Time to upgrade, but how?

dharvey86

dharvey86

dharvey86

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Joined
12 Jan 2010
Posts
128
Operating System
Windows 10 64-bit

CPU
Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz (running at 4GHz)
Bloomfield 45nm Technology

RAM
12.0GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 599MHz (7-9-9-22)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EX58-UD5 (Socket 1366)

Graphics
Powercolor Radeon R9 390 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Storage
238GB SanDisk SDSSDHP256G ATA Device (SSD)
1863GB Seagate ST32000542AS ATA Device (SATA)

Monitors
1x 27" 1440p Monitor
1x BenQ XL2420T (1920x1080@60Hz)

Power
1x 850 Modular Corsair PSU
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I did post this on another thread a couple of months back and got some great examples. One of the examples being a i5 6600k but, Im hoping someone could look over it once more and come forward with some examples of what they'd suggest right now in September.

Im not too bothered about i7 (unless theres good reason to), Ill mainly be using it for gaming BF1 etc, I will need a new case also.

Budget - £600 but there is room for maneuver .
 
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If you're going to be just using the machine for gaming / general tasks, then I don't think an i7 would be all that necessary. See what other folk say there (I don't know if the extra threads help more with gaming than they used to).

So, with that in mind, the i5 6600K should do very nicely indeed.

As regards to motherboards / ram brand model specifics, I'm not the best person to ask there, but I think you'll need something like an 8GB memory kit (more might be recommended if the VFM is worth it?).

What sort of case has caught your eye?
 
arc@css said:
If you're going to be just using the machine for gaming / general tasks, then I don't think an i7 would be all that necessary. See what other folk say there (I don't know if the extra threads help more with gaming than they used to).

So, with that in mind, the i5 6600K should do very nicely indeed.

As regards to motherboards / ram brand model specifics, I'm not the best person to ask there, but I think you'll need something like an 8GB memory kit (more might be recommended if the VFM is worth it?).

What sort of case has caught your eye?
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Havent looked for cases yet.

Ive done a bit reading into 8Gb and 16GB ram, again I know 8Gb is minimum so Im preparing to buy 16Gb
 
MSTRBKR said:
I would also suggest a 6600k instead of a 6700k in your situation.

8 vs 16 is tricky. Since I got 16 3 months ago I haven't seen it go over 8. You could argue getting 16 now means you won't need to worry about matching sticks 3 years down the line. Comes down to personal choice IMO.
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Yeah, Im willing to goto 16Gb.
 
Honestly, if it's just for gaming & with that budget, I'd sink the majority of it into a GPU, (say a gtx 1070), and get yourself a new case and maybe a new cooler, depending on what you already have.
 
Personally i'd go for the cooler and GPU and overclock the CPU as much as you are comfortable with. Its an old CPU but should still be fine for gaming i think. If you went full system you would definitely compromise. I have given a couple of case suggestions if you fancy too. Always nice to have everything in a brand new clean case.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £905.86
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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MSTRBKR said:
I hugely disagree with this. That CPU is going to bottle neck a GTX 1070.

A few recent threads about CPU upgrades.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18721526
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18743655&page=2

My own thread about going from Lynnfield to Skylake.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18736047

I was considering a GTX 1070 myself whilst holding on to my i7 860 as I found Fallout 4 to be stuttering with my R9 290 on High settings. I instead did a lot of research and concluded that a CPU upgrade was what I needed. I now use the same R9 290 running Fallout 4 on Ultra. Cannot stress enough how much of a bad idea it is to continue GPU upgrades on a CPU that old. Yeah it might run BF1 pretty well, but the CPU will get bogged down in certain scenarios.

My advice - keep the 390 and overclock is as much as you can before it thermal throttles. Get a 6600k, new motherboard, and new memory. New case too as as someone said, it's always nice to do that when having a big upgrade.
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+1
 
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