Worth upgrading from 2500k to 5820k?

Associate
Joined
20 Apr 2011
Posts
231
Location
Stoke on Trent
My son is after an upgrade, as he thinks his games are lagging + he keeps telling me minimum specs for the latest games are i7

He already has a r9 290 GPU and all other components so will need the 5820k, a new MB, and new RAM (cost on a budget is around £650)
(+ i have agreed to buy his old CPU, MB and RAM at £350, so he needs £300)

is the upgrade worth it?
will he get the better performance and future proofing he is after?

Or would the Devil's Canyon be a better option for the CPU?

Thanks in advance
 
Thanks for the opinions.

I think between me and OCuk, we have made a new enthusiast, that is now feeling the itch to upgrade.....
(i think it is as he as seen "six core" and DDR4....)

Thanks
 
ps his other specs are:

2500k is currently running at 4.2.
P68 Sabertooth MB
12GB ram (2x 2BG & 2 x 4GB sticks)(all corsair @ 1600 with same timings)
sata HDD's (no SSD)
 
Could this be more of a software issue? Perhaps its worth taking a look or perhaps doing a windows refresh. As for a hardware upgrade, an SSD would be nice :)

To be honest i think he classed lag as dropping below 60FPS on ultra high, for a second or 2....
+ he is now starting to see some of his games using all 4 cores/threads @ upto 75% so he is assuming he needs more so he has some spare....

i ran a the heaven benchmark a few days ago, and this stayed mostly over 60FPS....
 
I think it could well be graphic limitation than CPU bottleneck depends on the graphic settings he uses.

For example with my 290x, I can feel the "lag" in game such as Sleeping Dogs when using highest graphic settings and Extreme AA (SuperSampling) when frame frame drop from 60fps down to around 45-47fps on minimum frame rate...but as I overclock my 290x higher, I was able to more or less keep the minimum frame rate at 50fps and there about, and the lag which I noticed would largely disappear.

I think he will usually try the highest settings possible, then drop a little if he needs too..
He does play Sleeping Dogs and Arma, etc.

I just (few months ago) upgraded he 6950 to a 290 for £330, so i was hoping this will last a few years.
Would it make much improvement if i flashed this to a 290x? (if possible)
He is not currently OCing the 290 though!
 
Ok guys thanks for the advice. i think i have convinced him to stay with what he has or upgrade only to an i7 that will fit his current motherboard.

what i7 will fit?
He has a Asus Sabertooth p67 motherborad
I see on manufacturer sites that the 3770K says it is socket 1155, yet on OCuk it says socket 1156.
Basically i am wondering what the best CPU that will fit his current motherboard is?
 
Last edited:
Your son is pulling a fast one. Unless he is gaming at stupidly high resolutions that rig is by far quick enough for all of today's games. An i7 will make no discernible difference over what he has anyway. He's after an upgrade for the sake of an upgrade.

He'd probably be better off clearing the hard drive of junk and spyware that he's inevitably installed to speed things up. Take it from a man who has 2 teen-aged sons of his own ;)


Thanks ExRayTed for the advice, much apprecioated from someone in a similar possition.
i don't think he is pulling a fast one, as he can have a new PC without the need for a reason anyhow (most of it is his money and me only making up shortfalls/buying his old stuff at a good price).

What started this recently is he could not get "Son of Rome" (i think i got this right) over 60fps, but i have had a tweaked a few things for him and seems turning off super sampling cured the problem with everything else on max.
+ i OCed his GPU and pushed the CPU up a little to 4.5
Son of Rome is now over 60FPS (vSynced to 60 though) and with super sampling ON seems to hold average of around 45FPS

I try to keep the spyware off his machine myself, but as you know what teen-aged sons are like for loving "junk" on their PC's..... :(

As the second hand 3770K's are at a good price right now, maybe i will add one of these for him, just for the kudos effect for him more than anything + a SSD may also be a good idea as others suggest (now they are no longer silly money), again more for fun than anything else.

Thanks all for this thread though as it has been really useful in helping me keep more up to date with gaming PC power and when they need upgrading!

Thanks
Jon
 
You need 1155 so look for a 2600k, 2700k or 3770k. If you have access to the mm these can be had for a little over £100

thanks for the info.
I'm working my way up to the MM area, but it is taking some time.
£100 sounds a great price too!!
(how many posts do i need for MM?)
 
Back
Top Bottom