My Current Rig: How much life can i eke out of it?

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vae victus

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Feb 1, 2013
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Built this rig in mid-late 2013

CPU - I5 3570k 3.4 ghz (non OC)
Mobo - AsRock Z77 Extreme4
GPU - Gigabyte GTX 970 (non OC)
RAM - 16 gb Corsair DD3 1600 (non OC)
SSD - 240 GB Samsung 840 Series
HDD - 2 TB Seagate Barracuda
Cooler - CM Hyper 212 Evo
Case - Corsair 300R
PSU - CX600M (yea i kinda went cheap here)
Monitor - HP 27 xi, currently gaming at 1080 and might dabble into 4k soon just to see whats up

It was running a used MSI 560 ti TwinFrozr for a coupla years until i got the GTX 970 last May. The bump in effectiveness was glaring. Currently i'm gaming great, but the last coupla hardcore games i'm running make me think that next year might be the year to make a brand new 1.5k gaming rig (headlined by the GTX 1170 or i'll reuse my 970, and plop the 560ti back into this one).

I'm wondering the rig as is will competently enter the next generation of gaming. I'm not ultra demanding so there's some slack. I'm guessing at this point i wonder if OCing the CPU and GPU can squeak me through 2 more years of good quality gaming (i know i'll be bottlenecked by the cooling/PSU). I'm not the type to go for step by step upgrades (other than the GPU), so i'm pretty much gonna build a new rig from scratch in the future. Should i start saving hard for 1 year or stretch it out for a 2 year timetable? I know i screwed up on not getting a better cooling system and PSU, which will severely limit my OC potential and why i paid extra on the 3570k in the 1st place. I'll def make sure not to make that same mistake on the next build.

If i should be posting at the OC subforum, i'll delete this shortly.
 
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13thmonkey
i'd go hard(ish) now, mines been steady a 4.3 since may 2012, maxing at 60C, offset of -0.005V, i've no idea if I got lucky, I could have increased voltage and got to 4.4, but this is 24x7 capable so I stopped.
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dudmont

dudmont

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Feb 23, 2015
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Your system is fine for now, and probably good for 5 more years, with upgrades to the GPU and PSU. I'm not an expert on overclocking Ivy Bridges, but I bet you'd get to 4.1-4.2, if need be. I bet the evo could handle the heat.
Do the PSU as soon as you have a chance, but if you're gaming at 1080p, then the gpu should be good for another couple years.
I understand what you're saying about whole-sale update vs piecemeal, but in your case, you really don't need to do a big new build. Just update here and there, until something really compelling comes along that you can't run.
 
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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Jan 10, 2006
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that's my current rig, i'm not seeing any point in a cpu upgrade for 2 years easily, probably not going to go 1070/1080 although at 1440p i'm struggling a little. I'd happily pair an 1170 with my 3570k at 4.3 even though we know nothing about it, but we do know that generational cpu improvements have been small, so my 4.3 3570k will probably be similar to the stock i5 in 2 years (or thereabouts) which should (based on history) be fine for an 1170.

So in 3-4 years a cpu/mobo/memory upgrade will be needed, and transplant the current gpu into it whatever that is, I rarely consider a 'full build'
 
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arossetti

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Feb 22, 2013
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If your using it for only gaming, normal work like word processing, emails, and internet browsing, you are fine. It will last a while. About the only thing you may want to change is the GPU - but that depends on what you game and what detail level you want. Unless there is a major architectural upgrade, I usually get three to four years per mobo/CPU with a GPU upgrade every twelve to eighteen months (I always grab the latest NVIDA GPU's but that's me).
 
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vae victus

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Feb 1, 2013
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Since i know i'll start OCing at the end of the year, i think my best course of action is to buy a good PSU now, something off the T1 PSU list gold rated at 750 watts, for 80-110 bucks. Do moderate OC on the GPU and moderate OC on the CPU (4.1 ghz). That'll give me 2 good years til end 2018, then on year 3 ramp up the OC on everything as high as i can. That's when im gonna see the true mettle of my gpu/cpu and how hard i can push the bastards.

2019 i should definitely getting a new build, as even with a severe OC it'll be showing its age (med/high settings most likely). Will the PSU i get for the 2017-2018 OCing still be reusable on a 2019 new build (gonna get a gold rated one for sure)? I'll slotting the Corsair 600M back into the old rig and transition it into a LAN loaner or even an office PC. Likely by that point i'll be getting a new GPU for the new build, so when i slot the Corsair back i set everything back to near stock levels so the power draw wont overload the T4 PSU (eesh didnt realize how lowly rated it was until i saw the list). I figure once the abuse levels go back to nil the PC can last for a good long time.

Does that sound like a good plan going forward? Man im gonna be giddy if i can push my current rig for 2.5-3 years without buying anything new.
 
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