[SOLVED] My PCs weakest link?

AlphaSpartan

Commendable
Mar 2, 2019
15
0
1,510
Here are my PC specs:
CPU: Intel i5 8400
GPU: Radeon RX580
MOBO: ASRock B360Pro4
RAM: 2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2666 MHz
PSU: SeaSonic m12II 620 watt
Storage: MX500 500GB SSD

What should be my next upgrade? Is my setup bottlenecked at all?

Edit: Thanks so much for the responses! I really appreciate it 😁
 
Last edited:
Solution
Your weakest link imho is the i5 cpu. It's going to put limits on some games that are seriously cpu dependent, like mmorpgs with high amounts of AI etc.

An i7 8700/k would be a better option. Making the mobo then the weakest link possibly as it can restrict OC or higher speed ram.

While not the weakest link, the psu is a little lackluster. The M12-II series was (still is) an excellently built group regulated Bronze, but it lacks the dc-dc abilities for lower power states, and lacks many of the more important protective circuitry. It's outputs are ok, but still has relatively mediocre ripple, making it unsuitable for higher clocked, higher power cpus/gpus.

It's one of those never ending builds, pretty good as is, but once you start...

Ziadul87

Reputable
BANNED
Don't upgrade now. With your present system, you can hold it for another year or two. Then you'll have more money and newer generation GPUs/CPUs to choose from which will perform way better than any upgrade at present
NOTE: Any further upgrade might require you to also upgrade your display (if it's limited to 60-70hz).
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlphaSpartan

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Your weakest link imho is the i5 cpu. It's going to put limits on some games that are seriously cpu dependent, like mmorpgs with high amounts of AI etc.

An i7 8700/k would be a better option. Making the mobo then the weakest link possibly as it can restrict OC or higher speed ram.

While not the weakest link, the psu is a little lackluster. The M12-II series was (still is) an excellently built group regulated Bronze, but it lacks the dc-dc abilities for lower power states, and lacks many of the more important protective circuitry. It's outputs are ok, but still has relatively mediocre ripple, making it unsuitable for higher clocked, higher power cpus/gpus.

It's one of those never ending builds, pretty good as is, but once you start into upgrades, the supporting components become weak links.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AlphaSpartan
Solution

popatim

Titan
Moderator
You can't overclock with the b460 chipset so there's no point in getting the 8700k since you'll need a new motherboard too.

And going to the i7-8700 only gets you 0.1ghz base speed/0.3ghz turbo speed and hyperthreading. but with how gimped HT is now with all the meltdown & spectra patches it's, IMO, not worth the price of upgrading. HT wasn't that much of a performance boost to begin with anyways.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
I5 8400 : 6/6, 4.0GHz, 9Mb cache, ebay $50-$100.
I7 8700 : 6/12, 4.6GHz, 12Mb cache,ebay $150+
I7 8700k : 6/12, 4.7GHz, 12Mb cache ,ebay $250+

I7 8700 is the best deal, for right now gratification. Sell the i5 to recoup.

For longer term gratification, scrap the entire platform, go with a moderate lga1200 Z490 and a 10600k or a B550/X570 and Ryzen 3700x or better.

Like said, you've got a decent grade build now. Any small upgrades / piecemeal upgrades will be better performance overall, but nothing drastic and no longer term lasting affects, and leave other parts of the build lagging behind.

It's one of the things I really dislike about the Intel i5 series, any of them since 3rd gen. They are decent for what they are, better than an i3, not quite as good as an i7, but not really worth the expense to move to i7 once they have some age.

Even the i5 10600k is a little iffy, it breaks the mould with having HT, so ends up realistically as an i7-8700k on Steroids.
Kabylake, CoffeeLake, CometLake, all basically revamps of the same Skylake architecture. 11thgen is supposed to be the same lga1200, but different architecture, and bring Intel to pcie 4.0. Hopefully.

Intel might still be king for gaming (by a short-hair) but amd is killing them everywhere else. Don't even bother looking to 9th gen, too expensive and not enough gain.
 
Last edited: