Do I overclock or invest?

[Yanayaya]

I’ve asked this before but I’m going to ask again as my original question was over a year ago. I’m at a point where I need to consider if I should be trying to ramp up what I have via overclocking and RAM upgrades or investing in new kit.

I use my pc for gaming mostly and VR with an Oculus Rift. Newer titles are starting to really test what I have and it’s visibly slowing things down.

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 "Founders Edition" 8192MB

CPU; Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W)

Mobo: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

RAM: 8GB RAM (GeIL EVO Leggera 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit

PSU: Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply (CMPSU-650TXUK)

HDD: Samsung EVO SSD 250gb

If ever there was a bottle neck it is my cpu and ram. I attempted to overclock the cpu to 4.5GHz using intels overclocking software but it’s very unstable and just reboots. Now, hands up, it’s no doubt my fault because overclocking is new to me.

The fact remains, do I upgrade or work with what I have? I have about £500-600 I could throw at this if needed. Opinion please

 

[Yanayaya]

You're going to get lot more future proof CPU for your money after release of Zen2 Ryzens...
Like 12 cores/24 threads.

Also maybe RAM would be little more cheaper then.

Indeed RAM has shot up again in price, not sure why. What is next for Intel or is the i9 where it's at right now?
Intel is my preferred brand to be honest, I've had AMD in the past and I wasn't a fan, I realise, however, that there is cost saving there as Intel costs more.

 

[Yanayaya]

Besides firing also current CEO when market share and especially ridiculous profits fall?
It's simply completely open how many years it will take for Intel to have answer to AMD's momentum and ability to scale core counts/utilize new manufacturing nodes.
At this rate Intel might fall also behind Samsung in manufacturing tech.
And power/transistor budgets of old node also limit Intel's chances for improving architecture.

AMD demoed eight core Zen2 engineering sample matching processing power of (completely overpriced) 9900K at ~50W lower power consumption.
Next-gen consoles are likely going to have 8c/16t Zen2 based CPU.
With coding for fixed hardware and lot less bloatware/overhead than in Wintoys10 PC, that's huge amount of CPU power available for games.
There's nothing at any price from Intel which could be trusted to be future proof against next-gen multiplatter games.
(while AMD likely has 16c/32t model planned for price level of 9900K)

And even if Intel actually gets their SNAFU for three years 10nm to eventually produce something usable, you can bet it's going to need another new motherboard.
(while also next years AMD releases likely fit current motherboards)
Intel has been changing socket versions just for the fun of screwing people to butt and without actual architectural CPU improvements.
https://www.techpowerup.com/250109/...0-ghz-overclock-on-a-z170-chipset-motherboard
Despite of marketing going at "9th" generation every Intel is architecturally same old 6th gen Skylake.
Honestly named they should be going at 7th gen.

Not that screwing consumers to every hole would be new thing for Intel...
That's how they've kept their position many times in the past.
Which allowed them to stop advance of game development for decade by milking with same old two cores in standard market PCs and four as high end.

Thanks for taking the time to cover the subject for me, it's a fantastic chunk of info and quick and to the point
I always knew they were expensive but as someone who's been out of the PC building game for a while I didn't realise just what was going on or that AMD were advancing this fast. It's certainly food for thought now that I'm looking at my options, the cost savings with AMD open up more avenues that's for sure. This really splits my choices into three areas now
- Upgrade
- Replace
- (If replace) Intel or AMD

 

[Yanayaya]

Providing you have a decent CPU cooler, at least trying to overclock, will cost you nothing but a bit of time, and will answer whether you really need to upgrade or not.

Try running the CPU at 4.2/4.3Ghz rather than 4.5Ghz. I remember my 3570k didn't like anything past 4.3Ghz with that same motherboard

I'll give it a go and see how I get on. My current cooler for my CPU is the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E. It's a beefy cooler but I'm not sure if it's good for overclocking.