i7 2600k - upgrade or not?

Schnitzelfred

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Oct 17, 2015
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Hello everyone,
I currently have a 2600k setup. My specs are as follows:
- i7 2600k (OC and quite cool @4.2 ghz - corsair h80)
- 12GB corsair 1333 DDR3 RAM
- MSI P67A-G43 (B3) motherboard
- Gigabyte Geforce GTX 970 G1 Gaming (additional OC)
- STRAIGHT POWER E9 | 580W CM PSU
I am a causal gamer and I love gaming with every setting nearly maxed out with a 1080p resolution (sometimes Nvidia DSR) with something around of 60 FPS. I have currently some money and I would like to spend it in new hardware. So, there are two questions. At first is it useful to upgrade my system?
If yes, the 6700k and 5820k are affordable, so I guess my second question is: which should I go for? I find it hard to spend money in a system that have 4 cores, too. Future proofing means a lot to me!
I also read many 6700k vs 5820k threads on here and I am leaning towards the 5820k for future proofing with a little bit of OC ;).
Futhermore, I planning to potential switch to an SLI system in the future (with a new PSU).
I lot of questions, sorry for that!
 
Solution
no.. clock for clock the 4790k is only about 12% faster.

ive had my 2500k running 4.5ghz@1.35v since holidays 2011, almost 4 years now. at 69f ambient i will hit about 72c max prime95 small fft v26.6. i have more thermal headroom but not much more vcore headroom, and even if i could go to 80c, i would be running 1.40v and thats generally though of as less than ideal.

relatively speaking a 2600k@4.4ghz=3770k@4.2ghz=4790k@4.0ghz. its going to be really hard to feel the performance increase even if you and encoding or running highly intestive cpu tasks. thats a lot of money to get a couple extra % points of speed.

57c is very low for sandy bridge, you have quite a bit farther to go. your processor is a beast and can take heat and...
in my opinion no. the 2600k is still a beast. maybe if your non gaming apps need more raw cpu horsepower from 6 cores or the 6700k. otherwise you will never feel the difference, especially in gaming. it is tempting to upgrade but if i were you i would wait for the next generation of cpus and graphics cards. if anything get a flagship card and sell your 970. on top of that overclock your 2600k more. whatever 1.35v vcore gets you and stay under 80c. you should easily get to 4.5ghz.
 

snon200

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i'd advise you to get something like the i7 4790k instead and invest the rest of the money thats left on a gpu upgrade or even not changing the cpu at all and investing only in a better gpu, your cpu is still a very good cpu for gaming especially if you overclock it and i think that you can get more performace for the money if you upgrade the gpu with your money instead
 

Schnitzelfred

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Thank you guys!
@nikoli707: That should be the most rational way. For now I never touched the vcore of my cpu. Currently is is running by default vcore at 57c under full load. There should be some space for an higher cpu clock.

@snon200: Do you think upgrading from a 2600k to a 4790k is reasonable? They got the same cache size and number of cores. Both have very good overclocking abilities. At the same clock they should be equal in view of performance, right? I never thought about selling my gtx 970 at the moment. An improvement would be only noticeable if I spend more than the double money (gtx 980 ti) for 20-30% more graphic power.

Could be a SLI of 970's an alternative? Instead of a new psu would it be useful with my system?
 
no.. clock for clock the 4790k is only about 12% faster.

ive had my 2500k running 4.5ghz@1.35v since holidays 2011, almost 4 years now. at 69f ambient i will hit about 72c max prime95 small fft v26.6. i have more thermal headroom but not much more vcore headroom, and even if i could go to 80c, i would be running 1.40v and thats generally though of as less than ideal.

relatively speaking a 2600k@4.4ghz=3770k@4.2ghz=4790k@4.0ghz. its going to be really hard to feel the performance increase even if you and encoding or running highly intestive cpu tasks. thats a lot of money to get a couple extra % points of speed.

57c is very low for sandy bridge, you have quite a bit farther to go. your processor is a beast and can take heat and vcore better than almost any processor known.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html
 
Solution

Schnitzelfred

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Ah, ok that make sense. I have to continue my overclocking and increase the vcore. We will see what the limiting factor would be. :D
That should be slightly off-topic:
How do you think about an upgrade to an 970 SLI?
 

Schnitzelfred

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Thank you! :)