similar, got the itch, eyed up an x99 build for a month, brought a new chair, keyboard, mouse and headset instead! Very happy with the outcome as I know I'd have seen almost no increase in performance for what I do, where as now instead of being disappointed my ears, hands and rear end lounge in luxury.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom