Should I upgrade?

[Duncan Tallon]

I have an i5-4690 - will upgrading to and overclocking an i5-4690k or even 6600k be of any benefit? I will soon hopefully switch to an SSD too.

 

[MarkW]

I would say its not worth it yet. I think we can still get another 2 to 3 years out of these CPU's. I have the i5-4670k, not overclocked, since I have yet to find anything that would benefit much, if at all, from overclocking...

 

[Geekwad]

What kind of performance are you hoping to improve (what do you mainly use it for)?

 

[Dan425811923]

4690 is nice. You will be good for the next 2-3 years. All Sandy Bridge+ i5s are good.

 

[lunyone]

I would say to stay with what you have for now. I'd upgrade to an SSD and upgrade your GPU (if you game) for the most noticeable performance upgrades. My son has a 3570k (not OC'd) and he has had no issues with performance. He is going to college for game design and he plays lots of different types of games.

 

[Duncan Tallon]

What kind of performance are you hoping to improve (what do you mainly use it for)?

Mostly Minecraft and Ableton Live. I've already noticed a huge improvement over my SP3 (i5-4300U), but it still struggles to maintain 60FPS. Live hardly ever has issues, but every so often it'll decide that an instrument needs to stick on one note for the whole track.

Neither of these are a really big deal, but I'm curious if going over 4GHz would keep Minecraft at 60FPS more often.

 

[Duncan Tallon]

I would say to stay with what you have for now. I'd upgrade to an SSD and upgrade your GPU (if you game) for the most noticeable performance upgrades. My son has a 3570k (not OC'd) and he has had no issues with performance. He is going to college for game design and he plays lots of different types of games.

So to confirm, staying with my 4590 and upgrading to an SSD and a low profile 750Ti would show an improvement? (My PC is an SFF so I can't put a full height GPU in 🙁)

 

[lunyone]

You could upgrade the case and transfer over the parts and also upgrade the GPU/SSD.

Upgrade costs:
~$50 for an ATX/mATX case
~$80-100 for 240-256 GB SSD (Samsung EVO 850 or Crucial BX 100)
~$100-200 on the GPU, depending on your budget and needs (no restrictions w/new case).

 

[Duncan Tallon]

You could upgrade the case and transfer over the parts and also upgrade the GPU/SSD.

Upgrade costs:
~$50 for an ATX/mATX case
~$80-100 for 240-256 GB SSD (Samsung EVO 850 or Crucial BX 100)
~$100-200 on the GPU, depending on your budget and needs (no restrictions w/new case).

The motherboard appears to be standard ATX but the PSU is propietary. The case has space for a 2.5' SSD and a low profile 750Ti is just $20 more. Would a LP 750Ti be any slower than a normal one?

 

[lunyone]

No a 750 Ti whether it is SFF or not should be equal performance (assuming there are no temperature issues). You can move over the old PSU into the new case (more than likely) if you want that option.

 

[Dan425811923]

I have a 4460 and GTX 960. I get 60 FPS at max 1080p. If you use max settings try tuning down the render distance to 24. The 750Ti is good but a 950 or 960 would be better for more money. The 960 is sort-of a disappointment. I'm talking about the 2GB default VRAM and 128 bit bus. 950 is a 960 chip with some cores and stuff disabled.

 

[Dan425811923]

G1 Gaming is a VERY good cooler.