Upgrading/ New build

[Twigjit]

Budget (including currency): ?

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: ArcGIS, Some gaming, Some video editing (potentially in the future)

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): Parts I want to upgrade: I5 2500k, Gigabyte motherboard, 16 g ddr3 ram, EVGA superclock, gtx 1050 (this doesnt need an immediate upgrade).

Parts I have that I can keep: SATA ssd and standard hd, Cooler Master case (as long as new motherboard fits), 650w corsair power supply, optical drives (not like these get used anymore)

 

So here's the deal. I have a i5 2500k based system that is finally getting to old for where tech has gotten. I can't really play any newer games if I want to (I am not certain that will be something I want to do or not). I have been running a 1.1 ghz overclock on this thing for 7 years + and it still works great. But when I have my normal 15 tabs in Firefox (yes I know Firefox is a memory hog but I prefer it as they at least care about me being able to use ad blockers and my data security) I will consistently max my cpu when watching videos even.

This is the problem that has me convinced to upgrade finally. I am just wondering what suggestions y'all have. I am initially thinking of just getting CPU, Motherboard, Ram, and Cooler <if necessary.

Personally my research has me leaning to the 3700x. But I am wondering if y'all think it would be better to future proof with a 12 core cpu, as I can easily go years without thinking about upgrading and considering that programs are becoming better at using more cores?

 

[LienusLateTips]

Can you last any longer on your 2500K? The Ryzen 4000 series is seemingly right around the corner, along with RDNA 2 and NVIDIA Ampere for GPUs.

[Twigjit]

5 minutes ago, LienusLateTips said:

Can you last any longer on your 2500K? The Ryzen 4000 series is seemingly right around the corner, along with RDNA 2 and NVIDIA Ampere for GPUs.

Honestly that is why I don't have a price listed. I am exploring options right now. I consider myself decently knowledgeable. But I am no where near the level of LTT forum gurus.

Just exploring for some advice. So recommendations like yours are definitely what I am looking for.

 

On that vein of waiting for the future. What is the word on radeon graphics cards for the future?. Are they going to be doing anything to compete with Nvidia in the future or are we stuck looking at Nvidia's giant price margin due to superior tech?

[dizmo]

Based on your use you'd probably be fine with the 3700x. By the time 12 cores becomes remotely necessary you'd be better off upgrading to whatever's out at that time, and capitalizing on the IPC improvements.

 

Have you had the PSU the whole 7 years? If so, I'd probably replace it as well, unless you got a model that has an exceptionally long warranty.

 

10 minutes ago, LienusLateTips said:

Can you last any longer on your 2500K? The Ryzen 4000 series is seemingly right around the corner, along with RDNA 2 and NVIDIA Ampere for GPUs.

Eh, 4000 isn't going to be that much of a boost over the 3000 series, and it'll be considerably more expensive.

2 minutes ago, Twigjit said:

On that vein of waiting for the future. What is the word on radeon graphics cards for the future?. Are they going to be doing anything to compete with Nvidia in the future or are we stuck looking at Nvidia's giant price margin due to superior tech?

Nvidia cards aren't really that much more than AMD cards. They also get better driver support.

Don't believe anything about AMD cards until they're launched. They're notorious for over-hyping their GPU product lines.

[Twigjit]

14 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Based on your use you'd probably be fine with the 3700x. By the time 12 cores becomes remotely necessary you'd be better off upgrading to whatever's out at that time, and capitalizing on the IPC improvements.

 

Have you had the PSU the whole 7 years? If so, I'd probably replace it as well, unless you got a model that has an exceptionally long warranty.

 

Eh, 4000 isn't going to be that much of a boost over the 3000 series, and it'll be considerably more expensive.

Nvidia cards aren't really that much more than AMD cards. They also get better driver support.

Don't believe anything about AMD cards until they're launched. They're notorious for over-hyping their GPU product lines.

I mentioned the length of time without an upgrade because I wanted yall to know how long I can live on the same system. Do you feel that in another 6+ years 12 cores will not become massively superior to 8? I am fine going with the 8 core cpu. This is just the biggest question I had in setting up a  building. (I should also note I will likely be getting 32 gigs of ram. I have seen my memory 16 gigs 70%+ full to much lately to stay lax on that. With that a ram recommendation would be nice too.)

 

Good point on the PSU. They aren't very expensive and it would probably be worth to pick one up. Should I go for one of a similar power output or would it be better to get one in the 750 to 850 w range?

 

I guess the only other thing I didnt mention is that I am pushing duel monitors. Not like i demand much from them. The gpu will come later as I don't want to be bbb (bound by budget) when picking one as I have been in the past.

 

The only other thing is that waiting till the fall might yield better prices on CPU's. Though if I am right, I believe that the recent trend has shown little drop in the price of previous gen cpu's when new ones come out. That being said, I can wait as this is the summer and I will probably be playing in the mountains most of the time and will have little need to upgrade right away.

 

Keep the suggestions coming. Nothing here is set in stone and this is a good conversation / recommendations so far.

[Nena Trinity]

3600 or 3700x with B450/550 motherboard will be a massive improvement! For graphics card I would wait for next-gen RDNA2 or Nvidia 30-series!

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, Twigjit said:

I mentioned the length of time without an upgrade because I wanted yall to know how long I can live on the same system. Do you feel that in another 6+ years 12 cores will not become massively superior to 8? I am fine going with the 8 core cpu. This is just the biggest question I had in setting up a  building. (I should also note I will likely be getting 32 gigs of ram. I have seen my memory 16 gigs 70%+ full to much lately to stay lax on that. With that a ram recommendation would be nice too.)

 

Good point on the PSU. They aren't very expensive and it would probably be worth to pick one up. Should I go for one of a similar power output or would it be better to get one in the 750 to 850 w range?

 

I guess the only other thing I didnt mention is that I am pushing duel monitors. Not like i demand much from them. The gpu will come later as I don't want to be bbb (bound by budget) when picking one as I have been in the past.

 

The only other thing is that waiting till the fall might yield better prices on CPU's. Though if I am right, I believe that the recent trend has shown little drop in the price of previous gen cpu's when new ones come out. That being said, I can wait as this is the summer and I will probably be playing in the mountains most of the time and will have little need to upgrade right away.

 

Keep the suggestions coming. Nothing here is set in stone and this is a good conversation / recommendations so far.

No one can tell the future, so there's no real way for us to judge that. 8 cores have been in gaming consoles for ages, and only now are quad cores slowly becoming actually a barrier to higher performance. Will you get the utmost of performance? No. But you wouldn't regardless of what you choose now, because you're going to be losing the IPC race. It makes far more sense to get the lower core CPU now, and put away the money that you would have dumped into the higher end one to upgrade again further down the line...though, at this point you can't do that. You're buying into the last gen of this socket, and the CPU/RAM won't be compatible with the next. 

 

Depends what your goals are. 550w/650w is generally more than enough for most systems. Want silence? Go higher, and pick a model that doesn't spin the fan up, or fanless. It doesn't pull any more power from the wall, so the only thing you're wasting is money.

 

Dual monitors doesn't really put any strain on the GPU.

 

Intel CPUs don't see a drop because Intel doesn't continue to sell the older SKUs. AMD CPUs drop because even though they're outdated, they continue to produce them, they just sell them at a lower cost. If you're waiting for the "best price", you'll always be waiting. There won't be a massive difference between 3rd and 4th gen performance wise.