Upgrade current or purchase new gaming PC

[Annthrax]

Hey guys, I am looking to maybe upgrade my pc. Or if its better off to purchase a new one. Possibly on a 800$ budget. Below is my specs of my current PC. If its best just to get a new GFX card I can most certainly do that. What do you guys recommend?

CPU: i5 2500k
Ram: G Skill 8gb 1600mhz
Mobo: Msi p67a-g43
SSD: Corsair force series 3
Graphics: Msi 560ti 2gb
PSU: Corsair 650w

[Deleted]

- What you use the pc for, just gaming and is that 1080p@60hz?
- What games do you play and what you are looking at to play? (like AAA titles etc).
- Whats the exact model of the psu and how old is it.

If new cpu is needed you are looking at an almost new build from scratch maybe except storage drives. What hdd's/ssd's you got?

[MrPaladinGuy]

Assuming you're at just 1080p and wanting better performance in mostly WoW or even just WoW, I'd go the GPU route as that 2500k is still legendary even at stock.

Your PSU can easily handle a 1080 or AMD equivalent even without knowing the exact model, just make sure it has the proper connections.

A better CPU and faster ram would drastically help in some games (min/max framerates, i.e. towns in TW3) and when around other people in WoW, but a massive GPU upgrade will benefit you significantly more in basically everything and even a $200 1060 qualifies as a massive upgrade.

The question is how much of that $800 would you want to spend on a GPU, I'd at least recommend a 1070 or AMD equivalent. You could even go the 1060 route which is phenomenally faster than a 560 Ti and also try to replace the cpu/ram/mobo.

You may want to get a 6GB 1060 instead though if the base horsepower wasn't sacrificed for more vram and if it doesn't cost $60 more (I'm not aware of all the variants). I have to mention it and I'm sure to catch some flak for saying so. I can't recommend anything AMD related as I'm a bit behind in what they have now.


I personally still run a 2500k, 16GB of DDR3 1333, 980 Ti Classified (RMA'd a 780 Ti Classy) @ 1440p and the 2500k is still more than enough for nearly everything except rare exceptions like towns in TW3 where it becomes significantly CPU-bound. I'm aware Legion got an upgrade and the highest view distance/ground clutter seems to be midly cpu-dependent too assuming you have a sufficient GPU.

Edit - my 2500k is at stock due to laziness, complacency, and degradation.

[Annthrax]

- What you use the pc for, just gaming and is that 1080p@60hz?
- What games do you play and what you are looking at to play? (like AAA titles etc).
- Whats the exact model of the psu and how old is it.

If new cpu is needed you are looking at an almost new build from scratch maybe except storage drives. What hdd's/ssd's you got?

Hey there, I use it for gaming and looking to play Player Unknowns Battlegrounds. Path of exile. League of Legends and not to many others.
The psu is about 5 years old as is all of the equipment except my SSD 250gb.

[Deleted]

As the previous poster said either go for gpu or full out on new build. I would say grab the gpu first and if you aint happy with the performance then go for cpu/mobo/ram. I'll link new a full build below to get an idea but in the mean time if you gpu only in a month or so we will have good amd solutions that can have similar performance for less money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($234.79 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z270 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($133.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GT OCV1 Video Card ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($62.89 @ Newegg)
Total: $836.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-04 03:22 EDT-0400


A more affordable gpu could be a RX480, the performance will depend from game to game but usually its within 10% of gtx1060 6gb.

[Nellah]

For the games you have listed, OP, your GPU is going to matter a lot more than your CPU, especially as you are actually below the recommended minimum GPU for Playerunknown Battlegrounds (Gamepedia recommends a GTX 660.) None of the games have very strenuous CPU requirements, and your 2500K is more than enough, especially if you have any overclock on it.

My recommendation would be getting a beastmode GPU, and considering what you have right now a GTX 1070 would be that, with (based on Anandtech's numbers against a GTX 660) between a three- to five-fold performance increase in GPU-bound games.

When AMD's quad-core chips are launched you can revisit upgrading your core system, but for the games you play your 2500K is probably gonna last another generation, until at least Zen 2 or whatever the hell Intel decides to put out at that time.

[Annthrax]

For the games you have listed, OP, your GPU is going to matter a lot more than your CPU, especially as you are actually below the recommended minimum GPU for Playerunknown Battlegrounds (Gamepedia recommends a GTX 660.) None of the games have very strenuous CPU requirements, and your 2500K is more than enough, especially if you have any overclock on it.

My recommendation would be getting a beastmode GPU, and considering what you have right now a GTX 1070 would be that, with (based on Anandtech's numbers against a GTX 660) between a three- to five-fold performance increase in GPU-bound games.

When AMD's quad-core chips are launched you can revisit upgrading your core system, but for the games you play your 2500K is probably gonna last another generation, until at least Zen 2 or whatever the hell Intel decides to put out at that time.

Okay guys, so from the looks of it. Should I keep my cpu/mobo and just upgrade the Ram to 16gb and get a 1070 for now? Already have a 256 Samsung SSD. So I could save money and not get a mobo/cpu? Is the i5 2500k still on par? I am looking to play games at 1920x1080 hopefully 60fps. I am looking to play Battle grounds, path of exile, league of legends. So from the looks of it just upgrade the GPU pretty much? Also if that would be my best choice instead of purchasing a new Computer id be fine with that so looking around 600$ for GPU/RAM and maybe a new case I want lol.

[ovm33]

Okay guys, so from the looks of it. Should I keep my cpu/mobo and just upgrade the Ram to 16gb and get a 1070 for now? Already have a 256 Samsung SSD. So I could save money and not get a mobo/cpu? Is the i5 2500k still on par? I am looking to play games at 1920x1080 hopefully 60fps. I am looking to play Battle grounds, path of exile, league of legends. So from the looks of it just upgrade the GPU pretty much? Also if that would be my best choice instead of purchasing a new Computer id be fine with that so looking around 600$ for GPU/RAM and maybe a new case I want lol.

Hold off on buying the ram. You'll see no difference in gaming by adding another 8gb. Put that towards a nice heat sink like the Dark Rock Pro or Corsair H100i. Then overclock your CPU as high as it will go. The 2500k is only on par if it is OC'd. If it's at stock you're falling behind. (Not a lot but noticable.) This will increase your FPS in Battlegrounds. I don't know enough about the other games to advise as to whether it will increase their performance.

As far as GPU goes I would suggest a 1060 6g if you're looking to go "cheap" but still have good performance. You could also consider going with an AMD RX480 8gb as it trades blows with the 1060. Go with a 1070 if you're wanting rock solid 1080p 60 FPS performance. Copy / Past from another thread:

All good choices under $400:

EVGA ACX 3.0 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-265-_-Product
Gigabyte Windforce https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-875-_-Product
Asus Dual Series https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-119-_-Product
MSI Armor https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-951-_-Product

One final note: You might consider putting your savings into a new Seasonic / EVGA / Super Flower PSU. Or cheeseburgers and beer.

[pamelasdeath]

Your PC seems okay to me.

Your CPU is getting on the older-side, but shouldnt be a huge priority.
Your GPU might need work.