[SOLVED] Is my 2x GTX 680 in SLI worth upgrading?

[Forechosen]

Hi everyone,

My computer is around 8 years old now (I'll write the specs at the bottom of the post) - whilst it was great at the time, it's feeling the strain now with more modern games. I'd love to try upgrading it, to be able to run the most modern games smoothly, with relatively high graphics options.

I believe the weakest link in my computer are the graphics cards. I'm thinking of upgrading them to a NVIDIA RTX 2080 8GB - do you guys think this will be worth it? Will it make a profound difference? Or is perhaps some other part going to limit the performance?

Computer Specs:
Motherboard - Asus P8Z77-V
Processor - Intel Core i5-3570K
Memory - 16 GB @ 1.6 GHz
GPUs - 2 x Nvidia GTX 680 2mb each in SLI

Thanks very much for reading.

 

[boju]

Graphics card upgrade will be worth doing, a 1660 Super would go nicely BUT only if you change cpu to an i7 first. Wouldn't bother with anything faster unless you're playing in 4k where frame rates aren't potentially as high causing resource issues amongst a quad cpu where another cpu with extra threads would help spread the load.

 

[xMarvin732]

the RTX 2080 is definitely a good option, especially since it has more VRAM which will come in handy in new games. with the RTX 2080, the i5-3570k will be a bottleneck.
And also it will have a longer and more guaranteed Driver support

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

the RTX 2080 is definitely a good option, especially since it has more VRAM which will come in handy in new games. with the RTX 2080, the i5-3570k will be a bottleneck.
And also it will have a longer and more guaranteed Driver support

the i5-3570k will be a bottleneck

This is certainly true.

the RTX 2080 is definitely a good option,

It's not such a great idea because of the bottleneck. Agree with @boju , a 1660ti/super would be balanced with a slightly stronger CPU (I7 with more threads), and would give much better results than the 680 SLI.

 

[Forechosen]

This is certainly true.



It's not such a great idea because of the bottleneck. Agree with @boju , a 1660ti/super would be balanced with a slightly stronger CPU (I7 with more threads), and would give much better results than the 680 SLI.

Thank you so much for this information, it's just the sort I've been after! I'm a little bit of a novice, trying to learn as I go here.

So I could buy a cheaper graphics card, the 1660ti for example, like you've said - and use the money spare to upgrade my CPU to an I7? I take it that would work fine with my motherboard?

 

[Endymio]

Graphics card upgrade will be worth doing, a 1660 Super would go nicely BUT only if you change cpu to an i7 first.

This is just bad information. Given his current system, he can upgrade to a 1660 Super or better, retain his current CPU, and still see substantial performance gains. He doesn't "need" a faster CPU ... and doing it this way means he can later upgrade that cpu, and see a second, additional performance boost. Doing it that way means he'll likely then have the budget to then upgrade the cpu, mobo, and memory altogether: a far better alternative than just simply upgrading his cpu alone today.

Obviously if his budget will handle an entirely all-new system immediately, that's always the best choice. But that wasn't how his question was framed.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Thank you so much for this information, it's just the sort I've been after! I'm a little bit of a novice, trying to learn as I go here.

So I could buy a cheaper graphics card, the 1660ti for example, like you've said - and use the money spare to upgrade my CPU to an I7? I take it that would work fine with my motherboard?

That wouldn't be a bad idea, but after that, I would not put any more money to your system, In an ideal world, you might sell the PC as is, and put that together with a some savings, and get something that would perform better than you have. For about 800£$€ you could get a decent gaming system that has some upgrade options.

Edit: For the moment you could get an i7 3770/k which would give you a bit of a boost for more CPU hungry games, and with a balanced card have a still relevant gaming system for a year or two at 1080p.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

This is just bad information. Given his current system, he can upgrade to a 1660 Super or better, retain his current CPU, and still see substantial performance gains. He doesn't "need" a faster CPU ... and doing it this way means he can later upgrade that cpu, and see a second, additional performance boost. Doing it that way means he'll likely then have the budget to then upgrade the cpu, mobo, and memory altogether: a far better alternative than just simply upgrading his cpu alone today.

Obviously if his budget will handle an entirely all-new system immediately, that's always the best choice. But that wasn't how his question was framed.

I both agree and disagree with you.

A 3rd gen I5, whilst okay for most single threaded games, is left wanting in anything new, like Bf V or COD Warzone. Once the CPU maxes out, games start to stutter horrendously. Even a small upgrade to an I7 with 4 cores/8 threads, will take some of that bottleneck away.

Of course, in general terms a GPU upgrade gives the best results in a jump in performance. But the CPU can really hold back high end GPU's like a 2080. It's just not a good experience to game like that.

I think we both agree, a system upgrade as a whole would give better results given the price of Nvidia midrange GPU's like the 1660 ti/ Super.

There's some seriously good value in building a new system right now.

 

[boju]

If second hand doesn't bother you, an i7 3770/3770k will be compatible if found for a good price, no more than a 100$.

For a price comparison;
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $403.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-17 09:12 EDT-0400

This is just bad information. Given his current system, he can upgrade to a 1660 Super or better, retain his current CPU, and still see substantial performance gains. He doesn't "need" a faster CPU ... and doing it this way means he can later upgrade that cpu, and see a second, additional performance boost. Doing it that way means he'll likely then have the budget to then upgrade the cpu, mobo, and memory altogether: a far better alternative than just simply upgrading his cpu alone today.

Obviously if his budget will handle an entirely all-new system immediately, that's always the best choice. But that wasn't how his question was framed.

They can try but a quad just isn't enough moving forward. Even hex cores aren't enough anymore and they suffer high usage stutters. Quad with HT will at least have an advantage on the primary core with two workers preventing instruction lag.

 

[Zerk2012]

Thank you so much for this information, it's just the sort I've been after! I'm a little bit of a novice, trying to learn as I go here.

So I could buy a cheaper graphics card, the 1660ti for example, like you've said - and use the money spare to upgrade my CPU to an I7? I take it that would work fine with my motherboard?

How much are you spending on the 2080?

You might be better off just selling your PC and starting over.

Even upgrading the CPU to a 3770K is not adding a lot of performance and most of the time those chips still cost a good bit.

 

[boju]

How much are you spending on the 2080?

You might be better off just selling your PC and starting over.

Even upgrading the CPU to a 3770K is not adding a lot of performance and most of the time those chips still cost a good bit.

i7 over the i5 will be significant, don't underestimate HT now. I do agree if price for one is too much, it's probably best to overhaul.

 

[geofelt]

What kinds of games do you play?
Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.
Try this simple test:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics configuration loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

If you determine that graphics is your limiter, then buy a single stronger card.
sli today is useful only for running synthetic FPS benchmarks.
Dual cards are not supported in an increasing number of games.

If you determine that your cpu is your limiter, you can try to overclock your processor for better single thread performance.

If you mainly play multiplayer games with many participants, then adding more threads is a good idea.
i7-3770K upgrade could help.

Most likely, a change to current gen ryzen or intel 10th gen cpu/mobo and DDR4 ram will be in order.

 

[Endymio]

I both agree and disagree with you....Of course, in general terms a GPU upgrade gives the best results in a jump in performance. But the CPU can really hold back high end GPU's like a 2080.

I don't think he's looking at purchasing a 2080. The point is that his baseline now is his current system. He can spend $240 for a 1660S and see a huge performance boost. Or he can spend three times as much for new 1660S + CPU/Mobo/Ram, and see perhaps 20-25% beyond that. A lot depends on his overall budget, which he hasn't stated, but the point I was trying to make is that a GPU-only upgrade is not a nonviable option, and indeed may be his best one.

 

[Zerk2012]

QUOT

i7 over the i5 will be significant, don't underestimate HT now. I do agree if price for one is too much, it's probably best to overhaul.

About 20% But he is looking at spending about 125 for a 3770K (EBAY) 30 for a hyper 212 or something and the price of the new card for a dead end PC.
So about 400 bucks.
If he can sell his for 400 as a working PC add that 400 to it and add about 100 bucks more he can just rebuild to a modern platform. Plus the cost of windows or just run it unregistered till he can buy the license.
[PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | $199.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler | $36.71 @ B&H
Motherboard | ASRock B550M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $94.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $59.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Adorama
Storage | Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card | $239.49 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design Focus G Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $55.99 @ B&H
Power Supply | Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $79.98 @ Amazon
Case Fan | Enermax Marathon 44 CFM 120 mm Fan | $9.00 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $921.12
| Mail-in rebates | -$30.00
| Total | $891.12
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-17 10:47 EDT-0400 |

 

[Baumber]

I have two older PCs consisting of an i5 3570k and 3770k. The 3770k is substantially better in games like COD Warzone that use the extra threads. If your games can take advantage of the increased threads, 3770k is certainly worth the $100-130 usd. If you're playing older games, don't bother.

With that said, a 5600xt or 1660 ti/super would be great with the 3770k. Sadly, the 3570k will cause modern games to have decent average fps but terrible 1% and .1% lows, so, the games will stutter a lot.

Either way, there will be an improvement over your current setup, but, in my opinion, the 3770k is certainly worth it for modern titles.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

I don't think he's looking at purchasing a 2080. The point is that his baseline now is his current system. He can spend $240 for a 1660S and see a huge performance boost. Or he can spend three times as much for new 1660S + CPU/Mobo/Ram, and see perhaps 20-25% beyond that. A lot depends on his overall budget, which he hasn't stated, but the point I was trying to make is that a GPU-only upgrade is not a nonviable option, and indeed may be his best one.

I think we're all pretty much in agreement!

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

To the OP,

I think to sum it all up, as for the most part we are all saying the same thing.

If going to upgrade your current system, and it's viable with second hand parts, you can increase the longevity of your current system by a year or two.

Pretty much all of us have said that upgrading your entire system (sell your current system to offset costs) is the way to go. There is so much value to be had with current pricing and hardware options.

There are a couple of systems listed above like @Zerk2012 has suggested, would be leaps and bounds above what you have, even with a GPU upgrade.

It's worth considering the options because, you may be disappointed with performance when you still pair the I5 4 core with any new GPU