[SOLVED] Advice on upgrading this PC (old CPU socket)

[ThrowawayKid]

A few years back I helped configure a system for a friend who now wishes to upgrade. This is the system we put together:
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CPU
Intel Core i5-2400 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor

Motherboard
Intel DQ67SWB3 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard

Memory
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3 GB GAMING Video Card

Case
Deepcool TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply
SeaSonic S12II 620 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Optical Drive
Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit

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They are having trouble running certain fighting games and shooters at 60 fps. Mainly Guilty Gear Xrd and borderlands 2. However they told me DOOM 2016 runs very smoothly. Overall they are interested in an upgrade.

Is the i5-2400 still adequate for modern gaming? Its a very old CPU and my worry is that any upgrade in GPU would end up bottlenecked. However since our Mobo is a 1155 socket the CPU upgrade choices seem limited. I made a real mistake recommending such an outdated socket and cpu.

A part of me feels we'd be better off doing a complete replacement of mobo/cpu/gpu/ram, our budget is about 1000 USD, but i think it would be much nicer if we could spend $700-750 USD and get a substantial performance increase compared to our current build. Also I'd like to make sure the build would be somewhat flexible for future upgrades within the next 3-4 years or so. I don't want to find ourselves in this same scenario and have to gut all main components just to get some upgrades.

My primary question is how should we tackle upgrading this machine? What our some recommended mobos/cpus/gpus for our budget? I've heard AMD is much better at the moment for price to performance but I'm not as familiar with their products. Any and all help is appreciated, thank you.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cGvGJb

Just over 700 bucks and would be a huge upgrade. Some future proofness with the ability to upgrade to 4th gen ryzen later without swapping boards.

If you did want to go up to your initial 1000 budget, you could add a 2070S.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cGvGJb

Just over 700 bucks and would be a huge upgrade. Some future proofness with the ability to upgrade to 4th gen ryzen later without swapping boards.

If you did want to go up to your initial 1000 budget, you could add a 2070S.

Thank you for this. These parts do look great. I was looking at the tomahawk motherboard before along with a similar CPU. I was worried about the compatibility issues at the bottom. Are they anything we should be worried about?

Also if we dropped the SSD could we pump more into the CPU or GPU and have it be worth it? I actually think i have a small 250gb SSD i could just give them and they could use their 1TB mechanical harddrive for whatever else. Any thoughts?

 

[Gmoney06ss]

The compatability issue is bios related, but no need to be concerned. The MSI MAX line ships with 3rd gen ready bios. Really unsure why there's still a warning about it at this point.

Drop the ssd, sure. But 1tb doesn't hold as much as it used to. Some newer games are becoming 100+gb. But if you're gonna give them a 250gb ssd then using the 1tb hdd is no problem at all. Use the 250 as an OS/commonly used app drive and the 1tb as a game drive.

That 110 could go towards a 3700x, which will gain you 2 cores and 4 threads, slightly higher base/boost clocks, but will provide little performance for gaming. However if multitasking alot, may be worth considering. I'd stick with the 3600 and use that 100 towards a better gpu. Like a 5600xt/2060S or even a 5700xt. If you really want to stretch the budget a 2070S.

What resolution are you playing at? Any upgrade plans for that? If playing at 1080p 60hz there's really no need for a $4-500 gpu when a $2-300 gpu will do.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

Thats what I think I'll do. Ill scrap the 1TB SSD and send them my old one I dont use. They've been getting by on a single 1TB HDD since so I'm sure it will be fine and we can always expand. Also thanks for the info on the bios, i was pretty confused.

You're right the GPU makes much more sense. I was looking at a gtx 2070 super which brought the build to about $826. But honestly they are mostly concerned with playing their current games at a steady 60 and i assume 1080p. I'll make sure to talk with them to see if we're interested in higher resolution gaming, but i don't think so. And a 2060S puts the cost at 766 which is pretty attractive.

I think I'm going to show them these two builds and figure out what they want to get out of it and how much they want to spend:

(2060S)
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nfn7Gc

And

(1660S)
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sK4Rwh

So I'm thinking if they are content with 60fps at 1080p we can do the 1660S and if they are interested in higher resolution the 2060S would make more sense. We're talking about a ~160 dollars difference so i wonder if the performance jump from the higher GPU is worth the cost.

I'm primarily concerned with them getting a much better experience than the current build but also having room in the future to make cpu/gpu upgrades without a mess like this.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

For a few bucks more than the 2060S you can get a 5700xt, which is the stronger performer. Closer to a 2070S but cheaper, but only consider either of those if 1080/144 or 1440p are in the future. If not it's a waste of capability and cash. The 1660S or 5600xt will do wonders at 1080/60. Leave more cash in your pockets too.

Either build will be light years ahead of what they currently have, so imo, will be money well spent. Certainly not going to be disappointed by either of them.

Another option if staying at 1080/60 is just reusing the 1060. Then upgrade that next when it starts to show limitations.

I'd say do some quick youtube searches. Like 1060vs1660S, 2060S, etc. Check hardwareunboxed and gamers nexus review of those cards as well as the 5600xt and 5700xt. Lots of useful graphs and tons of insight on the whole nvidia vs amd. Especially from hardwareunboxed.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

Excellent advice, thanks for all the replies. I sent them the two sets of parts and told them we'll hold off because I want to do some research on the GPU. Ill present all the options and ask them about what they want to do with it in terms of higher resolution and all that.

Much appreciated

 

[ThrowawayKid]

For a few bucks more than the 2060S you can get a 5700xt, which is the stronger performer. Closer to a 2070S but cheaper, but only consider either of those if 1080/144 or 1440p are in the future. If not it's a waste of capability and cash. The 1660S or 5600xt will do wonders at 1080/60. Leave more cash in your pockets too.

Either build will be light years ahead of what they currently have, so imo, will be money well spent. Certainly not going to be disappointed by either of them.

Another option if staying at 1080/60 is just reusing the 1060. Then upgrade that next when it starts to show limitations.

I'd say do some quick youtube searches. Like 1060vs1660S, 2060S, etc. Check hardwareunboxed and gamers nexus review of those cards as well as the 5600xt and 5700xt. Lots of useful graphs and tons of insight on the whole nvidia vs amd. Especially from hardwareunboxed.

Actually I have one more question if you wouldn't mind. Would it be an option to just throw in something like a
Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz into our old build and then upgrade to any of the aforementioned cards in the thread? Would it be wise to invest in an older board like this? I mean that i7 is from 2012 wouldnt it bottleneck a modern card? And the i7 is still fairly expensive so we'd still be coming out to 400 some dollars with the gpu. We'd also be stuck on ddr3 ram still.

Its just one last idea before I commit to complete core parts replacement.

 

[kevinburrow]

Excellent advice, thanks for all the replies. I sent them the two sets of parts and told them we'll hold off because I want to do some research on the GPU. Ill present all the options and ask them about what they want to do with it in terms of higher resolution and all that.

Much appreciated

I add a +1 for the 5700XT, performs more of less at the level of the 2070 Super on certain games and better than the 2060 Super on almost all, at about the same price. However at 1080p it's a bit more than you need just for 60fps and you could easily get away with a 1660 Super or 5600XT.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK_Ue4d9CpE&t=311s

 

[Gmoney06ss]

I wouldn't put any more money into a board that old.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

Yeah i agree about the board. Ill talk about the 1660 Super and the 5600xt vs 5700xt with them and figure out if they want that extra resolution capability. Thanks for the replies i have a clear idea of what we're going to do now.

 

[ThrowawayKid]

Sorry one more question. How would this system handle playing games while streaming simultaneously using software like OBS? They mostly want to stream themselves playing modern fighting games and upcoming releases. Would it be worth it to increase what we spend on the CPU in that case? They don't mind tweaking some settings or running the stream at 720p. They just need the fps of the actual game to stay at 60fps since fighting games highly depend on a locked 60 framerate.

To clarify we're looking at this:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pj3TPn

Rest of the parts are already available from previous build.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

An extra 100ish will get you a 3700x. 2 more cores, 4 more threads. Slightly higher base and boost clocks. But you may want to add a better cooler, for 40ish. The 3700x stock cooler is ok, but cooler is better.

This is the recommendation I see alot when streaming is involved. Though I have zero personal experience with streaming. Hopefully someone with some knowledge about streaming can chime in here.