Gaming PC upgrade advice

[sernac]

Hello good folks at tom's,

I've received a lot of good advice here about 4 years ago when I decided to build my first PC and figured I'd come back to tap this well of knowledge for suggestions regarding potential upgrades. Any purchases would be made around black friday this year. Specs are as follows:

Motherboard - ASrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3
CPU - i5-2500k (unlocked but not overclocked; operating at 3.3GHz i believe)
Video Card - Gigabyte GTX560TI, 1GB 256bit GDR5, 822MHz core clock
RAM - G.Skill Sniper DDR3 1600 PC3 12800 - 2x (2x4GB) for a total of 16GB
PSU - Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 - 650W 80+ bronze certified
Case - Cooler Master HAF 922
Monitor - single Asus 23" @ 1920x1080

The only activity that really stresses this PC is gaming - currently messing around in SW:ToR (no performance issues whatsoever) and will finally be getting GTAV soon - would like to run GTAV at max settings. Below are some of my thoughts/concerns - please correct and/or add as you see fit.

- mobo/cpu combo has been going strong all along and should not be a bottle neck when it comes to gaming performance - hoping that I can get another 2-3 years out of these components
- don't think I'd get anything out of upgrading RAM - 16GB is plenty, speed and latency are still at adequate levels and all the slots are taken up in the motherboard
- video card appears to be the place to upgrade and this is where I need the most input:

a. new video card budget about $300-400
b. i know I'm limited by the PSU and the mobo PCI slots - I believe mine does have a single PCI 3.0 x16 - so what is the highest tier of cards can actually work with the components that I have? (even if over my budget - would like to know the limit)
c. vid card memory - I remember reading ~4 years ago that anything over 1GB memory is basically a waste for a single monitor - is that still true? did the number simply go up to 2GB? or is it not as straight forward anymore?
d. would prefer to stick to NVIdia, unless a Radeon card would be that much of a perfect fit

And finally, overclocking... Haven't touched it yet, I believe I'm tech savvy enough to modify responsibly; i just know for sure that I'm definitely not opening the can of worms that is water cooling.

Remember reading that i5-2500k is a beast when it comes to OC - seems like this would be the ideal time to learn the process - all components have been "broken in" and nothing is faulty. Or is it the other way around - not a good idea to OC 3.5 year old parts that have been running at stock speeds the whole time?

I told myself I wouldn't make this into a wall of text but i guess that failed, so in short:

Option 1 - buy a new vid card (please suggest which one) and continue to run at stock speeds
Option 2 - OC the 560Ti and CPU (could that run GTAV at max?)
Option 3 - buy a new vid card AND OC the CPU

Thanks in advance

 

[logainofhades]

I would go option 3. You can easily do 4.0ghz, without any real effort. Just change the multiplier, on the CPU, to 40, within the bios. Just make sure to get a decent cooler for it. The Rajintek Aidos is my new budget favorite. Keeps up with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 evo, and is cheaper. Then add in a GTX 970, for GPU.

 

[JasonL265]

Honestly you probably won't see major performance gain from OC the CPU. The only thing you have to do is upgrade your GPU, its a little old. And with a $300 to $400 budget you have a lot of options. Best options are probably GTX 970 or R9 390X (although an R9 290x is also a good option if you can get it for cheaper)

Below is a link showing the performance of the i5 2500k vs i5 4670k with OC and stock performances.

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1129

Another link showing i5 2500k vs i7 4770k with oc vs stock

 

[logainofhades]

With a 7970, I agree there might not be a huge difference. The GTX 970 is quite a bit faster though, so a bottleneck may occur, to some degree. 4.0ghz will help avoid that, and is insanely easy to achieve. Sandy Bridge runs cooler than Ivy and Haswell, due to the heatshield actually being soldered to the CPU. It would actually run cooler than a stock 4790k.

 

[sernac]

Modest CPU OC and a solid GPU upgrade - straight forward enough as I was hoping it would be, thank you. A few follow-up questions however:

- CPU thermal paste - I didn't mess with the pre-applied paste that came with the fan - I would need to replace that with a good aftermarket paste in order to OC, correct? And if that's the case, can you recommend a good guide for how to properly take the existing paste off?
- GPU memory - GTX 970 seems like a perfect fit for me, especially if I hold out for a decent price drop in November, do these cards only get made at 4GB now?
- GPU requirements - I shouldn't have any compatibility issues, correct? Would like to confirm that my motherboard has the correct port and that the power supply has enough juice for a new card.

 

[logainofhades]

A new cooler would come with the necessary paste. Remove existing stuff, off the CPU, with 91% alcohol. I typically just use a paper towel with it. 4gb vram is plenty for 1080p, no need for more. No compatibility issues either.

 

[sernac]

Sounds good, thank you.

 

[sernac]

Gave OC'ing a shot - a little surprised how easy it was for the CPU, but i guess the hardest part will be installing the new cooler - CM hyper 212 evo is on the way. Hope i can get 4.3-4.5 at stock voltage with the new fan/heatsink/thermal paste and get 2-3 more years out of the remaining parts.

GPU ended up being even easier with the MSI Afterburner software - got the card's core from 822 to 950 without crashes at stock voltage but went to check it out when the temps started creeping up into 80's and saw that one of the fans was dead. :-/ Debated trying to replace the fan and squeeze some OC out of the gtx560ti till black friday but been reading up on the 970 for the past 2 weeks and couldn't resist anymore - the fancy MSI gtx 970 100ME is on the way.

That GPU decision gave me a few brain cramps - the 970 3.5Gb RAM fiasco, AMD 390's being rebranded 290's and whatnot, heat/efficiency/noise difference hype/fact between the brands, drivers conspiracy theories... Ended up with 970 - MSI Gaming 100ME or GB G1 - the next day after I ordered the MSI, its price went up by $10 the GB G1 dropped by like $30 - no regrets but goes to show that waiting for a pricedrop can easily backfire.

I think i started writing this to say that I can't see where i can select the best answer and close the thread... so thank you both for the help and this thread can be closed.