i3-4360 upgrading

[hirak99]

CPU: i3-4360
Motherboard: Z97 Pro
RAM: 2 x 8 GB DDR3 1600
GPU: GTX 750 ti sc
PSU: Corsair 450vx

The games I play (Civ 5, CSGO, Rocket League, Witcher 3) seem to run fine with this setup - though I didn't actually see the FPS.

For Witcher 3 I needed to reduce the graphics from highest - so I was considering upgrade options. Are these good options - or may be I should hold on for now?


Upgrade to Skylake?
Upgrade to Skylake. Then I will have to replace motherboard and RAM for Skylake... probably the cost is not worth it.


Upgrade to i5-4670k?
Upgrade to i5-4670k. This costs about $240, and I will get a 40% increase in CPU performance according to passmark.

If I do the second, may be there is a place where I can sell the current i3-4360 to recover some of the cost?

 

[coffeemonster]

your GPU looks to be the weak link here

 

[hirak99]

Agreed... may be I will wait till GTX 1060 and upgrade to it.

 

[hirak99]

I am more confused about CPU.

GPU upgrade may be independent, and I could do it without worrying about other parts while CPU could be linked to RAM and motherboard.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Agreed as well. I would upgrade the gpu first. RX 480 is priced right and would be a good upgrade, or you could wait a few days to see the price, performance, and availability of the 1060. Witcher 3 tends to favor nVidia hardware I believe, but the RX 480 would be a huge upgrade. I would wait until the demand for the RX480 eases and the 1060 comes out however. Or you could look for a close out deal on the 970 or 980.

You could later upgrade the cpu to a haswell i5 or i7 as you noted. Since you already have a motherboard and ram, I would not upgrade to Skylake, since you would have to repalce both of those in addition to the cpu.

 

[sm625]

Any CPU upgrade is going to be instantly bottlenecked by that video card. You should first upgrade to a 1060/480, and then re-evaluate your performance. You might decide you dont need to upgrade. But if you do, then a bigger haswell seems the obvious choice.

 

[hirak99]

Thanks

 

[hirak99]

Let me wait to see how comparisons look between RX 480 and GTX 1060, and will purchase a GPU first. Really appreciate your comments.

 

[Ieat]

I agree with the others on a gpu. But a i5-4670k for $240? I assume you are buying new at that price. So why not look at an i5-4690k? They are just about identical but the refresh always has better resale value.

 

[LTC8K6]

e3-1231-V3 for ~$250 is a good buy. 4C/8T 3.4/3.8

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117316

It will run all 4 cores at 3.8 on a Z97 board.

It's essentially an i7-4770 without the IGP.

 

[hirak99]

Thanks. Curious, Xeon 1231 v3, i5 4690k have lower clock speed (3.4 and 3.5 GHz) than the i3 4360 (3.7GHz). So the main advantage is in having more cores. Does that fully offset the lower clock speed, especially for gaming - if not overclocked?

Edit: Oh you mentioned e3-1231-v3 can run at 3.8GHz. That would be cool.

 

[hirak99]

Is there a resale market I can try to buy those from someone cheaper - as well as sell my current stuff?

 

[Iron Woode]

Thanks. Curious, Xeon 1231 v3, i5 4690k have lower clock speed (3.4 and 3.5 GHz) than the i3 4360 (3.7GHz). So the main advantage is in having more cores. Does that fully offset the lower clock speed, especially for gaming - if not overclocked?

Edit: Oh you mentioned e3-1231-v3 can run at 3.8GHz. That would be cool.

I will throw my $.02 in:

I upgraded from a I3 4160 to an i5 4570 and it was a huge improvement. I5's have turbo which increases clock speed when needed (mine hits 3.6ghz)

I am still stuck with my GTX 650 TI Boost and will upgrade soon by scoring a used GTX 970.

Is there a resale market I can try to buy those from someone cheaper - as well as sell my current stuff?

yes, depending on where you live. Ebay, craigslist and kijiji.

 

[hirak99]

Thanks!

 

[Lyfer]

e3-1231-V3 for ~$250 is a good buy. 4C/8T 3.4/3.8

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117316

It will run all 4 cores at 3.8 on a Z97 board.

It's essentially an i7-4770 without the IGP.

As that specific to only that mobo?

 

[Burpo]

Brand new E3-1231-v3 for $220 (no fan)..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Origina...889304?hash=item36037f0258:g:kV4AAOSwzJ5XaWJj

Used i7 4770 $225
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...465694?hash=item4650bfeb9e:g:2twAAOSwwo1XdcVS

Selling your i3-4360 on ebay will recover 1/2 of that..

 

[hirak99]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1197?vs=1260

The comparison is of i3-4360 against i7-4790k and the improvements are nominal...

I scrolled down to the gaming performances. The differences are pretty marginal - for example 95.5 vs 107.5 in Battlefield 4, and iirc it has a reputation of being able to use CPU cores well.

This makes me think it may be too early to upgrade the CPU (i3-4360). Hope I am reading this right.

What I am afraid of more, if this is true, is that i3-4360 may be forgotten on benchmark charts later, and I will not get a good evaluation of it against more recent games or CPUs.

 

[hirak99]

Thanks @Burpo If it sells for $110, it's tempting - I think can spend the additional $110 to pick up the Xeon in that case, irrespective of how much I will gain on games.

 

[24601]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1197?vs=1260

The comparison is of i3-4360 against i7-4790k and the improvements are nominal...

I scrolled down to the gaming performances. The differences are pretty marginal - for example 95.5 vs 107.5 in Battlefield 4, and iirc it has a reputation of being able to use CPU cores well.

This makes me think it may be too early to upgrade the CPU (i3-4360). Hope I am reading this right.

What I am afraid of more, if this is true, is that i3-4360 may be forgotten on benchmark charts later, and I will not get a good evaluation of it against more recent games or CPUs.

Anandtech tests are horrible and should never be used to figure out CPU bottlenecks.

Also anything other than 4790k (if you are keeping your platform) would be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[guachi]

You'll almost always get more value upgrading your video card before your CPU. That' and it's much easier to upgrade a video card than a CPU.

I looked at the techpowerup performance chart for the 480. The 750 isn't on there but the 760 is. The 760 is 47% as fast as a 480 in 1080 gaming.

You could upgrade to a 480/1060 now (or soon, when in stock) and then upgrade your CPU later. You'll know in a few weeks how your GPU choices shake out. And by the fall you'll know how Zen competes (or doesn't). Even if you don't get Zen you can at least hope it lowers the cost of your Intel chip. Plus, you'll have a few months under your belt to determine if upgrading is even necessary.

 

[LTC8K6]

As that specific to only that mobo?

Should be for any board that allows overclocking.

You can run a 4790S at 4.0, for example.

Generally, you can run any Haswell at it's Turbo multiplier on a board that allows overclocking.

 

[DrMrLordX]

The comparison is of i3-4360 against i7-4790k and the improvements are nominal...

Try looking at minFPS rather than avgFPS. The i3 (and lower) will struggle to produce a minFPS of 60 or higher, if that really matters for you. For others, maybe that isn't such a big deal.

 

[frozentundra123456]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1197?vs=1260

The comparison is of i3-4360 against i7-4790k and the improvements are nominal...

I scrolled down to the gaming performances. The differences are pretty marginal - for example 95.5 vs 107.5 in Battlefield 4, and iirc it has a reputation of being able to use CPU cores well.

This makes me think it may be too early to upgrade the CPU (i3-4360). Hope I am reading this right.

What I am afraid of more, if this is true, is that i3-4360 may be forgotten on benchmark charts later, and I will not get a good evaluation of it against more recent games or CPUs.

As I said, you *definitely* need to upgrade the gpu first. But I put very little stock in Anand's gaming cpu tests, unfortunately. Just look at the video card they used. A GTX 770, seriously??? And mostly older games as well.

With a powerful gpu and in newer, more well threaded games, a 4790k will be a nice upgrade to an i3, especially in minimum FPS. That said, a haswell i3 is still decent, so you definitely need to upgrade the gpu first.