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Thread: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

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    Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    Hello,

    I'm pondering splashing some cash on computer bits. I've currently got the following:

    Mine:
    • AMD FX-6300
    • ASUS M5 A97 R2.0 motherboard
    • 8GB DDR3
    • AMD Asus R9 285
    • SATA SSD
    • Corsair HX 520W PSU


    Other half's:
    • Intel Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition @ 4GHz
    • H81M-P33 motherboard
    • 8GB DDR3
    • AMD XFX 7870
    • SATA SSD
    • Reasonable 500W PSU


    Currently driving either a 1080p or 1440p screen (got mine on the 1440p screen), but with the CPU upgrade above I'd probably swap round graphics cards and screens for all the powerful bits in one place. We do generally play the same games, and nothing too cutting edge. Gaming is pretty much the only intensive thing we use them for. I'm conscious that only having 2 cores on the G3258 may hit some hard limits at some point.

    I'm leaning towards dropping a better processor in the Intel box as the AM3+ socket can't really take anything worth while. I know it's not up-to-date, but there seems to be a reasonable step up available on the 1150 socket. Does an Intel Core i7-4790 for £180 from CEX seem like a good investment? Or should I just stick with the CPUs and save a few more pennies for an RX 580 into my box?

    Give it another year and I'll probably retire one system, make the jump to DDR4 freeing up 8GB RAM for the other machine. Just doesn't feel like the right time given how tight I am with money and how both systems are actually running fine.

    Cheers,
    Jimbo

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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    It depends on the games you are playing TBH!!

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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    To be honest instead of buying a slightly outdated processor, you could just get a brand new quad core G4560 (labelled the 'budget king' right now) and a new 1151 motherboard which should together cost less than that processor, it shouldn't bottleneck a mid range GPU either. Adding some DDR4 should not cost too much either (around £30 for 4GB).

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    Editable... jimbouk's Avatar
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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    It depends on the games you are playing TBH!!
    Haha, good point. 7 Days to Die, Payday 2, bit of Civ V at the moment. May well end up with Civ VI and XCOM 2 at some point which I guess would benefit from more CPU grunt. I'm guessing even an old generation i7 system will have some legs for a while with potential to drop in a new graphics card in another few month.

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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    Quote Originally Posted by jimbouk View Post
    Just doesn't feel like the right time given how tight I am with money and how both systems are actually running fine.
    You almost always get better value if you buy hardware when you need it instead of trying to guess in advance. If the systems are running fine then I'd skip the upgrade entirely and either save the money or spend it on something you'll notice.

    If your '1080p' screen is 1920x1080 then perhaps a 2560x1080 would be an interesting upgrade?

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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    Quote Originally Posted by jimbouk View Post
    Haha, good point. 7 Days to Die, Payday 2, bit of Civ V at the moment. May well end up with Civ VI and XCOM 2 at some point which I guess would benefit from more CPU grunt. I'm guessing even an old generation i7 system will have some legs for a while with potential to drop in a new graphics card in another few month.
    Most games will tend to be GPU limited,but the Civ series can be very CPU and GPU intensive and does better on CPUs with 4 to 8 threads - XCOM2 does not thread very well but is GPU intensive it seems.

    I would probably look at getting a Core i7 4770 or Xeon E3 V3 for the Intel system - the Core i7 4790K consumes more power and will tax an H81 motherboard more.

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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    Quote Originally Posted by EndlessWaves View Post
    If your '1080p' screen is 1920x1080 then perhaps a 2560x1080 would be an interesting upgrade?
    Have thought about monitor upgrades, I do really like my screen and it's probably the single best purchase hardware wise I've made. The reason to stick with standard 1080p is the other machine will be played remotely on the TV with Steam. A lot easier if everything is in one resolution!

    Food for thought, will take a look at the power consumptions of the chips, will probably need to get a CPU cooler at the same time as I'm currently running stock (which is surprisingly OK given the cheeky over clock).

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    Re: Bang for buck system upgrade - choice of 2

    Quote Originally Posted by jimbouk View Post
    Food for thought, will take a look at the power consumptions of the chips, will probably need to get a CPU cooler at the same time as I'm currently running stock (which is surprisingly OK given the cheeky over clock).
    The stock cooler on the quad cores has a chunk of copper in the middle so it performs better than the all-aluminium Pentium/i3 stock cooler. You won't necessarily get any increase in noise.

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