Question What should I do?

Jun 11, 2019
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Hello. New poster to forum. I’m looking for a little advice on what to upgrade or if I even should I guess. I have a fairly old unit but seems to play games pretty decently still. I’m basically debating a new mobo for my current cpu for OC abilities or save for a new mobo and a more current cpu. Let me know what you guys think. I’m relatively new to builds and OCing and on a pretty tight budget (aprox $300 cad). Thanks in advance.

Current build.
TD500 case
Dell DH57M02 Skywalker mobo
i7-870 no OC
CLC 120 CPU cooler
16GB DDR3 RAM 1333
R9 380 4GB GPU slight OC using Afterburner
650W PSU
650GB HDD 7200rpm
 
Welcome to the forum!

I wouldn't spend money on a better board for overclocking. You won't get very far overclocking on a 120mm AIO anyhow. You will get slightly better performance, but not much.
I would save and buy a newer CPU, MOBO, and RAM.

You can upgrade your platform for that budget.
PCPartPicker Part List

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor | $178.95 @ Amazon Canada
Motherboard | ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $64.51 @ Vuugo
Memory | Team - Dark 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $85.99 @ Newegg Canada
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $354.45
| Mail-in rebates | -$25.00
| Total | $329.45
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-16 21:31 EDT-0400 |
For serious overclocking, I would upgrade your motherboard. The stock cooler on that CPU can do a little overclocking aswell.
 
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You can check what part is the bottleneck to your performance as of now by seeing the GPU usage while you are playing a game, using MSI Afterburner's on-screen display. If the GPU usage is staying at or above around 90-95%, then your GPU is the bottleneck and upgrading the motherboard or CPU will not improve performance in games. If, however, the GPU usage bounces around a lot and is not always in the 90's, then a CPU upgrade is the way to go here, and I wouldn't invest in such an old platform at this stage, so buy a motherboard for a current generation processor, but keep in mind you will also have to change your RAM as new generations require DDR4. So you need to buy CPU+Motherboard+RAM in that case. A little stretching of the budget, but this'll be a very nice upgrade from your current parts:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.95 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($64.51 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill - Value 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($79.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $323.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-16 21:18 EDT-0400
 
Ok, so I'll be honest. Given the low budget, and the high expense of parts in your region, there is no way to do a platform upgrade that is worth doing because you'll need CPU, motherboard and memory, and that can't be done for that price.

It's also not worth upgrading the board on a platform that old, for anything, let alone for overclocking, because it's not going to net you enough in terms of any kind of increase in performance to be worth it.

My advice? Save what you have now until you CAN afford a new CPU, motherboard and memory. With 500 canadian you could do something like this that WOULD be worth doing.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($258.00 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($105.76 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $456.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-16 21:17 EDT-0400



Or something like this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($216.25 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($138.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $447.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-16 21:20 EDT-0400




And, since we are getting close to the new Ryzen CPUs, there could be some interesting options coming down the pipe there as well including price drops on existing models. Probably worth waiting to see what shakes out.
 
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Jun 11, 2019
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Ok I appreciate the replies. I kinda figured that a more current cpu was the way I should go. I’ll watch for sales and such. I don’t seem to have any bottle necks right now but I also don’t play to many current games yet. How does the ryzen compare to intel these days? I’ve always been a intel fan but they seemed to be priced higher. Is it worth it? I had a phenom back in the day and hated it.
 

DMAN999

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I agree with Darkbreeze.
I have an old I7-870 OC'd to 3.8 GHz with an HD6850 OC on a Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P MB running Windows 7.
I recently threw it together from parts I had laying around just because.
I might use as an HTPC but I would definitely not try playing any current games on it.
That being said, the PC I currently use (see my signature) works extremely well for playing current games at 1080p set to Ultra.

Also older motherboards good enough to OC that CPU aren't made anymore so they are usually more expensive than a new current motherboard.
So if you save a few hundred more you will be much happier with a more current PC.
 
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DMAN999

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Ambassador
I just checked and they don't have any stores in Canada.
If he knows someone near the border at Buffalo, NY (or Niagara Falls) or Detroit, MI, I know there are Micro Center stores close to both those cities. They could drive over then ship him the parts from their side of the border.
 
Jun 11, 2019
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Lol I do not. Wrong end of country. Closest store is 2540 km away. mem express has sales periodically and prices seem comparable. I’ll just watch for a sale. Not in a big rush just yet.
 
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This might get you there a little faster. You'd only have to find another 100 bucks and some change. You would however have to order from several different vendors online. Food for thought anyhow.

This would probably increase your performance, at a guess, by about a 50% increase in single core performance and about a 150% increase in multithreaded performance. That's pretty huge for a 400 dollar investment. Obviously that's just overall CPU performance, not actual "gaming" performance, per se. But on games that are seriously CPU dependent, it could be pretty large.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($105.76 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Team - Dark 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $401.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-16 23:41 EDT-0400
 
Jun 11, 2019
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So I upped my budget. What do you think about the asus rog strix X470 and ryzen 5 2600? I’d like to not have to upgrade cpu and mobo for another decade haha. Also found some Corsair vengeance 2x8 gb unopened on kijiji for $60 should run me about $489 cad total. Mobo and cpu from Amazon. Cheapest I could find. I should be able to reuse my case, cooler, psu, hdd and gpu. Maybe get a better gpu in a yearish. For what it’s worth I wanna be able to play more resent games like rage 2 and BL3 when it’s released.
Edit: or add another r9 390 as my buddy has one he would give me. Not sure on if crossfire is worth it tho.
 
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Karadjgne

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Unless it's really cold in your room, xfire 390's isn't worth the effort or expense. Fully half of recent games have such lousy xfire support that you'll barely break even compared to a single card, or get worse performance. Xfire has always suffered decent support, usually running at best a 50% increase in fps, for a massive increase in heat output and a double sized psu. Pretty much a single card is the way to go unless the only few games you play happen to be the few with halfway decent support.

Intel vrs amd has always been an argument, but perspective counts for a lot. Ryzen vs Intel in gaming, Ryzen wins almost every time. Because you get way more bang for the $. The only place Intel really sticks it to amd, is the 2 top-end cpus. Everything lower is fair game. To get a Intel cpu that's as versatile and performs better than a 2600x with any regularity will cost you the same as the 2600x + mobo. So honest comparisons depend on the angle you are looking from.
 
Multicard configurations don't make sense these days unless you need more performance than the highest tiered flagship card can provide. Then, it makes a very little sense, maybe. Not really, but possibly.

If you want to not have to upgrade again for 10 years, you'd better look at something a hell of a lot higher end than the Ryzen 5 2600.

Even the 2700x isn't going to give you that. Maybe the 9700k/9900k or one of the new Ryzen chips, if you're not incredibly particular about things and if you think you have the kind of luck that will allow your motherboard to last that long.

5 years, that's a different story and expectation.
 
Jun 11, 2019
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I know 10 years is a long shot. My thinking is get a decent mobo hopefully they continue to make bios updates and I can upgrade to a different processor in a couple of years. I know to keep up to current games upgrades are needed. But right now I can play games decently with a 10 year old crap mobo and processor so it’s not unrealistic. I don’t need to play ultra high settings or 4K. So that said if I can make med-hi in 1080 and 60fps I’m happy. I just wanna game a bit lol
 
Being able to recieve bios updates and new cpu suport for a long time is likely not happening.
AMD promised am4 (not chipset) compatability untill 2020. Thats only one year fron now.

Given intel made skylake boards only good for 2 generations, z370 likely will get 2 gens, 8th and 9th, which means its likely nearing its end of support. You will be unlikely to get more than a year of chipset compatability out of intels current z370 platform.