Cheap upgrade time (max £300)

Shashman · 20 Oct 2018 at 14:01

Currently:

i5 2550k CPU
EVGA GTX 670 ftw GFX
Geil 8 GB DDR3 Black Dragon RAM
OCZ Vertex 4 240GB SSD
OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD
Asrock H77 Pro4-M Mobo.
Corsair HX620 PSU
Jonsbo Micro ATX case

It's been about 5 years since my last minor upgrade and even that was with second parts.
It runs the games I play well (World of Warships mainly but some Ghost Recon Wildlands, Fallout 4, Subnautica and a few others occasionally) but it's slowly but surely on its way out.

Poor thing has done me proud!

The catch is my budget is around £300 so I'm thinking new SSD, graphics card and PSU (as this one has to be at least 6 years old. Fair play!) should do me fine. I don't game half as much as I used to but I'd like to be able to get back into titles like ArmA III and whichever decent new game catches my eye and be able to run them decently.

Now I've been out of the game for years (I think my last post on here was about 4 years ago??) so I'm not too clued up but I've been doing a bit of digging and researching and I'm considering getting myself a second hand 970 or 1060 which can be had for around the same amount? How about a 1050?

Considering how well and how long the current components have (and still do for the most part, tbf) served me, I'm thinking this upgrade should see me through at least another couple of years?

Shashman · 20 Oct 2018 at 14:41

Thanks for the input mate!

I must admit, I haven't even considered going red. My last red card was a 4870X2 and I have no idea what the balance of power is at the moment haha!

Edit: I'm surprised about the PSU. I was expecting people to have kittens reading how old it is

Edit 2: Seen a few 970 and 1060 Mini ITX cards within my budget here and there. Quite like the idea of them. Haven't seen any mini ATi (bloody hell, or is it AMD these days??) graphics cards?

Shashman · 20 Oct 2018 at 15:28

Thanks for the suggestion.

Definitely planning on selling the 670 FTW. It's still a decent card to be fair. How much do you reckon it would be worth? It's just loud and hot, so not really suitable for my case which is also why I'm leaning towards a small card.

I'll look into that Vega 56, however I'm a bit apprehensive about spending that amount on a graphics card if I'm honest.

Edit: http://www.cooltek.de/en/jonsbo/u-series/92/u3
This is my little case btw http://www.cooltek.de/en/jonsbo/u-series/92/u3

Shashman · 20 Oct 2018 at 15:40

No box unfortunately (I got it second hand) but Ok cheers for that, I'll try and flog it for around 50.

I'm not even going to pretend to know what Freesync is haha!

If you were to classify the 970 (which I can get in Mini ITX format), 1060 and 1050 (also Mini ITX), Rx 580 and Vega 56, how would the chart look?

Shashman · 20 Oct 2018 at 15:57

Damnit, now I'm slowly sliding down that upgrade rabbit hole.

I've started looking at swapping out my i5 2550k for a better 1150 CPU now :rolleyes:

Shashman · 20 Oct 2018 at 16:07

Oops, yes that's what I meant :cool:

So now the focus has kind of swayed towards GPU + SSD + possibly 1155 CPU :rolleyes:

Keeping in mind the budgetary constraints, do you think a 1060 + SSD + 1155 upgrade would see me out for a couple of years?

Sorry for all the questions, it's literally only been 3 days since I've started looking into this upgrade. My hardware knowledge is still in 2012 haha :confused:

Shashman · 21 Oct 2018 at 18:40

Thanks for the suggestions JF!

Max VGA card length for my case is actually less than that. In order to be able to fit the 670 ftw, I had to remove the backplate then slide it back in after the card was slotted in. And yes, thermal properties are a big factor with this case.

I was considering a 3770k if I find one going for a good price?

I'm almost certainly going to go for a 1060. I've seen them going for around 130 second hand.

Oh yeah and I can stretch my budget to around 400 now

Any changes with this in mind?

Shashman · 21 Oct 2018 at 21:18

Yeah I get what you mean. Maybe I'm just getting carried away.

2550K is not overclocked. I have an H77 motherboard so thought it wasn't possible? Must admit, I've never really overclocked and certainly don't know how to now :confused:

... This forum needs an embarrassed emoji!

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 06:43

Unfortunately it's just a bit too big for my case

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 20:08

How do they compare to a 6gb 1060, bearing in mind the age of my other components?

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 20:17

I've noticed that basically every single recommendation in 'spec me' threads is Ryzen-based.

How much of an increase in performance would I get over my current i5 2550k system, if I went down one of the cheaper Ryzen paths? Paired with a 1060 or any of the other cards recommended in this thread so far?

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 21:59

Hmm OK. So say with my budget of around £400, I decided to go for a 'proper' upgrade (instead of just GFX and SSD, as initially planned... ffs :rolleyes:

), and got a Ryzen 2600, mobo and RAM, and found a good deal on a second hand 1060, would the performance increase be worth it and futureproof? Basically, am I going to get the same bang for buck my current setup has provided for over 6 years?

If I was to go down the full upgrade route, I could sell my 1155 setup (cpu, mobo and ram) and 670ftw. How much do you reckon that bundle could go for? I could obviously reinvest that into the upgrade.

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 22:07

I've seen 6GB 1060s going for between 150-170

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 22:12

Don't forget I've got a Micro ATX case with less than ideal ventilation, so power efficiency, temps and most importantly, physical dimensions are big factors I need to consider. These are all qualities the 1060 possess over the rx 580 (I think?)

Shashman · 22 Oct 2018 at 22:27

Cooltek U3 Micro ATX with a single 120mm rear extractor fan. It's a high quality, really smart little case (I imported it from Germany about 4 years ago)

Shashman · 23 Oct 2018 at 06:55

What's Freesync?

I'm happy with 1080p on my AOC 27in monitor

Shashman · 23 Oct 2018 at 08:22

Hmm, sounds like something interesting, but for the future. Like I said, more than happy with my current display. Plus it sounds expensive and this upgrade is getting bigger and bigger as it is

Shashman · 23 Oct 2018 at 09:28

I've just found a Gigabyte AB350N motherboard going for 50 on facebook. Anyone know anything about it? It's going for over 100 new

Shashman · 23 Oct 2018 at 10:10

Blimey, Mini ITX! Would make my Micro ATX case seem cavernous

If I did go down the Ryzen upgrade route I'd want to go for one of the better CPUs to make it worth it. i5 2550K is still fine afterall. This upgrade is just for future proofing.