The 7 Year Itch

ademcg · 5 Jan 2019 at 20:00

Wow, time flies when your having fun eh !!

I just realised that it is the 7th anniversary of my current gaming rig :eek:

Spec is
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 (Launched Aug 2011 and I was one of the first adopters)

The CPU is an Intel I7 2600K running @ 4.4 GHz air cooled and to be fair I think it holds up pretty well by any standards and with 16gb of RAM I get to be responsive and smooth

Ok, so I have upgraded my GPU quite regularly, and my current one is probable Sightly overkill a GTX 1080 Ti Sea Hawk takes care of moving stuff on the screen, speaking of which my DELL S2716DG G-sync 144hz monitor still holds its own for most things.

My main question is so what is new?

Is there anything out there (CPU / MOBO) wise that I should be looking to upgrade to?

From a little light reading around the forums many are conflicted, their old tech (same age as my stuff, or slightly newer) still packs a significant punch and gaming wise I am unlikely to notice much improvement for what could be a significant outlay (£500 to £900?)

Is this true?

If it is, then it Seems rather odd that several generations of CPU and MOBO on from 2011 / 2012 and we have not really progressed much.

I would be super interested in your thoughts so please air your views below

Mik3 · 5 Jan 2019 at 21:51

Personally I would wait a few months for Zen 2, since you only upgrade every 7 years a 12 core zen 2 would be a great choice.

pingu666 · 6 Jan 2019 at 01:56

pah z68 is modern, me and my dad are on p67

Apone70 · 6 Jan 2019 at 02:00

Mik3 said:
Personally I would wait a few months for Zen 2, since you only upgrade every 7 years a 12 core zen 2 would be a great choice.

Yup deffo wait and see what the new chips are like

Subzero85 · 6 Jan 2019 at 09:06

Mik3 said:
Personally I would wait a few months for Zen 2, since you only upgrade every 7 years a 12 core zen 2 would be a great choice.

Is that amds new ryzen chipset ? i also plan to wait on that to see what happens then make the decision, arent the details hopefully being released now on the 9th ?

P4Clock · 6 Jan 2019 at 10:36

There is always a cpu round the corner, I am a person that says don't wait if your system is not doing what you need it to then upgrade now. However with what zen2 is supposed to bring to the table it's very hard to tell you to upgrade now.

Even if your don't plan of getting amd, zen2 could force intel to review its pricing.

Terrorfirmer · 6 Jan 2019 at 10:47

In fairness when you have a 144hz screen, there's a titanic difference between a 2600K at 4.4Ghz and say, a 9700K at the same speed or faster. Your average and minimum frames will be drastically better.

It would only be true to say you wouldn't notice any difference on a standard 60hz screen. At 144hz, it's pretty mega, especially when you have a 1080ti.

3t3P · 6 Jan 2019 at 13:24

Get a new CPU platform I came from a 4.5ghz 2500k and only after upgrading realised how dated it was.

Can't go wrong with anything from either side now.

Robert896r1 · 6 Jan 2019 at 14:37

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwrevie...k-revisit-2018-benchmarks-vs-9900k-ryzen-more

ademcg · 6 Jan 2019 at 17:27

Robert896r1 said:
https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwrevie...k-revisit-2018-benchmarks-vs-9900k-ryzen-more

hmm a very interesting article, thanks for sharing :cool:

Looks like although it is long in the tooth it is still "reasonable" and for that matter usable
I don't do Fast paced First person shooters that much these days and although a CPU upgrade (article mentions an 8700K or 9700K processor) I would definitely see a benefit of frame rate increase due to upgrading, the cost or bang for buck is probably not worth it just now (9700K bundle is almost £750)

Robert896r1 · 6 Jan 2019 at 17:43

ademcg said:
hmm a very interesting article, thanks for sharing

Looks like although it is long in the tooth it is still "reasonable" and for that matter usable
I don't do Fast paced First person shooters that much these days and although a CPU upgrade (article mentions an 8700K or 9700K processor) I would definitely see a benefit of frame rate increase due to upgrading, the cost or bang for buck is probably not worth it just now (9700K bundle is almost £750)

Objectively, you're likely holding back your 1080ti with a 2600k to some degree especially with minimum frame rates. The next time you upgrade your GPU, you'll need to upgrade the CPU or you'll just be severely bottle necked and likely get little value from the upgrade.

ademcg · 6 Jan 2019 at 17:48

Robert896r1 said:
Objectively, you're likely holding back your 1080ti with a 2600k to some degree especially with minimum frame rates. The next time you upgrade your GPU, you'll need to upgrade the CPU or you'll just be severely bottle necked and likely get little value from the upgrade.

yeah, I think I am right on the brink of bottlenecking the TI now...I had thought about dropping back to my previous (1070) so yes next upgrade will be a full rebuild.

Killer7xx · 6 Jan 2019 at 17:53

Wait 3 days until the 9th, we should be hearing news about AMD's Ryzen 3000 CPUs. Expect a launch to take another month or two though.

ademcg · 9 Jan 2019 at 17:19

Killer7xx said:
Wait 3 days until the 9th, we should be hearing news about AMD's Ryzen 3000 CPUs. Expect a launch to take another month or two though.

So has anything been released about Ryzen 3000 CPU's yet ? worth considering?

LePhuronn · 9 Jan 2019 at 17:30

ademcg said:
So has anything been released about Ryzen 3000 CPU's yet ? worth considering?

The keynote is running right now. We'll know in about an hour if specifics are revealed.

eddiew · 9 Jan 2019 at 20:58

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13829/amd-ryzen-3rd-generation-zen-2-pcie-4-eight-core potentially relevant. Seems like at least 15% over Ryzen 2000.

Honestly, maybe I should have waited for Ryzen 3000 myself, but I don't actually need the 6 cores I have, I just need the clockspeed

JCLDJB · 18 Jan 2019 at 13:09

Definitely wait for ZEN 2 (Ryzen 3000 series)...at least to see what it will hold, and worst case, if it isn't all that (unlikely), then Intel's offerings will probably come down a bit in price to compete.

A new socket, improved arc/more efficient node, jump from DDR3 -> DDR4 memory..etc..etc.

Also, I have a friend running a 2600K and he can handle most games at 1080p just fine, but the CPU is pegged at 90-100% most of the time.

It was pretty funny actually, because when I told him the FPS I was getting on my R5 1600 (stock settings), and he was all like (oh you're not getting that big of an FPS increase.

Until I told him I had only about 20-30% CPU Utilisation...compared to his 100%...meaning I could (and have done in the past) run 2 AAA games in the same time between them, with little to no frame loss.

xD

MartinPrince · 21 Jan 2019 at 23:03

ademcg said:
So has anything been released about Ryzen 3000 CPU's yet ? worth considering?

Still have to sit tight for a few more months.
I have the same motherboard as you in one system, it is one of the fastest booting motherboards I've seen - into the desktop in about 15sec, and this is on a 4 year old Windows 7 installation with a full SSD! Is yours the same?

DragonQ · 22 Jan 2019 at 10:22

Pah, mine will be 10 years old when I replace it with Zen 2.

ademcg · 23 Jan 2019 at 20:44

MartinPrince said:
Still have to sit tight for a few more months.
I have the same motherboard as you in one system, mine it one of the fastest booting motherboards I've seen - into the desktop in about 15sec, and this is on a 4 year old Windows 7 installation with a full SSD! Is yours the same?

yeah I boot with my Samsung PRo SSD in around 15 seconds too...great boards for that..I migrated to Windows 10 the day before they started to charge for the update..its been great.