GTX 1060 Compatibility with Old System (i5-2500k/LGA1155)

[Jessejames124]

There are similar posts up, but none directly address this combination specifically. I have an older system which I am looking to update via a GPU upgrade. I am hoping to integrate an EVGA Nvidia GTX1060 6GB (06G-P4-6163-KR). I want to ensure that I will not run into compatibility issues during build and future use. It is worth pointing out that I do understand that the system is very outdated, and that there is the possibility of some bottle-necking. Additional future upgrades and/or a complete rebuild will likely follow at some point. I ask now only about the GPU upgrade. Current system is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k
GPU: EVGA Nvidia GTX 460 SE
MOBO: ASUS P8P67 3.1
Memory: GSkill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
SSD: Samsung 840 Series 120GB MZ-7TD120KW
HDD: Western Digital 500GB 7200RPM WD5002AALX
PSU: CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V

I built this system, and would consider myself a fairly experienced hobbyist. I am not, however, an expert by any means. Looking for a sanity check from the experts out there.

EDIT: Thanks for all the responses.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Yes, the 1060 will work fine with that system. Some Nvidia cards don't play well with legacy bios. But that bios complies with UEFI standards. The only issue with the board is it runs PCIe 2.0 and the 1060 runs in 3.0. This wont matter for compatibility or performance. PCIe 3.0 has twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2.0. So the 1060 will be running at 8x lanes of PCIe 3.0 instead of the 16x lanes that it supports. That wont matter as 8x lanes is more than enough for that card.

By the way, you system is old, but it is not a dinosaur just yet.

 

[SkyBill40]

You should be just fine. Your PCI-E slot isn't current spec but that doesn't mean your card won't work though it's not passing quite the data it could if it were in a more current setup. I'm in a similar situation with my rig where I'm using a 1080 on a 990FX based board.

 

[cryoburner]

It is worth pointing out that I do understand that the system is very outdated, and that there is the possibility of some bottle-necking. Additional future upgrades and/or a complete rebuild will likely follow at some point.

Your system is actually not what I would consider "very outdated". Per-core performance of processors has been progressing relatively slowly in recent years, so an i5-2500k is still about on par with recent lower-end quad-cores. It should be fairly similar in performance to an i5-7400 at stock clocks, or an i5-7500 when overclocked. The current generation Ryzen 2200G and i3-8100 quad-cores fall into a similar performance range as well.

The main thing that the current generation of processors have added is additional cores at each price point. However, nearly all games are still designed to run well on quad-core processors, so the benefits of moving to six or more cores are still fairly minimal for the time being. That will likely change as processors with six or more cores become more common, but for now, an i5-2500K is still a viable processor for gaming, and should be able to maintain 60fps in most current games, provided the graphics card performance is there. I wouldn't be too concerned about it bottlenecking your performance much.

 

[logainofhades]

A 1060 even with a PCI-E 2.0 slot, won't see any performance issues. You are fine with that 2500k too.