Everything-but-GPU Upgrade

goodstevening

1. What is your budget? €300-400 

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, I just want something that'll play mostly anything that I throw at it decently (60fps, 1080p, etc) for the next while

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? 8gb DDR3, 1TB HDD, i3 3240

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1080p

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser/Paypal

9. When are you purchasing? In the next few months

[font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hey guys. Recently I threw together a quite budget gaming PC with a optiplex 3010 I got for free, 4gb ram from CeX and a 1050 ti Low profile. While it runs quite well, especially for the money, I'm finding the CPU to be a bit of a bottleneck in CPU intensive games. What I was wondering is whether, with DDR4 prices being what they are, it's worth throwing together a Ryzen / Pentium G4560 build for 300 euro so that I have an upgrade path? The alternative I was looking at is putting together an i5 4670k build instead, which seems like give me a bit better value (I've found a few i5 + z87 + 8gb bundles for around 180 euro). Although this would give me better performance for my money, LGA 1150 is obviously a dead end with no upgrade path.  AM4 and 1151 both look like they'll be supported until 2020 at least, so naturally they would be better value for the future. It's just the insane DDR4 prices that are making it hard to decide. Any thoughts? [/font]

J0hnick

I'd get a 3770k, Ivy bridge let's you re-use that 8gb of ddr3.

the_syco

goodstevening wrote: »

The alternative I was looking at is putting together an i5 4670k build instead, which seems like give me a bit better value (I've found a few i5 + z87 + 8gb bundles for around 180 euro). Although this would give me better performance for my money, LGA 1150 is obviously a dead end with no upgrade path.

I've a 4670k on a z97 mobo, with 8GB's or RAM.

I got the 4670K back in 2013 or 2014. Likewise with the 8GB's of RAM. Got the z97 mobo when I moved over here in Toronto, and have been gaming on a GTX760 (which I'm guessing is also 3 or 4 years old).

Personally speaking, it's a good CPU, but buying it now leaves you with no future upgrade path, so you may buying from scratch once again, if you wanted to upgrade further.

Perhaps look at a Ryzen 1600 build that you can upgrade later?

goodstevening

the_syco wrote: »

Perhaps look at a Ryzen 1600 build that you can upgrade later?

Indeed, but with the prices of DDR4 I can't see myself squeezing a Ryzen 5 1600 into a 300 or even 400 euro budget. 
I should have been more clear in the OP, but as dell use completely proprietary parts all I am taking from the optiplex is the ram, storage and the graphics card I installed, meaning that I'll need a new case and PSU etc as well, and all within my budget. Hence my dilemma.

TerrorFirmer

Just get an i7-3770 and job done. Still a very good CPU and will last years.

3rd gen optiplex should still use standard ATX PSU so in time you can also put in a new PSU and card.

You are right - the i3-3240 would be an enormous bottleneck in CPU heavy titles.

I would not worry about upgrade paths. By the time the i7-3770 is obsolete for gaming you'd be long overdue a system change anyway.

goodstevening

Sadly I don't have the mini tower Optiplex 3010, but rather the "desktop" one, which has the proprietary SFF PSU and a low profile.

Also when I was doing some googling I saw one or two people that said when they added an i7-3770 it wouldn't boot. The manual for the Optiplex 3010 lists highest 'supported' CPU as a i5 3470. Also, the motherboard itself doesn't support more than 8gb of RAM, and the combination of the proprietary motherboard and power supply limits the amount of hard drives you can attach to just two. Dell really wants to limit their systems' configurability it seems.

K.O.Kiki

I don't recommend an i5 now if you're trying to get a good few years out of it.
Get an i7 (3rd/4th gen), 4core/8thread Xeon, or change everything to Ryzen (which is getting price drops with 2000-series out next month).

TerrorFirmer

goodstevening wrote: »

Sadly I don't have the mini tower Optiplex 3010, but rather the "desktop" one, which has the proprietary SFF PSU and a low profile.

Also when I was doing some googling I saw one or two people that said when they added an i7-3770 it wouldn't boot. The manual for the Optiplex 3010 lists highest 'supported' CPU as a i5 3470. Also, the motherboard itself doesn't support more than 8gb of RAM, and the combination of the proprietary motherboard and power supply limits the amount of hard drives you can attach to just two. Dell really wants to limit their systems' configurability it seems.

Fair enough, probably best to cut your losses now then.

Get a cheap but reasonable case, 400w+ PSU, B350M motherboard and Ryzen 1400 + 8GB DDR4 + SSD. €400ish should cover that.

Re-use your GPU.

Should get €80 or so back for the i3 Dell with 8GB ram sold as a fully working machine.

Again, if you want to put things off for a while, even dropping in something like an i5-3570 now for €40 would be a massive upgrade.

i5-3570, 8GB ram and a GTX1050Ti would be good for most games at 1080p high settings 60fps in general (some stuff like Overwatch at Ultra/Epic, some stuff like PUBG at medium).

You won't get severe dips/low average frames on an i5-3570 like you would on a 3240. 60fps should be no issue in 95% of titles. Would allow you to keep going for another year or two with your Optiplex while you save/wait for better options to emerge/prices to drop.

goodstevening

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies.
I've decided to build my way out of the Dell now because I've been getting a few random problems (slow loading and freezing, I think the motherboard/psu is being taxed by the combination of an SSD, GPU, HDD and full RAM slots). My budget for this overall is €200. I found a Meshify C Dark TG for €35 used and a corsair tx650w for €25, so now looking for just the CPU/RAM/Mobo for around €140-150
Right now I'm basically stuck in a choice between the i7-3770k and the i5-4670k. Both are around €100 used where I am right now and I can get a Z77/Z87 board for either for around €40. So which should I go for? I figure either would be good for at least 2 years, right?

K.O.Kiki

i7 > i5

Get the 3770K.

TerrorFirmer

Yep, I'd also take the 3770K hands down.