Ageing builder with an aged machine.

[CountStex]

So I've built every PC I've ever had after my original Gateway 486 machine back in the last century, however I've been out of the game for at least five years. You see I gave up a decent IT job in the UK to escape to Denmark back in '12 and took up the usual immigrant career of a cleaner. Money being somewhat of a scarcer resource these days I've kept with my trusty old machine for far longer than every before. However I'm starting to think it could do with a little spruce up in the graphics department, as even with none state of the art graphical masterpieces it's starting to strain a little too much and run a little too hot in an attempt to keep up.

Now my question is, is it even worth looking into a new graphics card, or is the system just so old hat that I'm best waiting until I can replace the whole kit and caboodle?

For guidance I'm only going to ever be playing on a 1080P screen so my demand is not super high to begin with, and I'm looking at playing more cerebral games on the PC as I leave the high action stuff to my XBOX One X.

The current card is an nVidia GTX 670 (2GB) and as well as struggling and running hot I notice playing a game such as FrostPunk the onboard DDR5 is all used up the instant the game loads.

As for the rest of the system.. well..

Intel i5 3570K 3.4Ghz (Running at 4.0Ghz)
ASUS Maximus V Gene Mobo
16Gb (4x4) DDR3 800Mhz (XMP-1600) RAM

So what would you guys say? Are there options worth sticking in to such an old beast or are it's days so numbered as to not be worth it?

Any advice most welcome.

Stex.

[DanceswithUnix]

What is your budget?

You will notice a boost from replacing the 3570K, but it isn't *that* old so you might get away with just the GPU for now.

I would say that whatever happens you will need to replace the GPU, and you can start by putting the new GPU into your current machine and seeing how that feels. It might buy you a bit more time.

A new CPU means DDR4 and a new motherboard. If you have OEM Windows it will mean a new Windows licence. It all adds up.

[CountStex]

Good point I should have mentioned budget. Obviously I don't want to spend a fortune given my circumstances so I'd probably want to get down to around the £150 mark, although between that and 200 would still be ok.

A new CPU means DDR4 and a new motherboard. If you have OEM Windows it will mean a new Windows licence. It all adds up.

Indeed, and that's something that won't be happening for a couple of years at least as we've only recently spent a chunk on our first 4K TV and the year before a new car ... so really something to tide this system over until then would be a nice little plaster for my old tinkerers heart On the plus side my Windows isn't OEM so that helps for the future, unless Windows 11 isn't a free upgrade like 10 was, and assuming that comes out in the interim.

[spacein_vader]

With that machine a new GPU (and an SSD if you aren't already booting from one,) should see it through a few more years yet.

[CountStex]

With that machine a new GPU (and an SSD if you aren't already booting from one,) should see it through a few more years yet.

Thankfully on the storage front things a looking better, currently booting from a 256GB Samsung, with an older 128GB Crucial I use for whichever my 'current' games are, then around 10TB of spinning disks for all the other stuff as my PC doubles as our Plex sever

[DanceswithUnix]

OK, I think at that level the minimum you should look at is an RX 570 GPU. They start at £150 and are a fair upgrade on what you have. Anything less just isn't much of an upgrade.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-...gx-41s-as.html

Anandtech have a comparison between your GTX 670 and an RX 470 which is close enough, the 570 just has higher default clocks but in reality they are all factory overclocked cards ignoring default clocks so nothing changed from 470 to 570
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1769?vs=1872

Any slower than an RX570 and I don't think it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

But, there's always a but, an RX 580 at £180 gets you 8GB of ram as well as a slightly faster card. That also pushes you into the minimum that an Oculus Rift with accept without constant nagging that you need a faster card should you ever decide to get a VR headset. It's an extra £30 which to me seems worth it, though the 570 can be had with 8GB of ram for only a tenner more than the 4GB variants.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/power...gx-18l-pc.html
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1769?vs=1748

On the Nvidia side, you can get an 1060 which *just* squeezes into the top end with 1p short of your stretch budget.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-...gx-42w-as.html
https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1769?vs=1771

Over time and driver updates the 580 seems to have edged out the 1060 in performance, so you are getting a slightly slower card for a bit more money. It uses less power though, so if temperature and noise is important to you it might be worth the extra spend. Your current card seems in the middle of the 580 and 1060 in power consumption so you probably won't notice much either way.

Don't be tempted by the 1060 3GB. It is cut down by more than just the amount of memory, and if you are struggling on 2GB of vram I can't imagine 3GB is going to last you long.

[MrJim]

I'm also an ageing PC builder! I also have a 3570K computer, which has been fantastic for the 7 years or so since I built it.

You don't mention the type of cooler you're using, but 4Ghz is a pretty mild overclock for a 3570K. You could try upping the overclock to 4.4 or 4.5Ghz very easily with a good cooler, which might help in some of your games, if you're CPU limited. It's also a free 'upgrade'

How are you measuring the amount of VRAM being used in your games? A lot of games will actually allocate all of the VRAM available on a GPU, but may not actually make use of all of it. Still, it may well be worth upgrading the GPU to something a bit more up to date. I'm using a 1070 with my 3570K system which works well at 2560x1440, although at that res I'm most likely to be GPU limited in games.

[CountStex]

I'm also an ageing PC builder! I also have a 3570K computer, which has been fantastic for the 7 years or so since I built it.

You don't mention the type of cooler you're using, but 4Ghz is a pretty mild overclock for a 3570K. You could try upping the overclock to 4.4 or 4.5Ghz very easily with a good cooler, which might help in some of your games, if you're CPU limited. It's also a free 'upgrade'

How are you measuring the amount of VRAM being used in your games? A lot of games will actually allocate all of the VRAM available on a GPU, but may not actually make use of all of it. Still, it may well be worth upgrading the GPU to something a bit more up to date. I'm using a 1070 with my 3570K system which works well at 2560x1440, although at that res I'm most likely to be GPU limited in games.

For the overclock, I used to run at 4.2 however I started to notice the onboard RAID which I use for my data drives started to 'lock up' from time to time, mainly when running a conversion in Handbrake, dropping back to 4.0 seems to have solved that, although there is always the chance it's unrelated. Temp wise the CPU doesn't really get above 60-65C with my air cooling, so I'm guessing that is not the limiting factor. (Case is an NZXT Phantom Full Tower so plenty of space and fans in there)

As for the VRAM, I'm looking at it with GPU-Z amd that also shows it dipping in to 'shared memory' so I'm assuming that means it would like more, but clearly I'm no expert any more.

Any slower than an RX570 and I don't think it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

But, there's always a but, an RX 580 at £180 gets you 8GB of ram as well as a slightly faster card. That also pushes you into the minimum that an Oculus Rift with accept without constant nagging that you need a faster card should you ever decide to get a VR headset. It's an extra £30 which to me seems worth it, though the 570 can be had with 8GB of ram for only a tenner more than the 4GB variants.

Well now, it's been a good long while since I owned an AMD card, so long ago I think it was still an ATI card! I will certainly look over those stats.

[cptwhite_uk]

I'm running a GTX1080 with a 3570k / 16Gb no problems, although I appreciate I'm probably CPU limited somewhat in certain situations. As for yourself I'd stick a RX580 8Gb / RX480 8Gb inside, which is very capable for 1080p and will last you a good few years. Should cost around £150 I believe, if bought 2nd hand.

[PC-LAD]

https://www.ebuyer.com/788595-asus-r...ign=hotukdeals

145+ a free £60 aio. Sell that, and you got yourself a decent card for about £100.

[dionic]

i5 3570K isn't a bad CPU even now. You can upgrade your GPU to RX570/580 and still game on 1080p pretty good

[Boon72]

Currently GTX 1660 = £199.99, GTX 1060 6GB = £179.99 & GTX 1050Ti 4GB £141.98 all available from Scan

[CountStex]

Thanks for all the info guys, looks like there is life in the old girl yet!

Oh also I managed to get a better overclock by disabling the onboard 'RAID' and just running with 7 seperate drives!

[ik9000]

Your machine is so much newer than mine by several generations and yet you think its old!

[CountStex]

I've never owned a CPU for more than 5 years before, and this one is close to hitting 8.. I used to earn a lot more money though Of course, technological advancement is not as needed as it was back in the 90s and early 21st century.

[Hunain]

I still have my old Core2Duo machine that I built from scratch, it works, but can't really play any modern games. The GTX260 I had with it eventually burned out too btw but the CPU, RAM and everything else still works.