Can this CPU be upgraded?

[tinpanalley]

Some really nice people (mfenn, mvbighead, and others) helped me years ago on a build, my first ever. These were the components...

- GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52400
- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL

The computer still runs incredibly well for my needs, gaming and video editing and I've kept it going with new video cards. But I'd like to know if there's any way I can improve the processor by keeping this motherboard. I'm not finding any lags in video power, but the occasional occurrence where even a slightly faster CPU would help. I can probably afford a comparable (but up to date) CPU but adding a motherboard I suppose means a new case, a new PSU and on and on and that I don't have money for.

Any ideas if I can do this?
Thank you for any help!!

 

[DominionSeraph]

If you're ok with overclocking you could drop an i7 2600k, 2700k, or 3770k in there.
If you're not, I wouldn't bother unless you do something heavily multithreaded and could pick up a 2600, 3770, or Xeon E3-1230 or greater for cheap.

You're already at the most cores for the platform and you're within 10% of the highest non-overclocked clockspeed, so without overclocking the only gain would be in hyperthreading, which is 20-25% gain in certain multithreaded tasks.
There's an E3-1270 on ebay for $60, which would probably be the cheapest for non-overclocking.

 

[Hendrickson]

The Z68 chipset will support 2nd and 3rd gen Intel core processors. I think the fastest processor you could get would be an i7 3770k, which would be a pretty big upgrade if you could find a good used one.

However, I'm not sure if that motherboard will support the i7 processors. The specs page does list support for i7, but It doesn't look to have the strongest VRM setup, and it only has a 4 pin CPU power connector. Someone with more knowledge of this motherboard would have to let you know for sure.

 

[Topweasel]

Getting a CPU with Hyperthreading might help. Also overclocking. But realistically not much can go into that socket that is going to dramatically make it better.

 

[Topweasel]

The Z68 chipset will support 2nd and 3rd gen Intel core processors. I think the fastest processor you could get would be an i7 3770k, which would be a pretty big upgrade if you could find a good used one.

However, I'm not sure if that motherboard will support the i7 processors. The specs page does list support for i7, but It doesn't look to have the strongest VRM setup, and it only has a 4 pin CPU power connector. Someone with more knowledge of this motherboard would have to let you know for sure.

List of supported CPU's.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z68A-D3-B3-rev-10#support-cpu

 

[Hendrickson]

On further inspection, I did find the CPU support list on gigabyte's website, and they do list support for the i7 3770k CPU on BIOS rev. F11 or newer. I wouldn't count on overclocking it though.

Edit: Topweasel beat me to it.

 

[tinpanalley]

Really appreciate all the advice.
Hmmm... ok. What am I looking to spend if I get a new mobo AND CPU? Remember, my needs are really small. I mean this thing works fine! I just think I need a tiny bit more oomph and I think I've exhausted all the other ways (RAM, SSD, dedicated GPU processing, etc). This thing was put together 7 years ago!

So, what's today's equivalent? Back in 2011, this wasn't top of the line, I spent 400-500 on the whole build. I had all the other components. I wouldn't even need a case this time. Any ideas?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Some really nice people (mfenn, mvbighead, and others) helped me years ago on a build, my first ever. These were the components...

- GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52400
- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL

The computer still runs incredibly well for my needs, gaming and video editing and I've kept it going with new video cards. But I'd like to know if there's any way I can improve the processor by keeping this motherboard. I'm not finding any lags in video power, but the occasional occurrence where even a slightly faster CPU would help. I can probably afford a comparable (but up to date) CPU but adding a motherboard I suppose means a new case, a new PSU and on and on and that I don't have money for.

Any ideas if I can do this?
Thank you for any help!!

I'm no expert, I will say that time and time again this doesn't appear to be a good cost/value thing to do. Nearly every time someone asks it ends up being well maybe you can get 8% more performance but now you'll need a new power supply and the new CPU may not work with you motherboard, maybe a new OEM copy of windows too.
Probably wiser and easier to save the money for a new machine.

 

[Hendrickson]

Really appreciate all the advice.
Hmmm... ok. What am I looking to spend if I get a new mobo AND CPU? Remember, my needs are really small. I mean this thing works fine! I just think I need a tiny bit more oomph and I think I've exhausted all the other ways (RAM, SSD, dedicated GPU processing, etc). This thing was put together 7 years ago!

So, what's today's equivalent? Back in 2011, this wasn't top of the line, I spent 400-500 on the whole build. I had all the other components. I wouldn't even need a case this time. Any ideas?

The problem you will run into is that you will need to upgrade the memory to DDR4 as well, and 16gb of DDR4 will cost nearly what a decent CPU/MB will cost.

If you are set on upgrading though, I would highly recommend a Ryzen 1600, and a B350/B450 MB. If you live near a Microcenter you can pick up that combo for less than $200 easily. At my local MC, I can pickup a 1600 and an Asrock B450 Pro 4 MB for $180 with tax. 16gb of good memory will cost you almost that.

Unless you are going to go super cheap and go with like an Athlon 200ge or a celeron something, you are going to end up spending close to $300 for CPU, MB, and memory.

 

[VirtualLarry]

One possibility (that I am personally planning on exploring, should the mobo get released here), is a Gigabyte H310M DS2V DDR3 board, which should take this i3-8100 (3.6Ghz Coffee Lake quad-core) CPU that I have left over from a dead rig. The best thing is, though, that you can re-use your DDR3 RAM. If you've already got a 2x8GB kit, that's HUGE.

I mean, ideally, you should probably get Ryzen. And that DDR3 H310 board, is probably intended for the India and Chinese markets, not the USA. But should Newegg get a hold of them, I plan on purchasing one of them, hopefully they're in the $50-60 range.

I also think that this could be a small revenue opportunity for tech builders / resellers, to come in with one of these boards, and an i3-8100 or i5-8400/8500/8600, and do a board/CPU swap on a client's PC, and keep the RAM and storage.

Assuming that Windows' doesn't puke on the new mobo and CPU, then it could be a real winner of an upgrade package to offer clients.

 

[LTC8K6]

Maybe they will turn up on ebay?

I have DDR3 laying around that I'd like to use.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I’m suspicious that MS will allow a US license be transferred to a MB sold in developing markets to be cheap and a new CPU.

 

[DominionSeraph]

The problem you will run into is that you will need to upgrade the memory to DDR4 as well, and 16gb of DDR4 will cost nearly what a decent CPU/MB will cost.

If you are set on upgrading though, I would highly recommend a Ryzen 1600, and a B350/B450 MB. If you live near a Microcenter you can pick up that combo for less than $200 easily. At my local MC, I can pickup a 1600 and an Asrock B450 Pro 4 MB for $180 with tax. 16gb of good memory will cost you almost that.

Unless you are going to go super cheap and go with like an Athlon 200ge or a celeron something, you are going to end up spending close to $300 for CPU, MB, and memory.

Eh, the bigger issue is that a 2600k runs neck and neck with a 1600X for most tasks. The much lower clocked 1600 will likely lose, so it's basically a $300 sidegrade to his current i5.
There's really nothing less than an i5 9600k that would be worth upgrading to from an OC'd 2600k.

Also, you can get an entire Xeon E5-1650 system for the price of that CPU/Mobo/RAM.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Xeon-E5-1650-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1600/1211vs2984
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...=item521094178f:g:KXYAAOSwWtBboriH:rk:39:pf:0

 

[Hendrickson]

Eh, the bigger issue is that a 2600k runs neck and neck with a 1600X for most tasks.

I don't know what tasks you are looking at, but even in games, the 1600 is going to outperform the 2600 most of the time. In anything like encoding, editing, rendering, and even general windows tasks, the 1600 is going to smoke a 2600k

 

[DominionSeraph]

I don't know what tasks you are looking at, but even in games, the 1600 is going to outperform the 2600 most of the time. In anything like encoding, editing, rendering, and even general windows tasks, the 1600 is going to smoke a 2600k

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/287?vs=2018

If you play nothing but Rocket League, perhaps.

 

[Hendrickson]

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/287?vs=2018

If you play nothing but Rocket League, perhaps.

I think maybe you were looking at those graphs backwards chief. The 1600 was comparable to the 2600k in everything BUT rocket league. The 1600 was kicking the 2600k up and down the field on everything non-game related.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I think maybe you were looking at those graphs backwards chief. The 1600 was comparable to the 2600k in everything BUT rocket league.

True, I thought Ryzen had one meaningful gaming win, when it turns out it has none. And that was with the 1600X, which has a 12.5% clockspeed advantage over the 1600.
So Ryzen unimpresses ever with a bench that gives it a 12.5% advantage and which doesn't show that the 2600k has pretty much a minimum of 33% overclockability.

This is why I said there's little reason to upgrade to anything this side of a i5 9600k. Haswell is going to be an insignificant upgrade over Sandy/Ivy Bridge. Skylake is going to be unimpressive. FX isn't even in the running, and Ryzen by and large just manages to equal it. Kaby Lake is where we hit a worthwhile point, but I haven't seen any good deals on the used market for those so it's not something that I'd be able to blithely recommend. Same for the 8th Generation Coffee Lake.
So unless he wants to shell out $480 for a brand new platform, he might as well just go with an $85 i7 2600k.

 

[Hendrickson]

True, I thought Ryzen had one meaningful gaming win, when it turns out it has none. And that was with the 1600X, which has a 12.5% clockspeed advantage over the 1600.

I'm not trying to get in a whole thing, but you are way off. Just taking the set of gaming benchmarks (Civ 6, Ashes, SoM, GTA V) that were run with a GTX 1080 at 1080p resolution. The average for the average framerates of the 2600k was 81.17 versus 90.70 for the 1600x.

This is the Ryzens weak spot too, and it's still beating the 2600k. In video editing and encoding which is something the OP mentioned, the 1600 is going to be probably at least 1.5x as fast as the 2600k.

The reason I'm excluding rocket league, is because those numbers are clearly wrong. I have a 1600 + GTX 1060 that I play rocket league with, and at max settings I'm pegging my monitors 144hz limit all the time. There was ether a mistake on the benchmark, or a patch/driver to fix a bug has been released since the benchmark was run.

I do agree the best value for the OP would be a 2600k or 3770k to drop into his current system, but if he is going to upgrade, clearly the best value right now is the Ryzen 1600/2600. I just don't think anyone can argue that, it's not even close.

 

[LTC8K6]

It's amazing how 10% goes back and forth between insignificant and significant.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I'm not trying to get in a whole thing, but you are way off. Just taking the set of gaming benchmarks (Civ 6, Ashes, SoM, GTA V) that were run with a GTX 1080 at 1080p resolution. The average for the average framerates of the 2600k was 81.17 versus 90.70 for the 1600x.

Which a comparison between an $85 2600k vs $274 (going by PCpartpicker using the cheapest mobo and 8GB RAM stick available for the 1600X) and doesn't factor in OP has a Z68 mobo so can set the 2600k to 4.5GHz and be set for the next 10 years.
If we're not overclocking it's $60 vs $274 for two things that run neck and neck.

I have an i7 2700k running at 4.8GHz in the other room. Are you honestly going to try to tell me that if I could swap it for a 1600X for an additional $190 that that would be a worthwhile "upgrade", when the i7 is going to win pretty much across the board and murder it in single-threaded tasks?

OP didn't ask for fanbois to race corporations, he asked what his best upgrade path was. I wouldn't be suggesting he get a Sandy if he had an AM4 board since it would be ridiculous to switch platforms for the same performance, so I'm not sure why you're suggesting he get a Ryzen when he has a Z68.

 

[aigomorla]

2600k to 4.5GHz and be set for the next 10 years.

his board will not last that long. Its already lasted this long, at best he will get half the life he had on the 2600k.
this route is just pushing his required update by at most a couple of years.

I would only recommend this route if money is very strapped, and DDR4 prices are at an all time high, or DDR5 and a new platform was going to roll out soon.

 

[Hendrickson]

OP didn't ask for fanbois to race corporations, he asked what his best upgrade path was. I wouldn't be suggesting he get a Sandy if he had an AM4 board since it would be ridiculous to switch platforms for the same performance, so I'm not sure why you're suggesting he get a Ryzen when he has a Z68.

I'm guessing you didn't read the last paragraph of my post.

For the OP, if he wants to stay with his current platform, get a 2600k or 3770k and be done with it. It will be a noticeable upgrade to what he has now.

If he's going to upgrade his platform, the R5 1600 or R5 2600 would be the best value right now. And yes I'm telling you that they will be a huge upgrade over his current i5 2400, and for his use case would also be a noticeable upgrade over an i7 2600k.


In your case, having a 2700k overclocked to 4.8, an overclocked 1600 would be a marginal upgrade for most things, and probably about equal in gaming. So obviously it would be a waste of money for you to upgrade to a 1600, unless you needed a newer feature that your platform doesn't support.

 

[Denithor]

Four options as I see it.

First, look in your BIOS options. On the "Z" chipset boards, the non-K chips from that era could still be overclocked by 4 speed bins (4 x 100mhz) over their stock setting. So, if your board supports it, you should be able to set your chip to run at 3.8GHz on all 4 cores. My i7 3770 can run at 4.3GHz (vs 3.9GHz stock) by changing one setting in BIOS. This option will give you a bit more speed with zero investment.

Second option is, as others have suggested, upgrade to a used 2600K/3770/3770K. These chips offer not only higher speeds but also more virtual cores (Hyperthreading). More cores, physical or not, can accelerate some tasks, by a lot in some cases. If you're doing a lot of video work you'll definitely notice them. Games, maybe, might just make things smoother. This option will involve relatively small monetary outlay plus some time to swap chips. MAKE SURE to update BIOS before you pull your old chip, just to be sure the system recognizes the new chip properly.

Third option, buy a used upgrade machine from eBay. In like two minutes I found this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...GHz-4GB-500GB-Win-7-Pro-1-Yr-Wty/202489254102
Solid upgrade from what you have currently. Only thing to watch for, the case has a hard drive cage that can limit installation of longish video cards. Of course, you could always just pull the innards and transfer into your case. The advantage of Dell machines, they have Windows key hard coded into the motherboard. Set everything up, install from Dell media (buy on eBay cheaply) and it activates with no issues. Drop in your RAM, SSD, away you go.

Fourth option, buy new parts. At the minimum you need new CPU/MOBO/RAM. No new case needed, PSU is debatable, even if yours is high wattage it has been in service for quite a long time, these things can go bad. If it does, very likely to take other components along for the trip. A potential pitfall on this upgrade path is, with new motherboard, Windows may not boot or may require new code to activate. Sometimes this works smoothly, but not always. Just be aware.

 

[epsilon84]

A couple of years ago I upgraded from a 2500K to a 3770K and the gains in gaming were very noticeable, I'm not into video editing but you are looking at +25% performance due to HT alone plus whatever additional frequency you can get out of the 3770K compared to the 2400. At stock they are 3.1/3.4 vs 3.5/3.9, but the 3770K being an unlocked chip has potential to hit ~4.5GHz with the right cooling and mobo, I had mine running at 4.7GHz but that was on a Z77 mobo, your particular Z68 mobo may not overclock one as well.

So all up I'd say you're probably looking at a ~50% speedup in CPU intensive tasks comparing a 2400 to 3770K. You don't have to go with a 3770K of course, depending on its cost in the used market. A 2600K may well be better value, and only marginally slower than a 3770K.

I see others have suggested a full rebuild rather than upgrading your CPU. Don't get me wrong, Ryzen is cool, but its a completely different proposition cost wise, especially since you will need to buy DDR4, so we are looking at a ~$100 drop in upgrade compared to ~$400 for a 2600/B450/16GB DDR4. Of course the Ryzen option will be much faster than a 3770K upgrade (not so much in gaming, but productivity) but its also much more expensive.

 

[tinpanalley]

Thank you all for the thorough explanations and options.
Here's the bottom line...
I want something to perform as well as what I have, be a bit better at handling things that need more processing power (the odd game and some Sony Vegas and Sound Forge render functions can lag just slightly enough to be annoying), and will last for several years. You can clearly see I take good care of my hardware.
Let's say I was willing to throw, I don't know, $400 bucks at this. Would you all still recommend the same thing? (Keep in mind things here in Canada don't always cost the same as in the US. Sometimes more, sometimes less.)
And also, with overclocking, I've never read anything about overclocking that makes me feel like the longterm effects (even if they're only risks) are worth the immediate benefits.

There's a lot of pre-Black Friday sales on Amazon and NewEgg Canada right now, I'm thinking I could probably swing something now.