Should I upgrade my system from 2011?

[MPCPRO]

Hello gentlemen/nerds of Linus Tech Tips.

 

I've been thinking about upgrading lately, and since my base system is over 4 years old (2011) the reasons for waiting are getting smaller and smaller, so I thought I would ask you (most likely more experienced) PC builders out there on what your thoughts are.

 

My system I have at the moment is based on the Sandy Bridge CPU which I bought back in 2011, my specs are:

 

• Intel i5 2500K @ 4.5 Ghz (Bought 2011) with a Corsair H70
• MSI Z77A-G43 Motherboard (Bought 2014, my old Asus P8P67 Pro died in early 2014, and I had to find a replacement).
• 16 GB (4x4) DDR3 (1600Mhz) RAM, (2x HyperX and 2x Corsair Vengeance)
• Evga GTX 970 SC (Purchased early 2015, replaced my old GTX 590 - Planning on keeping this until I upgrade to 4K/1440p)
• SDDs: Old 2011 Crucial 64 GB SSD (Still used today as my OS Drive), a not-to-expensive 240GB Kingston SSD for steam games
• HDDs: Old 2007 WD Raptor drive (10K RPM) at 74 GB that I still use for programs, and 2 old 1 TB drives I use as storage bought also around 2007/8 that I used in my previous system before this.
• Corsair TX850 Watt PSU
• Antec 900 Case
• Random Bluray Drive
• 2x BenQ 24'' cheapo 1080p screens
• 1x BenQ 24'' XL2410T 120Hz screen (my main gaming monitor)

 

I saw Linus' review of the skylake (or was it Lukes?) and I think he recommended that it could be time for an upgrade if you have a Sandy bridge CPU or older model due to the skylake being 30% (I think it was 30%, I'll find the video later if needed) better overall. 

 

I've clunged on to mine this long because it still works fine for my use so far (games like csgo, basic editing, little bit of streaming) but it's been freaking 4 years now since I first bought the heart of my system, and I do not want it to suddenly go old and be unable to handle the future, like gaming at 4K, using the Oculus Rift adequately etc. etc..

 

Whatever happens I am not planning to pull my old PC apart to use for my new system, mostly because some of the items are from 2006 and I plan on building a complete new system, so maybe the title of this topic is a bit wrong... Then I can retire this PC as a backup system/server of some sorts. I might steal the 240GB SSD but that's about it.

 

I already got a fair bit of money saved up for my upcoming PC (Ca 14ishK USD next month, been saving up for 6ish months) and on my wishlist so far is a PCI-E NVME based SSD (512GB+ maybe) a regular HDD for storage (or turn my old system into a NAS), G-Sync Monitor, 4-Core (or greater ) CPU (Maybe cannonlake will introduce cheaper 6-Core/8-Core Enthusiast grade CPUs) +++

 

So I come to ask you guys the main question of this topic. Should I start planning to upgrade my computer now? Like try to get a skylake based system, or should I just wait until next year for coby lake or even futher (late 2017) for cannonlake? My hands are itching to buy something which compelled me to make this topic (I cannot control what they do sometimes lol).

 

TLDR: Want to upgrade my daily-driver PC which I have had since 2011 (except for a few parts listed above), not sure if it is worth it yet, need opinions. 

 

[minibois]

If gaming only at 1080p it's not worth it IMO. CPU can still hang on

[Starelementpoke]

You don't need to upgrade, but now would be a good time to do so.

[TheRandomness]

You don't need to upgrade, but now would be a good time to do so.

*Unless AMD release polaris in like 2 months

[DarkBlade2117]

You don't HAVE to upgrade, hold out a little longer to see what Polaris and Pascal offers.

[Starelementpoke]

*Unless AMD release polaris in like 2 months

I thought he was more worried about his cpu?

[Dr_Pleeper]

You're fine.

[MPCPRO]

I thought he was more worried about his cpu?

 

Yeah, my GTX 970 is fine at the moment, it's perfect for my 1080p only monitor. I will not think about upgrading my GPU until I get a 4K monitor (or maybe 1440p G-Sync). So I am not worried about my GPU, it's my CPU I am thinking about replacing due to it being over 4-5 years old. 

[RPINerd]

If I were to do anything with that setup to squeeze some extra time out of it, I would consolidate all those drives down into one hefty SSD, something along the lines of a 512 Samsung or 500 Crucial. With 1080p gaming, you're more than set for the upcoming year (unless you want to do some silly DSR tinkering).

 

Edit: I'm still on a 2600K with a brand new 980 Ti, I'm not sure what the disparity is between i7 and i5 sandy bridges but I don't plan to upgrade my CPU for a while yet

[MPCPRO]

If I were to do anything with that setup to squeeze some extra time out of it, I would consolidate all those drives down into one hefty SSD, something along the lines of a 512 Samsung or 500 Crucial. With 1080p gaming, you're more than set for the upcoming year (unless you want to do some silly DSR tinkering).

 

I have like 6 drives stuck into this Antec 900 midi case, it's so full my SSDs are strapped on with zipties lol.

[RPINerd]

I have like 6 drives stuck into this Antec 900 midi case, it's so full my SSDs are strapped on with zipties lol.

 

Haha that poor case! That would honestly be a good thing to cleanup/consolidate. Not to mention that would give you a good incentive to backup and organize all your files/games/saves/etc.