Upgrading from overclocked i7 920

[rchunter]

Even if you do end up getting a new PC, ditching your i7 920 for a x5650 cpu is a no brainer for only $18. Easily overclock above 4ghz, and you can keep it as a backup machine and run linux on it or something...

 

[Shmee]

An X5660 or X5670 is an obvious upgrade. That said, if you really want to do a new build, consider the Ryzen 1600 or wait for Coffee Lake. Still, for $18-$40 for a xeon, may as well do both.

 

[DrMrLordX]

$500 budget is not going to get you 120 fps @ 1080p in a lot of games, sorry to say.

If you really want to drive min fps that high, go for the Xeon upgrade and then save up for something beefier.

edit: you can try potato configs and the like, and that might actually work on the Westmere. It depends on what FPS games you're playing.

I play Dirty Bomb a lot. My 1800x running 1600x1200 stays near 170-180 fps all the time. No real slowdown unless someone does a mass suicide dogpile, which can bring fps down to maybe 100. In actual gameplay? Pshaw. Oh and that's with all the settings maxed out etc. Had I a more modern monitor running 1080p, I would at least be able to sustain 120 fps. Hell I could probably do 144.

Newer games? Well I would be GPU-bound with my aging 390 for starters. But turning down the settings, I would probably be okay.

So which games will you be playing anyway?