To upgrade or new build? Advice please

LawlessBoy

Hi guys, been lurking in this forum for a good while now and finally have a decision to make. To upgrade or do a new build.

Pc is about 6 years old and built originally from a build i got on here. Mainly be used for gaming( Rust COD BF1 Siege AAA titles in general), some light video editing and coding projects for college.

Current specs are

ASRock Z77 Pro 4 mobo
I5 2500k
8 GB Corsair Vengence DDR3 1800mhz ( i believe this is the speed)
MSI GTX 660TI
450W PSU
1TB HDD
Cooler Master ATX case

My budget would be in the region of 800-1000 euro for a new build. I was originally just thinking of upgrading my current GPU but im not sure if there is much point considering im still running a 2nd gen CPU.

All parts in the old pc are running perfect without problems so its why its hard to justify a new build but it just is not up to scratch anymore with what i need it for.

TerrorFirmer

You could upgrade to an i7-3770 for €150-180 and get a new card like a GTX1060 6GB - less than €500 all in and A1 for 1080p ultra settings well enough. The i7-3770 may be older but it's still a very good gaming CPU and means you don't have to rebuild. Could even push the boat out if not upgrading the full system and get a GTX1070 or 1070Ti, will last for years and years at 1080p ultra.

Sometimes though....you just want to build something new, in which case I'd recommend a Ryzen 1600 based system with B350 motherboard and high speed DDR4 ram with a GTX1060 6GB or RX580 8GB.

Also throw an SSD into the mix. Makes a big difference.

K.O.Kiki

Look up prices of Xeon E3-1275 v2 / E3-1270 v2 / E3-1245 v2 / E3-1240 v2.

They're essentially the same as i7-3770 but without the (redundant) iGPU.

They would however get trounced in productivity by a Ryzen 1600.

LawlessBoy

Yeah. I would like an SSD but it is something i can just add to my own desktop anyway. Replaced the HDD in my laptop a few months back with a 256GB SSD and the difference is incredible.

I suppose im just looking more so for someone to swing me in favor of a new build, even though there is nothing wrong with my own !

LawlessBoy

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You could upgrade to an i7-3770 for €150-180 and get a new card like a GTX1060 6GB - less than €500 all in and A1 for 1080p ultra settings well enough. The i7-3770 may be older but it's still a very good gaming CPU and means you don't have to rebuild. Could even push the boat out if not upgrading the full system and get a GTX1070 or 1070Ti, will last for years and years at 1080p ultra.

Would there be a huge difference in the i5 2500k and it 3770? Not to up to date with my hardware specs

TerrorFirmer

Yes, significant difference in games that favour multiple cores/threads. Obviously if your 2500K is heavily overclocked the difference will be less, but you can get a 3770K which can be OC'd as well. In terms of gaming, Ryzen 1600 wouldn't really be any major upgrade. For certain productivity software, it would be better.

But a 3770 is still a very good CPU. The benefit here is that by not having to rebuild the whole system, you can afford a fantastic graphics card. Eg. 3770+GTX1070Ti kills a Ryzen 1600 + GTX1060 stone dead.

In fact with that budget I'd probably treat myself to a 3770K, GTX1070Ti and a new 1440P monitor, all well within budget and you'd be playing everything at 1440p ultra settings like a hot knife through butter.

LawlessBoy

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Yes, significant difference in games that favour multiple cores/threads. Obviously if your 2500K is heavily overclocked the difference will be less, but you can get a 3770K which can be OC'd as well. In terms of gaming, Ryzen 1600 wouldn't really be any major upgrade. For certain productivity software, it would be better.

But a 3770 is still a very good CPU. The benefit here is that by not having to rebuild the whole system, you can afford a fantastic graphics card. Eg. 3770+GTX1070Ti kills a Ryzen 1600 + GTX1060 stone dead.

In fact with that budget I'd probably treat myself to a 3770K, GTX1070Ti and a new 1440P monitor, all well within budget and you'd be playing everything at 1440p ultra settings like a hot knife through butter.

I think this might be the best option. Good thing about this is that i can do it in stages aswel. Where would the best place be to order from? Any recommendations on which brand of GPU to go with? Would my PSU be ok with a 1070?

TerrorFirmer

CPU - CEX, Ebay. GPU - OCUK or Amazon, but it's about playing the patience game and waiting for a good deal. Monitor - same places really. PSU will be OK as long as it's a half decent model, but if its running the 660Ti it'll run a 1070 or 1070Ti fine....power requirements would be similar. 1070 almsot identical, 1070ti a bit more power hungry but a decent 450w psu should still be fine.

LawlessBoy

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

CPU - CEX, Ebay. GPU - OCUK or Amazon, but it's about playing the patience game and waiting for a good deal. Monitor - same places really. PSU will be OK as long as it's a half decent model, but if its running the 660Ti it'll run a 1070 or 1070Ti fine....power requirements would be similar. 1070 almsot identical, 1070ti a bit more power hungry but a decent 450w psu should still be fine.

Thanks for the input appreciate it. Didnt even know CEX sold pc parts.

LawlessBoy

sugarman wrote: »

Wouldnt even bother with the CPU, 2500k OC'd is still up to it.

I have a near identical rig and last year I upped the RAM to 16GB(8GB is more than enough, 16GB was just on offer), added a 256GB SSD, added a 120mm AIO cooler and OC'd the 2500k to a steady 4.2Ghz. And also threw in an RX 480.

Plays anything I throw at it at 1440p and have yet to find any bottlesnecks yet playing mostly AAA titles on highest settings.

I plan to eventually upgrade the 2500k to the 3770k when the prices drop circa €100 but its more than enough for now.

I wouldnt be picking up a i7 until i get a get a good deal on ebay or the likes. The GPU will come first. What are you temps like on the CPU? I haven't overclocked mine at all. Its running a stock cooler so i would have to upgrade that first before i go to overclock it.

K.O.Kiki

sugarman wrote: »

Wouldnt even bother with the CPU, 2500k OC'd is still up to it.

I have a near identical rig and last year I upped the RAM to 16GB(8GB is more than enough, 16GB was just on offer), added a 256GB SSD, added a 120mm AIO cooler and OC'd the 2500k to a steady 4.2Ghz. And also threw in an RX 480.

Plays anything I throw at it at 1440p and have yet to find any bottlesnecks yet playing mostly AAA titles on highest settings.

I plan to eventually upgrade the 2500k to the 3770k when the prices drop circa €100 but its more than enough for now.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-is-it-finally-time-to-upgrade-your-core-i5-2500k

It's more about future-proofing for multi-core games & improving minimum frame-times.

TerrorFirmer

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-is-it-finally-time-to-upgrade-your-core-i5-2500k

It's more about future-proofing for multi-core games & improving minimum frame-times.

Exactly

2500K OC'd will get you through most titles admittedly, but for consistent performance/good minimum frames in AAA 2016/2017 titles and guaranteed in same going forward for the next year or two, you need to switch to i7.

Hate when reviews focus solely on average framerates.

LawlessBoy

Anyone able to help me here.
Picked up a EVGA 1070 8gb and went to install it this afternoon. Uninstalled my old drivers installed the 1070 ones then i installed the GPU.
Problem is now that the PC wont boot through the GPU( LEDs light up and everything ) and when i put it to the MOBO output it boots.
Tried going into the BIOS settings to change the primary output to the pcie slot and noticed when its booting i dont get a splash screen which i always did before. Screen only wakes up when its at the user log in scree

Anyone able to advise me on what to do?

So far ive tried resetting the BIOS by removing the battery
Booting without the GPU

Really annoying me now and im dying to get to play a few games on the new card

LawlessBoy

LawlessBoy wrote: »

Anyone able to help me here.
Picked up a EVGA 1070 8gb and went to install it this afternoon. Uninstalled my old drivers installed the 1070 ones then i installed the GPU.
Problem is now that the PC wont boot through the GPU( LEDs light up and everything ) and when i put it to the MOBO output it boots.
Tried going into the BIOS settings to change the primary output to the pcie slot and noticed when its booting i dont get a splash screen which i always did before. Screen only wakes up when its at the user log in scree

Anyone able to advise me on what to do?

So far ive tried resetting the BIOS by removing the battery
Booting without the GPU

Really annoying me now and im dying to get to play a few games on the new card

Ive tried booting without the GPU again and ive managed to get into the BIOS settings. Can anyone explain why this may be happening? Is the GPU dead?

wotzgoingon

LawlessBoy wrote: »

Uninstalled my old drivers installed the 1070 ones then i installed the GPU.

You install the card before the drivers.

Moon54

LawlessBoy wrote: »

Ive tried booting without the GPU again and ive managed to get into the BIOS settings. Can anyone explain why this may be happening? Is the GPU dead?

Check if your PSU meets min power requirements for the 1070.
What way are the GPU power connectors hooked up?

LawlessBoy

Got it sorted in the end guys. Ended up narrowing it down to a faulty adapter and now everythings fine