i5 upgrade options

[Kaeo]

Hey guys, looking to see whether upgrading is worth it atm. I've been out of the game, so to speak, for plenty of years. My current PC is circa 7 years old.

Current spec is :-
MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 (socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.8
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler
XFX 850W Black Edition Modular Power Supply
2 x GTX 680 2GB sli

I have plenty of hard drives and an Antec 1200 case, so the size of stuff shouldn't really matter.

I game pretty much exclusively and at 1440p it seems to struggle with newer titles on anything higher than medium settings. As I say, I'm very much out of the game, and all I seem to read are negatives about different architectures etc. I have no brand loyalties as such. Not sure if now is a good time to take the plunge or not.

As for budget, there isn't really one. I care a lot more about VFM than how much I spend, so I don't want to spend say a grand to get a 10% performance increase. Halp is much appreciated.

 

[Kaeo]

Mmm do I need to be more specific with budget?

 

[PiKe]

Graphics card would be the first thing, maybe look at AMDs offerings or if you want to stay with the green team gtx 1070 would be a nice upgrade.

 

[Kaeo]

Okay, thanks for your reply. Lets say I have £500 for a graphics card upgrade. As I game mostly at 1440p 60hz, what would be your recommendation?

 

[lee32uk]

Okay, thanks for your reply. Lets say I have £500 for a graphics card upgrade. As I game mostly at 1440p 60hz, what would be your recommendation?

Vega 64 or 1070 ti. Both will do a good job for 1440p 60Hz.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070Ti Gaming 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £399.95
• 1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX VEGA 64 WindForce OC 8GB HBM2 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £398.99

Total: £809.44 (includes shipping: £10.50)​

​

 

[Kaeo]

Mmmm how to choose between them? Are there any known driver or compatibility issues with either of them? I know some of the newer graphics cards don't seem to like certain motherboards, for example.

 

[PiKe]

1070ti uses less power I think?

 

[lee32uk]

Mmmm how to choose between them? Are there any known driver or compatibility issues with either of them? I know some of the newer graphics cards don't seem to like certain motherboards, for example.

They should work on older boards but you might need to update the bios if one is available. It wouldn't hurt to post in the Customer Services section beforehand and ask the shop guys opinion. Just mention that you have an older P67 chipset board and what operating system etc.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forums/pre-sales-queries.117/

As for which one that is hard to say. Some games will favour AMD and others Nvidia.

 

[southernorth]

You could also consider the newly released RTX 2070 - it's faster than both the VEGA 64/GTX 1070ti and competes with the 1080ti (but costs much less)
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8...x-2070-review-perfect-card-1440p/index15.html


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Black Edition 8192MB PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99

Total: £509.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)
​

 

[heatonpkmassive]

1070ti uses less power I think?

Correct. AMD cards on the whole tend to use more power, they're still fine though.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

OP, I'd just get a new graphics card, that's your best bang for buck upgrade.

 

[Kaeo]

Thanks all for the input. I've went for a Vega 64 (first AMD graphics card ), a pair of new headphones and a soundcard. Can't wait!

 

[ExoMale]

a big improvement would be a single graphics card setup, maybe sell you 680's and add that to the budget and get a 1080? if not a used one