Ddr3 ---> ddr4 (???)

[Deleted]

Hi. I'm using old PC and want to upgrade it.

I plan on upgrading GPU asap. I will probably get either 1060 6GB or 1080. I realize 1080 will be waste on 1920x1080 60Hz but I will buy new monitor (probably 2k) in like 1 year or so. 1080 should be better for the longer run, right? And somewhere in the future I will also need either new CPU or get solid CPU cooling and overclock this dude a lot.

Anyway, my motherboard is DDR3-RAM-only and that's the problem. I have only 8GB DDR3, I need to get another 8GB soon.

Here's the deal: new GPU, more RAM, probably new CPU and monitor in the future - that's a lot of money for me. I don't really want to get new motherboard just for using DDR4 unless that's really important. Is it though? Is DDR4 much better than DDR3? Or is my plan pretty safe to just buy another 8GB of DDR3 and stick with this motherboard for long time?

I've read that DDR4 uses less power voltage that DDR3 so electricity gets slightly cheaper but that kinda should be negligible. Do you think I should get new MOBO+DDR4 too or stick with DDR3 and this MOBO?

Thank you

[chazus]

Skip getting a new CPU entirely, for like.. another good 2-3 years. That one is perfectly fine (especially if you OC)

Do you need 16gb ram? Why do you think so?

[Deleted]

@chazus

Hello, thanks for reply. At this moment my RAM usage is 68% (5,4gb/7,9gb) having running WoW (1.5gb), few Chrome tabs (almost 1gb), hearthstone and battlenet (about 450mb) and bunch of small process would add up another 300mb or so. So that's about 3,3gb in total. Where is another ~2,1gb coming from? Just system itself?

Anyway, my RAM is often coming to its limits and I would just feel relieved getting another 8gb (first reason), and subconsciously everyone is having 16gb these days, so I guess I wanted to follow the trend. (second reason)

[oplawlz]

Skip getting a new CPU entirely, for like.. another good 2-3 years. That one is perfectly fine (especially if you OC)

Do you need 16gb ram? Why do you think so?

Agreed on the CPU, the 5670k is a beast and quite unlikely to bottleneck your system anytime soon.

As to the ram, I find myself hovering between 10 and 13 in use pretty frequently these days with tabs open + a video streaming on my second monitor + a game and my background processes. YMMV

[Aleksej89]

wait for some new generation of hardware that is a significant performance upgrade.

[munkeyinorbit]

Situation A: playing games, watching videos/movies and surfing the net.

Situation B: Above but also content creation like photo shop, making music, editing videos, designing 3D-models.

If you are Situation A then the single-core scores in synthetic tests suggest that your processor is fast enough. Overclock it and maybe, maybe not get more memory. It is cheap. Who cares. You SHOULD only really upgrade your CPU when there is likely to be close to 100% increase in power. Top of the line processors, the ones more expensive than your whole computer, only give approx 50% increase in performance for Situation A.

If you are Situation B then upgrade today. The latest processors shit all over your one. Even going to a current gen i5 is close to 100% increase in performance for Situation B. Here is the bad news. You will need a new mobo and new DDR-4 RAM as well if you want the latest processors. You have no choice here.

In the end, PCs over the last 6 years have gotten to the point where CPUs last almost forever performance wise. I use a stock standard i5 gen 2 processor. I occasionally have to use photo shop or video editing programs for assignments. Yeah I could get that shit done faster but my PC can still do it. I have upgraded my GPU twice in that time and I have upgraded my drive to SSD. Not bad for 5-6 years.

[DrStiglit]

Just stick with the DDR3 and upgrade to 16gb. You'll be good with CPU and DDR3 for a while. Just upgrade the GPU.

[Jtbrig7390]

Only thing I would do is...

First upgrade the Ram

Second (Option) upgrade the GPU.

Your CPU is still more then good enough to last you for quite awhile.

[acinos]

Hello. without upgrading the motherboard i was given no options for ddr4 ram and so i stuck to ddr3. plus after googling for awhile i wasnt seeing it be worth upgrading to ddr4 at this time. If you where to upgrade the motherboard. i would just build a whole new computer at that point personally.

other then that i made a list. i cant vouch for any of these other then the asus monitor as i'm currently using asus and its done well by me so far. all choices are based on rating and price. as others have said ram then gpu. the rest are just options for consideration.

i kept it on the cheaper side for gpu but its still an improvement. going to a 1050ti.i even kept to the same brand. a 750 shows up at about 4000 on nvidias comparison chart while the 1050 ti is a little over 6000. as well as being 4gb.

i put in a few options for storage upgrade. i have a small ssd for for my os and i really wish i had a second ssd or a larger main one. also put an option in for a 2tb hdd. I don't know if you are experiencing any issues with storage space but it is cheap now to get more space and isnt to much more to upgrade that.

put an option in for a 144hz monitor. i keep hearing from friends and people i watch on twitch, youtube and other sites that once you play on a monitor that can go above 60hz you wont want to play at 60hz anymore.

I hope this helps. i use this site to help me make sure everything i am getting when building a computer is compatible with each other.

https://international.download.nvidi...ineup-full.png
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MTFtPs

[Deleted]

Thanks for replies. If anyone has any kind of advice, please share, I'm quite a banana at hardware.

Your GPU is still more then good enough to last you for quite awhile.

I just cannot see how... even if I did some of OC (kinda afraid of 'breaking things'), I cannot imagine. For some low/medium-low settings in new titles, perhaps

[acinos]

Thanks for replies. If anyone has any kind of advice, please share, I'm quite a banana at hardware.



I just cannot see how... even if I did some of OC (kinda afraid of 'breaking things'), I cannot imagine. For some low/medium-low settings in new titles, perhaps

https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri This website for seeing how your computer will handle a game so you know if it will be able to handle it.
https://pcpartpicker.com/ for building computers and upgrading your current as long as you know what you have. It will also show you the lowest price it finds as wel as options when you click on the part and if there is a bundle option. when i built my last computer it found me a deal for a motherboard and cpu bundle that saved me $50 on it and was cheaper then what i was planning already.

[Jtbrig7390]

I just cannot see how... even if I did some of OC (kinda afraid of 'breaking things'), I cannot imagine. For some low/medium-low settings in new titles, perhaps

I mean CPU by the way not GPU.

But yes your CPU is more then fine for gaming for quite awhile. The leap between your CPU and a current gen one isn't huge and lots of games are coming out more GPU demanding. It does depend if u want to game at 1080p/2k/4k and all tho.

What games are you trying to play that you can't.

[Deleted]

TIL: you can change thermal paste on your GPU too, not just CPU. I bought this PC 4-5 years ago and kept using the initial one. Gonna remove old layer of that paste and add new one, but I see only 30% chance of success. (about 70% chance of screwing up entire card cuz never done that b4 )

Alright, I'm gonna buy 8GB of DDR3 1600MHz. Does it make a difference whether I buy 2x 4GB or 1x 8GB? Currenty I'm using 2x 4GB 1600 and I got 2 free slots. Should I get more than 1600MHz?

[Tehterokkar]

Buy the same ram if possible. Or at least look up the timings of your current RAM and make sure they match if buying a different manufacturer's RAM. Having different timings RAM will be wonky.

Also definitely go with 2 sticks instead of 1 to get 8gb more.

[Lathais]

Why does everyone think he needs more RAM? Take a look at this:

https://www.techspot.com/article/104...ram/page3.html

If you have more RAm, it will get used. Does that make performance better? No. Not in the least. Just because you use all your RAM does not mean you need more. Just because someone with 16GB RAM uses 10-16GB of it, does not mean 8 is not enough. Having 16GB of RAM will not increase your performance in games at all.

[Zeta333]

TIL: you can change thermal paste on your GPU too, not just CPU. I bought this PC 4-5 years ago and kept using the initial one. Gonna remove old layer of that paste and add new one, but I see only 30% chance of success. (about 70% chance of screwing up entire card cuz never done that b4 )

Alright, I'm gonna buy 8GB of DDR3 1600MHz. Does it make a difference whether I buy 2x 4GB or 1x 8GB? Currenty I'm using 2x 4GB 1600 and I got 2 free slots. Should I get more than 1600MHz?

You should see if your mobo is XMP enabled and see what level of XMP it can go up to. And you need to be carefull just buying another 8 gb of ram as mix and matched ram doesnt like to work together. I had 2 batchs of the same brand both were good on thier own but wouldnt work together.

[Blackmist]

Just get a 1060. It will double your framerate, and you can keep it for when you actually need to upgrade the CPU/mobo/RAM.

CPUs haven't really gone up much in recent years, especially when it comes to single core performance which is king for games. Especially WoW.

GPUs however are rocketing ahead.

I'm still using a base i5-750 and it runs WoW just fine. You CPU is twice as good as mine.

[Zeta333]

Why does everyone think he needs more RAM? Take a look at this:

https://www.techspot.com/article/104...ram/page3.html

If you have more RAm, it will get used. Does that make performance better? No. Not in the least. Just because you use all your RAM does not mean you need more. Just because someone with 16GB RAM uses 10-16GB of it, does not mean 8 is not enough. Having 16GB of RAM will not increase your performance in games at all.

says someone with 8gb of ram. sorry but i see a noticeable difference now with 32gb than with 16.

[Sorshen]

says someone with 8gb of ram. sorry but i see a noticeable difference now with 32gb than with 16.

Noticeable?
In gaming? Really? lol

[McFuu]

Thanks for replies. If anyone has any kind of advice, please share, I'm quite a banana at hardware.



I just cannot see how... even if I did some of OC (kinda afraid of 'breaking things'), I cannot imagine. For some low/medium-low settings in new titles, perhaps

I have a GTX 770 that still maxes out games at 1080. I know it's a slight bump up from yours but depending on what you play you don't really need much more than that if you are price conscious.

My system right now is 4 years old but I'm completely content with it. Although last year I dropped in an i7 and a new mobo/ram combo. I had Amd 8350 but that had performance issues in the majority of the games I played, WoW, D3, The Division, and OW. After the upgrade I don't even see performance drops everything has been perfect.