To overhaul or to hold out?

[csanders]

So, guys.... I'm finally in the position to have a little time to get back into gaming (after a few years) and have realized that my system is pretty out of date.  I know I'm gonna need to replace my GPU to have any hope of running modern titles.  However, I'm debating whether my CPU/Mobo need replacement as well.

Here's my current build:

Intel i7 930 @ 2.8Ghz (LGA1366)

Gigabyte ex58-ud5

G.Skill Pi series 6GB DDR3-1600

BFG GTX260-OC

 

It was a pretty decent system for 2010... I'm definitely regretting jumping on the 1366 train now, though, in terms of upgradability.

I'm on a bit of a budget, so I'd like to try to go piece-by-piece if I can... making slow steps to build a better machine.  However, if the CPU/Mobo have reached their end, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet.

So, all that said, what do you guys think?

[glitchmaster0001]

flash to the latest bios and buy a X5660 and overclock that to 3.8GHz or higher. those CPUs can be had for around $70 and you can always sell the i7 back to recuperate the cost back. 

[Energycore]

OC the i7 and you can squish a year off it.

 

Buy a $200 GPU today to pair with it

[m0k]

5 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

flash to the latest bios and buy a X5660 and overclock that to 3.8GHz or higher

wow a 6 core on ebay going for $160ish
thats awesome

however will the xeon work with just regular ddr3 ram, or would he need to get ECC, and then does his board even support ecc? 

[Notree]

Hold out till AMD zen or INTEL kaby lake for  a new system. Overclocking your current cpu would help a bit. And just buy a new gpu for now. Whats your budget?

[Mikensan]

What are your expectations for this machine? I'd throw some more RAM at it and a SSD or two - I'm using my DDR3 from my old 1366 setup, fast as hell. You'd be amazed at the difference a SSD will make.

 

I'm too far out of the game (pun intended) to make any recommendations for video cards.

 

The biggest gains of a new motherboard is USB 3 and SATA 3 since the x58 / x59 only have SATA 2 ports iirc.

[csanders]

Budget-wise I have about $200-$250 to work with right now. I'm putting aside about $100-$150/month for the next while to add to that. 

 

I'm perfectly content to drop some up-front to just grab a solid current-gen gpu, then slowly save for the rest (assuming the 930 won't bottleneck too much).  If bottlenecking is a real threat, I may just grab a gtx750TI or something and work on replacing the CPU/Mobo sooner, then flipping the 750 toward a 1060 in a few months. 

 

My other concern beyond bottlenecking the gpu is whether it's worth investing in more ddr3 ram at this point, or if that (albeit small) cash should be applied toward the more major upgrades.

[DunePilot]

24 minutes ago, csanders said:

It was a pretty decent system for 2010... I'm definitely regretting jumping on the 1366 train now, though, in terms of upgradability.

Actually 1366 is about the longest lasting best performance platform in the history of computing because Intel didn't know yet how long the Xeons would last as upgrades once they were decommissioned out of servers and available for $80 second hand instead of $1700 new retail. Literally just swapping in an X5650 or an X5675 and making sure you have a decent cooler and OC it and then upgrading to the newest GPU that you can afford is all you need to do. No other platform can still give you excellent performance 6 years later the way 1366 has. That is why all Xeons are locked now and can't be OC'ed.

[DunePilot]

So yeah... you are actually really lucky... you've gotten 5-6 years of use out of it and now all you need to do for a nice performance upgrade is spend $100-150 on the CPU and then spend whatever budget you want to on a GPU, you can buy a Pascal Titan X if you wanted to and not have to worry about much bottlenecking. You won't get as many fps as say a 6700k but you essentially will have a stock 5820k if you overclock that Xeon to 4.3GHz.

[paddy-stone]

If you do decide to upgrade, you should make a decent amount on that 1366 mobo... I was looking for one a few konths ago and couldn't find one for under £200... so make sure you get a good deal on that if you decide to sell, as long as it's in full workign order etc obviously.

 

[csanders]

 Oh wow... Had no idea that the Xeon would be usable.  In my mind, they were always relegated to server use. I didnt even think about swapping out for one. Good call guys!

 

Any suggestions on coolers?  I'm on a CoolerMaster N520 right now. Should that be enough for a decent over clock? (Or should I take this to the cooling board?)

[DunePilot]

5 minutes ago, csanders said:

 Oh wow... Had no idea that the Xeon would be usable.  In my mind, they were always relegated to server use. I didnt even think about swapping out for one. Good call guys!

 

Any suggestions on coolers?  I'm on a CoolerMaster N520 right now. Should that be enough for a decent over clock? (Or should I take this to the cooling board?)

Since you are going cheap for best bang for the budget I would get an X5650 or an X5675 (no more than $80 on 50 no more than $150 on 75) and then just get a Cryorig H7 or an H5 Ultimate. ($30-50). So $120-200 for all that and your good on the computer, then just on to the GPU and you can buy whatever you want there and the CPU will be able to handle it. I would at least get a GTX 1060 or a RX 480 ($200-250) but you can really go all the way up to a 1080 if you wanted to. Since you are only tossing the big money into the GPU if the motherboard or something craps the bed you are only our $150 and you can probably turn around and sell your Xeon and DDR3 and get all your money back out of it and then carry the GPU on to another build. Another excellent reason why the Xeon is a great option for those with a 1366 board.

 

Edit: Oh yeah, that N520 should be able to handle it easily. You'll probably just be doing 1.35-1.375v Vcore to get the OC you need.

[glitchmaster0001]

2 hours ago, mok said:

wow a 6 core on ebay going for $160ish
thats awesome

however will the xeon work with just regular ddr3 ram, or would he need to get ECC, and then does his board even support ecc? 

it will run with regular DDR3 memory as well. 

[m0k]

3 hours ago, csanders said:

 Oh wow... Had no idea that the Xeon would be usable.  In my mind, they were always relegated to server use. I didnt even think about swapping out for one. Good call guys!

 

Any suggestions on coolers?  I'm on a CoolerMaster N520 right now. Should that be enough for a decent over clock? (Or should I take this to the cooling board?)

So your current i7 has a TDP of 130W 
The Xeon that glitchmaster mentioned has a TDP of 95W

so even if you overclock it i think you should be okay with the cooler master one you have right now
you can report your temps on the forums when you have it installed,
and if its too much we can recommend other coolers then