Upgrade my 5 y/o computer

Mr-White

Mr-White

Mr-White

Soldato
Joined
12 Nov 2002
Posts
14,600
Location
In my own little world
It's about time I upgraded the guts of my computer...

Current system:

CPU: i5 2500k
Memory Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V GEN3 Intel Z68
Gfx: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Tri-X 4096MB GDDR5
HDD: Samsung 512GB 850
PSU: SuperFlower 1200w

Requirements:

CPU: Intel
Memory: 16GB
Motherboard: any
Gfx: 1080

Budget: £1000-1200
 
Also agree on the 1080/overclock.

Running basically the same set up with a 1070 and it handles everything I throw at it. Save the mobo/RAM/CPU until the 7600k.
 
I'd ask the OP what he wants to do with the system before you tell him not to upgrade his CPU.

A 2500K will bottleneck a GTX 1080 in some games, VR and various other applications. We've seen differences between an i5 6400 and an i5 6600 in some recent game tests.
 
Nothing wrong with your PC.

As others have said, spend your money on a top end GPU and overclock the cpu.

My 2500k does 4.3ghz without even trying. At that speed it's still a damn fast processor.

CPUs really haven't moved on a lot in the last 5 years.
 
Last edited:
ScottiB said:
I'd ask the OP what he wants to do with the system before you tell him not to upgrade his CPU.

A 2500K will bottleneck a GTX 1080 in some games, VR and various other applications. We've seen differences between an i5 6400 and an i5 6600 in some recent game tests.
Click to expand...

A 6600 would obviously be faster, but I don't think the improvements justify the cost. Most 2500ks do 4.5ghz no problem, which is still pretty quick.

Cheapest CPU/Mobo bundle is £305 with a 6600k, add another £60 for RAM for maybe 10% in games (maybe more in RTS type games etc.).
 
I'd overclock the CPU maybe get a used i7 3770k then overclock the RAM to 2000mhz with a 1.65v overvolt on RAM. After that consider getting a GTX 1080 or if budget limited a used R9 290x for £130 for crossfire.

ScottiB said:
I'd ask the OP what he wants to do with the system before you tell him not to upgrade his CPU.

A 2500K will bottleneck a GTX 1080 in some games, VR and various other applications. We've seen differences between an i5 6400 and an i5 6600 in some recent game tests.
Click to expand...

Never had a issue with my 3570k bottlenecking at 4.4ghz but I do agree that in some games like BF4 I see an average of 85% usage even though it never stops my GPU staying max at 100% although my 290 is almost half the speed of a 1080.
 
I lapped the waterblock and CPU last night and it's running at 4.4ghz @ 50'c and my new 1080 turned up this morning :)
 
Overclock is now holding at 4.5ghz, any higher on the multiplier or memory and it blue screens after 20 mins of gaming. A 25 man wow raid on gfx quality 10:

CPU: Sits around 60% usage @ 53'c
RAM: 5-6gb
GPU: says it's max was 96.8% @ 66'c
Frame rate: 80-100 @ 2560x1440
 
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