Intel 2500K + NVIDIA 460GTX Upgrade?

[Rinthe]

MOBO ASUS P8P67 PRO
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz
HSF Hyper 212+
RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
GPU MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1024MB
HDD Western Digital 2TB Green Caviar
SSD Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB SATA III CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1
PSU Crucial HX650W

Built this computer awhile back. CPU is OCed to 4.5ghz. But recently became unstable. Not sure why but I'm running at 4.3ghz now. I mostly use Photoshop for painting. And lightroom for photo editing.

Recently starting doing streaming and screen recording my painting process... Which lead to video rendering. This is where I feel the system is really lagging behind. Even the larger paintings that I do in photoshop (5000px+ on the longest side) has small lag when brushing and picking colors. I'm also looking to get into programs like 3D coat Cinema 4D and keyshot.

So should I: 1.Get more ram and a new GPU, do a full system clean up, unmount, remount heatsink, reapply thermal paste. (Would this perhaps fix my problem?). Until next year. I hear there's gonna be some real CPU battles between AMD and Intel.
OR
2. Build a new PC right now: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NMpdRB

If you think I should upgrade right now, tell me what I should upgrade to. And what do you guys think of the new build? Help me make something that can take on all of those programs with ease. I can't stand delays and lags when it comes to this.

Thanks!

 

[lehtv]

do a full system clean up, unmount, remount heatsink, reapply thermal paste. (Would this perhaps fix my problem?).

Are you having temperature issues that you didn't have before? Check HWinfo64 readings. http://www.hwinfo.com/files/hw64_506.zip

Dusting off the PC is always a good idea. I use canned air + vacuum.

If you think I should upgrade right now, tell me what I should upgrade to.

More RAM should help with recording/streaming, photoshop and such. A faster processor would also improve performance but RAM is more likely the reason for perceived lag and delays.

How full is your C300? It might be worth checking SMART data (with CrystalDiskInfo) and running a bench (e.g. AS SSD) to see if the drive is performing as it should.

The video card should have absolutely nothing to do with the lags and delays you're experiencing on the desktop, but definitely do upgrade it if you want more gaming performance. 2500K should handle a GTX 970 with no issues.

 

[Ken g6]

What voltage have you been running the CPU at? Degradation is possible.

Some newer video cards do video encoding for streaming. You should find out if your streaming platform supports something like ShadowPlay. It certainly works for recording. You didn't mention gaming, so a GTX 950 might be a good choice.

One thing about Photoshop is it can make good use of two SSDs. So you might get a nice big one like in your build list for a new main drive, and use the old drive for PS's swap. Of course, like Lehtv said, more RAM helps too.

 

[Rinthe]

Ok so both of you are saying to do some minor upgrades now and wait until next year to build a new computer?

I've been running 4.5ghz with offset. Not sure exactly what voltage it's at. I don't have the PC set up right now, just moved. Will get back to you later about this. But at load with prime95, the CPU can go up to high 70s.

The C300 has probably 20-30gb Free. I will check the data transfer speed when I set up my PC.

I mainly use OBS for streaming. And Camtasia for recording. Isn't Shadowplay for game streaming? I'm just streaming photoshop, and those other programs.

 

[Ken g6]

But at load with prime95, the CPU can go up to high 70s.

Not bad.

The C300 has probably 20-30gb Free.

SSDs run best when about half their space is free.

Isn't Shadowplay for game streaming? I'm just streaming photoshop, and those other programs.

Shadowplay does screen recording of whatever, without using the CPU for encoding. Looks like OBS can use it for streaming. Your CPU IGP has Quick Sync, which could also be used for streaming/recording, but I think it would be more difficult to set up when using discrete graphics. And at the very least it would interfere with RAM bandwidth.

 

[lehtv]

SSDs run best when about half their space is free.

What, really? Are you saying you should always have half of the capacity free?

 

[Arcanedeath]

What, really? Are you saying you should always have half of the capacity free?

If you want the best performance on you SSD then yes you should keep 50% free for the vast majority of SSD's.

Note: this does not mean performance sucks at more than 50% full but you do lose anywhere from 10-30% performance in most cases depending on workload for most models of SSD.

 

[Charlie98]

If you want the best performance on you SSD then yes you should keep 50% free for the vast majority of SSD's.

Note: this does not mean performance sucks at more than 50% full but you do lose anywhere from 10-30% performance in most cases depending on workload for most models of SSD.

That may have been true in the SSD Dark Ages (a few years ago) when a 'big' SSD was 128GBs. I actually loaded up my old OCZ Agility3 60GB SSD to over 80% and it hit the wall in benches, so that much is true, but you can't really be suggesting leaving half of a modern 500GB or 1TB SSD free? The only place you would see a performance hit would be in benchmarks or some other high I/O use.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What, really? Are you saying you should always have half of the capacity free?

Some older SSDs would precipitously drop in performance, once they hit more than 50% filled.

Most modern SSDs don't have quite that problem, but they do perform better, with at least 20% free.

 

[Rinthe]

Ok I'll look into the SSD. Is a GTX950 good enough for all photoshop needs?

 

[MrTeal]

Some older SSDs would precipitously drop in performance, once they hit more than 50% filled.

Most modern SSDs don't have quite that problem, but they do perform better, with at least 20% free.

Anandtech still does a good performance gap with 25% over provisioning. I don't know if there'd be much incremental benefit to 50%, but as you say there's still a performance advantage even with a brand new drive like the 850 Pro.