Upgrading from an i5-2500k to an i5-8400...worth it?

[ikko-ikki]

Hello,

All I do with my computer is play games. I have a 7 year old cpu in it now, the 2500k has been amazing value but I'm thinking it might be time to upgrade. Upgrading the CPU unfortunately is never easy since you have to buy a new motherboard and new RAM. It's not a great time to be buying RAM right now but I feel like I might as well bite the bullet because who knows how long we'll be waiting for these prices to come down.

I have an old SSD to which I have windows installed and a bigger WD Caviar Black HDD on which I have all my Steam games. Is it worth it for me to buy an Intel Optane memory kit too? If so, what size do you think will be fine for me? I know Optane memory is supposed to make things load off the HDD faster but I don't know how it'll react to a system that has Windows installed on a SSD and games loading off a HDD. Is it as simple as clicking the Optane memory into its slot and hitting the power button? Do you think the 32gb Optane module will be enough for my purposes?

Thanks for your advice

 

[nobspls]

Worth it. You will feel the upgrade gains.

Optane is not worth it. SSDs are more than adequate, paying more for optane and dealing with its tiny size limitations will be a major hassle.

 

[ikko-ikki]

How does the size of Optane memory work, like if I buy a 32gb Optane module am I loading files on there like I would to a SSD or HDD? So if I want to speed up my Steam library I basically need an Optane module thats equal to the size all my Steam games take up on my HDD?

 

[mdd1963]

Optane sucks, get a normal SSD twice the size for the same price....850EVO, 860EVO, Corsair MX500

 

[ikko-ikki]

I thought the trend among enthusiasts was to start phasing out SATA III based drives

 

[Supernova1138]

I thought the trend among enthusiasts was to start phasing out SATA III based drives

For most people, SATA SSDs are still quite good for their needs. NVMe drives are faster, but in practice most users simply do not see any appreciable difference outside of storage benchmarks. If you're doing a huge amount of large reads and writes off your SSD as part of some productivity application, then an NVMe drive might be helpful, but it's not really all that beneficial if you're just gaming. Gaming load times seem to be increasingly getting limited more by the CPU decompressing data rather than storage if you have a SATA SSD and an NVMe drive isn't going to decrease your loading times.

 

[jr9]

i5 2500k to i5 8400 is a great upgrade and definitely worth it. I'm upgrading my own 2500k to a 8600k this Spring/Summer.

Don't hold your breath on RAM prices coming down significantly any time soon. Mid 2018 at the earliest is what I've heard. My advice would just be to bite the bullet on the RAM cost. I would not be surprised if prices hold steady through the year. Suppliers will catch up eventually with the large demand.

Optane is complete overkill for desktop and gaming computers and also very expensive. PCIe x4 SSDs and M.2 drives are also arguably overkill for most users. A regular SATA SSD should be all that you need to store games on and get good performance. SATA is still alive and well. I only see NVMe in higher end builds and laptops.

Here's an example of what you'd be looking for a full build assuming you need a new GPU and everything:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.90 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($121.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($156.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($265.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB Windforce OC Video Card ($279.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cougar - MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1188.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-01 21:56 EDT-0400

For RAM a 2x8GB is strongly recommended for new machines in 2018 for future proofing. Game RAM usage continues to rise.