Is there a $200 CPU upgrade over an i5-2500k at 4.2ghz?

[CuriousMike]

My son is a gamer; he has a 1080p 144hz monitor and an R9-390.

He's done well in school, and I'm considering getting him a new CPU as gift.

The hope is that there is a $200 or less CPU that will give a decent FPS boost over his current i5-2500k at 4.2ghz.

He typically plays at 1080p or lower resolution with low details - he _really_ cares about FPS and doesn't seem to care about graphical fidelity. Given that (base resolution, lowest details), I'm pretty sure the R9-390 is out-powering the i5-2500k.

So, would an i5-8500 (as an example) be a noticeable FPS boost?

 

[VirtualLarry]

You realize that an i5-8500, being Coffee Lake, and the i5-2500K, being Sandy Bridge, are not inter-compatible, right? You'll need a new Z370 mobo, and new DDR4-3200 RAM. ($$$)

 

[LTC8K6]

Your only real CPU upgrade is a 3770K, I think. Assuming the mobo will accept it.

 

[Ken g6]

I could make an argument that this is equivalent to a stock 2500K, for about $200. Comparing it to an OCed 2500K is...harder.

Speaking of which, that's only a moderate OC on that 2500K. Any idea what his cooler is, and if he might be interested in an upgrade?

 

[CuriousMike]

I have some spare DDR4 3200 (non-b die)
I know he'll need a new mobo - isn't there a new ~$100 option for mobo?

So,
- I have RAM
- I'm aware I'll need a new motherboard (but I'm removing that from discussion)

 

[Yuriman]

A 3770K is a decent upgrade, depending on the game. I wouldn't ignore the cost of a motherboard unless someone is giving it to you for free.

High clocks are generally more important than more cores (after a point) to FPS, so I'm inclined to think that if you're looking to do an entire platform replacement, Intel is a better choice.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

If $200 is your CPU budget, and you're replacing a 2500k, it sounds like you want an i5-8600k but don't want to spend the extra $50.

IMHO, you should find the extra $50, but the 8500 is okay, just not unlocked for overclocking.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

A $100 motherboard is probably going to limit your overclocking potential anyway.

 

[Yuriman]

A $100 motherboard is probably going to limit your overclocking potential anyway.

Since the 2500K was only at 4.2ghz, I doubt OP is going for max clocks anyhow.

 

[CuriousMike]

Not looking for max OC. A $200 i5-8500 + $100 mobo = $300, vs $250 8600k + $150 mobo = $400 -- that extra $100 is sorta beyond where I want to go.

Maybe I'll just wait and do something else for him.

 

[Yuriman]

No need for a $100 board then. You can get a nice B350 board for $65-70, moving up to a $100 Z370 board will basically just allow overclocking - which you can't do on that CPU anyway.

 

[CuriousMike]

I think my original question has been muddied because I didn't do a good job expressing the fact I already had RAM and will consider the mobo another expense.

Will the i5-8500 ( or other <= $200 CPU ) offer a noticeable boost in gaming performance (when paired with an R9-390 @ 1080p with low graphic fidelity ) over his existing i5-2500k at 4.2ghz?

 

[Yuriman]

The i5 8500 has ~20% better IPC but slightly lower clockspeeds. It also brings 2 more cores to the table. In well-threaded games you could see a significant improvement. In poorly threaded games, the difference will be smaller. Unfortunately, to get a very high clocked chip from Intel, you have to buy an i7.

I'd say the threshold of imperceptibility is somewhere around 20% (depending on what it is), so I'd call it "just noticeable" in some cases, and "significant" in others. On the other hand, no CPU other than perhaps an 8700 or 8700K is going to be anything more than "just noticeable" in less-threaded titles due to clockspeed not changing much.

 

[vailr]

Another option would be to upgrade the video card, to something like an RX 570 or an nVidia 1070Ti.
Newer video cards are more profitable at cryptomining, whereas the R9-390 would likely use too much power to be worthwhile. You might get ~$150 on eBay for the R9-390. The 1070Ti can produce about $2.00/day at cryptomining (nicehash.com), so after maybe 6 months, the newer video card would about be paid for.

 

[Yuriman]

Another option would be to upgrade the video card, to something like an RX 570 or an nVidia 1070Ti.
Newer video cards are more profitable at cryptomining, whereas the R9-390 would likely use too much power to be worthwhile. You might get ~$150 on eBay for the R9-390. The 1070Ti can produce about $2.00/day at cryptomining (nicehash.com), so after maybe 6 months, the newer video card would about be paid for.

$2 per day before or after electricity costs?

 

[vailr]

$2 per day before or after electricity costs?

Before electricity.
If solar powered, then "free".

 

[Yuriman]

Before electricity.
If solar powered, then "free".

Except that you could be offsetting your other electricity costs, or selling that power back to the grid.

Opportunity cost.

 

[CuriousMike]

Not interested in crypto-mining - just interested in maximizing FPS ... again, running at lowest graphical fidelity and 1080p or lower.

My son is convinced the 390 is not the bottleneck using the above criteria, but the CPU is limiting his FPS.

If someone can show us that a 1070 + i5-2500k at 4.2ghz at lowest graphical fidelity will outperform > 20% his current setup using similar setup, I'm all ears.

 

[Yuriman]

I know it was the case a while back that NV's drivers were less CPU-heavy than AMD's, which would exacerbate limitations of a slow CPU. I dunno if this is still the case.

 

[Ken g6]

Well, I guarantee that an overclocked modern quad core will be faster than an old quad core. For instance, an i3-8350K:

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($168.39 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($116.00 @ B&H)

With the cheaper CPU, there may be a better mobo in your budget range, presuming you use the old system's cooler.

Whether this is better than a 3770K or a Ryzen I'm not sure. It also depends on the overclocking levels you reach.

 

[Gt403cyl]

This may be a little late, @OP you have DDR4 ram available?
If you are looking for gaming on a $200 budget why not look at the R5 2600x? For 6 cores 12 threads and a decent stock cooler...
You can get a decent motherboard for ~$130 or a slightly better board for $140 that will OC decently...
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RpWskd
or
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cDfZfH

 

[Gt403cyl]

I know it was the case a while back that NV's drivers were less CPU-heavy than AMD's, which would exacerbate limitations of a slow CPU. I dunno if this is still the case.

I know NV removed the hardware scheduler so that put extra load on CPU's especially mixing higher end Nvidia cards with i5's.
I wouldn't think the 390 is a big bottleneck in this case, if it was an i7-2600k it might have more of an impact but still not too bad.

 

[Ken g6]

Did anyone ask the important question here? What games?

I tend to assume this is FPS for an FPS, but which one(s)?

 

[CuriousMike]

I'm a self-proclaimed ATI / AMD fanboy (the whole house is on AMD GPU's) - but the R5's are off the table even if they are "really close in gaming" to their Intel competitors.

Games he plays:
Counterstrike
PUBG
Fortnite
Overwatch

 

[lakedude]

That R9-390 is roughly equal to a GTX 1060 which is pretty decent at 1080p. Thing is I really doubt that a 2500k OC is all that much of a bottleneck. I'm sure it is a bottleneck, I just doubt that a $200 CPU (plus RAM and MB) is going to make enough of a difference to be worth the trouble (sorry, I know you already bought the RAM). The old system is well balanced. Does it have an SSD BTW? If it lacks an SSD the best use of $200 would be an SSD IMHO.

Because the old system is already well balanced upgrading any one part will just make it out of balance. I was thinking about suggesting a GTX 1070 or better but it seems a shame spend that much money on a card only to plug it into the old setup. Still I think a new video card will tend to have a bigger impact on frame rate than a new CPU, depending on the game.

A new MB might require a new Windows Licence BTW...