[SOLVED] Worth an upgrade? i5 6600k 1080 ti - £600

Dec 9, 2018
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So I was out this weekend, and my best mate has just blown £6k on a totally new rig, and I've got upgrade envy.

Currently running an i5 6600k @4.3ghz with a Corsair H100i, 1080 ti, 8gb ram and a couple of SSDs with an ASUS MX299Q (long story).

I haven't upgraded for a while, but can really only justify £500-£600 - is a CPU / Mobo / RAM upgrade worth it, or should I hold out till I have more cash? Also how long till I need to consider a GPU upgrade?

I'm mostly AAA gaming with a bit of photoshop on the side.
 
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I presume that is the Z170A Gaming 5.
If you can still find one at a decent price, the i7-7700K would be desirable. Possible BIOS update may be required, of course. Have you ever checked CPU usage against GPU usage when gaming? It takes a lot of CPU to run the 1080 Ti at 100% usage.

clutchc

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Considering the wide screen rez of your 1080p display, and whether or not the i5-6600K is at 100% usage trying to keep up with the GTX 1080 Ti when gaming, I would consider upgrading to the fastest i7 that your board will support. I'm thinking the i5 is a slight bottleneck... depending on the game. What board do you have?

Maybe doubling the system memory too. 8K is a bit limiting today. Still good, but limiting if you have more than just the game running.
 

clutchc

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I presume that is the Z170A Gaming 5.
If you can still find one at a decent price, the i7-7700K would be desirable. Possible BIOS update may be required, of course. Have you ever checked CPU usage against GPU usage when gaming? It takes a lot of CPU to run the 1080 Ti at 100% usage.
 
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zero_l0gic

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Aug 17, 2018
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what cluch said, get little more ram 16gb preferable 32gb would be nice, other then that not much you can upgrade. the cpu, yes but its not that mandatory. that i5 oced will go to 4.5 no problem maybe even more but that is in the silicon lottery section. but if you want why not an i7 7700k would fit in great.
 
With Ryzen 3000 it’s not comjng in Q1 it hasn’t even been announced yet. The Epyc line might come then but consumer hardware is looking at late Q2 at earliest.

Also with a new chip, cooler maybe and board (maybe RAM if they’re running 2666 or less) it’s going to cost more.
 

clutchc

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@ LordVile
If the 3rd gen Ryzen is that far away yet, I may just go ahead and upgrade my 1st gen Ryzen now. I've been holding off thinking that about the time I went 2nd gen, the 3rd gen would start hitting the shelves. AMD has been really moving fast since Ms. Su took the reins.
 
Why would you upgrade from 1sr to second gen? There’s no point. You’re essentially paying what 200- what you sell your CPU for for like maybe 15% at best performance? Might as well wait another 6-13 months or at least until they announce some facts about it early next year.