Worthwhile Upgrades? - i5 2500k w/HD 7870

[DocGB]

I am thinking of re-purposing an old desktop I built in 2012 as my kids first gaming computer:

CPU: i5 2500K (i've never overclocked it)

GPU: HD 7870

Ram: DDR3 8GB

 

Due to it's age I'm hesitant to put a lot of money into it but is there any sort of cheap/minimum upgrade that would make sense for this computer and give it a little extra life?

  

I was thinking maybe an RX 570?  Would moving to 16GB of RAM really make a significant difference for this build?  I'm thinking my budget here is $100-200 for upgrades.

 

...or for something this old should I just put my money in a piggy-bank for a new build?

 

 

 

[MiinD]

Get 16gbs of ddr4 ram it will make a huge difference, and the rx 570

[SolarNova]

@DocGB

 

See if u can find a cheap i7 2600, 2600k, 2700k as well ..it will really help in modern titles as 4 cores is rarely enough now.

 

You can get away with 8Gb of ram ..for now,  super budget builds usually start with 8gb, but if u have money spare after CPU and GPU upgrade ..sure get it up to 16gb.

 

For what its worth ..my i7 3930k is of the same generation as the 2500k, and its still holding strong paired with a 1080ti. Ofc i have it OC'ed, but the main reason it still holds its own is the core count.

[Tristerin]

Don't buy DDR4 it doesn't work with your system.

 

What motherboard?  I would first try to OC that CPU (if you look, that CPU is only SLIGHTLY slower than say, an i5 6500 - intel generation upgrades were bad back then)

 

EDIT - if motherboard and cooling solution allow it, OC the CPU you will find decent gains there.  An RX 570 8gb would be paired very well with that processor especially overclocked.  If you are not playing games that utilize all of your RAM, and you are already in Dual Channel configuration, you wont notice an upgrade to 16gb.  If you play games that can use more than the sys memory you have available (or its not in dual channel) then it would be an upgrade to add another 8gb.  What sucks is how expensive DDR3 is since its past EOL.

 

EDIT 2- get an SSD, that in fact would make you think you were on a new system imho.

 

[DocGB]

Thanks everyone for your reply's!  The motherboard is GA-Z68XP-UD3 ATX.

 

Oh and I already have an SSD and the cooling system is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Edited May 5, 2020 by DocGB