Upgrading Processor | Suggestions?

[Kinimod]

Hello everyone.

I'm currently using an Intel i5-2500k 3.3GHz Processor, I've used this one for quite some time now and I want to upgrade.

I'm looking for suggestions on a relatively cheap upgrade.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[BikerEcho]

Are you willing to also change motherboard?

 

[Kinimod]

Are you willing to also change motherboard?

I'll be happy to if needed.

 

[BikerEcho]

Your motherboard properly also supports Ivy CPU's. (Intels 3000 series)
But they are not made anymore. So price to performance ratio are not that great compared to an up to date CPU. Unless you ofcause order it used somewhere. That way you can get a good upgrade for cheep. But there is a risk of a defected CPU, and it doesn't have warranty. The I5-3570K and non K version is properly the easiest to find.

I'll personally go for a skylake CPU. The budget is gonna be higher, but you are getting a huge upgrade.
Like a I5-6600 (non K). That is gonna set you back 200 dollars. Then you also need a new motherboard. You can keep your RAM if you go DDR3. But a new motherboard is still gonna cost 90-120 bucks more. So about 300 +-20 in total.

 

[~Darkseeker~]

I have the same CPU - dunno why you'd want to upgrade it, not even the toughest games make it sweat! Stock clocks or overclocked its' still a very capable quad core. Year on year, per core perf has gone up by about 5-6% on stock speeds, so realistically Ivy Bridge would give you 5-6%, Haswell would give you 10-12% and Skylake would give you a bit of a bigger boost perhaps 18-22%. still, thats in things like Cinebench which are not real-world tests. Liklihood is you wouldn't even notice much of a difference.

Is there any reason you're wanting to upgrade, or just because you want to upgrade?

 

[Kinimod]

I'm just wanting an upgrade. It's a habit of me not to have a reason for it, this raises another question I wish to ask:


I use Steam for all my games and within the store page of a game they will specify the minimum and recommended specs for the game. For any of you Steam users out there, does the minimum specs that are specified mean that you NEED that piece of hardware (or better) in order to run it?


This is part of the reason why I want to upgrade. I got Just Cause 3 and they specified that I would need the i5-2500K processor (the one I currently use) for the minimum requirements. From this I assumed that I was on the borderline and that by upgrading I would see an increase in performance in Just Cause 3.

 

[jarlmaster]

I agree with darkseeker. I am still using an i7-920 and that handles everything I through at it. No bottlenecks at all (or that I've noticed). Why upgrade? Unless you are doing a lot of rendering or video editing I don't see the point. I don't think I'll change my proc until it dies. CPU's aren't all that important anymore for gaming. It's all about the GPU. CPU's also don't really matter for day to day tasks. As long as you have a halfway decent one, things will be smooth. So I would say don't upgrade.

 

[Kinimod]

I agree with darkseeker. I am still using an i7-920 and that handles everything I through at it. No bottlenecks at all (or that I've noticed). Why upgrade? Unless you are doing a lot of rendering or video editing I don't see the point. I don't think I'll change my proc until it dies. CPU's aren't all that important anymore for gaming. It's all about the GPU. CPU's also don't really matter for day to day tasks. As long as you have a halfway decent one, things will be smooth. So I would say don't upgrade.

I guess, I'm not really an expert on this kind of stuff. I surprise myself at this fact. I only know the basics, E.g. GPU for graphics, CPU for this and that etc.

I did post another thread on learning about the specs of the different pieces of hardware such as the CPU, GPU motherboard etc.

 

[BikerEcho]

So it's all gaming, eh?
Then it's better to save up for the next graphic card instead.

 

[Kinimod]

So it's all gaming, eh?
Then it's better to save up for the next graphic card instead.

My graphics card is actually pretty decent.

I use a GTX 760.