Upgrade CPU or GPU?

[Cilraaz]

I've been debating what to upgrade the next time that I have the funds to do so. My current setup is:

• i5 2500k @ 4.6GHz
• ASRock P67 Extreme4
• 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 1600MHz RAM
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT (Tahiti) @ 1200/1500MHz
• Corsair 650TX PSU

My usage is mainly gaming. Within gaming, I mainly play MMOs (WoW, EverQuest, and I dabble in others like SWTOR, SWGEmu, and anything new that comes on the market). In addition to MMOs, I play pretty much anything Blizzard makes. I've been getting into Heroes of the Storm lately. I also play Hearthstone and (rarely) Diablo 3. In addition, I play some single player games, such as Cities: Skylines. I also plan to play GTA V when it releases. Outside of gaming, I do stream to Twitch using a 1-PC setup.

The CPU/mobo is from 2011. The video card is from 2013. The biggest problem is that the last few generations of CPU haven't had the big jumps that we saw from Core2Duo to Core2Quad to 1st gen Core i to 2nd gen Core i. That makes my upgrade choice a bit harder. So, do I..

Upgrade my CPU to an i5 4690k? This would increase minimum framerate performance in raids in WoW, as well as any other crowded MMO area. This would also allow me to use the iGPU for Quick Sync encoding of my Twitch stream, which would off-load some processing requirement to a currently unused component. That should grant me a bit of a boost in gaming while streaming. Unfortunately, the P67 boards can't make use of the iGPU, so I can't activate it now. For the 4690k, I'd need an accompanying motherboard. I've become a fan of ASRock and figured I would go with the Z97 Extreme4 or Extreme6. Total cost: ~$400.

Upgrade my GPU? I'm not sure exactly what I'd upgrade to. The overclocked 7870 XT using the Tahiti chipset is roughly equivalent to a 7950, which is roughly equivalent to an R9 280. The GTX 970 is around $350. I could also go with the R9 290X for $300-320. If I wanted to save a few bucks, I could drop down to the R9 290 for $260.

So, in the long run, I'm not looking for an immediate upgrade, but rather one in the next few months. I'm just not sure if I should focus on a CPU/mobo upgrade or GPU.

[Deleted]

Wait for the R9 3xx series to see what that will do to the GPU market.

As for CPU. I have the 2500k as well, and I don't see a point in upgrading that. It just is not worth the cost. I would wait until skylake before upgrading that, that way you will atleast have DDR4.

[Cilraaz]

Wait for the R9 3xx series to see what that will do to the GPU market.

Good call. I hadn't thought about the upcoming series from AMD.

As for CPU. I have the 2500k as well, and I don't see a point in upgrading that. It just is not worth the cost. I would wait until skylake before upgrading that, that way you will atleast have DDR4.

Well, with the 2500k to 4690k, there's about 15-20% performance boost and the ability to use the iGPU for Quick Sync to off-load encoding to save some processing power while streaming. Together that should give a decent performance increase while streaming raids.

[Kagthul]

Good call. I hadn't thought about the upcoming series from AMD.



Well, with the 2500k to 4690k, there's about 15-20% performance boost and the ability to use the iGPU for Quick Sync to off-load encoding to save some processing power while streaming. Together that should give a decent performance increase while streaming raids.

Right, but a new CPU means a new motherboard (2500K is Socket 1155, 4690K is Socket 1150) for a marginal gain.... as well as being stuck with socket 1150 and no future upgrade path of any kind, as it is end-of-life.

or you can just wait for Skylake in late July/early Aug, and get in on the ground floor of Socket 1151 and Z170, which will bring mainstream DDR4 support and better overclocking (Skylake chips are rumored to have solved the heat issues that made Ivy Bridge and Haswell so hit or miss with overclocking)

[Lathais]

Good call. I hadn't thought about the upcoming series from AMD.



Well, with the 2500k to 4690k, there's about 15-20% performance boost and the ability to use the iGPU for Quick Sync to off-load encoding to save some processing power while streaming. Together that should give a decent performance increase while streaming raids.

I did not think the performance boost was quite that much, closer to 10% I thought. Also, if you go nVidia for a new GPU, then you can just use Shadowplay to relieve that stress from the CPU and place it on your GPU. I'd still wait for the AMD cards to drop to see what it does to nVidia pricing though.

As Kagthul mentioned, 1150 is already at end of life, no point to upgrade into it now for such a marginal increase.

[Taiknee]

What issues are you having that's making you want to upgrade?

[Cilraaz]

I did not think the performance boost was quite that much, closer to 10% I thought. Also, if you go nVidia for a new GPU, then you can just use Shadowplay to relieve that stress from the CPU and place it on your GPU. I'd still wait for the AMD cards to drop to see what it does to nVidia pricing though.

As Kagthul mentioned, 1150 is already at end of life, no point to upgrade into it now for such a marginal increase.

I suppose I'm stuck in the waiting game at that point then. Not that it's a problem, since I still need to get money together. Waiting for the R9 3xx's and Intel's newest.

What issues are you having that's making you want to upgrade?

No "issues". I could get better framerate in WoW raids, especially while streaming, but nothing critical.