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2600k upgrade

I've got an i7 2600k running at 4.5GHz (unfortunately I can't seem to get it stable past this number), 32Gb RAM, along with a GTX1080, I play in 144Hz 1080p. Everything I play runs on max quality and most games run at over 100fps most of the time... The only thing I started to see an issue with the other day was running a webcam chat with discord whilst gaming - that maxed out my CPU, though I didn't actually notice any drops in anything. I also run a plex server, and sometimes stream on twitch, along with multiple other things running in the background at all times, and yet I still am struggling to justify spending 900 pounds on a newer processor (after DDR4 and mobo as well). I really want to as I have the upgrade itch quite bad lol, but I keep holding back thinking it's too much money to spend for minimal gains. The benchmarks look good on the later processors, but how often am I really unzipping things in 7-zip that the 30 second saving actually justifies that cost?
 
Terrorfirmer said:
The 2600k is still good due to the extra threads in CPU punishing games, the fact that you have it overclocked means you're A1 for another while, unless you're running 144hz - in that case, obviously an 8600K or 8700K will show big gains, but at standard 60fps, 2600K with an OC is still perfectly fine.

At this point I would take an old i7-2600K OC'd over any i5 apart from the current six-core generation, the quads are starting to show their age badly in the last year or two in a few select titles. Average frames are still good but they tend to suffer dips.
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Cheers - yeah I am running a 144hz monitor; to be honest it's more of an upgrade 'itch' than a proper, justifiable need.

I'm going to try & wait until the beginning of next year; see where things stand regarding memory prices etc.
 
The upgrade to new system doesn't need to be exspensive.

I have seen the i5 8400 go for as little as £130 and stick it with a £60 Board and some cheap 16gb ddr4 ram and you have a new system for around £300.

This gen you no longer need the top end processor for top end gaming performance. The mid range intel 8400 and AMD 2600 (overclocked) offer nearly same performance as the 8700k .

By the time you sell your old processor you could have upgrade for £150 and in some games you would be looking double the framerate over the 2600k.

8400 is plenty powerful enough for a 1070.
 
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Even an i5 8400 would mostly be a sidegrade to an overclocked 2600k apart from getting a couple more cores that most people simply don't require... most benchmarks I've seen comparing the 2 are doing it at stock speeds which tbh isn't a fair comparison.
 
icehot666 said:
Even an i5 8400 would mostly be a sidegrade to an overclocked 2600k apart from getting a couple more cores that most people simply don't require... most benchmarks I've seen comparing the 2 are doing it at stock speeds which tbh isn't a fair comparison.
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Most games actually prefer the 6 cores now.

It's why in gaming reviews the 8400 @ 3.9 is on par with a 7700k @ 4.7.
 
It's sort of like a core creep as newer games slowly starts using more cores as people replace their old systems with a 6+ core CPU.
 
I wouldn't really call the i5 8400 a side grade, but personally I wouldn't upgrade a 2600K now, might as well jut buy a beefier GPU and overclock that 2600K to its limits if you can. Wait for the Core 9000 series or if you're not rushed at all, might as well wait and see what Ryzen 3000 brings.
 
AndreiD said:
I wouldn't really call the i5 8400 a side grade, but personally I wouldn't upgrade a 2600K now, might as well jut buy a beefier GPU and overclock that 2600K to its limits if you can. Wait for the Core 9000 series or if you're not rushed at all, might as well wait and see what Ryzen 3000 brings.
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Yeah agreed, I wasn't necessarily suggesting the other person go out and buy an 8400 I was just pointing out that upgrading doesn't need to be exspensive now that you can get decent 6 core cpu's for £150.

I too would just stick with the same cpu for now, see if you can overclock it some more and most importantly get a decent graphics card (something like a 1070ti 1080 or vega 64 if you have freesync).

The 8400 is great right now and a good pairing for something like a gtx 1080 but it's probably not very future proof and will probably run out of steam when games get more demanding and graphics cards get faster.

I will be swapping my 8400 out at some point, I have a z370 board so I have a lot of options, I will just see what pops up. Maybe I will go next gen and stick an 8 core in my board or look for a deal with 8700k/8700/8600k when the new processors come out. Either way I think I will be pretty well set for the next few years.
 
well had a 2500k clocked at 5 g5 ghz stil going strong . was looking at a new pc but would coust £10.000 lol last1 coast £ 5.000 so thats 100% coust for 20 % hehe have fun all
 
Phil2008 said:
I upgraded from a [email protected] to a [email protected] and I cant tell any diff gaming wise with my R9 290 gpu. so a major bottleneck im guessing, but Im not too fussed as all my games I play still run smooth enough.
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See this is my worry, spending all that money - and tbf to some of the previous comments I would stick to the i7 or even soon coming out i9 as I've always gone with the top of the line if anything for the longevity again. But I see this all the time in comments "I had a 2600k, and upgraded to the latest and greatest and didn't notice anything", and not just with R9 290's like this guy, but with 1080's and Ti's too... So far the only place where I've maxed out that I've noticed is running discord webcam chat whilst gaming, and even then I only noticed it because I was running task manager at the same time, it didn't make any real world difference, so based on pricing up 32Gb DDR4 (I already have 32Gb so would not want less, I do run a LOT of background services and regularly use 20Gb of RAM), the Asus Z370-A as I want a good motherboard, but not amazing, but also not a cheap one, plus sticking with at least the 8700k as I already have an i7 and I would want to stick with that, then we're talking 800 to 900 quid to possibly improve discord a bit? That's where it begins to feel like a stupid thing to do.

Edit: I guess the other place more cores might help is when people are watching my plex server and hence I'm transcoding which on rare occasions does happen whilst I'm gaming, though I'm yet to notice it have much of an impact yet.
 
i upgraded from i7 2600k at 4.5ghz to a i5 8600 non k cost me £150 after selling my board and ram and cpu. games especially escape from tarkov now run much smoother, also have a gtx1070. in tarkov with the 2600k my cPU was running at 100% now cpu is at 45% and gpu was at 40 to 50% now my gpu is at 99 to 100% so the2600k was a definite bottleneck.
 
I knew the upgrade wouldnt really improve much game wise, but I had a bit of money and the motherboard was developing problems that was getting annoying, so I took the plunge....But if your games are still running smooth and your pc is running ok,, I'll say dont upgrade or upgrade the gpu, as that will make the biggest improvement if its going to.
 
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