[Question] Should I upgrade my pc?

[Cog]

I have a few extra dollars and I want to upgrade my pc.

My current pc is 5 years old. I bought the parts in usa before the government came up with a new tax that will make me pay almost $80 for each package if it weights less than 8 pounds and if it cost less than $400. More than that and it will cost me much more.

My current pc has a 8 gb ddr3 1600 ram, a Core i5 2500k and a very cheap motherboard that can't use those parts at 100% because my original motherboard died and the one I got now is the only 1155 board compatible with my cpu that I could find here.

If I want to buy from usa, I will need to spend $400 or less (including shipping). I figured I could buy a new motherboard compatible with my current ram and a new cpu, but I don't know if I will see much improvement over my current system. Or maybe I should only upgrade my gpu? Or maybe it's a waste of time?

So, should I upgrade? If so, what would be the best combination of cpu - motherboard for the $400 I can spend?

 

[PatrThom]

Can you post the board model number? And also the GPU model w/ VRAM size?
Also which OS are you using?

--Patrick

 

[Cog]

Ok. My motherboard is an asus p8b75-m. My GPU is a Saphire Radeon r9 280 3 gb. Currently using windows 10.

 

[Dave]

I've always gone by the adage that if you have to ask this question the answer is probably yes. Like I want to get an Oculus. But my computer can't handle it.

 

[PatrThom]

The P8B75-M uses (unsurprisingly) the Intel B75 chipset.
The only things the flagship Z77 chipset can do that yours can't is to be able to do SLI/Crossfire, you lose the ability to have an additional 2 USB ports, and you can't do the SSD caching that Intel calls "Smart Response Technology." Oh, and you also won't have the ability to use any of the fancy -K series unlocked chips, so no overclocking for you (which means buying the 2500K instead of the "standard" 2500 was money you didn't have to spend).
In other words, your chipset is not really limited to "not using those parts 100%" like you might think it is.
Your motherboard should be capable of using the I5-3570 (ivy bridge) CPU that is the successor to your I5-2550K, but the performance difference is not that big (you would only gain about 10% speed improvement). The main reason to use Ivy instead of Sandy Bridge is because they run much, much cooler and use less power, not because they have much better performance.

So yes, if you want a big performance boost, you will probably want to replace the motherboard and CPU...but keep in mind, this probably means you will also need to replace the RAM, so keep room for that in your budget as well.

As far as your video card is concerned, the R9 280 is the equivalent of a Radeon 7950, which is currently #42 fastest out of all the currently shipping video cards. You probably don't need to upgrade it at this time.

--Patrick

 

[PatrThom]

Did a little bit of searching.
If you want to stay Asus/Intel, I'd suggest the H97M-E/CSM motherboard ($100) paired with an I5-5675C CPU ($300). Best part is you should be able to reuse your RAM so long as it is DDR3-1066 or DDR3-1333 (preferred).
I did not search whether those parts are available in Europe for less cost, these are US prices.
Anyone else, feel free to chime in with what you find.

--Patrick

 

[Cog]

My original motherboard, the one I bought with my current cpu, supported overclocking and I was using it. The P8B75 was the only replacement available for me after the first one died, so my pc runs slower now than when I first bought it.

What do yo think about the Core i5 4690k with this motherboard? It should be compatible with my ram and I still have my coolermaster hyper 212 plus, so I could overclock it.

 

[PatrThom]

Are you limited by motherboard size? Part of the reason for the board I recommended is because your current board is Micro-ATX (uATX) in size. The board you suggest is full ATX size. Does that matter?

--Patrick

 

[Cog]

It doesn't matter.

 

[Eriol]

I always advocate that video card is best bang-for-buck, and THEN cpu/mobo. Few things are cpu-bound these days. If you're doing video editing and/or 3d modeling/rendering, then OK, beef up the CPU, but otherwise, spring for a nice graphics card, and you'll immediately see the improvement IMO.

 

[PatrThom]

I always advocate that video card is best bang-for-buck, and THEN cpu/mobo. Few things are cpu-bound these days. If you're doing video editing and/or 3d modeling/rendering, then OK, beef up the CPU, but otherwise, spring for a nice graphics card, and you'll immediately see the improvement IMO.

I did consider recommending that, but discovered he's already pretty close to the vertex of the price/performance ratio. Improving performance over the card he has is going to mean a disproportionate increase in the price paid for the card, so the biggest gain in efficiency looks like it would be in replacing the 2011-era CPU and board, since not only will he get an upgrade to his IPC count and power efficiency, he'd also be stepping up from PCIe gen 2 to PCIe gen 3, which will contribute to a potential increase in both graphics and storage speeds.

FWIW, for any new build/upgrade, I certainly would not recommend going any lower than the Devil's Canyon generation of processors (i5-4690, i7-4790 - these were a sort of Haswell v2) unless you managed to find an absolutely impossible to ignore deal on something based on Haswell (any of the other 4xxx-series CPUs).

I'll be back to this thread tomorrow when I have the day off and can go spelunking for 9-series motherboards (Z97, H97) in the old-but-not-that-old category.

--Patrick

 

[Cog]

Thank you for all the help. But I thought about it and I realized that really my current pc is pretty ok. This pc is not exactly slow and every game I have runs perfectly, and it seems that I can't buy anything that would be considered a big improvement. I'll probably will use the money for new gamepad and a few thing for the house. My wife looks at me funny every time I talk about the upgrade.

 

[PatrThom]

I thought about it and I realized that I really my current pc is pretty ok.

This is actually a lot of people. Right now we're at a crossroads of computer technology rivaling that of the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit about 15 years ago.
Both Intel and AMD are in the process of radically switching their processor and graphics architectures, Windows is undergoing a HUGE change with Windows 10 and DX12, the storage market is transitioning from HDD to SSD, and RAM is making the switch from DDR3 to DDR4. There are things you can do/choices you can make that will give you a system which will last a good number of years, but really the industry right now is on the exit ramp leaving the old and merging over to new, and so isn't really 100% in either yet.

--Patrick