Does it make sense to throw in a new GPU on this 4 yr old PC?

[Red Hawk]

If the new Doom is your main concern, I think a GPU upgrade may be all you need. Thanks to the Vulkan renderer it's stupendously well optimized -- on modern hardware that supports Vulkan, that is, and your Radeon HD 6870 doesn't. My brother's PC has a Radeon R9-270X and an aging Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU, and it plays Doom smoothly on mostly high settings. Vulkan is the exception rather than the norm when it comes to optimizations though. That said, I've heard that Overwatch is not all that performance heavy of a game either, relative to the current generation. Blizzard games historically tend to favor Nvidia. And Nvidia's DirectX 11 driver in general is easier on weaker CPU's than AMD's driver, meaning you'll get more CPU performance when using an Nvidia card than AMD.

In general, I think you can get by with that CPU, so I'd recommend buying a GPU first and seeing if it meets your needs. Something from Nvidia, like a 1060. One thing to keep in mind is settings that tend to bottleneck the CPU, shadows in particular. If you're struggling with low frame rates, try turning down shadows and see if that's acceptable.

 

[frozentundra123456]

The old I3 you have will definitely bottleneck the GPU. I mean even the I5 2000 series are showing signs of ageing and diminishing performance, so an old dual core like that with slow frequency will definitely bottleneck pretty much any GPU you buy.

Your best bet is to save up money and next year in February or March purchase a new PC when AMD's Zen CPU's are out.

Let me see if I understand what you are saying. Are you seriously recommending the OP wait 6 months (or more, nobody really knows when Zen will be available in good quantities) to purchase a new system (probably 1000.00 at least) with a cpu of unknown price or performance, when all he needs is a gpu and possible cpu upgrade (500.00 max) for the system he already has, and for which the parts are available now? Just checking if I understand your post, because the advice is so absurd I cant believe I am really understanding it correctly, or you must be joking.

 

[ConsoleLover]

Let me see if I understand what you are saying. Are you seriously recommending the OP wait 6 months (or more, nobody really knows when Zen will be available in good quantities) to purchase a new system (probably 1000.00 at least) with a cpu of unknown price or performance, when all he needs is a gpu and possible cpu upgrade (500.00 max) for the system he already has, and for which the parts are available now? Just checking if I understand your post, because the advice is so absurd I cant believe I am really understanding it correctly, or you must be joking.

Well only really low IQ wouldn't be able to understand basic text its not I've written scientific essay which you wouldn't be able to understand even one word of.

The guy obviously has low amount of cash, since he is asking if purchasing a new GPU will be bottlenecked by his old and weak 4 years old 2 core system. So clearly no money to upgrade, or he would have done that, rather than asking for this advice.

Its clear that the 4 year old two core cpu with low frequency will bottleneck most newer GPU's, if not all. Also his upgrade path is limited, what is he going to upgrade to, I5 2500k, if he can find such CPU their prices are insanely expensive since they are very few left on the market, so essentially he will blow out $200 on an old 2500k cpu, which is already irrelevant in 2016.

The best GPU he can get that will be limited in the bottleneck is RX 460, but he might as well not get it, entry level cards like that are crap and only last for a year before its worthless and you need to upgrade.

So its better for him to save up money, rather than spend $300 on an overpriced GPU today, like the 1060 or 480 due to the limited supply and then spend $200 or more on an old irrelevant cpu today, save up $500 more, wait for Zen (Its been confirmed it will be out Q1 2017) hopefully have the prices lowered if its a competitive chip(and all signs point that it will be very competitive) and invest $1000 in a new great PC that is going to have DDR4 support, USB3, exclusively sata6 slots and a future proof upgrade path.

 

[nathanddrews]

Obviously the best advice to give anyone looking for new computer parts is to "save up". That's actually true for everything in life. Just "save up" until you can get KBY-E + Titan Volta or Navi...

</thread>

 

[Spjut]

You might be able to find a good deal for a used i5/i7, especially "non-K" editions. The motherboard can take all LGA 1155 CPUs with the latest BIOS.

 

[SPBHM]

most of the posts really are really odd, people don't seem to realize how bad the 6870 is on Doom and other newer titles,
considering that, the i3 21xx speed is a lot less of a problem, even buying an RX 460 would be a nice upgrade.

 

[Raduque]

I put DOOM on my mining rig for testing while I was troubleshooting the RAM on the GPU. It's a 280x paired with a Core2Duo E8500 with 6gb ram.

DOOM ran acceptably at 1080p and medium settings with no AA. And by "acceptably" I mean consistently above 40fps.

 

[MajinCry]

There are plenty of other postings that clearly state AMD gpus have a higher cpu overhead than nVidia. I am not going to bother to link them all. Just google "cpu overhead, amd vs nVidia graphics cards". Even the forum that you linked is more about Vulcan showing more improvement with AMD rather than nVidia, which actually indicates nVidia's DX11 drivers are more efficient, thus less improvement with Vulcan.

Also, even though you shifted the goalposts away from cpu failure to increased cooling requirements with age for TIM, I dont see any documentation of that assertion either.

As I stated, the CPU overhead argument stems from D3D 11 games that implement Driver Command Lists. The developers in the forum thread discuss the overhead differences between the brands. Take it up with the dudes that work with the drivers 'n' all that, if ya don't believe 'em.

Granted, in OpenGL, AMD's drivers have way more overhead than NVidia's, but 'ey. We're talkin' Direct3D here.

If ya read me post again, ya'll find I was talking about the lifespan o' thermal paste. Solder lasts way longer. thermal paste dries out 'n' such, and even the good stuff will need replacing after several years. Good luck doing that with a bare die.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Obviously the best advice to give anyone looking for new computer parts is to "save up". That's actually true for everything in life. Just "save up" until you can get KBY-E + Titan Volta or Navi...

</thread>

As I stated, the CPU overhead argument stems from D3D 11 games that implement Driver Command Lists. The developers in the forum thread discuss the overhead differences between the brands. Take it up with the dudes that work with the drivers 'n' all that, if ya don't believe 'em.

Granted, in OpenGL, AMD's drivers have way more overhead than NVidia's, but 'ey. We're talkin' Direct3D here.

If ya read me post again, ya'll find I was talking about the lifespan o' thermal paste. Solder lasts way longer. thermal paste dries out 'n' such, and even the good stuff will need replacing after several years. Good luck doing that with a bare die.

I read your post. Still waiting for a documented source that thermal paste needs replacing, especially in a stock cpu.

 

[MajinCry]

I read your post. Still waiting for a documented source that thermal paste needs replacing, especially in a stock cpu.

Yo, dude, it's common knowledge that thermal paste dries out o'er time. Even a wee google search would enlighten yer tae that.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Yo, dude, it's common knowledge that thermal paste dries out o'er time. Even a wee google search would enlighten yer tae that.

Dont let the facts interfere with your preformed opinion.

"Intel has some of the best engineers in the world when it comes to metallurgy. They know exactly what they are doing and the reason for conventional thermal paste in recent desktop CPUs is not as simple as it seems.

Micro cracks in solder preforms can damage the CPU permanently after a certain amount of thermal cycles and time. Conventional thermal paste doesn’t perform as good as the solder preform but it should have a longer durability – especially for small size DIE CPUs."

source

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yo, dude, it's common knowledge that thermal paste dries out o'er time. Even a wee google search would enlighten yer tae that.

Maybe "plain white paste" does, but my examination of several-year-old AS5 installations, seems to suggest that it doesn't dry out nearly as fast as white paste. MX-4, I believe, on their packaging, says it's good for 8 years once applied.

How many people are going to still be using their same CPUs eight years later? I mean, maybe it would dry out a little, but I don't think that it would become so bad as to be useless, and I wonder if you could even measure any loss of thermal conductivity after 5, 8, and 10 years.

 

[MajinCry]

Maybe "plain white paste" does, but my examination of several-year-old AS5 installations, seems to suggest that it doesn't dry out nearly as fast as white paste. MX-4, I believe, on their packaging, says it's good for 8 years once applied.

How many people are going to still be using their same CPUs eight years later? I mean, maybe it would dry out a little, but I don't think that it would become so bad as to be useless, and I wonder if you could even measure any loss of thermal conductivity after 5, 8, and 10 years.

Totally anecdotal 'ere, but the thermal paste on my laptop is pretty much crust at this point. Had the ol' lappy for three or four years now. I'd replace it with fresh stuff, but laptops are a pain in the arse ta take apart.

And if the goop that attaches the CPU cap to the bare die has any wee amount of crustin' over an amount of time...Nyeh...That don't sound like somethin' I fancy.

 

[A_Skywalker]

I have i 5 2400 with rx 480 and still have some minor problems with the AAA titles, if its for 1-2 years maybe you can use this pc with your new card, but there wont be longetivity.

 

[Keysplayr]

Totally anecdotal 'ere, but the thermal paste on my laptop is pretty much crust at this point. Had the ol' lappy for three or four years now. I'd replace it with fresh stuff, but laptops are a pain in the arse ta take apart.

And if the goop that attaches the CPU cap to the bare die has any wee amount of crustin' over an amount of time...Nyeh...That don't sound like somethin' I fancy.

???? But you had it apart to see the crustiness, right?

 

[MajinCry]

???? But you had it apart to see the crustiness, right?

Nah, dinnae want to touch it. But the TIM used on bargain bin laptops is pretty awful. Thing's a Thinkpad Edge 15 with the slowest Nehalem i3.

 

[crashtech]

...Also his upgrade path is limited, what is he going to upgrade to, I5 2500k, if he can find such CPU their prices are insanely expensive since they are very few left on the market, so essentially he will blow out $200 on an old 2500k cpu, which is already irrelevant in 2016...

Beg to differ sir, the 3570K is readily available for ~$150 and is most certainly not irrelevant in 2016. Though not shown here, it's easy to infer that the 3570K will land between the 2500K and 3770K:

http://www.techspot.com/review/1173-doom-benchmarks/page5.html

It's not bottlenecking anything on that game.

 

[ConsoleLover]

Beg to differ sir, the 3570K is readily available for ~$150 and is most certainly not irrelevant in 2016. Though not shown here, it's easy to infer that the 3570K will land between the 2500K and 3770K:

http://www.techspot.com/review/1173-doom-benchmarks/page5.html

It's not bottlenecking anything on that game.

Again, its pipe dream. Where is he going to find 3570k and especially at $150 prices? Quick search through newegg.com shows used and refurbished ones for $180 with the non K version.

Also didn't check if his board even supports overclocking, its pointless to get K version on non OC'ing mobo.

On Amazon it goes for $170, but that is used as well. So you don't really know what you are getting. As I said, he has limited upgrade path.

 

[frozentundra123456]

3570 for 105.00 amazon 3570. This is a quad core 3.4ghz/3.8 turbo. Are you trying to say that is not a significant upgrade from a 3.1 ghz/no turbo dual core? Add a 250.00 GTX1060/RX480 and he should be able to play any game he wishes at decent settings.

 

[crashtech]

All computers run on used parts, just sayin'.