I'm currently running an i7 2600K with 16gb of ram and a Radeon 6870 and I'm looking to upgrade some things to get better performance. I initially bought the 6700k, and 32gb of ram, as well as a new mobo(but I haven't installed them yet). I then ran across a few benchmarks talking about how the jump between 2600k and the 6700k is only about 20% so I'm wondering where I can get the best bang for my buck with regards to increasing the performance of my system. Would stepping up to 32 gb of ram with my current processor be that beneficial? (currently running 16 gb at 1600mhz) or should I spend the money on a newer video card? Or would both be the best option, or even just making that jump up to the 6700K? Other than basic computing I primarily use the system for photo editing (Adobe Lightroom) and audio editing (Pro Tools). I occasionally play games but that's definitely not the primary function. I just installed an SSD and that's helped things a bit but I want to push it as far as I can. Thanks for the help.
Wondering whether the jump from the 2600K to the 6700K is worth it? (as well as some other upgrade questions)
- Thread starter Harmonicz
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James Mason
Titan
- Jan 2, 2014
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If you already bought them, you might as well just go through with it.
It's true it's only a 20% upgrade, but it should just overall be a snapier, and the faster ram of DDR4 should actually contribute as well for your photo editing. (Though I'm not sure if you can actually use 32GBs of ram for photo editing, video editing maybe.)
It's true it's only a 20% upgrade, but it should just overall be a snapier, and the faster ram of DDR4 should actually contribute as well for your photo editing. (Though I'm not sure if you can actually use 32GBs of ram for photo editing, video editing maybe.)
It's an easy enough return thankfully (yay amazon) I'm just second guessing that initial purchase because I'm worried I'll get it set up and booted then just not be happy with it. Is the increase from dd3 to ddr4 that significant?
- May 27, 2010
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The memory bandwidth improvement is relatively minor. As with every DDR generation the initial release is on par with the highest end of the previous generation. Uses a lot less power and runs cooler as a result though.
DDR3 1600 at a CAS of 9 is roughly the same as DDR4 2400 with a CAS of 14. (though you can obviously go faster or slower and get tighter timings)
A new GPU would certainly improve GPU related tasks like gaming, but since you didn't list it, hard to say.
As you have already purchased a SATA SSD, the other capabilities of Z170 or the upcoming 200 series boards are kind of moot. NVMe drives are significantly faster and would have been a better investment. Nothing wrong with a SATA SSD though, and you can always add one if your motherboard supports it.
DDR3 1600 at a CAS of 9 is roughly the same as DDR4 2400 with a CAS of 14. (though you can obviously go faster or slower and get tighter timings)
A new GPU would certainly improve GPU related tasks like gaming, but since you didn't list it, hard to say.
As you have already purchased a SATA SSD, the other capabilities of Z170 or the upcoming 200 series boards are kind of moot. NVMe drives are significantly faster and would have been a better investment. Nothing wrong with a SATA SSD though, and you can always add one if your motherboard supports it.
coozie7
Champion
- Jun 2, 2007
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As far s I know all Adobe products can use the graphics card for a significant performance boost, if you can return the i7 6700K/MB/RAM without too great a penalty you'll get a better performance boost from a graphics card upgrade, but check which form of acceleration your particular software release can use.
Open CL is available on both Nvidia and AMD cards.
CUDA is ONLY available on Nvidia cards.
Direct Compute is ONLY available on AMD cards.
Open CL is available on both Nvidia and AMD cards.
CUDA is ONLY available on Nvidia cards.
Direct Compute is ONLY available on AMD cards.
coozie7
Champion
- Jun 2, 2007
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You'll see a small improvement moving up to faster memory, but not enough to justify the cost.
Are you running into memory limits? If not, moving up the 32Gb isn't needed.
The M2 slot is going to be a SATA version, AFAIK you'll only get PCI-E capable M2 slots on Z97 or later and none of them support the dazzlingly fast PCI-E 3.0x4 NVMe standards, my old Z97 'board only supported PCI-E 2.0x2 for example.
Moving up to a GTX1070 might very well be the best upgrade option, but if you're not using the system to earn a living the GTX1060 is far cheaper and still a huge upgrade over the HD6870.
Apart from the new SSD, what are you using for storage? Moving to larger, high capacity and newer drive/s will help with load/save times and if this system is used for business you might want to take this opportunity to install a pair in a mirrored array to improve data security.
Are you running into memory limits? If not, moving up the 32Gb isn't needed.
The M2 slot is going to be a SATA version, AFAIK you'll only get PCI-E capable M2 slots on Z97 or later and none of them support the dazzlingly fast PCI-E 3.0x4 NVMe standards, my old Z97 'board only supported PCI-E 2.0x2 for example.
Moving up to a GTX1070 might very well be the best upgrade option, but if you're not using the system to earn a living the GTX1060 is far cheaper and still a huge upgrade over the HD6870.
Apart from the new SSD, what are you using for storage? Moving to larger, high capacity and newer drive/s will help with load/save times and if this system is used for business you might want to take this opportunity to install a pair in a mirrored array to improve data security.
I haven't explicitly run into memory issues, so that's good to know the jump wouldn't be much. I just installed a 1TB WD blue that I'm keeping the user documents folders on (and I'll probably install most of the programs on that one) and I've got a separate 1Tb that I'm using for photos. I'll be slotting in at least 1 more 3TB to use for audio files at some point soon.
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