To upgrade or not to upgrade

Rage474

Rage474

Rage474

Associate
Joined
10 Sep 2008
Posts
145
Location
N. Ireland
Hey folks,

It's been a while since I've last upgraded my PC (2013) which I use mainly for gaming - 1080p for now though maybe higher if the right deal on a monitor comes up. Am starting to feel it a little especially in modern titles - I'm looking at you PUBG (I know it's not especially optimised right now).

Here's my current specs:
CPU: Intel i5-3570k @ 3.4
GPU: GTX670 2gb
RAM: 8gb 1600MHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte SKT-1155 Z77X-D3H

I've got a few older HDDs and a small SSD with an OS on it also. The PSU is quite old...though at 1000W can hopefully handle an upgrade, will probably keep the old Coolermaster case to keep costs down if things fit.

Main question - with these parts is a partial upgrade realistic (and if so what) or am I looking at a rebuild to see noticeable performance gains?

Cheers
 
A GPU upgrade would be enough. I play PUBG absolutely fine with an i5 3570k and GTX 1070, for example. Make sure you overclock the CPU to get the most out of it.

What would your budget be for an upgrade?
 
Interesting...maybe I'll go that route then. No weird compatibility issues, just a PCI-E slot?

If upgrading somewhere in the region of £200 would be nice.
 
I agree there the 3570K is a very capable processor. The 670 is definitely holding you back. You should get a GTX 1060.
There is an issue with that motherboard and the Nvidia GPU's above series 7 I think, so I would download the Gigabyte flash utility and upgrade the BIOS before you spend any money. Updating the BIOS is not always something I recommend because it carries a risk, but I believe it is essential in this case. Gigabyte do a utility that automates the process and ensures that you download the right file because it downloads it for you without asking you to choose!! I am not sure which utility that is, though, so search around the Gigabyte site or disk.
 
most games now use just over 2.1GG Vram for gaming at high 1080p - if you go over in your game settings it take space from system ram which causes a bit of a bottle neck etc etc etc

Personally would slap in GTX 1060 6GB or even 3GB version

fancy a change, amd RX which allows a nice £160 freesync 144hz monitor to be picked up which transforms gaming personally


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £779.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
For the immediate future, I'd recommend a decent cooler in the £30-40 range to overclock that i5-3570k to a safe 4.3-4.5GHz. That's free performance right there. Secondly, I would recommend a GTX 1060 3GB. The 6GB is a bit of a rip off in my opinion, so it's to be avoided if you're on a budget.

If you went this route, you could avoid an entire system upgrade for maybe a year or so. :)
 
Great stuff, thanks for the responses guys. Think I'm most likely going to stick a 1060 in and OC the CPU. 3GB vs 6GB is a pretty massive price difference...tough choice, although I wouldn't like to find myself in a years time when I eventually upgrade the rest of the system realising that 3GB VRAM doesn't cut it anymore.

Any solid guides you would recommend on overclocking for beginners ;)?
 
Here's a few guides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=668ATnnBOZU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxCPyF-1tTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcta3RStYSM

The fundamentals of overclocking are the same for all CPUs. You increase the speed (frequency) and increase the voltage to fuel that boost in speed. Be sure to turn of power saving options or anything that may interfere with the stability of your overclock i.e. speedstep, c-state and CPU spread spectrum. You can turn these back on when you're comfortable with your desired overclock, so that your CPU doesn't run at full speed all the time. Lastly, to preserve the life of your CPU, don't exceed the low 80s while stress testing and you should be good.

I'm fairly new to overclocking, but I have managed to game smoothly on my CPU overclocked to 4.6GHz. It is daunting at first but once you get an understanding of the basics, you can only unleash the locked potential in yourself and your CPU. ;)

Good luck!
 
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