Upgrade or completely new build

[Mysterion]

Hi Anandtech forum

I have been using your reviews, benchmarks and forum a lot in the past however this is my first post. English is not my native language so I apologize for any mistakes I might have made. I apologize for the length oof the post as well.

I bought a gaming pc long time ago (5 years or so). My current rig is:
- i5 2500k cpu
- Thermalright Macho HR-02 Cpu cooler
- Asus Nvidia GTX 570
- 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Blue hdd (7200 rpm)
- Gigabyte Z68A D3H-B3 motherboard
- 700W Cougar 80+ PSU
- Fractal Design Define r3 case
- 8BG Kingston DDR3 1600mhz HyperX RAM

Everything at stock speed.

I haven't really used it for gaming the last year and a half however I want to change that. I wondered if it is any use upgrading some components or if I should go for an entirely new build. I might add that I bought a Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD last year but haven't put it to use yet. I will add the price of upgrading.

The computer is meant for gaming at 1920x1080.
I will be buying parts from Europe. I am from Denmark myself. The prices below is mainly from amazon.de. i don't have a set budget. However I am looking for most value pr. buck. A budget would be around 1000$ for an entirely new rig.

My thoughts are either:
- Upgrade Nvidia GTX 570 to Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB (307$)
- Overclock i5 2500k (haven't tried this before)
- Buy additional 8GB DDR3 Ram (or change Ram to 2133mhz?) (81$ for additional DDR3 93$ for 8GB 2133mhz Kingston DDR3 RAM)

I don't know if my i5 2500k (even overclocked) will bottleneck the gtx 1060. How much of a difference does the new DDR4 ram do compared to the older DDR3?

The other option of upgrading:
- Upgrade Nvidia GTX 570 to Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB (307$)
- Upgrade i5 2500k to i5 7500 (227$)
- Upgrade motherboard (haven't got an ideal one yet ??? $)
- Buy 8-16GB DDR4 RAM (haven't decided which - perhaps Patriot Viper 4 3400mhz 8GB is 97$)

I could also buy a new rig. I've spotted:
Intel i5 7500
Asus 6GB Nvidia GTX 1060
128GB SSD m.2 (not specified)
8GB 2133 DDR4 RAM
Asus B250M-K motherboard
Corsair Carbide chassis
500W 80+ Coolermaster PSU

917$ in total with possibility of upgrading i5 7500 to i5 7600 for 43$ or 7600k for 72$. I could probably get an even better price if I ask for the computer without psu and SSD. The benefit of buying the entire new rig is, that I would have 2 computers capable of running games prior to now I wanted a Fractal case again however reading about difference between Fractal Define r3, r4 and r5 I noticed that r3 had better temps for gpu and cpu than the newer ones. Even though the hdd cage is removed providing better airflow for the intake fans.

So is it worth upgrading my old rig or should I get a new one? Will the i5 2500k still cut it if I overclock? Is it worth buying DDR3 RAM or should I upgrade Motherboard and get DD4? Finally I noticed that a new kind of SSD emerged. Is M.2 PCIe SSDs substantial better than SATA SSD and would the diffrence be noticable in games?

Remember that my inquiry is regarding gaming at 1080p.

I appreciate any help and have the deepest respect for you guys.

 

[UsandThem]

So is it worth upgrading my old rig or should I get a new one? Will the i5 2500k still cut it if I overclock? Is it worth buying DDR3 RAM or should I upgrade Motherboard and get DD4? Finally I noticed that a new kind of SSD emerged. Is M.2 PCIe SSDs substantial better than SATA SSD and would the diffrence be noticable in games?

Depends. You say you haven't gamed very much over the last 18 months, but want to get back into it. My .02c on the subject.

-Keep your system, overclock the CPU, and buy whatever video card that will work for the games you will play. The RX 480 and GTX 1060 are both good choices for 1080p gaming.

-Since you already bought the 850 EVO, go ahead and do a clean install or clone your old drive to it. Adding an SSD is probably the biggest performance boost when you are going from a regular hard drive.

-Add more RAM if needed for your games. 8 GB of RAM is enough for almost all games out there right now, with only a few exceptions.

By doing those steps, you should be able to happily game for another 2-3 years. At that point, you can do a full system overhaul if you are actually gaming more. Many people who get out of gaming for a while, and then decide they want to build a new system to start gaming again, don't get back into it as much as they thought they would.

And yes, most M.2 NVMe (PCIe) SSDs are much faster than SATA drives. However, there is very little "real world" difference between the two types. Sure, synthetic benchmarks look amazing and if you continuously work with large files, or edit HD video, there is a difference. But from the use you described, there will hardly be a true difference. Also, there is not really much difference between DDR3 and DDR4 for most uses as well. DDR3 offsets its slower speed by having lower CAS latency than DDR4.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I vote for keeping the 2500K, overclocking it (try for 4.3-4.5), and getting a GTX 1060. (Or an RX 480, if you want to be more forward-looking, and care less about the current crop of DX11 titles.)

 

[Valantar]

I second (third?) the notion of upgrading. My reasoning?
-Your 2500k might bottleneck a new GPU somewhat, but so what? You'll still get a huge performance increase. OC the CPU (Sandy Bridge typically OCs quite well), and keep it for a few years. I'm still using my now ancient Core 2 Quad alongside a Fury X i bought at launch, and it performs very nicely for its age. While I am upgrading (probably to Ryzen when it launches), I'm two full generations (and at least 1GHz of OC potential) behind you.
-You haven't installed an SSD yet. This truly baffles me. Going from an HDD-based to an SSD-based system is the biggest increase in day-to-day performance you can get from any PC upgrade. Do it now. Or better yet, yesterday. NVMe, on the other hand, has little tangible benefit for average users compared to SATA SSDs. Shortening boot times from 10s to 8s or game loads from 30s to 25s (yes, I'm pulling these number out of thin air, but they should be roughly representative) is not nearly as noticeable as the 30+s boot time reduction moving from an HDD to a SATA SSD, or the 2-3x shorter game load times.
-I'm a bit wary of that "new rig" parts list. It has a no-name SSD of only 128GB, a PSU that's in all probability garbage (it bears mentioning that the PSU is arguably the most important component in any PC - a bad PSU will shorten component lifespan, and a failure might kill your entire PC), and it still leaves you with just 8GB of RAM. 8GB isn't too low, but why spend more to get essentially the same? Also, you lose the option of overclocking your CPU.


There's no reason to throw out parts that you still haven't used the full potential of. The world really doesn't need more e-waste, and you have a CPU that's still good (with the potential of being very good with an OC that should be more than manageable with your cooler) and still haven't experienced the revolution that is upgradig to an SSD. Buy a new GPU, install your SSD, OC your CPU to what VirtualLarry said, and get another 8GB of RAM if you see the need for it. My 8GB system usually runs around 75% memory usage while gaming, with Chrome running (and ~100 background processes). I could easily cut that down by simply closing chrome, not having Steam + GOG Galaxy + Origin running in the background, and so on.

 

[Mysterion]

-Add more RAM if needed for your games. 8 GB of RAM is enough for almost all games out there right now, with only a few exceptions.

I just saw this comparison:

It shows around 10% increase in fps with 2133mhz RAM compared to 1600mhz.

By doing those steps, you should be able to happily game for another 2-3 years. At that point, you can do a full system overhaul if you are actually gaming more. Many people who get out of gaming for a while, and then decide they want to build a new system to start gaming again, don't get back into it as much as they thought they would.

Sounds reasonable. However I have been gaming throughout my whole life. The 18 months break was due to education and huge changes in my private life. Not a loss of interest.

-You haven't installed an SSD yet. This truly baffles me. Going from an HDD-based to an SSD-based system is the biggest increase in day-to-day performance you can get from any PC upgrade. Do it now. Or better yet, yesterday.

Yes you're right. It is due to the reasons stated about my 18 months break. Even though I didn't game I tried to follow development and pricing. That's why I got my SSD. However I don't know if I want to do a complete reinstall. I will have to make a complete backup beforehand. That takes ages.

I vote for keeping the 2500K, overclocking it (try for 4.3-4.5), and getting a GTX 1060. (Or an RX 480, if you want to be more forward-looking, and care less about the current crop of DX11 titles.)

Which benefits does a RX 480 have compared to a GTX 1060?

Finally would RX 480 or GTX 1060 be a good choice performance / price wise or would a GTX 1050ti be a better choice?

I am glad to hear that my i5 2500k would still hold up. My concern was just paying for "outdated" technology like DDR3 RAM or bottleneck a better GPU.

Tank you for taking your time to advise me. It is really appreciated.

 

[UsandThem]

It shows around 10% increase in fps with 2133mhz RAM compared to 1600mhz.

Digital Foundry always seems to have reviews and data that doesn't line up with other review sites. Most other review sites put the "real world" difference in the 1-5% range, depending on the game.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/6

The results weren't very stimulating, were they? Just as expected, gaming with faster memory just doesn't make any notable difference...... If you want better gaming performance, the GPU is the best component to upgrade—no news there.

http://techreport.com/review/20377/...of-memory-speed-on-sandy-bridge-performance/4

If you're looking to set benchmarking records or to compensate for personal shortcomings, K-series Sandy Bridge CPUs at least make it easy to run exotic DIMMs at blistering speeds. Everyone else can rest assured that using relatively inexpensive DDR3-1333 memory won't cost them much performance in the real world.

Which benefits does a RX 480 have compared to a GTX 1060?

Finally would RX 480 or GTX 1060 be a good choice performance / price wise or would a GTX 1050ti be a better choice?

They are about the same. There are plenty of reviews that compare them, and show which games they work best in. The 1050ti is an entry level video card, and isn't the best choice compared to the other two cards. It is significantly slower. Once again, there are plenty of reviews available to read.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru.../73945-gtx-1060-vs-rx-480-updated-review.html

 

[Mysterion]

Digital Foundry always seems to have reviews and data that doesn't line up with other review sites. Most other review sites put the "real world" difference in the 1-5% range, depending on the game.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/6



http://techreport.com/review/20377/...of-memory-speed-on-sandy-bridge-performance/4

Hey UsandThem thanks for replying once again.
I will trust anandtech more than the video I saw. I used a lot of time today reading on different cards:
rx 480, rx 470, gtx 1060 and gtx 1070 including differences in vram. I think ultimately I will go with rx 480. It is at around 260$ which is around 50$ cheaper than gtx 1060. 1070 is out of my price range.

You're right in saying there's a lot of reviews and thanks for linking one. I am just the kind of person that if I am buying something especially for my computer I tend to dwell too much on insignificant differences and use way too much time upon deciding something. I hoped to rely on more experienced users than myself. Anyways thank you all for your help.