Will a newer processor be faster

[mickmcpaddy]

I have been toying with building a newer PC, only for the fact that its about 5 years old now and there is much newer stuff out there but will it be any better. I currently have an i5 3750K which is over clocked to 4.2GHz., 8GB RAM and a GTX1060 6GB graphics card.

I have been looking at a few i7 7700K deals that come with a z270 mother board, 16GB RAM and a decent cooler. I intend to keep the graphics card for now but will I see any difference in performance and gaming and is it worth it? Is a new processor better than an old one running at the same clock speed. I have got an Oculus RIft so would I see any improvement there.

[Dgr90]

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7...

It will be faster, of course, but its a question of is it enough of a difference for the money?

[Scobblelotcher]

It will only make a difference if a game is constrained by the current 3770 which I doubt it is.

Are you seeing any issues currently? That's a fairly decent setup you have.

[dmsims]

Limited options with limited payback for the CPU

If you play games surely a GPU upgrade is the direction to be heading ?

[curlyks2]

Yes, it'll be faster on paper, although it's separate question whether you'll notice any difference. But... right now might not be the best time to buy: both Intel and AMD are in the midst of releasing new processors (e.g. Intel i7-8700k coming soon to replace the i7-7700k, the AMD ThreadRipper series (although not aimed at the same price points)), so you might find with waiting a little bit that the i7-7700k drops in price when the i7-8700k comes out, or the i7-8700k gives even better performance at a similar price, or you can get i7-7700k level of performance from a cheaper i5-abcd processor from the new range.

I'm kind-of in the same position myself, but starting from a somewhat older starting point... my QX9650 (launched in 2007 and predating all the i3/i5/i7 (and now i9) stuff) is showing it's age (along with the slower DDR2 memory, and slower PCIe 2.0 slots, and ...) and struggling to give decent performance at all with new games and heavy database work alike. Deliberately holding off upgrading anything until the release cycles are done and pricing has settled a bit.

Edited by curlyks2 on Saturday 9th September 13:40

[mickmcpaddy]

Scobblelotcher said:

It will only make a difference if a game is constrained by the current 3770 which I doubt it is.

Are you seeing any issues currently? That's a fairly decent setup you have.

No issues as such but until I try the newer stuff myself I'll never know if its any better. Seen as the 1060 seems to run everything fine, same question really, would a 1070 or 1080 make things even better?

[Scobblelotcher]

A 1080 will deliver a much bigger improvement however you may also find it becomes CPU limited to some extent.

I agree with Curly that now isn't the best time to upgrade a CPU so you could add a 1080 and then follow that up with new CPU/Motherboard/ram later on.

Although if the current setup does everything you want then you may spend a sizeable chunk of cash and not see much of an improvement.

Have you considered your monitor? If you're not running a good quality gaming monitor that could be a good upgrade?

[MintyScot]

I think you'd be disappointed and with a big empty space in your wallet where your money used to be.

For gaming Id personally wait. Wait for the 6 core CPU's to become a bit more mainstream(cheaper). i5's will start to see 6 cores soon.

Also the 1060 is fine for 1080P gaming right now, any resolution higher than this you would do good to get a 1070 or higher. However I've never upgraded in the same range. I always wait for 1 or 2 revisions. 760GTX to 1060GTX for example.

8gb can and does limit you in some modern games too. Upgrading to 16gb would help you hold onto this pc for abit longer.

[mickmcpaddy]

I might buy some more ram then, at the moment all 4 bays are full with 2GB in each one, the motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. When I run the Crucial scanner it comes up with both 1.5V and 1.35V sticks - does it matter.

Would something like this be ok speed wise etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-8GBx2-PC3L-12800-...

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-FURY-16-Memory-Mod...

Also if I get 2 x 8GB that leaves 2 spare slots, would it be worth putting 2 of the 2GB sticks back in or will that bottleneck it?

[curlyks2]

mickmcpaddy said:

I might buy some more ram then ... the motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H.

Personally I'd not do that either... a quick check suggests that your motherboard takes DDR3 memory, which you won't be able to reuse if/when you come to upgrade, because current motherboards (Intel or AMD) take DDR4.

However, if you're upgrading with a view of longevity of your current system and are not bothered about component re-usability if/when you do a whole-system upgrade, then...
- do NOT get the Crucial kit you linked to. That's SODIMM and intended for laptops. It won't fit your motherboard.
- the HyperX kit should work.
- I wouldn't put any of your current memory in at the same time. I agree with MintyScot that you could get a benefit from going to 16GB, but then going to 20GB with mixed sizes and four DIMMs could actually be a backwards step. (This is because "matched sets" tend to perform best, and your motherboard supports "dual channel" memory which is typically quicker with two DIMMs rather than four.)

You don't say what hard drives you've got. If you haven't gone SSD yet and all your hard drives are "traditional spinning platter" types, then I think you'd see most performance improvement by getting an SSD and using that as your boot drive (so reinstalling Windows on to it). Your current drive(s) could then become data storage drives.

[MintyScot]

mickmcpaddy said:

I might buy some more ram then, at the moment all 4 bays are full with 2GB in each one, the motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. When I run the Crucial scanner it comes up with both 1.5V and 1.35V sticks - does it matter.

Would something like this be ok speed wise etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-8GBx2-PC3L-12800-...

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-FURY-16-Memory-Mod...

Also if I get 2 x 8GB that leaves 2 spare slots, would it be worth putting 2 of the 2GB sticks back in or will that bottleneck it?

curlyks2 is right to say don't mix your ram. 1.5v or 1.3v is fine its just the voltage needed by the ram. You may have to manually adjust this in your bios though. For example if you plug in your ram it may only run at 1066mhz @ 1.3v as standard whereas that ram is capable of 1866mhz @ 1.5v.

[Zad]

In recent times, Intel has concentrated on improving CPU power efficiency for portable use, rather than going all out on horsepower. I doubt that you'd notice much of a speed increase. If you don't have your OS on an SSD, I'd go in that direction first.

[cadmunkey]

Mick did you try the Oculus Rift requirements test to see if your current machine passes? If so I'd stick with it for now. 4.2ghz overclocked is pretty good going.

[mickmcpaddy]

cadmunkey said:

Mick did you try the Oculus Rift requirements test to see if your current machine passes? If so I'd stick with it for now. 4.2ghz overclocked is pretty good going.

The rift runs fine on it or it appears so to me, but until I try it on a newer machine I'll never know, also I have had an SSD for a while now and everything runs smooth on it so no issues speed wise on anything. I think I'm trying to justify to myself I need a new machine, my latest thought was to have the rift in the living room instead of my office, much bigger space, however I don't want a big tower in there so I would look to build one around a mini ITX board if I was doing it using the 1060 card I already have.

I have justified this to myself because for 90% of the time I'm just using excel or chrome on this PC and I've got a 600w power supply and many fans spinning away where a smaller efficient machine would be better for the office (and I have just the machine in my living room already so its a straight swap). Also I have a GTX 560 card sat in my draw and that could go in the original tower and I could sell that as a complete kit.

[mickmcpaddy]

I'm going to finally take the plunge to get a better Oculus experience with all the talk of super sampling making things look brilliant, which I cant do at the moment.

To recap I have an i5 3570K @ 4.2, 8GB ram, SSD and a 1060 6GB graphics card.

So I can either buy a 1080 or 1080ti and sell the 1060 or stick with the 1060 and buy a bundle like this for a similar price.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/3xs-z370-overclock...

Any ideas, new CPU/ram etc. or new graphics card?

[Monty Python]

mickmcpaddy said:

I'm going to finally take the plunge to get a better Oculus experience with all the talk of super sampling making things look brilliant, which I cant do at the moment.

To recap I have an i5 3570K @ 4.2, 8GB ram, SSD and a 1060 6GB graphics card.

So I can either buy a 1080 or 1080ti and sell the 1060 or stick with the 1060 and buy a bundle like this for a similar price.

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/3xs-z370-overclock...

Any ideas, new CPU/ram etc. or new graphics card?

The GTX1070 will be perfectly adequate for Occulus Rift. However, you'll pay for it - GPU and RAM prices are much higher than they were 12 months ago and show no signs of dropping. I'd suggest that the GPU is first on the list, followed by more RAM, then the CPU/motherboard.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HyperX-Black-Fury-16-GB...

would do the trick.

[mickmcpaddy]

Thanks, I'm already running a 1060 so if I'm upping the graphics card I might as well go with the best one I can get, I want to make sure though it will run with my motherboard and CPU without any issues or bottlenecks. Or on the other hand whether a new i7 CPU will make my 1060 card do any better.

I certainly cant super sample with my 1060 and its doing that what makes the Oculus display much better so people say.

[gr1340]

Monty Python said:

However, you'll pay for it - GPU and RAM prices are much higher than they were 12 months ago and show no signs of dropping.

What on earth has happened to RAM prices?

I bought this from Amazon - 'HyperX FURY 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 2133 MHz DDR4 CL14 UDIMM Memory Kit (Skylake Compatible) - Black' and paid £39.99 in June 2016.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TY6A1LY/ref...

The same product now is around £185 or I could sell it on eBay for £140 to £160, madness!

Wish I had bought more.

[geeks]

1060 should be more than up to the task of running an Oculus??? I am running mine on a 760 and getting 90fps in Elite Dangerous..

More is always better though

I just cant justify the cost of a 1060 or a 1080 at the moment, not sure the 1070 is worth it as a halfway house given the cost

[Zad]

I do wonder if sooner or later the bitcoin mining market will move into ASIC miners (which are massively more power efficient) and GPU prices will fall through the floor. I can hope...