What would you do in my situation?

briany

Have a system built back in 2012 - specs are:-

2500K
Asrock Extreme 3 Gen 3 Z68
8GB RAM
GTX 1060
Crucial 64 GB SSD
OCZ 128 GB SSD
Seagate Barracuda 2TB HD

Been thinking about upgrading the whole machine for some time now, but every time I go to research what constitutes a step up from the 2500K (at a similar cost price), people basically say that there isn't one, or rather that the real-world performance gains are minimal. So they say, 'wait', and I'm still waiting.

Now, the reason why I'm upgrading at all is because things seem to be using up more memory and CPU time than ever, so I'm tempted just to throw some extra memory in there and maybe grab a 2nd hand 2600K for the hyper-threading and call it a day, but am slightly concerned about the age of my mobo and how much life it has left, even though it's running absolutely fine at the moment.

Reason why I would like to upgrade is just to keep on top of multitasking, plus handling some more demanding applications like virtualization and Revit.

Advice?

K.O.Kiki

Nonsense - Ryzen 1500X / 1600 were upgrade picks back in 2017.

First gen Ryzen @ 4GHz > 2500K @ 4.7GHz

If you want to future-proof on a budget, get yourself a Ryzen 3600 & larger SSD IMHO

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£193.50 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard (£110.95 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport AT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £429.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-22 11:27 BST+0100

(buy CPU & motherboard from CCL, apparently they'll upgrade BIOS for you so it works out-the-box. Alternatively, buy Ryzen 2700 instead)

TerrorFirmer

I don't know who's telling you that recently, the 2500K is completely obsolete for a long time now and even a £120 Ryzen 2600 is a really massive upgrade.

You are correct that a i7-2600 will give you a nice boost for very small money and allow you to see out another while, see them going for 60-70 2nd hand. Major difference in games due to extra threads.

If your machine is largely a productivity one, then I'd say it's worth jumping to an all new build like above.

briany

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Nonsense - Ryzen 1500X / 1600 were upgrade picks back in 2017.

First gen Ryzen @ 4GHz > 2500K @ 4.7GHz

If you want to future-proof on a budget, get yourself a Ryzen 3600 & larger SSD IMHO

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£193.50 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI - X470 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard (£110.95 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport AT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £429.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-22 11:27 BST+0100

(buy CPU & motherboard from CCL, apparently they'll upgrade BIOS for you so it works out-the-box. Alternatively, buy Ryzen 2700 instead)

Definitely looking at an AMD build. Seems like the new Ryzen chips are finally putting it up to Intel in a proper way. Can't really decide between the 1700x, the 2600x, 2700x or just-released 3600x, though.

K.O.Kiki

briany wrote: »

Definitely looking at an AMD build. Seems like the new Ryzen chips are finally putting it up to Intel in a proper way. Can't really decide between the 1700x, the 2600x, 2700x or just-released 3600x, though.

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3489-amd-ryzen-5-3600-cpu-review-benchmarks-vs-intel

3600X is just a higher-binned 3600.
It's a better CPU than the 2000-series but the motherboards have issues right now (B450/X470: BIOS problems, X570: expensive).

Polar101

Go for the upgrade, anything released in the last 1-2 years would be a significant upgrade. Intel i5-9600k, or Ryzen 2700x / 3600. With 16GB DDR4 memory you will definitely see an increase and it won't be that expensive (400-500 euro).

Couple of years ago it wouldn't have been worth it, but now is a different story.

JoyPad

The Ryzen 2000 series prices have been slashed a lot. Probably the best value-for-money right now.
Add to that the lower prices of RAM and SSDs, and you realize now is the time to upgrade.

briany

JoyPad wrote: »

The Ryzen 2000 series prices have been slashed a lot. Probably the best value-for-money right now.
Add to that the lower prices of RAM and SSDs, and you realize now is the time to upgrade.

I'm quite tempted by the 2600 which looks to offer a substantial bang for relatively little @ 119 on amazon UK.

Here's what's sitting in my cart right now. Still more research needed, maybe.

- Corsair TX 750 m psu
- MSI x470 Gaming Plus mobo
- Corsair Carbide 100r case
- AMD 2600 cpu
- Crucial BX500 240 GB SSD
- 1x16 Corsair DDR4 desktop RAM @ 2666 MHZ

This is to be used along with a few components from my current machine, such as the GTX 1060 6GB. I know I could reuse the PSU and case from the old machine, but they're getting a bit old.

Above components in the cart (plus some extra bits and bobs) coming to a total of 557 euro.

TitianGerm

briany wrote: »

I'm quite tempted by the 2600 which looks to offer a substantial bang for relatively little @ 119 on amazon UK.

Here's what's sitting in my cart right now. Still more research needed, maybe.

- Corsair TX 750 m psu
- MSI x470 Gaming Plus mobo
- Corsair Carbide 100r case
- AMD 2600 cpu
- Crucial BX500 240 GB SSD
- 1x16 Corsair DDR4 desktop RAM @ 2666 MHZ

This is to be used along with a few components from my current machine, such as the GTX 1060 6GB. I know I could reuse the PSU and case from the old machine, but they're getting a bit old.

Above components in the cart (plus some extra bits and bobs) coming to a total of 557 euro.

Get two sticks of 8GB ram instead?

briany

TitianGerm wrote: »

Get two sticks of 8GB ram instead?

The thought process is that I'm going to be putting more RAM into the machine because I might be needing to leverage it as a workstation as well, for some RAM-intensive tasks, and to that end, I might want to max out the RAM on board (64 GB). One stick of 16 is a start on that. The only reason why I'm not getting 32 now is because it puts me a little over the amount I'd prefer to spend in one go. Then again, I might split the build into two orders anyway. :pac:

TerrorFirmer

If you're playing games, single channel memory can have brutal performance impact. Far better to get 2x8.

EoinHef

If you can squeeze slightly faster ram into the build aswell. 3000Mhz or 3200Mhz if possible.

Nice upgrade all round either way though

Skerries

240gb seems very small for your storage drive even if you use that 128gb for your boot drive

briany

Skerries wrote: »

240gb seems very small for your storage drive even if you use that 128gb for your boot drive

I have a 2tb HDD in my current machine, which I could move over, unless SATA data and power connectors have changed standard in the last 7 years.