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Gaming Rig: Looking to upgrade either CPU or GPU

H

hythlodayr

Junior Member
Hi,
I'm looking to upgrade my CPU or GPU, but not both.

My current setup:
i7 2600k 3.4 ghz
16 GB DDR3 1866
GeForce GTX 950
Asus 144hz monitor.
Antec 450 Watt power supply.

In a game like Overwatch, I can achieve 144hz in 1080 by setting the graphics to the lowest of the low.

I'd like to maintain 144hz in a medium setting. Would this be possible with just an upgrade to a GTX 1060/RX 580? Or would the CPU hold it back?

Alternatively, would upgrading to a Ryzen 2600 alone make this possible?

Thanks.
 
If you upgraded to Ryzen, you'd also be replacing your motherboard and RAM. By the time you bought all of those items, you could've bought a higher-end GPU like a GTX 1070ti or 1080. However, you also might end up having to replace your PSU as well.

As far as a GTX 1060 or RX580 being able to hit those high FPS goals on medium settings, I'm not so sure they can. But I'll let someone who runs games with one of those cards speak from experience since this is just a guess.

.
 
What's your budget? I'd vote GPU, and overclock that CPU if your cooler allows, otherwise budget in a better CPU cooler...
 
If you're getting 144 fps on low, then yes, a graphics card upgrade is what you would want to achieve the same on higher settings. Both the cards you listed should be more than capable as far as I know, but you could do some googling to find out what kind of FPS those cards achieve in Overwatch.


Edit: You also might want to consider upgrading your PSU to something better.
 
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My budget for a video card is $300.00. For a CPU overhaul it would be approximately $600.00. I've always tried to hit the sweet-spot performance per dollar, so it's not a hard dollar amount.

Either way it seems like I have to invest in a new power supply, especially if I go with the more power-hungry Radeon RX 580.
 
happy medium said:
Gtx1060 6gb is approximately 2.1X faster than a gtx950.
It will easily play those games on medium at a high refresh rate.
Click to expand...
Would a 450w PSU be enough to use the 1060 6GB? I'm just wondering, but then again it could be safer to replace the PSU anyway due to it's age.
 
450w is plenty. My system draws about 350-400w max load with OC. That is with stress testing. Your PSU is old, but it should be fine.
 
The i7 2600k is clock for clock not all that far off an i7 7700k (given the years between them). Intel hit it out of the park with the 2xxx series and has really just upped clock speeds with some very minor IPC improvments since then.

If you're comfortable, OC the 2600K into the low/mid 4 GHz territory to essentially get a free "new" processor then shell out on graphics.

If money is an issue, shop around for a used GTX 980; if not, grab the 1060 6gb. Both are neck and neck in performance, but the 1060 will cost you $100 more for 2gb of extra VRAM.

Note, the 1060 3gb is cheaper, but is also a slightly weaker videocard than the 6gb variant.
 
whm1974 said:
Would a 450w PSU be enough to use the 1060 6GB? I'm just wondering, but then again it could be safer to replace the PSU anyway due to it's age.
Click to expand...

As others have said ,your psu will be fine with a 1060.

Here is a used gtx1060 6gb for $205
https://hardforum.com/threads/vader...-corsair-dom-plat-ddr4-evga-gtx-1060.1959691/

Another one for $210
https://hardforum.com/threads/evga-gtx-1060-sc-6gb.1963580/


Look into overclocking your 2600, it will still hang with a gtx1080 when overclocked.
But then you will need a new psu.
 
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Thanks to everyone for their input.

After a bit of hemming and hawing, I ended up getting the following:
  • Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX580 (8GB)
  • EVGA 850 G3: Seemed like a good deal for $99.00, the Radeon is power hungry, and 850 Watts should provide plenty of cover if I decide to up my CPU.
For Overwatch, I get a constant 144 FPS on a modified high setting.
For Doom, I get 144 FPS on Ultra (Vulkan engine).

Needless to say I'm quite satisfied. I'm sure the framerates will go higher than 144, but I have it on vsync as I don't want to deal with the tearing.

I forgot about overclocking my i2600k. I pushed it back to the fairly conservative 4.2 GHZ easily, so thank you for that as well. I had it overclocked a few years ago, but thanks to some dumb misconfigurations I had stability issues, left it at stock, and completely forgot about revisiting it 🙂

Edit: I meant 144 FPS, not HZ. I swear I'm not completely new to this.
 
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Grab a 1060 6GB Then when the 1180 comes out sell the 1060 and buy a 1180 or better yet, wait a little then buy the 1180 Ti. good luck
 
My secondary gaming machine is a 2600K with a 1060 6GB pushing a 1080p 144Hz display and it runs all my games perfectly well. The 580 is also a very good match.

If you're looking for a free CPU upgrade, look no further than the multiplier setting in the BIOS. You can likely do 4-4.2GHz with little to no voltage adjustments at all and higher with a little more juice if you have the cooling to support it.
 
I hear good things about the Sapphire pulse. Sapphire always makes good custom coolers. Good that you also got the 850W PSU and oced a bit. That system should run well for a while.
 
hythlodayr said:
Hi,
I'm looking to upgrade my CPU or GPU, but not both.

My current setup:
i7 2600k 3.4 ghz
16 GB DDR3 1866
GeForce GTX 950
Asus 144hz monitor.
Antec 450 Watt power supply.

In a game like Overwatch, I can achieve 144hz in 1080 by setting the graphics to the lowest of the low.

I'd like to maintain 144hz in a medium setting. Would this be possible with just an upgrade to a GTX 1060/RX 580? Or would the CPU hold it back?

Alternatively, would upgrading to a Ryzen 2600 alone make this possible?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hey chief, my dad has a Sandy Bridge 2600k OCed to 4.2Ghz and if Im correct we didn't even touch the vcore. That Sandy needs no upgrading if your doing it for games. However if you are a professional Video Editing, Rendering, CAD, 3D Studio Max or DAW then you can by all means upgrade that bridge with a 8700k 1086k but you will have to buy a motherboard and ram and PSU and video card. But ya your CPU is fine.
 
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