I5 4690k upgrade..... or not?

[chavo]

Hi,

I currently have a 1080 running in a 4690k with an msi micro at board, for multiple reasons the board restricts me, lack of expansion slots mainly.

I am in a dilemma of upgrade path, I was really keen on the new AMD announcement at CES for the new 7nm cpus but as they are not due out until later in the year I think I am going to need to make a decision sooner.

Do I buy a used 1150 z97 board for around £130 or do I spend maybe £600 on a cpu, board and DDR4?

[MrJim]

I suppose you have ask yourself whether the 4690K is currently restricting the work or games you play on your PC, or is likely to do in the future? If yes, then I'd replace the CPU, motherboard & RAM. Of course if you were to sell your current CPU, motherboard & RAM & put that towards the cost of the upgrade, the total cost would probably be quite a bit less than £600...

[chavo]

Thanks, I think if I upgraded to a 6th gen or 7th gen then it probably wouldn’t be much of an upgrade, an 8700k would be but that comes at a high price tag, when AMD launch its new chips though it may be a game changer and I could end up with a system that’s cost me a packet.... with a case of ‘look what you could have won if you waited!’

[MrJim]

The problem with buying any kind of technology is that there's always something new and better 'just around the corner'. My advice would be, if your need is now, buy it now...if not, then wait. But if you do choose to wait, it's going to be at least 6 months before Ryzen 2nd gen are released.

Edit!
Of course if you do buy Ryzen now, you could always upgrade to Ryzen 2nd gen if you need to at a later date, as the motherboard will be AM4 & backward compatible.

[dionic]

Upgrade to Ryzen 7 2700x now and when AMD new gen CPUs hit market after 5 to 6 months you can buy that buy and sell 2700x.

[gamesaregood]

It really depends what you use your PC for but I would want to go AM4 and then have the upgrade path for the new Ryzens later in the year or even next year as we know AMD are going to continue to support the platform for a couple of years.

I would look at the 2600 Ryzen 5 which would give a massive multi-core performance upgrade and offer similar single core to your current 4th Gen i5.

[philehidiot]

If you absolutely must upgrade then fine, but know that CPU is just fine and dandy for gaming right now. I spent ages researching if I should upgrade mine and I came to the conclusion the expense would be totally disproportionate to the gains in performance.

It'd be different if you were going to really notice the improvement but assuming it's just a gaming machine, you're going to have to replace the RAM for no obvious performance gain, upgrade the CPU but still get similar performance (you may see a small FPS improvement but it's unlikely) and do so at a time when a potential decent tech improvement is just around the corner.

I am in a similar position. I absolutely have the money to throw at it and not give it a second thought. Would I do it? Absolutely not. It would be throwing money away for next to no performance increase. I'd rather get the second hand board, make what I have work for me until it becomes a limiting factor or until it becomes obsolete. If the second hand board will meet your requirements, go for it. It's far too easy to spend other people's money but seriously, £600 for a PCI slot or two or £130 for the same end result?! You wouldn't buy a new GPU with the same performance to suit your existing monitor cable would you? You'd just buy the new cable. It's the same concept.

EDIT: If you do something that would benefit from the CPU upgrade then I'd agree with the above and go AM4 with a high end mobo and a manufacturer which is known for BIOS upgrades to increase the chances that you have an onwards path in future. That being said, CPUs used to offer noticeable performance increases every year or so. These days a CPU for a gaming system is easily a 5 year purchase and so a consideration of socket, even an AMD one, may be moot.

[dcwt2010]

I think there are insistences now which will only be more prevalent, that games will utilise more than 4 threads but obviously it is dependent on what you play. Something with massive numbers of MP count like Battlefield 1 or V would see a substantial increase in minimal framerates (key part here) but may have negligible impact elsewhere.

[rob4001]

I also have the upgrade bug and in a similar cpu the xeon e3 1231 v3 which is similar to i4690k mine has a lower clock speed but more threads 8. Gaming wise always stick the most GPU you can afford. I think until the next gen consoles hit maybe in 1 year or so developers will only then start taking advantage of more cores/threads. If its production you need sure go am4. I would personal wait see what zen2 brings to the table. If you need expansion cards I'm sure you hack together some usb solution for 6 months. If its just pure gaming maybe intel but they are pricey 9600k maybe. For now and at least another year I think your cpu will still be good enough.

[enver33]

Hey did you go for an upgrade in the end?