• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Question Upgrade i5-4670K rig worth it?

Q

queequeg99

Senior member
Trying to figure out if my current rig (5 years old) is a candidate for upgrading to keep it viable for mild gaming for another few years. I currently play games at 1920x1080 resolution (no 4K yet, but that might change if I can manage it with the upgrade). Mostly FPS games (Just Cause stuff especially but anything's fair game). But I do like turning on the eye candy when possible. Here’s my current setup:

I5-4670K (not overclocked)
8 gb DDR3 ram (2x4gb)
ASROCK z87 Pro3 (1150)
Radeon HD7950 3GB

Upgrade budget is in the $200-300 range (OK, maybe a little more if there's a dropdead option) and I’m wondering if the most cost effective thing to do would be to upgrade the video card. I was thinking about this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...=6361382&SID=tomshardware-5086899307248397813

But that might not make much sense if I’m already CPU limited (or if this upgrade would go way beyond the point at which I would become CPU limited - in which case a lower cost video card upgrade might be appropriate). I also get a lot of "low memory" warnings from Just Cause 3, so I'm also thinking about tossing in another 2 sticks of ram to get me up to 16gb (which would bring the total upgrade cost to right around $300 with the video card linked above).

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
 
At 1080p, your best bet would be to buy a better GPU, like the GTX 1060 6GB or the RX 580 8GB, and another 8GB of RAM.

Otherwise, your budget will not really allow for any better CPU/motherboard/RAM.
 
queequeg99 said:
Upgrade budget is in the $200-300 range (OK, maybe a little more if there's a dropdead option) and I’m wondering if the most cost effective thing to do would be to upgrade the video card. I was thinking about this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...=6361382&SID=tomshardware-5086899307248397813
Click to expand...
Plenty 580 card for under $230 from XFX and PowerColor.
And if you can, get decent deal of used 4790(k). Should be plenty around.
This one is even under $200
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150794&Description=rx 580&cm_re=rx_580-_-14-150-794-_-Product
 
That card looks good. Thanks! As for getting another 8gb of ram, am I correct to believe that I will probably run into trouble if I pick up a couple of 4gb sticks that are not the exact match (manufacturer and model) for the two 4gb sticks I currently have? The problem is that the sticks I currently have are discontinued and I would really rather not buy used (and the used prices for this make/model are not so cheap). It looks like I can easily find alternatives with the same specifications that I am currently seeing through CPU-Z (11-11-11-28 at 1.5v - although it looks like I can use faster timings if I want to). This is the ram I'm currently using BTW: KHX16C9B1RK2/8X. Here's a link to the out of stock newegg page: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104339

If mixing is a bad idea, I'd probably just opt to pick up two 8gb sticks.
 
queequeg99 said:
If mixing is a bad idea, I'd probably just opt to pick up two 8gb sticks.
Click to expand...

I can work great, or it might cause instability or crashes. Mixing RAM usually works ok for most people, especially with DDR3, but you just never know until you try it (unless there is someone who else tried the same configuration).

If you can pick up 2 x 8GB at a decent price, and sell your existing RAM, that would be the route I'd personally go. But if you're the adventurous type, you can always try the mixed RAM and cross your fingers that it works OK. 😛
 
Just wanted to follow up and thank you all for the responses. I picked up the 580 GTS Black linked to above as well as 16GB of ram. No longer getting the low ram messages in Just Cause 3 and have all the eye candy turned to max. My guess is I've probably reached the point where there's no point in upgrading this machine ever again unless I end up moving to a 4K monitor (in which case a whole new rig will probably be needed). But since I game relatively lightly, this might be it. I'll take the Radeon 7950 I took out of my rig and put it into my wife's A8-3850 machine. It's fine for office stuff (its purpose) but my kid wants to play two player Portal and ESO, so it should help with that. Again, many thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top