Need to upgrade CPU but limited by motherboard

[darren.butterworth]

My desktop is 8 years old; Currently has an i5-750 (not overclocked) on a Gigabyte P55-UDM2 motherboard w/16gb DDR3 RAM. I use the PC to run emulators and database software and I can get 5 going at 90-100% CPU usage. Is there any way to do a quick upgrade that would give a 40-50% or more performance boost?

Long term the answer is to get a new system and I have priced up an i7 8700k rig that according to benchmarks would give me 100% CPU performance boost - but the cost is ~£1000. Ideally, I will wait until black Friday or January sales to purchase, so if I could get a 50% boost for <£350 I'd take it as an interim measure.

It seems the best processor I can stick in there is an i7-880, which only offers a 15% boost. So, Im open to replacing the mobo and the processor, but hopefully staying under the budget and getting a more significant payoff.

 

[4745454b]

How do you figure only a 15% boost moving to an i7? DB software should respond well to a core increase. I'm also not sure why you haven't OC'd the CPU seeing as the 750 were good clockers back in the day. I would think putting an I7 in there should give you a good boost.

run emulators and database software

??? Emulators are things people use to play games not native to their OS. I wouldn't expect a machine to run games and database software like you talk about. Did you mean Virtual machines? Or is this not a dedicate Database like I'm thinking about?

 

[kraelic]

That generation I5 is quad core, I7 is quad core 8 thread, where does the core increase?

Some budget options, H310 or B360 with I5 8400 six core and 2x 8GB 2666 DDR4 or B450 with Ryzen 2600 six core twelve threads and 2x 8GB 2666 DDR4

 

[larrycumming]

X3440 CPU - about $30 on ebay

bclk overclock

worked fine with 1050/4G and 1060/3G for me. good enough for most modern games

 

[4745454b]

where does the core increase

Because CPU heavy things will see the extra threads as core. SMT/HT. CPU heavy things respond positively to that. Technically it might be just SMT/HT active on those CPUs, but a DB will see it as 8 cores and not 4. Yes, the gain won't be as good as 8 real cores. But it should be more than 15%.

 

[aquielisunari]

If you are eventually going to buy an 8700K then maybe you can get a head start with PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.79 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 GAMING PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $399.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-16 21:49 EDT-0400

I wouldn't reward that dinosaur for being to slow for you. It's done it's job. It's paid its dues. It's time to let it go and set it free.

Now I get to go to the UK for a bit. And I'm back.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor (£155.45 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 GAMING PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£99.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£139.15 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £394.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-17 02:57 BST+0100

 

[dontlistentome]

The part I'm not understanding is you are willing to spend £350 now, but want to wait until Black Friday to buy your real system, so you can save money. Um, doesn't spending £350 in the interim eliminate the benefits of any sales? On the other hand, if you need something better right now that badly, isn't it worth it to buy the system now?

And why does it need to be so expensive if you've been getting by with this old system for so long?

 

[4745454b]

Exactly. That's why I'd OC that 750, or find a cheap used 8xx part on ebay/Amazon and get the extra threads. Should help you limp along until you are ready for more speed.

 

[larrycumming]

That's why I would buy the cheapest Xeon X34xx series. Great chips, 4C/8T... and works with what you already have.

 

[darren.butterworth]

Historically, this PC was just used for the DB (PostgreSQL). The CPU was never a bottleneck; I had an SSD in there and upgraded the RAM over time so it has lasted. Now I am running Android emulators (for work purposes) and the age of the CPU is showing; like I said, I can just about get 5 emulators running at once. I got those numbers from CPU benchmark site, I just assumed they were accurate.

I have no idea whether a +100% benchmark would result in +100% emulators being able to be run, but getting as many as possible running concurrently is the goal. If I can upgrade this system I might be able to get to 7 or 8 which would do for now. Then if I got a new system (and retained the old one) that would increase my capacity to ~18 which is probably as many as I could manage anyway. Upgrading is more preferable to me right now because this is a volatile area and I don’t want to invest a large amount in case this venture doesn’t come off. However, I am definitely capable of managing more than 5 at once which is currently limiting my income.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I will price up some of those improvements since the i5 8400 seems a big step up

 

[4745454b]

I'm not sure I'd go with an i5. You'll stay with your current core/thread count. As mentioned above, even the i7s are 4C/8T CPUs. It should provide a boost, but if you are looking to run that many CPU heavy programs that often then I'm not sure the i7s are the way to go either. Do whatever you want to do in the short term, but the long term means moving to AMD.

AMD's high end mainstream CPUs are 8C/16T CPUs. This should help you a lot with running that many programs. If you are going to upgrade your entire system, upgrade it the one that will work best. 1800(x) or 2700 is what you should be looking at. Get enough cores to run your programs. That should be your goal.

 

[larrycumming]

For running vm, especially those android emulators, I would suggest getting a used X79 motherboard with xeon E5-2680v2 10C/20T processor and some ddr3 ecc ram.

 

[4745454b]

I see those around $185 used on amazon. That's an option if he doesn't mind going used. The ECC ram might bump the cost up though. Can he reuse his old normal DDR3 ram with that setup?

 

[larrycumming]

I see those around $185 used on amazon. That's an option if he doesn't mind going used. The ECC ram might bump the cost up though. Can he reuse his old normal DDR3 ram with that setup?

ebay is a good place to look. the used ddr3 ecc ram is actually quite inexpensive. they usually sell for half the price of regular ddr4, so you can build a system with massive amount of ecc ram for vm, and the platform supports quad channel

the primary benefit of going to x79 and server chip is the availability of cheap ddr3 ecc , and ecc is good