Any point in upgrading? Intel i5 6600k

Vanilla · 11 Aug 2021 at 15:05

So....below is my current system. I'm thinking about a new AMD 3600X or something but i'm not sure i'm going to see any real benefit. I just 'feel' I need to upgrade as I built this system in 2016!! (bar the Vega64).

However, a few friends have said that the CPU is fine, I have a decent graphics card and it's best to wait another 6 months for new things, lower prices, better availability etc.

Is there any point in upgrading or wait for longer? My uses are general workstation and gaming.

Spec:

CPU: Intel i5 6600k (3.5Ghz - stock)
CPU Cooler: Antec AIO H1200 Khuler 240mm Pro
Mobo: Asus Z170-A
GPU: AMD Sapphire Nitro+ Vega64 (will keep using given current price situation)
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit
PSU: EVGA Supernova 750w G2
Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540
Storage

- Samsung PM961 Polaris 128GB M.2-2880 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe (Operating System)
- 1TB Fusion IO Card (enterprise Storage from a friend)
- 4TB HDD
- 1TB HDD
- 2 x 500GB Toshiba SSDs

watercooledman · 11 Aug 2021 at 15:08

overclock the 6600k you have a watercooler so should get a good speed.
yes its still a decent cpu, does it play everything you want it too with the vega ?

dave28 · 11 Aug 2021 at 15:12

Doesnt feel right telling someone with near 10,000 posts but i would wait for Zen 4 in late 2022 and do the DDR5 upgrade the same time and by then GPU situation should look very different i would have thought or hope

Danny75 · 11 Aug 2021 at 15:27

dave28 said:
Doesnt feel right telling someone with near 10,000 posts

It's ok. We need you to remind us where we left our glasses and hearing aids and false teeth and such.

Joxeon · 11 Aug 2021 at 16:18

Unless your unhappy with the machines performance I’d hold off a bit longer.

MissChief · 11 Aug 2021 at 16:23

Joxeon said:
Unless your unhappy with the machines performance I’d hold off a bit longer.

There’s always something new around the corner or coming soon. DDR5 will be way more expensive for a long time until production starts to take over from DDR4 and there’s the early adopter tax with new Intel chips and boards costing an absolute fortune. If his performance is suffering a good B450 board and a 5600X or even 5800X is very unlikely to be holding his performance back for many years.

fastwunz · 11 Aug 2021 at 16:26

Stick with it.

prices are disgraceful at the moment and the vega64 is still a very fine card. I’m running a Vega 56 at 1080p and I can still practically max everything.

Joxeon · 11 Aug 2021 at 16:40

MissChief said:
There’s always something new around the corner or coming soon. DDR5 will be way more expensive for a long time until production starts to take over from DDR4 and there’s the early adopter tax with new Intel chips and boards costing an absolute fortune. If his performance is suffering a good B450 board and a 5600X or even 5800X is very unlikely to be holding his performance back for many years.

DDR5 probably will be but it's more futureproof and the same with a new socket.

As I said though unless OP is having performance issues with his current hardware then there is little reason to upgrade now especially with GPU prices.

Quartz · 11 Aug 2021 at 17:10

Is your CPU bottlenecking in anything? The 6600k is a 4 core CPU so more modern games might cause problems.

If your CPU is holding you back then take a look at the i5-11400F and a B560 motherboard (total cost £250 - £300) in the expectation of replacing them with a DDR5-based system late next year.

EsaT · 11 Aug 2021 at 18:11

4C/4T CPU is little for heavier games with minimum framerate dropping.
If it were "no one will need it" i7 with hyperthreading for 8 threads it would struggle less.

And even that would fall short of consoles with 8 core/16 thread CPU to give game developers incentive for finding ways/new things to use cores for.

jigger · 11 Aug 2021 at 18:17

A 3600X would leave the i5 for dead. The i5 isn’t in the same performance league.

Vanilla · 12 Aug 2021 at 13:46

watercooledman said:
overclock the 6600k you have a watercooler so should get a good speed.
yes its still a decent cpu, does it play everything you want it too with the vega ?

I used to have the ASUS auto overclocking which gave me an extra 22%. However, I got quite a few crash-to-black-fans-on-max issues so I turned it off

It does meet my needs, I guess. I'm not some overclocking, benchmarking omg my CPU is 2c hotter at idle than normal type so I dunno!

StarShock · 12 Aug 2021 at 14:02

There are definitely a growing number of games that will suffer from performance dips from a 4 thread CPU, and you likely would see an uplift moving to a 6 core 12 thread CPU. But I'd say unless there is something that you really want to play, that isn't giving you a playable experience I would wait till the next gen. As has been mentioned, both the next gen intel and AMD CPUs are likely to move to DDR5 hopefully a solid performance bump over what we have now.

Vanilla · 12 Aug 2021 at 15:15

StarShock said:
There are definitely a growing number of games that will suffer from performance dips from a 4 thread CPU, and you likely would see an uplift moving to a 6 core 12 thread CPU. But I'd say unless there is something that you really want to play, that isn't giving you a playable experience I would wait till the next gen. As has been mentioned, both the next gen intel and AMD CPUs are likely to move to DDR5 hopefully a solid performance bump over what we have now.

Yes, or at least make the current gear cheaper.

I play anything from COD to rust, to 10+ year old games like the settlers. I guess the CPU is the bottleneck with some things but....from what I gather it's no a BAD CPU even though it's old. Sure it doesn't have that many cores.....but yeah i've yet to find anything stutter or slow. I guess I was just in a cycle of 'it's been a long time I should get something new'

Armageus · 12 Aug 2021 at 15:56

It's worth looking at an interim upgrade, as would cost very little to move to a 6 core/12 thread cpu, due to offers at the minute.
You could reuse your existing ram, and as long as you have an AM4 bracket for your cooler you would be good to go.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x **B Grade** AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - MPK= £139.99
1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £59.99

Total: £210.48 (includes shipping: £10.50)

jigger · 12 Aug 2021 at 19:04

Vanilla said:
Yes, or at least make the current gear cheaper.

I play anything from COD to rust, to 10+ year old games like the settlers. I guess the CPU is the bottleneck with some things but....from what I gather it's no a BAD CPU even though it's old. Sure it doesn't have that many cores.....but yeah i've yet to find anything stutter or slow. I guess I was just in a cycle of 'it's been a long time I should get something new'

The i5 will be a massive bottleneck for a graphics card half the speed of a Vega 64.

Tetras · 12 Aug 2021 at 21:01

If you're happy with the performance right now, then why bother? I'd wait to see what Alder lake and AM5 are like and even if they're bad (value or perf), there will be price cuts on current gen stuff.

Vanilla · 12 Aug 2021 at 21:54

Armageus said:
It's worth looking at an interim upgrade, as would cost very little to move to a 6 core/12 thread cpu, due to offers at the minute.
You could reuse your existing ram, and as long as you have an AM4 bracket for your cooler you would be good to go.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x **B Grade** AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - MPK= £139.99

1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX II (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £59.99

Total: £210.48 (includes shipping: £10.50)

That's actually not a lot considering the silly money I waste every day on general crap

Quartz · 12 Aug 2021 at 21:54

Armageus said:
It's worth looking at an interim upgrade,

Great find.

Vanilla · 12 Aug 2021 at 21:54

jigger said:
The i5 will be a massive bottleneck for a graphics card half the speed of a Vega 64.

Oh, I thought it was doing OK. I mean, it is 5+ years old so to be expected