Is it Time For an Upgrade?

[tete08]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently very undecided if I should upgrade my current PC. I really only play WoW for the most part and might try some different games soon (I mostly played PS4 but wanted to try PC gaming). I have an older PC, about 5-6 years that I really haven't touched besides a GPU change 3 years ago. I'm wanted to see if I could get some opinions on whether I should consider upgrading right now since I've recently came back to WoW for BFA. Here's a few things that I know I have in my PC.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
Monitor: ASUS VS247H-P

[Kagthul]

OC the CPU to 4.2ghz or higher and get a new GPU (though the 950 is fine for WoW on a mix od medium and high settings at 1080p, itll struggle in other games).

The CPU is still very relevant, especially when OCed (a modern i5 would only be about ~10-12% faster at identical clocks).

If you heavily multitask, upgrading the RAM (adding another 8GB) miht be marginally helpful, but 8 is still plenty for just gaming (particularly WoW) and light background tasks (music, a VOIP client, a few websites).

Youre really not in a terrible spot. With a new GPU, an OC, and maybe some more RAM (if you need it), youll get another 2-3 years out of that machine for gaming.

Id reccommend a GTX 1060 6GB or RX 580 8GB if your budget will allow, as those will do 1080p/Ultra in most modern games (and are more than powerful enough to max out all of WoWs GPU settings). If you cant afford those, a 1050ti will do great in WoW and still do 1080p and a mix of high/medium settings in modern AAA titles.

[tete08]

OC the CPU to 4.2ghz or higher and get a new GPU (though the 950 is fine for WoW on a mix od medium and high settings at 1080p, itll struggle in other games).

The CPU is still very relevant, especially when OCed (a modern i5 would only be about ~10-12% faster at identical clocks).

If you heavily multitask, upgrading the RAM (adding another 8GB) miht be marginally helpful, but 8 is still plenty for just gaming (particularly WoW) and light background tasks (music, a VOIP client, a few websites).

Youre really not in a terrible spot. With a new GPU, an OC, and maybe some more RAM (if you need it), youll get another 2-3 years out of that machine for gaming.

Id reccommend a GTX 1060 6GB or RX 580 8GB if your budget will allow, as those will do 1080p/Ultra in most modern games (and are more than powerful enough to max out all of WoWs GPU settings). If you cant afford those, a 1050ti will do great in WoW and still do 1080p and a mix of high/medium settings in modern AAA titles.

Thank you for the reply. I just looked up over clocking and it seems a bit complicated. I'll give that a shot and hope I don't mess anything up. I see an 1060 for $270 that's not too bad. Would my monitor still be ok for this?

[tete08]

Thank you for the reply. I just looked up over clocking and it seems a bit complicated. I'll give that a shot and hope I don't mess anything up. I see an 1060 for $270 that's not too bad. Would my monitor still be ok for this?

[Kagthul]

Thank you for the reply. I just looked up over clocking and it seems a bit complicated. I'll give that a shot and hope I don't mess anything up. I see an 1060 for $270 that's not too bad. Would my monitor still be ok for this?

Your monitor seems fine. Even seems like its 75hz.

Overclocking on Ivy Bridge should be pretty easy, depending on the particular EFI involved. The only hard part (and really more time consuming than difficult) is finding where it’s stable.

There are plenty of guides out there, and the cooler you have is good for cooling even overclocked CPUs - its a bit loud at high overclocks but gets the job done.

You should be able to get 4.2ghz or so out of that no oroblem, and possibly as high as 4.6 or 4.7, if you got a lucky chip.

[Chelada]

Agree with what Kagthul has pointed out a 1060 would actually be a decent card with your hardware setup if you need help with the OC actually look at a youtuber named JayzTwoCents he actually has a video on overclocking the 3570k/3770k on an asrock z77 pro4 witch i believe is the same of not pretty close to the EFI bios on your board

[tete08]

Agree with what Kagthul has pointed out a 1060 would actually be a decent card with your hardware setup if you need help with the OC actually look at a youtuber named JayzTwoCents he actually has a video on overclocking the 3570k/3770k on an asrock z77 pro4 witch i believe is the same of not pretty close to the EFI bios on your board

Thanks! I will look this up as soon as I get home from work. I also picked up an EVGA 1060 6GB on Amazon, one that qualifies for their Step Up program just in case I decide to upgrade later. Hopefully I can get this OC down.

[Turaska]

Overclock the CPU
get 8gig more ram
get a better graphics card (1070+)

Should be fine for 4+ years easily unless games suddenly ramp up in requirements fast.

[tete08]

Your monitor seems fine. Even seems like its 75hz.

Overclocking on Ivy Bridge should be pretty easy, depending on the particular EFI involved. The only hard part (and really more time consuming than difficult) is finding where it’s stable.

There are plenty of guides out there, and the cooler you have is good for cooling even overclocked CPUs - its a bit loud at high overclocks but gets the job done.

You should be able to get 4.2ghz or so out of that no oroblem, and possibly as high as 4.6 or 4.7, if you got a lucky chip.

Ok, so far I have been able to get it to 4.4ghz

[Kagthul]

Ok, so far I have been able to get it to 4.4ghz

Thats pretty solid for an Ivy Bridge chip.

[Neversage]

Your system is fine if you are running 1080p. The only possible upgrade might be a video card, though if you just tick environment detail down to 5, you should get a good increase in FPS, everything else on ultra. You don't need more RAM. You don't need more CPU. Let me repeat that, you don't need more RAM. If you aren't running an SSD, get one. They are $100 for a 500G Samsung EVO860. If you aren't getting good performance, you should look at RAM timings. You don't need to overclock your CPU, and you honestly don't need more RAM.

I have a setup very similar to yours, and I easily stay around 60FPS almost anywhere in the game. Even in full raids, I'm still easily around 40FPS. This is with everything on ultra, except environment detail at 8. While maintaining that, I can have 30 chrome tabs open with photoshop and premiere running in the background, and Netflix or youtube playing at 1080p on the second monitor without skipping a beat.

Don't waste your money.