Upgrading from a 2500k

[CliffyG]

Hello, need a little advise please. My current system is i5 2500K, Asus P8P67, 16GB 1866 memory and a GTX 1070. My processor is struggling playing PUBG even when running at 4.2ghz. I know this is going to be quite pricey considering I need a new motherboard and memory too but looking at the specs of the new processors I really can't tell how much real world improvement I am going to get from them.

I would hope spending £150 for example on a brand new i5-7640X 4.0GHz should smash it out of the park against a 6 year old one but is that really the case? The next step up would be a i7-7740X 4.3GHz but will the extra cores even make any difference?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DragonQ]

The i5-7640X and i7-7740X are a total waste of time, you're paying extra for a higher end platform whilst getting none of the extra features that platform offers. You probably want to look at the R5 1600 or, if you can find them for a reasonable price, the i5-8400 or i5-8600K. I wouldn't go for a quad core today, even with SMT. It'd be like buying a dual core instead of getting that i5-2500K. There are plenty of reviews of CPUs that show you what kind of improvements you'll see in gaming. You might even be able to find one using the GTX 1070, but most will use the 1080 Ti (where the differences will be exaggerated in comparison).

Your other option is to overclock your current chip higher. You should be able to get to 4.5-4.6 GHz at least.

 

[CliffyG]

I did try going a little higher with the overclock but it kept crashing when my Son played rust so dropped it down a bit, I could try coaxing a bit more out of it I guess. The Ryzen clock speed is well below what I have now, won't that have a negative impact? Is there really not a cost effective upgrade for a 6 year old CPU?

 

[DragonQ]

I did try going a little higher with the overclock but it kept crashing when my Son played rust so dropped it down a bit, I could try coaxing a bit more out of it I guess. The Ryzen clock speed is well below what I have now, won't that have a negative impact? Is there really not a cost effective upgrade for a 6 year old CPU?

Ryzen chips can be overclocked to 3.8-3.9 GHz easily (some go higher) and have higher IPC than Sandy Bridge so will be faster. Plus you'd gain 2 real extra cores and SMT. The i5-8400 is similar except without SMT. The i5-8600K can be overclocked to 5 GHz and beyond but of course costs more. The next step above that for gaming would be i7-8700K but good luck finding one.

 

[CliffyG]

So still quite a significant amount of money then for not a lot of improvement. Maybe I should just look for a 2700k instead and overclock that for now as that will work with everything I have already?

 

[DragonQ]

So still quite a significant amount of money then for not a lot of improvement. Maybe I should just look for a 2700k instead and overclock that for now as that will work with everything I have already?

Sure, that's another option and will help a lot in modern games. An i7-3770K would also work.

Part of the reason for the cost of current platforms is crazy RAM prices. If 16 GiB of good DDR4 was still under £100 it would look a lot more reasonable; £350 for a whole 6c/12t AMD or 6c/6t Intel platform would be great.

 

[CliffyG]

Ok, think I've settled with the idea of trying to overclock a little more first. Then if I want more out of it I'll try and locate a 2700k or a 3770k for sale.

Thanks for your help.

 

[BathmanNick]

I have the same set up as you CliffyG but mine is overclocked to 4.5ghz. Since a patch a few weeks ago some time PUBG now lags/freezes/locks up for the first 5 mins of games and stutters a lot more in game than it did a few months ago. Does this happen to you?

I looked at the 2700k and 3770k but they are going for about £100 which seems a lot for a 6 year old second hand processor especially when ill be upgrading sometime in the next year or so.

 

[CliffyG]

I have only had my graphics card a couple of days so can't really comment on that, had a 970 previously. What settings do you use? I have low AA, post processing and effects, very low foliage, ultra textures and high view distance I think. The FPS does go all over the place, as low as 40 during the starter island sometimes then in game generally between 70 and 110.

Yeah it does seem expensive to me but once I sell my 2500k it should be a minimal difference.

 

[Devrij]

If it helps, my 3770k at 4.5ghz manages a stable framerate in PUBG. It's not a particularly smooth game anyway though.

For a new platform I'd be looking at an 8600k or 8700k to make a significant gain. Anything less is just an incremental improvement.

 

[Phil2008]

I have the same set up as you CliffyG but mine is overclocked to 4.5ghz. Since a patch a few weeks ago some time PUBG now lags/freezes/locks up for the first 5 mins of games and stutters a lot more in game than it did a few months ago. Does this happen to you?

I looked at the 2700k and 3770k but they are going for about £100 which seems a lot for a 6 year old second hand processor especially when ill be upgrading sometime in the next year or so.

I bought a 2600k for £90 last week, and its not too bad pricewise because when I have sold the 2500k the 2600k will have only costed me about £50

 

[Disco_P]

PUBG is very inefficient game. Even with a 4.5Ghz 5820K i still drop below 60fps with a gtx 1080 at 1440p on all very low settings. Especially around south Georgopol and Yasnaya Polyana. In these areas both CPU and GPU usage are significantly below 50%.

Game uses my CPU so little that I can stream in x264 very fast 900p without a noticeable performance impact.

 

[Journey]

Ok, think I've settled with the idea of trying to overclock a little more first. Then if I want more out of it I'll try and locate a 2700k or a 3770k for sale.

Thanks for your help.

100% the best move you can make, if you don't get the performance from the 2500K, changing an entire platform form a single badly optimised title is not worth it.

Grab a 2600K/3770K, and wait until the crazy prices normalise and the newer kit is out next year. You'll get a great boost, but spend pocket change in comparison, yet still receive a good benefit.

 

[ctd]

The i5-7640X and i7-7740X are a total waste of time, you're paying extra for a higher end platform whilst getting none of the extra features that platform offers. You probably want to look at the R5 1600 or, if you can find them for a reasonable price, the i5-8400 or i5-8600K. I wouldn't go for a quad core today, even with SMT. It'd be like buying a dual core instead of getting that i5-2500K. There are plenty of reviews of CPUs that show you what kind of improvements you'll see in gaming. You might even be able to find one using the GTX 1070, but most will use the 1080 Ti (where the differences will be exaggerated in comparison).

Your other option is to overclock your current chip higher. You should be able to get to 4.5-4.6 GHz at least.

Nope, I wouldn't say it's a total waste of time. I have the 7740X and it totally bolts everything in gaming I feed it, such even in VR. Ok, the MB are a bit more expensive. On the other hand I have a MB to grow with.

 

[Phil2008]

At the end of the day, its a hell of a lot of money to change your motherboard, memory and cpu, just for a faster cpu.. When I upgraded to the i5 at the time it costed me about 300-400. Now that price has about doubled, plus if you add in a gpu and psu, your looking at sub £1000

 

[geordiejc]

Upgrading will give you a smooth experience Ryzen 1600 or Intel 8400 are the best value buys after that an i5 8600k or i7 8700k but you'll pay more.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its an early access game - look at the description,its essentially a beta game and that means it won't be very well optimised.

 

[~>Dg<~]

listen to someone who plays it every day and with people of all types of pc configs.on the cheap get a 2700k oc the nuts off it.cpu core speed matters ! apart from that id get the money together and get a 8700k.modern cpus in games that make use of them. many here always say its not worth it but dont play high fps or play the games that do show the benefit.

for eg 2500k at 1080 at 4.4 lows of 40s with a 7900x for eg 144 fps almost solid same setting. my 5820k rig ocd to 4.5 is 80 low 120 avg 144 max at 1080.

people talk like the games going to be optimized so you get massive fps boost or whatever.sorry wont happen.it will get optimized a little but maybe 10 fps better.not 50 plus.most people who often moan about pubgs performance are on aging gear. you cant call a game made in 2017 un optimized when you playing on 2011 gear . if you want high fps on a modern monitor you need modern gear.

so right now the cpu new of choice for pubg to get you mainly over 100fps solid all the time is a 8700k.if you going cheap except youll get drops and thats what you get for your money.intel and nvidia provide the best experience for pubg . right back to pubg.

 

[DragonQ]

Nope, I wouldn't say it's a total waste of time. I have the 7740X and it totally bolts everything in gaming I feed it, such even in VR. Ok, the MB are a bit more expensive. On the other hand I have a MB to grow with.

Not really, your only upgrade option is to CPUs that are typically slower for gaming due to the mesh architecture. You'd have been far better off with a Z370 system - they clock even higher and you have better 6c/6t and 6c/12t options available. It was released later though so you'd have had to wait a bit.

 

[ctd]

Not really, your only upgrade option is to CPUs that are typically slower for gaming due to the mesh architecture. You'd have been far better off with a Z370 system - they clock even higher and you have better 6c/6t and 6c/12t options available. It was released later though so you'd have had to wait a bit.

Yes, I have that system too (based on a i5 8600K) and are in a position to compare. Not much difference in current games, such as pCars2 and DCS, I have to report. I know what was released and when and why, so no worries about that. When talking about a MB to grow with, I meant when games will use more cores than today. Thought that was obvious.