do i need an upgrade?

Associate
Joined
14 Jun 2011
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266
Location
Glasgow
Hi all.

Thinking about a small upgrade.
At the moment I have an i5 2500k, 8gb mushkin radioactive ram, Gigabyte dh3 mobo and a XFX r9 380x graphics card.

I'm happy with my case, monitor SSD and mouse etc.

If I'm honest I play maybe 1 game a year but I like the game to play smooth and look good.

I just bought Doom eternal and it plays well and looks good however the odd game can get a bit choppy.

With my rig could I get a decent upgrade with just a graphics card or would I be better with a new cpu etc?

I had a budget of about £500.

I'm 50 btw.

Cheers.
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Nov 2008
Posts
28,997
I assume you're running 1080p?

How much vram does your 380X have? That might be what is holding back the performance in modern titles.

I think you could make a case to just upgrade the GPU but I very much expect you'll see even more performance from a new card if you also bought a more recent CPU and motherboard:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £531.02 (includes shipping: £11.10)


Another alternative is to just get the GPU for now (your motherboard BIOS might need an update) and add the other parts a little later. I've used the RX5600XT as an example of a solid performing mid-ranged card as you don't play games much. Or, you could always just stick with the aforementioned RX580.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powe...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-19n-pc.html

 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
3 May 2012
Posts
8,520
Location
Wetherspoons
Hmmmmm, if it helps I'm running a Sandbridge i7-2600 which is a slightly faster CPU but by modern standards not by much.

I put a 1070 in and I can run most games, Doom internal runs fine for example.

You could potentially put a decent cooler on the i5 and overclock it, a lot, they can take it. Although I'm not sure if a cooler that fits that CPU also would fit a modern one, so it may be money for old rope. Same reason I wouldn't be putting another 8gb of RAM in.

I'm thinking about doing an overhaul and replacing CPU motherboard and RAM but I'm going to hold off until next year hardware prices are high right now.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 May 2012
Posts
8,520
Location
Wetherspoons
You know thinking about it, I think you should save your money and live with it, if you can?

That GPU is a bit lower performance than a 1070 although I play 1440p, so.... Putting a brand spanking top of the range GPU is going to be a waste as youll just hit minimum frames due to your CPU. Getting a slightly better GPU will be a slight improvement but again GPU prices are high now it's a lot of money for "a bit" of an improvement.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
14 Jun 2011
Posts
266
Location
Glasgow
I assume you're running 1080p?

How much vram does your 380X have? That might be what is holding back the performance in modern titles.

I think you could make a case to just upgrade the GPU but I very much expect you'll see even more performance from a new card if you also bought a more recent CPU and motherboard:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £531.02 (includes shipping: £11.10)


Another alternative is to just get the GPU for now (your motherboard BIOS might need an update) and add the other parts a little later. I've used the RX5600XT as an example of a solid performing mid-ranged card as you don't play games much. Or, you could always just stick with the aforementioned RX580.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powe...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-19n-pc.html

Yes 1080 on an AOC G2460.
As for vram, I've no idea.

cheers.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
14 Jun 2011
Posts
266
Location
Glasgow
Hmmmmm, if it helps I'm running a Sandbridge i7-2600 which is a slightly faster CPU but by modern standards not by much.

I put a 1070 in and I can run most games, Doom internal runs fine for example.

You could potentially put a decent cooler on the i5 and overclock it, a lot, they can take it. Although I'm not sure if a cooler that fits that CPU also would fit a modern one, so it may be money for old rope. Same reason I wouldn't be putting another 8gb of RAM in.

I'm thinking about doing an overhaul and replacing CPU motherboard and RAM but I'm going to hold off until next year hardware prices are high right now.

Overclocking would be an option if I could get the Gigabyte easy tuner thing to work but it's not supported on w10.
I do have a good cooler, it's some kind of arctic freezer withe 2 fans on it, and my case has 4 cooling fans too.

cheer.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 May 2012
Posts
8,520
Location
Wetherspoons
I would assume a 380x has 4gb of VRAM.

You should be able to overclock the CPU via the bios. If you Google overclock settings, or look on YouTube there will be tons for that CPU and how to do it.
 
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