Wow what a difference 5 year makes, cpu help needed

[Peter450]

5 year ago I built my first PC, it went rather well I didn't blow anything up and got a very nice gaming rig for the price of some midrange tat from Dell. Anyways it's serve red me well and a GFX refresh kept things humming along nicely.

Today however the trusty steed is on its last legs, games have always run well but new games need more power, more memory, and fans that actually generate some cooling.

I need a processor to take me trough the next 5 years of gaming, I just have no idea what I need, theirs some new I7 skylark ones that seem like they fit the bill, but would an I5 be an option ?

I want something that I won't have to replace in 2/3 years along with the graphics card, so any advice on what I should get would be appreciated.

 

[Peter450]

It's just for gaming. I currently have a yorkfield I think quad core at 3.6

My. friend had a similar processor and the same Asus mobo as me and had to upgrade when his GFX card failed as the newer nvidia cards would not work with his mobo, he tried several nvidia cards and in the end got a new mobo as he could not get them to work.

My GFX card is on the way out with a weak fan, and due to the age of the whole system I think a new mobo is needed, I also need a new HD so I think the time has come for a major internal upgrade.

My budget is around 250 I can maybe stretch up to 300 if that's what's going to be required but ideally I like to keep the cost down and get one as cheap as possible. Although I don't want false economy in the sense that games start to stutter 3/4 years down the line because the CPU can't handle it.

I'm happy to swap out the GFX card in two years but once the cpu is in I don't really want to have to change it till the next mobo refresh in 5 to 6 years

 

[Peter450]

If Skylake fits the bill, then this is actually what you need

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-020-GI&groupid=2833&catid=2836

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-058-TG&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=2553

If you budget extents to fit a new Skylake system, don't get it, go X99.

I thought skylake was newer and better ? Are the older gen better value then with you getting more bang for the buck ?

 

[Peter450]

On your budget bud you won't be able to get either Skylake or X99, if you could post your exact system specs though we could better advise where you could improve things.

Skylake is the new Mainstream socket and cpus yes, I7 with 4cores 8 threads, but X99 is the top Intel platform with the 5820K that i posted being 6 cores, 12 threads.

X99 is a much better platform.

Well I don't mind paying up to 300 for the chip, if that's what's needed to keep the games working sweet into the 2020s. It's just i don't want get an i7 if say an i5 will also do the job for the next 5/6 years.

I can pick up a reasonable mobo I would have thought for around 100 to 120 or so

 

[Peter450]

Do you think a 4 core I5 take me to 2020 for 1080p gaming ?

If not I'm gonna get the 6 core as recomended, and just bite the bullet on the higher cost

 

[Peter450]

Get a skylake and a GTX 980 ti mate if you got the budget. If not, perhaps an i5 4690k and a GTX 970

I'm thinking of a GTX970 as its a lot cheaper than the TI.

I think that for 500 I'd probably get more performance from 970s in SLI ? And I can always add a second one later when it's needed.

On that basis I think the 970 makes more sense ?

Thanks for all the advice guys, I was looking at the newer chips and had not looked into the haswell chips

 

[Peter450]

What res will you be gaming at bud? 970s in sli would be great at 1080p, but I'd go with a 390 with the view of crossfire by adding a second later down the line.

More vram(double) too with will only help going forward.

To finalise, my suggestion would be:

X99 platform, better features and performance.
Get the bundle off ocuk with the 5820k, gigabyte sli mobo.
16gb of teamgroup ddr4 quad channel ram
And a 390, but you'll have to take into account the power usage, depending on your current psu.

Thats pretty much what I've ordered, except I went for the 970, I've always used v-sync in my games as I really don't like all the tearing and glitching you get without it, and now I've got a g-scan monitor coming too the 970 seems to make the most sense.

Cheers for all the advice, after looking at all the options I think 6 cores is the way to go, a quad core might offer a bit more performance now, but if games start to move on from 4 cores in the same way they did from 2 cores, then the 5820 will likely be the more consistent performer over the longer term.

It's a bit more than I wanted to spend, but I don't want to save money via false economy.

 

[Peter450]

No problem at all bud, great choices there i use AMD and freesync @144hz and it's truly awesome, remember you can and should (depending on what cooling you'll be using) overclocker that 5820K, it'll unleash the beast in games that aren't multi-threaded.

I'm using air cooling, I'm not sure if it's worth replacing the stock cooler as although I OC the CPU/GPU on my last rig using a updated cooler etc i think I probably could have got the same results with the stock parts. I'm pretty conservative so 10 to 20% is all I'd be after. Dunno if it's worth getting big heat sinks for that, the case is already large with lots of fans

 

[Peter450]

Depending on the case (and your desire to overclock) an AiO watercooler might well reduce the internal clutter for you. A hex core under water has the potential to be formidable for quite a long time

I've gone for a fan based cooler, I'll probably want to OC at some point and I think a good air cooled system should easily see me get 10 to 15 % which I'd be happy with