Keep upgrading a 7 year old PC, or build new?

[johnspack]

Get a 970 for god sakes.... my system rapes any 2+ yr old game at ultra settings. I get pissed if I see under 60 fps in any game, and that's usually if I'm using dsr 4x on it. That's at 1080 mind you.
Even newer games run pretty dam good.

 

[basco]

did you change the thermal paste in the 7 years? noctua should be easy capable of cooling even with oc.
some multipliers are more easy to overclock like 21.
keep care of your ram + qpi frequenzy
dont forget that 180x20 = 3600mhz so nearly a 1000mhz overclock-go slow with oc if ya have no experience.-i am glad to help and other tpu members for sure too.
get cpu-z and look for your stepping if ya got a D0 sample-these oc little better then the older C0

there are a lot of oc guides on the net

 

[gravedgr]

Skimmed the thread and didn't see this posted. Wow likes CPU performance a lot and will see gains favoring single threaded performance (I think. Two beers aren't helping my memory. )
Wow also favors nVidia GPUs. I think they favor them enough to give them better fps/$ than amd.

Sounds like your main concern is WoW performance. If that's the case, I definitely recommend looking up benchmarks for wow specifically (TPU has wow benchmarks, if I recall correctly) and seeing what performs the best.

Sorry for the acronyms... WoWS is World of Warships. Played WoW after the last expansion came up, but gave up after running out of things to do at cap.

 

[gravedgr]

did you change the thermal paste in the 7 years? noctua should be easy capable of cooling even with oc.
some multipliers are more easy to overclock like 21.
keep care of your ram + qpi frequenzy
dont forget that 180x20 = 3600mhz so nearly a 1000mhz overclock-go slow with oc if ya have no experience.-i am glad to help and other tpu members for sure too.
get cpu-z and look for your stepping if ya got a D0 sample-these oc little better then the older C0

there are a lot of oc guides on the net

I played with a lot of setting last night. With the IOH manually set to 1.3v per this guide (http://www.overclockers.com/3-step-guide-overclock-core-i3-i5-i7/), I couldn't get OCCT to run for 15 minutes at anything higher than 140 x 20. Temps spike above the allowed 85C limit for the test. Stability is fine, although I did have it crash once with VTT (QPI/DRAM) set at 1.35v (ran fine at 1.3).

I ended up going back in and turning everything to auto except BCLK (150), multiplier (manually set to 20) and DRAM freq (backed down to 2:8 gets me right at 600Mhz). OCCT ran successfully for an hour; although core 0 appears to have hit 86C, it didn't trip the limiter and stop the test.

Edit - forgot to answer about the paste, I have not changed it in 7 years

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Yeah, he was quite a bit off on the difference in pricing between the two platforms...(though, that is subjective... who knows what he was thinking, but almost $100 isn't "minimal" to me).

We can call the CPUs a wash (assuming 6700K and 5820K)... I agree with that.

Motherboard wise, the LEAST expensive X99 ATX size board is $194 at newegg. For Z170, the cheapest board I would use and overclock with is ASRock Z170 Pro4 @ $118. Also, that is the CHEAPEST board for X99... a comparable board would be over $210 (ASRock Extreme 4).

So for ram's sake. I will use 2x8GB DDR4 3000 CL15 and 4x4GB DDR4 3000 CL15... Cheapest there is $120. 4x4GB = $125. Not so much on the memory for whatever reason, but that still adds up to over $80. Oddly enough, I bought my 2x8GB DDR4 sticks for $90 upon release... And holy crap is newegg gouging on the 6700K... damn.

I don't think $80+ is worth it for cores that are not used. We have no idea what DX12 and its use of cores will bring. More cores was the call since 2006 and only within the last two years or so has a quad core mattered in gaming.

EDIT: Don't forget the cooling needed as well... still VERY close to $100 for a slower system... not a choice I would make for the OPs listed uses.

EDIT2: Last edit......maybe.....LOL!!! I don't believe there was a consensus here to just get a GPU/SSD or whatever. I would say it was pretty even a full upgrade versus incremental... we are talking about this thread, correct? Ok, yeah... wow Ghosty.... 5 people said build new 2 said minor upgrades, good call. LOL.

ANd for the record, I don't see a point in getting 2133/2400 Mhz memory on DDR4. Why? Those are DDR3 speeds which have much lower latency. Its not until you hit 2800/3000 with CL15 that things performance wise are the same as slower speed and tighter timings. Why buy DDR3 speeds on a DDR4 platform?

Were you getting your prices from @EarthDog , using the same heat sink (which I have used to handle a 4.3GHz OC'ed i7 3930k crunching), same series MB (AsRock Extreme4) and same brand/model RAM (Corsair LPX DDR4 3000MHz), the 5820k build is actually less expensive with rebates-

5820k- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YTjGQ7
6700k- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DZqdLk

 

[EarthDog]

newegg.com only. Where all my links went...

You have a different motherboard, a much more costly one, on the 6700K rig.

Also, when I searched yesterday, the cheapest X99 2011-v3 board was a mATX model. Today when I looked that Extreme 4 you chose popped up (its also currently on a pretty massive sale - It was $210 yesterday). So with sales, its a little closer, of course. However, our parts can go on sale too.

You also have a more expensive cooler than what would be needed for the 6700K used on both. A 6700K could reach 4.5GHz+(depending on the chip) with a Hyper 212 EVO. It doesn't need a $55 heatsink like the 5820K would to overclock 1.2GHz over stock. I mean 300Mhz on a 91W chip, or 1.2GHz on a 125W chip. Does that make sense?

 

[BarbaricSoul]

My bad, I thought you listed the Extreme 4 for the Z710 build.

According to Newegg's listing, the 2011 Extreme 4 is regularly $169, not $210. At least that is what is showing today.

The heat sink is actually overkill for a 5820 under "regular" circumstances also, unless you intend a very high OC, or like I do with my 3930k, run a +1GHz OC while running the CPU at full load 24/7. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hyper could handle a +4 GHz 5820 under normal gaming conditions, but yes, the Hyper would handle the 6700k better than it would handle the 5820k.

 

[EarthDog]

No... its on sale. Notice how $210 has a strike through and $169 is now there??? It is also, for some reason, still $210 on newegg business. And for the record, it was a $240 board MSRP when it released.

The heat sink is actually overkill for a 5820 under "regular" circumstances also, unless you intend a very high OC, or like I do with my 3930k, run a +1GHz OC while running the CPU at full load 24/7. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hyper could handle a +4 GHz 5820 under normal gaming conditions, but yes, the Hyper would handle the 6700k better than it would handle the 5820k.

I know.. that was my entire point. We are assuming overclocking to around 4.5Ghz give or take. A hyper 212+ wont handle a 5820K much over 4-4.2GHz. But since we can easily push the 6700K to 4.5GHz, and the 5820K should do it too.... its apples to apples. Otherwise, a $10 would be fine for the 6700K at stock.

 

[Liquid Cool]

I'm just chiming in to say...ASUS P6T? Now THAT...is a beautiful motherboard. Personally, you'd have to pry it out of my dead hands.

So...if you upgrade you know who to contact to dispense of that old tech.

Best Regards,

Liquid Cool

 

[Tartaros]

I would wait for the next generation, it isn't that far and you have a solid base to upgrade. Get the 970 and learn how to oc that cpu (of course, buy a good thermal paste and replace yours, I don't want to know how it is your actual paste after 7 years xD).

 

[peche]

Well, OP could do this… get the new skylake system…

or … repaste and add a second fan to its original cooler… get GTX 970 and try new Overclock on that system,
Also adding his system specs here! will be nice…

So...if you upgrade you know who to contact to dispense of that old tech.

new crunching machine?

Regards....

 

[gravedgr]

I'm just chiming in to say...ASUS P6T? Now THAT...is a beautiful motherboard. Personally, you'd have to pry it out of my dead hands.

So...if you upgrade you know who to contact to dispense of that old tech.

Best Regards,

Liquid Cool

It's all dusty now.

 

[gravedgr]

Well, OP could do this… get the new skylake system…

or … repaste and add a second fan to its original cooler… get GTX 970 and try new Overclock on that system,
Also adding his system specs here! will be nice…

Regards....

I promise I'll update my specs after lunch. Just taking a quick peek with a flashlight (case is under my desk), I only see one plug for CPU fan on the motherboard. Wondering if it really only supports one and that's why I didn't install the second.

I'll look some more when I get back.

 

[peche]

I promise I'll update my specs after lunch. Just taking a quick peek with a flashlight (case is under my desk), I only see one plug for CPU fan on the motherboard. Wondering if it really only supports one and that's why I didn't install the second.

I'll look some more when I get back.

all i can say its that old i7 still capables...beasts for OC and also great in temps.... with the proper cooler!

 

[Tartaros]

all i can say its that old i7 still capables...beasts for OC and also great in temps.... with the proper cooler!

He said he had a noctua cooler, so I'm sure it's fine for oc.

The only thing in that regard that needs to be checked is the psu. How old is your psu?

 

[peche]

He said he had a noctua cooler, so I'm sure it's fine for oc.

with new fans maybe ... and also a fresh application of hihgh quality TIM such as AC MX4 or MX2 could do miracles...
personally i dont like Air coolers... i rather AIO watercoolers...

PSU is pretty important...

 

[gravedgr]

He said he had a noctua cooler, so I'm sure it's fine for oc.

The only thing in that regard that needs to be checked is the psu. How old is your psu?

Also 7 years old. I've added memory, added extra drives (and moved OS/apps to the SSD), and replaced the GPU (GTX 285 to 560). Otherwise, it is the same as the day I assembled it.

 

[gravedgr]

with new fans maybe ... and also a fresh application of hihgh quality TIM such as AC MX4 or MX2 could do miracles...
personally i dont like Air coolers... i rather AIO watercoolers...

PSU is pretty important...

I was actually just shopping thermal compounds and stuck some MX4 in my basket. I could swap a H90 in place of the Noctua, but I'm not sure if a $90 cooler upgrade is worth is. I suppose if I could crank another 1Ghz out of the CPU and add the GTX 970 it could last another 2-3 years.

BUT, if I'm waiting for the new architecture, I'm thinking I might just add the GPU and then move it to a new system and put the 560 back and rebuild this as a file server / backup.

 

[gravedgr]

Here is a review on the PSU: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/corsair-tx750w-power-supply-review/

Including a quote:

This unit also has all the basic stuff everyone is looking for nowadays: high efficiency, active PFC, excellent cooling solution, enough power to feed high-end video cards, five-year warranty and the best of all: it can really deliver its rated 750 W at 50° C. Not only that. During our tests we could pull up to 900 W at 45° C. So you will be basically buying a 900 W power supply paying the price of a 750 W one. What is sweeter than that?​

 

[peche]

Also 7 years old. I've added memory, added extra drives (and moved OS/apps to the SSD), and replaced the GPU (GTX 285 to 560). Otherwise, it is the same as the day I assembled it.

dammit ... post your specs... otherwise we have to wonder and guess what you already have in the rig ....

I was actually just shopping thermal compounds and stuck some MX4 in my basket. I could swap a H90 in place of the Noctua, but I'm not sure if a $90 cooler upgrade is worth is. I suppose if I could crank another 1Ghz out of the CPU and add the GTX 970 it could last another 2-3 years.

BUT, if I'm waiting for the new architecture, I'm thinking I might just add the GPU and then move it to a new system and put the 560 back and rebuild this as a file server / backup.

stay away from corsair... those aio have several well known issues...
i have a thermaltake water 3.0 pro with Tt riing 12 fans .. delidded chip and my temps never gone over 59C on hot hot hot days....
MX4 is the best TIM i have tried so far, can't go wrong with it !


PSU seems to be fine... just try to test it with one of these... for being sure still in decent condition :

Regards,

 

[gravedgr]

dammit ... post your specs... otherwise we have to wonder and guess what you already have in the rig ....

I posted my specs a couple of hours ago.

 

[stinger608]

I actually still sport an Asus P6T motherboard! I've got to say; Personally I would grab the GTX970 as many have stated @gravedgr , and I would also find a deal on either a hex core extreme processor or a hex core Xeon processor. I would then find a 12 gig triple channel ram kit and run at the boards full potential.

Heck, I have motherboards that are 10 to 12 years old still going strong.

 

[peche]

I posted my specs a couple of hours ago.

....

Heck, I have motherboards that are 10 to 12 years old still going strong.

+1 here.... also video cards...

I actually still sport an Asus P6T motherboard! I've got to say; Personally I would grab the GTX970 as many have stated @gravedgr , and I would also find a deal on either a hex core extreme processor or a hex core Xeon processor. I would then find a 12 gig triple channel ram kit and run at the boards full potential.

no need for xeons... but decent cooling and a GTX 970 could be a win!

Regards,

 

[Tomgang]

Well the I7 920 is old 7 years now. Does that make it a bad CPU? no not if overclokked to around 4 GHz and the I7 920 DO version like my own is are known for there oc capability and most are good for at least 4 GHz and some cooled whit water can hit 4.5 GHz (my own on air cooling can run 4.33 GHz but does get pretty hot, for 24/7 i run my own at 4 GHz).

To OP you have 3 choices.

1. Do as i did overclock the crap out of your CPU (and if you are using a stock cpu cooler now, get a better cooler before you oc) and get a better GPU like a GTX 970. If you op til now can live whit a stock I7 920 and a GTX 560 TI. I think you will be pretty satisfied whit a I7 920 at 3,8-4 GHz and a GTX 970 or something around that GPU power. Dont worry the CPU will no die on you unless og giving it way to much voltage or letting it get to hot. Mine has run OC for the past 3 years now and is still chugging its way in games.

2. replace your I7 920 whit a I7 970/980/980X/990X or a Xeon CPU and oc it to your hearts desire and enjoy your new "used" but cheat 6 core power house.

3. Slaughter the piggy bank and burn some money on new shinny stuff. Like a I7 6700K.

But before you make your final decision, take a look at my own machine first. This same CPU has run triple SLI GTX 285, sli GTX 570, SLI GTX 660 TI and now SLI GTX 970 over the time. Point is the I7 920 can handle much more powerful GPU than your current GTX 560 TI. Dont let you be blinded by its age. If you have the guts to try oc it, you will se how much hitten power and I7 920 can give you.

Here are some 3dmark firestrike scores of my own pc, so you have something to compare whit Agains other/newer machines. please note the clock´s in these test is the maximum i can get my machine stable at for benchmark. under 24/7 use i run the clocks lower. CPU at 4 GHz as already told and GPU´s about 80 MHz under the max clocks.

First whit my old GTX 660 Ti cards (Remember even one GTX 660 TI is more power full than a GTX 570 that again is more power full than a GTX 560 TI card. Just to put things in perspective).

Single GTX 970 (sli deaktivated in driver)

Two GTX 970 in sli.

And as you can se a system whit two GTX 560 TI cards and a much newer but stock clocks I7 4790K cpu is realy not a match for my old pc. Only physics score is higher
and it is because that is the CPU raw power is measure in that test. But se again The old I7 920 is not that far behind a much never i7 4790K cpu at stock speed.

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/4893317

And a little tip for you. In the link you posted of your old system it looks like your are running 4 memory sticks or only dual channel memory. X58 has triple channel support so for you to use the systems full potential you shut run your system whit 3 or 6 memory sticks. I run my own system whit 6 x 2 GB modules or 12 GB ram in total.

If you have the need for sata 3 and USB 3, you cut try and find a used ASUS U3S6 PCI controller. Im using one my self and it is genius pease of hardware. But be in mind the controller dosent give true sata 3 speed it max out in read at 375 MB/s (sata 2 is 285 MB/s) and in ride is 200 MB/s it is slower than sata 2 that max at 285 MB/s. besides that it is genius and the USB 3 part offers full speed. Tip do not use software for the sata part i windows, let windows controle that par. driver just slows it down aleats if you use a SSD on one of the two sata 3 ports.

https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboard-Accessories/U3S6/

I hope this give you a helping hand to make a final choice. If i where you, i would OC the i7 920 or get 6 core X58 cpu and a new GPU. Oh and yes i will recommend a SSD for your system as well.

 

[gravedgr]

Went by Best Buy after kids got home and picked up a couple of cans of compressed air (gas) and some paste. Took the cooler off, removed the fan, blew the heat sink, psu, fans and case out and vacuumed the area.

New paste (had to lol at what was left), heat sink reinstalled, fan added, a little cable mgmt and fired it up. Got an overclock error right off the bat so I set it to stock speeds, rebooted, checked temps in bios, set it to 180x20 with everything else on auto and fired it up.

Appears to be running stable and cool (71-72C) last time I checked OCCT. Have it on an hour test and will check after the gym. If it stays in the 70s, I'll try 190x20 and 190x21 later.

Fingers crossed.