5 year old system still good?

sk3lph

sk3lph

sk3lph

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Joined
16 May 2007
Posts
890
System as follows -

Intel Core i7-4790K @4GHz
Corsair Vengeance Pro Silver 24GB DDR3 PC3-14900C9 1866MHz RAM
Asus Z97-AR Intel Z97 Motherboard
Zotac GeForce GTX 1080Ti
Crucial MX500 2TB SSD

Mainly used for gaming at 1440 120Hz (Doom Eternal; Battlefield; GTAV etc) and internet, at it runs those games absolutely fine, although not sure how it'll fare with the newer games going forward.

I'm eyeing up the new Nvidia GPUs, so the basic question is should I consider a system upgrade for the new card or is my current rig going to be able to keep up without issue - appreciate we don't know the full details of the new cards yet.

I'm thinking an Intel system based on the i5-10600k which seems to offer the edge for gaming performance over a similar AMD based system. Also I'm aware that the Intel 10th gen CPUs don't support PCIe 4.0 yet, so is it worth holding on for the next gen, especially as my rig is not struggling at all at the moment?

I've also been running the same Coolermaster M1000 PSU for about 10 years now and its still running fine - how often should a PSU be replaced?
 
I'd go 8 or bust at this point, that'd double your cores and thread count. Not worth paying a bundle to switch motherboard, CPU and DDR4 for 2 more cores. If you're comfortable then just wait it out, longer you wait better value it'll be. DDR4 is already on the way out too.
 
1080ti especially at 1440p is still somewhat of a monster, it's one of those gpus i bet Nvidia are still bitter about letting out into the wild :D
 
sk3lph said:
I'm thinking an Intel system based on the i5-10600k which seems to offer the edge for gaming performance over a similar AMD based system. Also I'm aware that the Intel 10th gen CPUs don't support PCIe 4.0 yet, so is it worth holding on for the next gen, especially as my rig is not struggling at all at the moment?

I've also been running the same Coolermaster M1000 PSU for about 10 years now and its still running fine - how often should a PSU be replaced?
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Curious thing this "PC Master Race"...
Wanting to buy yester-yesteryear's rebranded parts as new.
Well... actually architecture wise it's still same old 2015's 6th gen Skylake yet once again rebranded and on once again another new socket.
That's the modern advance for plain (Intel) Cash Cow Race...

In late fall/before Christmas next-gen consoles are bringing 8 core/16 thread CPU as base level for future games!
Specifically basically non-boosting variant of Ryzen 3700X.
And there are already games scaling past 8 cores.
Death Stranding is another of games with properly threaded next-gen game engine and Star Citizen can give good workout for 12c/24t.

AMD is bringing out improved Zen3 architecture later this year, which should be similar to Zen+ > Zen2 jump and hence easily take single core performance crown from Intel.
And on multithreaded AMD is already running over Intel with plenty of cores available for future games.


While one of the better built Coolermasters, in design that PSU was outdated low end already 10 years ago.
Really wouldn't wonder if its running at pre-historic 65% efficiency most of the time PC is powered...
(+because of same naval gun for duck hunting overkill doubtfull you'll reach that advertised and heavily outdated best efficiency even when gaming)
 
4 cores is the only thing that might hold you back on CPU intensive games. I went for a 10600k too, and it has made a difference for things like BFV, which are CPU intensive.
I don't think it's worth upgrading. Possibly look for a good deal on a 2080ti when the new 3000 series cards come out. I went 1080ti to 2080ti and it made a nice boost. But needs to be at the right price. 1080ti's still hold their value well, which makes the jump less expensive.
 
Thanks for all the replies and advice, looks like the best strategy is to hold off and possibly upgrade the GPU first and see what happens in the meantime between AMD and Intel as they continue trading blows.
 
sk3lph said:
Thanks for all the replies and advice, looks like the best strategy is to hold off and possibly upgrade the GPU first and see what happens in the meantime between AMD and Intel as they continue trading blows.
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I'm playing devils advocate. Sell your 4790K, Z97 board and 24GB RAM which can easily fetch >£270 due to the desirability of the CPU, and how fast the RAM is. Use those funds to buy a cheap(ish) B450 board, and R5 3600 CPU, and 16GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM, which will cost you <£330, spent hardly anything, have a nice new system to fiddle with, get more cores and threads, and can slap in a new RYzen 4xxx CPU when they land if you fancy it, and you've not wasted stupid money on a motherboard.
 
Surely the time to upgrade is when it no longer "runs those games absolutely fine".

It would be like replacing a fridge freezer that runs absolutely fine. Or replacing a car that runs absolutely fine. Some people replace these things when they're bored with them but a forum member cant decide when you're bored.
 
Sometimes it makes sense, like right now older high-end Intel CPUs fetch huge prices that don't match their performance, so there's potential for a very cheap upgrade with better longevity, whereas if you hang on to the system and prices drop, the upgrade could cost more. Though that doesn't take into account the risks to selling, the risks to keeping it (i.e older hardware breaks more often) and that if your needs don't change (like don't play the latest games) then there's no benefit. If you can manage to skip several generations, to the point the hardware is obsolete, then you'll likely come out on top, especially with how the price/performance of the upgrade gets bigger over time. Though progress has been exceptionally slow since Sandy Bridge, so there's no guarantee it'll happen that way twice.
 
Stu999 said:
I'd hold on for another year or 2 for PCIe5, DDR5 and USB4 as well as new generations of CPUs and GPUs.
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Yes but then just round the corner in a year or 2 is PCie 6, ddr6, USB5 so you can end up waiting all your life because this industry changes like the weather.

When it's time it's time just do it if you can afford it and worry about whats coming up when it happens.
 
CuriousTomCat said:
Surely the time to upgrade is when it no longer "runs those games absolutely fine".

It would be like replacing a fridge freezer that runs absolutely fine. Or replacing a car that runs absolutely fine. Some people replace these things when they're bored with them but a forum member cant decide when you're bored.
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I somewhat agree with this, I would keep using your current system until it doesn't play the games you want to at the performance you want while saving up for some new parts. At the end of the day new PC tech is coming out frequently as is software that taxes the older systems more but unless you come to the point where is isn't doing what you want then it isn't worth upgrading. However if you have the money on the hip and just want new shiny things (I know the feeling all too often) then go for it but you could be wasting money that would be better spent at a later time.
 
My only concern is when games are optimised for the consoles which have six cores, anything less that on PC may struggle to keep the FPS up regardless of GPU. @Journey has what I feel is good advice. Your 1080ti at 1440p is still golden.
 
If it still does what you need it too then I wouldn't bother myself. Wait until you can feel it's slow and start from there.

If you must then I'd do what @Journey suggested and sell your current kit and upgrade to Ryzen at a small increase in overall cost.
 
Great community on here, thanks again for all the replies and advice. I suppose I’ve been thinking about what difference the new cards are going to make with the rumoured improvements to ray tracing and I’m interested in seeing what that’s going to do in terms of the titles that are going to be released that support it and being ready myself with the hardware support.

If it’s only going to be performance that really matters for the foreseeable, then I’m fine for the next couple of years as everyone has said.
 
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