Keep upgrading my 2010 rig, or start brand new?

[byzrk]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a new forum member from the US and I could use some advice on what to do with my old rig. I recently went on a LTT binge and got inspired to tune-up my rig one final time but wasn't sure what else I could do to it. Here are my specs:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-760 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor	Purchased For $200.00
Motherboard	Asus - P7P55D-E ATX LGA1156 Motherboard	Purchased For $96.00
Memory	Crucial - Ballistix Sport 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR3-1333 Memory	Purchased For $70.48
Storage	Kingston - SSDNow V300 Series 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $75.24
Storage	Crucial - MX300 275 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $85.00
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $50.00
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2 GB FTW ACX Video Card	Purchased For $171.66
Case	Lian-Li - PC-K62 ATX Mid Tower Case	Purchased For $86.59
Power Supply	EVGA - 750 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply	Purchased For $80.61
Monitor	Asus - VS247H-P 23.6" 1920x1080 Monitor	Purchased For $171.66
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1087.24
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-05 14:41 EST-0500

 

From this list, these are the parts I've upgraded to since 2010:

GTX 750 ti

EVGA 750w PSU

Crucial 275GB SSD

 

My aim for this rig is to run older games such as Starcraft 2, L4D2, and Path of Exile, ideally at 1080p, max settings, 60+ FPS. I would like to upgrade to a 120hz panel but I am not sure my old rig could even take advantage of it.

 

My budget for the upgrade would be around $150, not including the monitor. I was hoping I could slot in a low-mid range card (RX 570ish) and that would hopefully run the games at above 60 FPS. Would this a feasible and worthwhile upgrade? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Tristerin]

6 minutes ago, byzrk said:

-snip-

Yes it should be okay, but Im not sure on maxed out settings.  Lower the resolution the more impact to your CPU.  And that's a very dated i5.  Is the 750ti not giving you the desired results?

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, campy said:

It would actually be beneficial at higher refresh rates even to reduce the cpu bottleneck you would see in some games at 1080/60hz

Higher refresh rates put more stress on the CPU, hence Intel being better for high refresh rates than AMD. However, higher resolution is where the GPU takes the brunt of the load, so 1440p/60Hz is a good target.

[byzrk]

9 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Yes it should be okay, but Im not sure on maxed out settings.  Lower the resolution the more impact to your CPU.  And that's a very dated i5.  Is the 750ti not giving you the desired results?

My 750ti has been serving me very well since I bought it. I don't think it will hold up on a 144hz panel when I upgrade to one though, so I want to upgrade my rig to accommodate. 

 

5 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Higher refresh rates put more stress on the CPU, hence Intel being better for high refresh rates than AMD. However, higher resolution is where the GPU takes the brunt of the load, so 1440p/60Hz is a good target.

So if I upgrade my GPU to a GTX 970, will my i5 still hold me back from achieving 144hz?

 

3 minutes ago, campy said:

yeah i think i was reading two posts at once and got them confused in my replied, i just realized op doesnt have the 144hz monitor i thought they did, and even then my statement was wrong

 

either way, 970 is a good option in that price range, from what im seeing of benchmarks of those games, people are running that shit on Core2duos and 775 celerons in 1080p and getting 60fps maxed out with 730's and 750ti's

So does the GTX 970  pair best with my ancient i5? Should I be completely ignoring the deals for newer RX 570s and just look for used 970s?

[byzrk]

4 minutes ago, campy said:

970 will outperform slightly and cost a bit less money, theyre also a very safe used buy since nobody in their right mind was doing crypto mining on Maxwell cards (they were really bad at it compared to AMD cards of the time)

and when youre talking about a system thats definitely going to need a complete system upgrade next time, its best to just go with whatevers cheapest

 

even if you later move to Ryzen or whatever, a 970 performs a bit below a 6gb 1060, it would likely still be a pretty good gpu option for 1080p in the coming few years only for it to be replaced later

Awesome, thank you so much for your help and recommendations. You mentioned earlier that you owned and liked the Gigabyte GTX 970, any others models I should be looking out for on eBay?

[byzrk]

1 minute ago, campy said:

Pic related, half it's fans are facing the flat side of a psu and I've still never heard it get hot and loud

Thanks again! Last question, do you know if my 750w PSU will be able to supply enough power for the 970? I remember I had to upgrade my PSU last time I changed my GPU.

[dizmo]

Honestly I wouldn't bother upgrading right now. See what happens with the AMD leaks, if they turn out to be true for $129 you can get a beast of a card.

If you plan to play any of the games included with the RX 570 currently, then it might be something to consider. But really, I'd wait.

 

Save, build an entire new rig in 2019. SSD prices will plummet to where you can get a 1TB for about $100, and AMD's leaked offerings are looking mighty fine.

[grss1982]

3 hours ago, byzrk said:

Hi everyone,

 

I'm a new forum member from the US and I could use some advice on what to do with my old rig. I recently went on a LTT binge and got inspired to tune-up my rig one final time but wasn't sure what else I could do to it. Here are my specs:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-760 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor	Purchased For $200.00
Motherboard	Asus - P7P55D-E ATX LGA1156 Motherboard	Purchased For $96.00
Memory	Crucial - Ballistix Sport 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR3-1333 Memory	Purchased For $70.48
Storage	Kingston - SSDNow V300 Series 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $75.24
Storage	Crucial - MX300 275 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $85.00
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $50.00
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2 GB FTW ACX Video Card	Purchased For $171.66
Case	Lian-Li - PC-K62 ATX Mid Tower Case	Purchased For $86.59
Power Supply	EVGA - 750 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply	Purchased For $80.61
Monitor	Asus - VS247H-P 23.6" 1920x1080 Monitor	Purchased For $171.66
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1087.24
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-05 14:41 EST-0500

 

From this list, these are the parts I've upgraded to since 2010:

GTX 750 ti

EVGA 750w PSU

Crucial 275GB SSD

 

My aim for this rig is to run older games such as Starcraft 2, L4D2, and Path of Exile, ideally at 1080p, max settings, 60+ FPS. I would like to upgrade to a 120hz panel but I am not sure my old rig could even take advantage of it.

 

My budget for the upgrade would be around $150, not including the monitor. I was hoping I could slot in a low-mid range card (RX 570ish) and that would hopefully run the games at above 60 FPS. Would this a feasible and worthwhile upgrade? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Have you looked into a Xeon upgrade? You might want to look at YT videos from Tech Yes City -- guy who runs it is a fanboy of x58 and 1156 Xeon upgrades.

 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=h55+xeon+upgrade+brian+tech+yes+city&oq=h55+xeon+upgrade+brian+tech+yes+city&aqs=chrome..69i57.6336j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[byzrk]

1 hour ago, grss1982 said:

Have you looked into a Xeon upgrade? You might want to look at YT videos from Tech Yes City -- guy who runs it is a fanboy of x58 and 1156 Xeon upgrades.

 

https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=h55+xeon+upgrade+brian+tech+yes+city&oq=h55+xeon+upgrade+brian+tech+yes+city&aqs=chrome..69i57.6336j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I've only looked as far as googling "fastest 1156 cpu" and found some $90 i7 880's and thought it wouldn't be financially worth it to upgrade to a faster CPU. I guess I should try exploring some more budget options that might be worth it for me.