Time for upgrade?..

[Nuttah]

So.... The PC been somewhat neglected lately... Currently running:

Intel i5 3470 (Ivy Bridge) @ 3.2
Gigabyte Z68AP m/b
8Gb Memory
Gigabyte GTX 480 GFX card
Coolermaster HAF912 case
OCZ StealthXStream 2 - 600w

Now.... I'm currently in the process of convincing myself the whole lot needs to be replaced (maybe aside from case & PSU..), however, thought I'd check for some opinions on if just a GFX card upgrade would supply significant improvement. I only really use the machine for gaming.

If I upgrade the whole lot, I'd prefer to try and aim around a max of £700, but can be somewhat flexible.

 

[ExRayTed]

You don't have a realistic budget to do a full upgrade that would give results worth the cost. I'd suggest a new GPU, a second hand i5 3570K and possibly a new PSU (depending on it's age - OCZ units were never very good)

Assuming 1080p then a GTX1070 would annihilate everything you could throw at it. Also an overclocked 3570K is still a decent CPU today to be honest.

The other solution is to sell your existing gear. I still think decent Z68 1155 motherboards command a decent price on Ebay which would give you more money to play with

 

[dudemiseter182]

I'd say sell the parts you have now, individually on somewhere like ebay. then you'd probably have around 900-ish, build a very current system and don't upgrade again for about 4 years

 

[Plec]

I'd suggest a new GPU, a second hand i5 3570K

This ^

I would be sorely tempted to sell the 3470 and drop in a second hand clocked 3570k like ExRayTed suggested along with the GTX 1070.I would perhaps suggest another 8gb of memory (not vital) as more and more games are utilising it.

All components combined you would receive incredible bang per buck performance wise - but realise it's dependent on buying second hand CPU which you may not fancy...

But for comparison purposes:

I was in the same boat as you but with a 2500k @ 4.5Ghz - although I game at 1440p.

I dropped in a GTX 1070 with 16Gb of memory with the full intention of doing a Ryzen build once the 5s were released. However, I've been so impressed with the performance that i'm going to wait - even at 1440p.

It's totally reinvigorated my rig - Yes, there's a slight CPU bottleneck and the gen 2 PCIe knocks of another 1% - but I can't tell in real world situations. I can play most games on ULTRA without tweaking at 1440p. If you're playing at only 1080p, as ExRayTed alluded to, it will munch it's way through games at 1080 on ultra.