PC Upgrade advice from 2500k

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Current rig:
Win10 64bit
Gigabyte Z77 D3H motherboard
2500k cpu at stock
8GB DDR3 1600mhz RAM
GTX 970 GPU
Samsung 840 SSD
Samsung 1TB HDD

I mainly game and watch twitch etc. I play at 1080p. Recently playing Witcher 3, Total Warhammer and soon Mass Effect Andromeda, and Dawn of War 3.

I like my systems to be quiet which is why i havent overclocked. And if i did, i would just use gigabytes easytune software to up the cpu to 3.98ghz (it has 3 options and that is the first).

So i was wondering what your advice would be.
I dont really want to upgrade the GPU yet as i just got that before Witcher 3 was released.
Should i just upgrade the RAM to 16GB and maybe the cpu to a 3770?

I assume a jump from i5 to an i7 is worth it for modern games now?

Or go for a big upgrade to say a 7700 or Ryzen?

thx for any help
 
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I'd be interested in this advice too, I'm running a 2500K and GTX970 as well.

Yesterday I installed a Hyper 212 Evo cooler and overclocked to 4.5ghz and my PC is quieter than ever... I was using a stock 2500k cooler though :mad:
While I was on an overclocking roll I managed to get my 16gb 1600mhz ram running at 2133mhz, so far seems solid.

Try that out yourself and see if you really need to upgrade now :p
 
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you really need to overclock your 2500K. You'll get a major boost in performance. 4.5Ghz is so easy with those chips. Don't use easytune, do it through the bios. It's very easy. Find a sandybridge overclock guide online.

Having said that, i5 is starting to be pokey for gaming and there are games where modern i5 vs i7 has the i7 coming out miles ahead. Ryzen is a good choice right now though it is not QUITE as good at gaming as a 7700K, though it is superior for some heavily multithreaded workloads (ie, actual work/not fun stuff).
The absolute king of gaming right now is still the 7700K, though for future proofing you might be better off with an 8 core Ryzen. Either option will outperform your stock 2500K significantly.

The 970 is ok for a while longer but you should look at upgrading it soon.

If you stil with your current setup, definitely go to 16GB of RAM, get a proper CPU cooler, and overclock your CPU.
 
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Yeah, from what ive read, an i7 is much better for modern games, which is tempting to me get an i7 3770 ....or i7 2600k or i7 2700k ( and 16GB RAM).

That way i should get a good enough boost without having to upgrade the mobo, and if i get a good cooler, i guess i could overclock it all for minimal cost and it will prolong my current rig for a while longer.
 
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You want the 3770K, not a 26/2700K. You'll get PCIE 3.0 that way so you don't bottleneck 1080 and greater capacity graphics cards. And overclock the 3770K. It's critical.

Don't buy the 3770K new in box. There are some floating around but the price is absurd. Get a used one.
 
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Overclock as much as it will go, then save up for next years latest and greatest within your budget.

That's said if your playing games that love a strong cpu then grabbing the 3770k wouldn't be bad at all
 
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Looks like used 3770ks are going for around £150-£175.

To me for that price i dont think the performance boost will be worth it over the 2500k, especially if i get Hyper 212 Evo cooler and OC it instead. Then in a year, upgrade.

I guess the only graphically intensive games i'm looking at this year are Mass Effect, Dawn of War 3, Prey and Middle Earth: Shadow of War. I think an OCd 2500k will be fine with them.
 
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A friend had given me 16GB DDR3 1600mhz RAM which is nice of them.

I have decided to buy the Hyper 212 Evo cooler and overclock my 2500k instead of spending more on a small upgrade. Then in a year or so i will get a big upgrade.

Now to find a good overclocking guide as ive never done it before :)
 
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There are lots of guides out there. With sandybridge to reach 4.5Ghz all you really need to do is add a bit of voltage and set the multi to 45 and that's about it in most cases. It's not the theory behind the OC but the testing and tuning that is required that is a p.i.t.a.
I wrote one. go to overclockers.com / forum / intel cpus / ultimate sticky thread / 2500/600/700K OC guide
 
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A friend had given me 16GB DDR3 1600mhz RAM which is nice of them.

I have decided to buy the Hyper 212 Evo cooler and overclock my 2500k instead of spending more on a small upgrade. Then in a year or so i will get a big upgrade.

Now to find a good overclocking guide as ive never done it before :)


While a guide is handy you don't really need one, I don't overclock much as I don't have anything cpu wise to do so anymore nor can be bothered, but it's pretty straight forward, I've been lucky and avoided blue screens, but there have been times I have had to dial back or start again, I've done it on stock and aftermarket coolers, but my experience been with average joe types not top performers i.e. I got a 1.8ghz socket 754 sempron to 2.24ghz with no touching of the volts, but even if I did I couldn't get no more out of it, was all fun though.
 
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Got the 212 Evo and 16RAM setup today.

Already 15 degrees cooler after running Prime 95 than the cooler i replaced.

Read the guides and have just now overclocked the CPU to 4.2 just by changing the multiplier. No problems yet.

Trying out 4.5 and vcore at 1.300v. The only things in bios i have changed was cpu ratio and vcore, nothing else. Temps are 62-68.
 
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CPU overclock and 16GB RAM upgrade is going good.

Problem is i have the upgrade bug and so looking at the 1070 to replace the 970, just wondering if its worth the price atm, can get around £140 for selling the 970 it seems. Or should i wait a bit.
 

gEd

gEd

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My 2500K will do 4.2 with multi @ 42 and everything at stock. It all however seems to go pear shaped when I try and go over 4.2, despite all my eternal voltage tweaking and guide reading. I don't know if I've just hit the limit of this chip or if it's related to the 4 x 4GB sticks of RAM thats holding it back but 4.2 it is. Will wait for Ryzen to stabilise before considering an upgrade later in the year, at which point the 2500K might be underclocked /volted for HTPC duties.
 
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