Should I upgrade my PC now or wait a few months for next gen to come?

AsholPurush · Oct 9, 2016

Okay...I've been planning to upgrade my PC apart from my GPU (currently using R9 280x), so should I upgrade my components now or wait a few months (till Dec maybe?) for the next gen to come? I use my PC mostly for gaming.

I'm planning to buy 6600k, Krait Z170A and 16 GB Corsair LPX DDR4 RAMs within a few weeks. I've no idea when the next gen of CPU will arrive so please tell me if you know anything.

My config:
CPU: FX-6100
RAM: 8GB DDR3

konius · Oct 9, 2016

What games do you play? Do you play @1080p?

elbert · Oct 9, 2016

I would suggest waiting. The 7600K is on the new 14+nm node and said to bring over a 15% gain. Also the AMD zen is coming thus could be a price war to get the prices right. That FX6100 is fine for now for just about all games.

Dunlop0078 · Oct 9, 2016

That is entirely up to you, are you unhappy with the performance of your system? What games do you play? The latest AAA titles? AMD zen is coming hopefully first quarter of next year. Intel kaby lake should be coming soon as well.

ComputerSecurityGuy · Oct 9, 2016

I would just go ahead. I'm very dubious that Kaby Lake will bring any significant IPC gain- looks like a clockspeed bump and voltage drop, typical for a mature fab. I'm not sure if its even a different die. Zen looks very promising, but I don't think you will see any real benefit from it. The people who stand to benefit are those using over four threads, so prosumers and the server market.

c2yCharlie · Oct 9, 2016

Hey there, your current pc is pretty weak and wont last long. The fx series cpu has become very weak and only the 8xxx series can put it in an acceptable performance when overclocked (but then it becomes a toaster!!). So an upgrade is definitely required. At this point of time, I would suggest you the following -

1) Look out for PS Pro or Project scorpio. Why? Because of late, PC ports have been quite disastrous and does not quite perform well even on my GTX 960 4GB + i7 4790. Moreover, many games recently do not provide much graphical improvement (I mean vastly noticeable difference) over the console counterparts. They merely have the benefit of 60fps which is definitely an improvement over 30fps of consoles. So wait for pro/scorpio, see what benefits they provide and then make the decision.

2) Build a strong pc (i5+gtx 1060/1070) if you want to game at 1080p/60 fps at high - max settings. Some games still wont run at 60fps at max settings but then, this is your best bet for the #masterrace. Keep in mind, you would have to lower settings significantly over time if you plan to keep your rig performing at 60fps for the next 3-4 years, which might not be the case with the above option.

This is my two cents for you. Do inform what you have decided. Happy gaming!

ComputerSecurityGuy · Oct 9, 2016

I would just go ahead. I'm very dubious that Kaby Lake will bring any significant IPC gain- looks like a clockspeed bump and voltage drop, typical for a mature fab. I'm not sure if its even a different die. Zen looks very promising, but I don't think you will see any real benefit from it. The people who stand to benefit are those using over four threads, so prosumers and the server market.

Oops I posted it twice. Sorry.

Dunlop0078 · Oct 9, 2016

c2yCharlie :

The 6100 will run pretty much any game at stock clocks, it may not perfom as well as the latest intel cpu's but it can certainly still run games if you don't need max settings. I think if anything PC ports have been getting better and certainly the amount of games ported to pc is growing, really the only exclusives left are sony and nintendo, but there will likely always be a few bad pc ports from lazy developers. But they may change due to the growing size of the gaming pc market. Also amd cpu's don't really run that hot even when overcloked, its quite dangerous to push them past 62c or so but it is a 32nm chip so more volume of heat than a new intel chip I suppose.

Karadjgne · Oct 9, 2016

Kaby-lake will be intended mainly for laptops, but will still have desktop cpus, that won't be much if anything better than current skylake cpus. Pretty much the same thing happened with Haswell - Broadwell. If waiting possibly for Zen, that'll be a significant improvement for AMD, but will still bring cpu performance upto about Haswell levels.

Other than 'possible' price differences, there's really no point in waiting. You'll be looking at Intel Haswell / Skylake performance or AMD Haswell performance. Unless you really want to remain with AMD, a skylake build is honestly the better option, a Haswell build a maybe cheaper option that's almost as good, but will be missing some things like integrated m.2 slots for ssd.

AsholPurush · Oct 10, 2016

konius :

I play every AAA games that gets released (or at least try to). I play at 1080p but can't play at max settings though.

AsholPurush · Oct 10, 2016

elbert :

Could you tell me 7600k will arrive? My FX 6100 is doing fine now, but some games already requires higher CPU now.

AsholPurush · Oct 10, 2016

Dunlop0078 :

I'm not quite happy with my PC now, cause I can't play all games in max settings. Yes I do play the new AAA titles. But they're still playable, so if it's worth the wait they I'll wait but I'm also ready to buy the new stuffs now.

AsholPurush · Oct 10, 2016

c2yCharlie :

Hey there, your current pc is pretty weak and wont last long. The fx series cpu has become very weak and only the 8xxx series can put it in an acceptable performance when overclocked (but then it becomes a toaster!!). So an upgrade is definitely required. At this point of time, I would suggest you the following -

1) Look out for PS Pro or Project scorpio. Why? Because of late, PC ports have been quite disastrous and does not quite perform well even on my GTX 960 4GB + i7 4790. Moreover, many games recently do not provide much graphical improvement (I mean vastly noticeable difference) over the console counterparts. They merely have the benefit of 60fps which is definitely an improvement over 30fps of consoles. So wait for pro/scorpio, see what benefits they provide and then make the decision.

2) Build a strong pc (i5+gtx 1060/1070) if you want to game at 1080p/60 fps at high - max settings. Some games still wont run at 60fps at max settings but then, this is your best bet for the #masterrace. Keep in mind, you would have to lower settings significantly over time if you plan to keep your rig performing at 60fps for the next 3-4 years, which might not be the case with the above option.

This is my two cents for you. Do inform what you have decided. Happy gaming!

Your opinions were really helpful. I looked up the Project Scorpio, but I'm not willing to move to a console. Yes I do also need to up my GPU, which I plan to do later, but for now should I just upgrade my CPU then?

madmatt30 · Oct 10, 2016

Upping to an i5 still won't get you max settings with a 280x mate.
In all honesty I don't think you'll see a massive difference.
At the minute your fx chip & the 280x are about equal, upping to the i5 just brings a bottleneck into play on the GPU side instead of the cpu.
The 280x is firmly medium settings on newer titles , its a 4-5 year old GPU now - that's pretty good for what its worth , considering it's age.

AsholPurush · Oct 10, 2016

Karadjgne :

I used a Core 2 Duo back then, and then switched to FX 6100. I prefer intel now after trying the AMD. Intel CPUs are really better I think too. So I think I should just go with the upgrade now.

elbert · Oct 10, 2016

AsholPurush :

Both are set to launch at CES Jan however there may be some in the wild as early as December.

Karadjgne · Oct 10, 2016

I've read scuttlebutt that some aio partners will be launching mobo's as early as December, which strikes me as funny, since the cpus probably won't be available til 1stQ of next year.

elbert · Oct 10, 2016

Karadjgne :

Na its because the big OEM's are using the A12-9800 apu's with them.

Karadjgne · Oct 10, 2016

Ahh ok, that makes more sense. Couple of months of free guinea pigs to iron out any flaws before dropping their glass slipper. Might be worth waiting till end of 2017 for the rev2.0 boards in that case.

AsholPurush · Oct 11, 2016

madmatt30 :

Yes I know, I plan to upgrade GPU my after a few months. But for now it's about upgrading the other components.

Should I upgrade my PC now or wait a few months for next gen to come?

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