Looking for gaming upgrade advice

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CHughes90

Commendable
Aug 3, 2016
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Hey, I've had this PC knocking on about 5 years now and I'm thinking about spending some money on upgrades. There isn't a budget per se, just not looking at anything outrageous. I'm pretty new to this whole upgrading scenario and would appreciate any advice you guys could throw at me. Cheers.

PSU: CoolerMaster Silent Pro 1000W

RAM: Kingston Hyper X 8gb DDR3 1600MHz (4x2Gb)

MoBo: Asus Sabretooth P67

CPU: Intel i5 2500k 3.30Ghz

GPU: XFX ATi Radeon HD 6950
 
Solution
Barty1884
Upgrades will entirely depend on what you're using it for/plan to use it for.

Assuming only gaming (I know you mentioned it in the title), a GPU upgrade would serve you just fine - along with a decent overclock of the 2500K (a decent cooler may be required).
Realistically, an overclocked 2500K should see you past the current generation CPUs. The performance of the latest i5's at stock speed are not dramatically performing vs an i5-2500K OC'd to 4.3GHz+).

An RX480 for around $200 would be the best addition relatively cheaply. You could always move the RX480 forward with you when the time comes that you need to do a full upgrade.

I know you don't have a specific budget in mind. The RX480 is a nice, affordable, quick & easy upgrade...
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Barty1884

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
Apr 16, 2015
22,250
1,350
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Upgrades will entirely depend on what you're using it for/plan to use it for.

Assuming only gaming (I know you mentioned it in the title), a GPU upgrade would serve you just fine - along with a decent overclock of the 2500K (a decent cooler may be required).
Realistically, an overclocked 2500K should see you past the current generation CPUs. The performance of the latest i5's at stock speed are not dramatically performing vs an i5-2500K OC'd to 4.3GHz+).

An RX480 for around $200 would be the best addition relatively cheaply. You could always move the RX480 forward with you when the time comes that you need to do a full upgrade.

I know you don't have a specific budget in mind. The RX480 is a nice, affordable, quick & easy upgrade.

If you wanted to go for an outright new build, anywhere from ~$800 and up gets you some major performance.

A couple of options at different price ranges

$1,250ish option:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.33 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($97.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL EVO POTENZA 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($409.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($85.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1267.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-04 02:05 EDT-0400

*The 850W PSU is overkill, but a great price at the moment - could go with the Seasonic from the $1,000 build too.

$800 option (no OCing):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($34.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.98 @ Directron)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($85.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $810.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-04 02:12 EDT-0400
 
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Solution
n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

Illustrious
May 25, 2016
8,065
4
42,715
I'm not sure what you are looking to achieve, but the obvious upgrade is GPU, RAM and SSD if you don't have one.
which GPU depends on your monitor - if you share resolution and refresh rate, would be easier to suggest a GPU.
The CPU you have is still powerful enough for modern games, so there is not much benefit in upgrading it right now. Next gen intel and amd CPUs will be released this winter.
here is a guide on how to improve the CPU performance by overclocking (2500K + P67 motherboard):
http://www.overclock.net/t/910467/the-ultimate-sandy-bridge-oc-guide-p67a-ud7-performance-review
here is comparison of gaming performance on every generation of i5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxGge0tR4IM

If I were you, I'd do the following:
> Get 2x8GB DDR3 1888MHz (or even 2133 depending on the price difference).
> Get modern GPU: GTX 1070 for 1080p@144Hz or higher resolution monitors. RX 480 or GTX 1060 for 1080p@60Hz monitor.
> overclock the CPU to 4.0-4.5GHz (may be a decent cooler required)
> Did i mention 250-500GB SSD ? :)
And you have high-end performance system that performs in games ~ the same as the latest skylake i5-6600K.

I'd think about upgrading CPU and MB once Intel's Optane is out - in a year or two.
 
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