Upgrade Advice

jackbauer123

jackbauer123

jackbauer123

Associate
Joined
6 Jun 2011
Posts
70
Hey there, with the help of users on here I managed to assemble a machine some years ago and add a couple of upgrades along the way. It has served me very well and coped well with most things.

I did try playing Skyrim SE the other day and it suggested Medium settings based on my spec which was somewhat unexpected. I'm starting to feel like I may be falling a bit behind the curve so wonder if there's any obvious weaknesses in my build that would make sense to try and upgrade first? I haven't really considered how much I'd be looking to spend, probably not much more than £200-400

This is my build:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM
Asrock Z68 PRO3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
ATI Radeon 7950 HD 800MHz 3GB PCI-E HDMI Windforce 3X OC
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5 inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM
Antec High Current Gamer 620W Power Supply
Antec 100 One Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler

Any thoughts/comments would be much appreciated.

Cheers!
 
Are you overclocking your 2500k? If not, that's an easy win. A cheap but significant GPU upgrade for you would be the 8 GB Radeon RX 480 or the 6 GB Geforce GTX 1060, both just over £200 (don't get the cut down versions). At the top end of your budget is the Geforce GTX 1070.
 
Thanks for the reply!

I haven't overclocked it yet, I know I should do. I'll really have to just get around to doing it.

In terms of the GTX1070, i just had a look around, this seemed to come up as one of the better options:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-403-as.html

Would you say the extra is worth it for something like that?

Also, I've always worried that my mobo isn't particularly great, is that something I should look at replacing too?

I'm also worried my power supply is on the way out so I'll probably have to replace that too. Maybe my budget needs to go up a bit...:p
 
I have upgraded from a GTX 1060 to a GTX 1070 and the difference is about 40-45% I have noticed, all be it on 1080p but know I have a good card to swing to 1440p in the future when I feel like the upgrade.
 
If your PSU is on the way out, deal with that first. With regard to the GPU, get the best you can afford.
 
jackbauer123 said:
Which one did you go for? I have seen a lot of discussion on cooling options and how much noise they make.
Click to expand...

I went for the MSI Aero card. I don't know if its just me but I could hardly hear the fan, so I manually put it too 100% and had to get on my knees, and feel the back of the card and yep, was blowing like a *****. So runs way, way quieter than my previous 1060 (ASUS Turbo).

The only thing is that it runs a couple of degrees hotter (which for the 1070 aint that bad) and I have still to adjust the custom fan curve to suit that card yet.
 
rip-the-jacker said:
I went for the MSI Aero card. I don't know if its just me but I could hardly hear the fan, so I manually put it too 100% and had to get on my knees, and feel the back of the card and yep, was blowing like a *****. So runs way, way quieter than my previous 1060 (ASUS Turbo).

The only thing is that it runs a couple of degrees hotter (which for the 1070 aint that bad) and I have still to adjust the custom fan curve to suit that card yet.
Click to expand...

Hmm, thanks for the info. I'm really tempted to get a 1070 now.
 
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