Where to go with my aging rig?

drogon · 28 Jun 2017 at 17:38

Hi all,

thanks for taking the time to read my post. I'm looking for some advice about where to go with my aging rig. I'm happy with it for the most part. I just want some more performance. I will be playing at 1080p 144hz .. I dont want to change the screen. It's a Gsync monitor and I' am very happy with it. I just want more fps in modern titles and better frame times for less stutter.

Currently my specs:

2500k OC 4.5Ghz (needing more volts to keep stable) KRAKEN x41 AIO (bought this year and not compatible with ryzen out of the box)
Gigabyte p67 ud3p ( I have never enjoyed this board and it might have put me off gigabyte for life lol ) . It suffers from a horrible cold boot issue. So I generally leave it on 24/7
Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600 Mhz
EVGA suprerclocked 970 GTX
500GB SSD Corsair
XFX non modular 650w psu (about 6/7 years old)
and an ancieant full tower lian li with ok cooling (6x 80mm fans)

Thanks all

stulid · 28 Jun 2017 at 17:49

Hmmmm thats a tough one.

A GFX card such as a 1070 would be a good leap forward and you have 2500K already oc'd.

The cold boot issue could be (trying to remember now stuff from years ago) due to the main and backup BIOS being different versions, if you could flash both the same and update them if they are still on a release version etc. Now I seem to remember Qflash offering the option to flash the backup BIOS on those boards (but again could be talking rubbish due to how long its been since I used one).

If you cant get a Ryzen bracket at all then I guess you would want to wait for the new Intel cpus+boards as im going to take a stab in the dark here and assume they will have the same mounting as socket 1155/56/50/51 etc.

Edit, is this not the bracket you want - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/nzxt-kraken-am4-brackets-hs-019-nx.html - which says X41 as one of its compatible AIO coolers.

drogon · 28 Jun 2017 at 17:59

I have manged to get both bioses the same and I still have this problem. In fact I'm on the lastest UEFI beta bios which isn't very flexible.

I had considered the 1070 gtx but I have noticed that I'am already a bit cpu bound in some games. I really want to improve my min and average frame rates.
Apparently you can get a Ryzen bracked from NXZT if you provide proof of purchase.So I have to by the ryzen chip and board first and then wait 2 weeks for the bracket. I'm really torn. Intel is always a safe bet. But AMD keep their sockets alive longer. But most of the affordable intel chips are 4cores.

Thanks
Andy

EDIT: nice find on the bracket

Basically I want a nice upgrade without totally breaking the bank. Maybe too much to ask!

stulid · 28 Jun 2017 at 18:09

A Ryzen 1500X/1600 is like £170-188 + £100 board +£109 for 16GB 3000Mhz DDR4.

So that is basically £400 all in.

drogon · 28 Jun 2017 at 18:13

Yea that looks like my best option. Any recommendation on the board or memory?

stulid · 28 Jun 2017 at 18:19

How put off with Gigabyte are you.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £109.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £101.99

Total: £222.48
(includes shipping: £10.50)

Also note the 1500X is 4core+HT (8thread) and the 1600/1600X are 6 core+HT (12thread)

drogon · 28 Jun 2017 at 20:51

That looks nice. Do you think I will get much of an overclock with that board?

stulid · 28 Jun 2017 at 21:35

Lower end boards to tend to have less oc options than higher ones, it will overclock but by how much I dont know.

solarp · 5 Jul 2017 at 16:06

Ryzen 5 1600 will OC nicely to 3.8 on that board, anything over will require a significant increase in voltage.

Another member has said to me that the stock cooler on the 1600 will happily bring it to 3.7, anything over and you'll be better looking at a stronger cooler.