Is a 2500k and 8gb ddr at 1600 still ok for games today

ince

ince

ince

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Quick question. Is the above with a recent card (say 1060) still ok for 1080p gaming today or would an upgrade on both be recommended.
 
Depends on the game. Anything demanding and it only cuts the mustard with a healthy overclock.

I'm still on 2500k with 1080p, am very itchy to upgrade, and, although I would enjoy ryzen (son has one) I'm a lover of high core speed. Coffee lake is so tempting... but with the games I play at the moment I see no real reason to upgrade... untill intel next die shrink.
 
Still fine for 1080p. A 2600k would be a cheap upgrade and a good few more FPS for the games that can utilise the threads.

I'm using a 2600k & GTX1080 and it smashes 1440p very well.
 
From what I have seen, the GTX 1060 is fine for 1080p gaming. And as long as your 2500k (OC is really a must to make full use of the GPU) is not reaching close to 100% in game usage, you're fine.
 
There are some games where you will suffer massive frame rate loss due to only having an i5, and an old one at that. One example is BF1 where you really need to have eight threads and high core clocks to get high performance, or at least, what an enthusiast would consider to be high performance. A lot of games, as long as you have high overclock on your 2500K you aren't going to notice any kind of massive difference. But the list of games where a 4 core i5, especially an old one, will hold you back is growing longer. Intel didn't make i5 6 core just to compete with AMD, they did it because it's a requirement in the modern world of computing. I would suggest that anybody on anything older than a 3770K upgrade, JM2C.
 
It would be fine for 1080p

My Z68 board pooped itself and I have to upgrade, if it hadn't done this I would still be using it not shopping for an upgrade
 
Unlike many of the others I would agree with @mistersprinkles that it's going to start showing it's age in the newest games. I run a 3570k @ 4.4Ghz with 16GB of 1866Mhz RAM and I'm finding certain games are hitting 100% cpu usage or extremely close already. (The latest Deus Ex comes to mind).

Pairing that combo with a 1060 is certainly the right move and I'd agree it should be spot on for 1080p. Just don't expect to be able to max every setting and realise that some of this generation or the next generation of games are going to be pushing your setup to it's limit.
 
Thanks for the advice all. Something to consider as my most played games are the battlefield series.
 
ince said:
Thanks for the advice all. Something to consider as my most played games are the battlefield series.
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Just to give you an idea of how much of a CPU hammering monster BF1 is, I was running my 4790K @ its stock all core turbo of 4.2Ghz in BF1. with the cache at default. With the cores and cache at 4.5Ghz, I gained 10-15 FPS on average as well as eliminating micro-stutter almost completely. And that's with Devil's Canyon. Sandybridge is a few steps behind. And that's with 8 threads, not 4.

If Battlefield is your main game then you really need to toss your sandy setup and get on board with coffee lake and at least an 8600K but much more preferably an 8700K. JM2C.

You'll make a couple of bucks back selling your CPU/mobo/RAM. You'll need all new gear, a Z370 board, the cpu, and some DDR4, preferably 3200Mhz or above (Coffee lake is a RAM monster with many CPU/boards able to do 4000Mhz + by just setting XMP.) Get at least 16GB (which is all you need and is the new gaming sweetspot). There are games out already that eat more than 8GB such as PUBG, the last Batman Arkham game (though that was due to crap coding work) etc etc.

Any CPU cooler you are using now can be re-used for Z370 as the mounting holes for Intel coolers on mainstream have been the same since socket 1156 many moons ago.
 
BF1 is one of the few games that really hammers the CPU though. For most games a well clocked 2500k will do the job.

Most games are GPU bound as long as you have a half decent CPU.
 
Add me to the 'on the 2500k still and itching to upgrade' list. I'm wondering if mine is bottlenecking my 980Ti at 3440x1400p and I play a mixture of newish and older games.
 
just went from 4gz 2500k / RX580 / 16gb 1600mhz ram to a stock 8600k / RX580 / 16gb 3200mhz ram

gained about 20/30fps in games at 1080p (r6, and battlefront, ultra / topped out settings on everything i get over 100-140fps)
pubg feels A LOT! smoother. pretty noticable when playing

my cpu temps are much lower and fans much quieter however which is good
id say its a more stable plaform going forwards but not a massive leap in fps

havent tried OC the 8600k yet though so that might be another boost

Ryzen 1600 OC / 8400 or 8600k would the minimum upgrade I would recommend
3200mhz Memory faff put me off the Ryzen, and thought being able to OC the 8600k would give me more life than the 8400
 
Amraam said:
Yeah I'm really tempted to look at Coffee Lake build soon. Fingers crossed there'll be some good BF deals...
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With Intel having barely any stock the best we can hope for IMO is RAM having some nice discount along with the motherboard, I'd like to upgrade but looking at 16GB/Asrock Taichi/8700k is going to cost £700, is that really worth it when my rig is doing what I want it to do minus some stuttering? It's a difficult choice.
 
Amraam said:
Add me to the 'on the 2500k still and itching to upgrade' list. I'm wondering if mine is bottlenecking my 980Ti at 3440x1400p and I play a mixture of newish and older games.
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It will probably bottleneck your 980ti on some newer games. Not enough to ruin the experience though.

No doubt the 2500k is getting a little long in the tooth, but it's still a pretty decent CPU when overclocked.

I'd be tempted by coffee lake if I was sat on a 2500k though.
 
IvanDobskey said:
It will probably bottleneck your 980ti on some newer games. Not enough to ruin the experience though.

No doubt the 2500k is getting a little long in the tooth, but it's still a pretty decent CPU when overclocked.

I'd be tempted by coffee lake if I was sat on a 2500k though.
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The point is that it is still ruining the experience somewhat and he's not getting full perf out of his video card and that is BS IMO.
Look at the post from the user awhile ago about going to an 8600K and gaining 30FPS. That's HUGE. That's not a small improvement, and is a clear sign IMO that sandy bridge is dead. It had a good run. Legendary even on par with the Q6600 but it is dead as a sack of potatoes IMO.

EDIT: I just remembered that potatoes are technically alive in a botanical sense.

Bag of rocks.
 
mistersprinkles said:
Look at the post from the user awhile ago about going to an 8600K and gaining 30FPS. That's HUGE. That's not a small improvement, and is a clear sign IMO that sandy bridge is dead.
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Unless that extra 30 fps is wasted because the monitor is only 1080p & 60Hz.

If all you need is around 60 fps on a 60hz monitor and thats what you can get, then sandy if still holding above water.. so why spend on a new monitor & the rest to run it when there is a good cheap option that will play your game of choice for a couple of years still.

New cpus will be out then so win/win, maybe monitors too even.
 
Threepwood said:
Unless that extra 30 fps is wasted because the monitor is only 1080p & 60Hz.

If all you need is around 60 fps on a 60hz monitor and thats what you can get, then sandy if still holding above water.. so why spend on a new monitor & the rest to run it when there is a good cheap option that will play your game of choice for a couple of years still.

New cpus will be out then so win/win, maybe monitors too even.
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Well if you only have a 1080P 60Hz monitor then why the heck do you have such a powerful video card is my question. Not to be a jerk or anything. Just seems like flushing money down the toilet to me.
I'm already mad enough that my monitor only does 144Hz when I can get 200FPS in some games and I want to SEE those 200FPS. Not that my eye could distinguish anything above 90 but I want the E-peen...
 
Threepwood said:
Depends on the game. Anything demanding and it only cuts the mustard with a healthy overclock.

I'm still on 2500k with 1080p, am very itchy to upgrade, and, although I would enjoy ryzen (son has one) I'm a lover of high core speed. Coffee lake is so tempting... but with the games I play at the moment I see no real reason to upgrade... untill intel next die shrink.
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You'll be waiting awhile for that. Intel is milking 14nm like there's no tomorrow. Rumor has it we won't see a process shrink until Ice Lake in 2 years or so.
 
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