PC getting old, new parts or build new?

Aethaeryn

I can get a lot out of a PC.  I am not a graphics junkie but I am always impressed with a new system with the smoothness etc.

My current PC:

i5 2500K (not over clocked. . maybe next step?)
8GB RAM
Windows 10
SSD for OS and the odd game
AMD 7850 (2 GB)  (This card has been awesome! - have had both Nvidia and AMD and not a strong preference - thanks to Quizical for that suggestion in the past)
2 monitors (run games at 1080 and am fine with that)

There are a few games that are starting to look a bit sad (Warhammer Total War and a few others)  I have been generally happy with medium settings and 1080 but am thinking of doing an upgrade.  I have always been able to see decent gains with a new video card but I am not sure about this time.

I *think* that i don't really have a huge issue with bottlenecks or disparity between parts so am thinking a new build but maybe I am wrong.

Thoughts?

Ridelynn

I could see you going either way on that build.

A new GPU and a modest overclock, and that system would hum almost as well as a new one. That GPU is a good one, but it's definitely long in the tooth now. $200 on a RX480, or $250 on a GTX1060, and you'd be back up to maxing (or very nearly to it) everything out at 1080.

That being said, given it's age, it may also be a good time for a brand new build, and keep this computer intact and working (to sell and offset the cost of the new system, to donate and write off on taxes, to keep as a spare, or to hand down to family/friend). A new build similar to how this one was when it was built, your looking at around a $800-$1000 budget, give or take a bit depending on how it shakes out.

More a matter of budget than anything.

Quizzical

If the whole thing is about 5 years old, then I'd look at replacing it outright, not trying to upgrade it.

My general rule is, don't upgrade a video card to something not less than double your previous performance.  That means you'd need at least a Radeon RX 470 or GeForce GTX 1060 (3 GB version, which is really a different card from the 6 GB version).  That's not advice against larger upgrades; depending on your budget, you could perhaps justify a Radeon RX 480, GeForce GTX 1070, GTX 1080, or GTX 1080 Ti.  Or maybe an aging Fury card if you find a good enough deal on it, but I'd lean toward a newer generation.

For a CPU, depending on your budget, you could perhaps justify a Core i5-7600K, Core i7-7700K.  Or if you're inclined to wait until April 11, a Ryzen 5 1600X.  I'm not saying you should wait; even if it were available today, there would be a good case for buying Intel anyway.  It's really a question of whether you'd rather pay for four faster cores or six slower cores--realizing that Ryzen has greatly narrowed the gap in per-core performance from what it was a few months ago, but not closed it entirely.  If a $230 CPU is out of your budget, we could look at lower cost options, but that starts to become not a very big upgrade if you go too far down the chain.

Hrimnir

Honestly if it were me, I'd spend 50-80 on a good CPU cooler, overclock that (the i7 2xxx series were great overclockers) and spend the money on a GPU.  I have a system that I had an i7-2600k with a 980ti and only saw a ~15-20% FPS loss in the most extreme cases compared to an OC'd 6700k.  Now yes, that's not insignificant, but keep in mind we're talking 700-800 in parts to get ~20% increase in FPS.

Now think if you spent that 700 on an 1080ti, etc.

Edit: Some people mentioned one of the benefits of a new build is you can use that old PC as a spare computer, or family computer, or whatever.  If this is important to you, then I would go for a new build.

Vrika

If you've got some use for the old computer intact, then building a completely new computer would be good option.

But if you don't need a second computer for anything, you'd get a long way with that computer by buying a new GPU + overclocking the CPU. You don't even need an expensive CPU cooler (like Hrimnir suggested), something like Cooler Master 212 EVO at $30 is good enough for overclocking.

Loke666

You could just upgrade your I5 Sandy bridge to an I7 Ivy bridge, should give you a huge boost without forcing you to exchange the motherboard (but triple check that any upgraded CPU uses the LGA1155 socket before buying it).

 And Quizz is right about the CPU, not worth the cash to go for something less then his suggestions and I would rather go a bit higher. I don't think a total upgrade really is needed yet, if you just game ignore the CPU and get a GTX 1070 (or AMD of similar performance). If you also need a better CPU (good for instance when compiling data) get a decent Ivy bridge, you get way better budget that way and the better Ivy bridge CPUs are still pretty good, it will be better then both a cheap broadwell and new MB for the same price.

 But I think generally: Just put your money on an awesome GFX card and keep the rest, should be good for 2 more years that way.

Aethaeryn

Thanks everyone.  I am not in a huge rush, just want to plan to budget.  I think for now I will overclock the CPU just for fun and maybe if I burn it out I will have just the excuse I need.  I am thinking about 6 months as a likely timeline.

I appreciate all of the great feedback.  The PC is pretty old and the power button is broken off the case, the side panel is bent (I open it a lot and have used it for the past 3 computers).  I think my ram is also on the slower side. . I think I re-used that from the last time.

New build in 6 months or longer if I can hold off is what I think I will do.  

Thanks!

Quizzical

One reason I suggested a new build rather than an upgrade is that parts don't last forever.  How reliable is a 5-year-old power supply or SSD today?  Probably a lot less reliable than when they were 1 year old.  You don't want to sink money into an older system replacing components like that, but they can be pretty catastrophic if they break unexpectedly.

That's not saying that you need to replace everything immediately.  But if you're hoping an upgrade would let you keep the old computer for several more years, I wouldn't count on that.  There's nothing wrong with running an older system until it dies if you've got everything backed up appropriately and the money available to replace it promptly when it does die, but you don't want to sink a bunch of upgrade cash into a system that you're going to do that to.

Hrimnir

Quizz makes some very good points.  I for example kept my PSU because it was a high end server grade PSU with a 7 year warranty.  However, if you bought a lower end or not as good quality PSU, transferring it over to a new PC is going to be a potential risk for hosing other components if it goes.

If your timeline is another 6 months, then yes, spend 30 bucks on a CPU cooler, get a bit of an OC, and pick up something like a 1070 or 1080 that you can transfer to the new PC once you get that all built and put together.

The simple fact is you don't have a bad CPU, it's not going to get you maximum FPS out of a new GPU, but it's not going to be as much of a hindrance as you might think, especially if you're getting a middle road GPU like a 1060/1070 etc.

Just again, to reiterate, in the same tests on my system, exact same GPU (980 ti), exact same OC on the GPU, going from a i7-2600k to an i7-6700k, I made anywhere from 10-20% FPS gains, depending on the test.  That was ~180 for a mobo, ~360 for CPU, ~120 for RAM, ~100 for CPU cooler, to get a *at best* 20% FPS increase.

Take that example in your situation, where you can simply just get a new GPU and you're looking at easily being able to double your FPS for WAY less money than that.

Aethaeryn

Hrimnir said:

Quizz makes some very good points.  I for example kept my PSU because it was a high end server grade PSU with a 7 year warranty.  However, if you bought a lower end or not as good quality PSU, transferring it over to a new PC is going to be a potential risk for hosing other components if it goes.

If your timeline is another 6 months, then yes, spend 30 bucks on a CPU cooler, get a bit of an OC, and pick up something like a 1070 or 1080 that you can transfer to the new PC once you get that all built and put together.

The simple fact is you don't have a bad CPU, it's not going to get you maximum FPS out of a new GPU, but it's not going to be as much of a hindrance as you might think, especially if you're getting a middle road GPU like a 1060/1070 etc.

Just again, to reiterate, in the same tests on my system, exact same GPU (980 ti), exact same OC on the GPU, going from a i7-2600k to an i7-6700k, I made anywhere from 10-20% FPS gains, depending on the test.  That was ~180 for a mobo, ~360 for CPU, ~120 for RAM, ~100 for CPU cooler, to get a *at best* 20% FPS increase.

Take that example in your situation, where you can simply just get a new GPU and you're looking at easily being able to double your FPS for WAY less money than that.

Excellent point about grabbing a GPU now and the rest in 6 months.  I like that plan!

Ozmodan

Loke666 said:

You could just upgrade your I5 Sandy bridge to an I7 Ivy bridge, should give you a huge boost without forcing you to exchange the motherboard (but triple check that any upgraded CPU uses the LGA1155 socket before buying it).

 And Quizz is right about the CPU, not worth the cash to go for something less then his suggestions and I would rather go a bit higher. I don't think a total upgrade really is needed yet, if you just game ignore the CPU and get a GTX 1070 (or AMD of similar performance). If you also need a better CPU (good for instance when compiling data) get a decent Ivy bridge, you get way better budget that way and the better Ivy bridge CPUs are still pretty good, it will be better then both a cheap broadwell and new MB for the same price.

 But I think generally: Just put your money on an awesome GFX card and keep the rest, should be good for 2 more years that way.

For games I would stick with the I5, the I7 does not give you enough of a boost for the price difference.