Small upgrade possible, or need to go complete?

[Perscitus]

I'm looking to boost my performance, nothing too crazy. I've been playing PUBG and really don't like how choppy it's running, so it has motivated me to upgrade. Some of this stuff is pretty old so I know I have to change a bunch. What is a cheap (less than $350) option to get more out of this system... But more to the point, can I get away with a cheap upgrade? Or is it not really worth it and I should prepare to invest in a full upgrade?

 

Current system:

 

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge @ 3.3GHz
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5
G.SKILL Sniper Series (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB
Samsung 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s (SSD)
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R1
Samsung SH-S183L
Antec Nine Hundred
Silverstone SST-ST75ZF 750W

 

 

Update: Purchased GTX 1060 6GB :: Will be OC'ing CPU to ~4.5 GHz

Edited December 1, 2017 by Perscitus

[ccokeman]

A video card upgrade is going to be the biggest bang for your buck.  A GTX 1060 or RX 580 are in that price range.

[SpikeSoprano]

+1 with ccoke,your system still has lots of life in it for gaming, a gtx 1060 with 6gb of memory will do just fine for 1080 game playing. Plus you could oc that cpu to get even more speed from it.

[potatochobit]

hold on bro

that game is pretty crappy, it shouldnt be running choppy

 

the first thing you need to do is do an FPS check while the game is running

make sure it is actually dropping below 30FPS 

if not, it could be other issues like your monitor not in sync or too high settings in game

[Perscitus]

@potatochobit

Yeah, I know the game isn't optimized, and might be a bad example, but I have tried both high/low settings and it seems there is always a choppiness to the frames. Definitely not playing smooth. Destiny 2 is another I play, and that runs fine for the most part.

 

I'm mostly trying to see if I can get a little more out of this system so I can have less issue with PUBG and maybe squeeze out some extra frames on other games. The concern is that the hardware is dated, and I wanna be sure I can drop ~$300 and get something out of it while saving for a complete system in a year. Or if I should just hold my breath and prepare for a full new system.

Edited November 20, 2017 by Perscitus

[dihartnell]

I'm looking to boost my performance, nothing too crazy. I've been playing PUBG and really don't like how choppy it's running, so it has motivated me to upgrade. Some of this stuff is pretty old so I know I have to change a bunch. What is a cheap (less than $350) option to get more out of this system... But more to the point, can I get away with a cheap upgrade? Or is it not really worth it and I should prepare to invest in a full upgrade?

 

Current system:

 

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge @ 3.3GHz

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5

G.SKILL Sniper Series (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB

Samsung 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s (SSD)

Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R1

Samsung SH-S183L

Antec Nine Hundred

Silverstone SST-ST75ZF 750W

Upgrade the GPU, maybe look for a second hand 980, 980TI, r9-390, furyx etc.

 

 

 

Sent from my VIE-L09 using Tapatalk

[Dynamic]

I would first overclock that processor to at least 4.5GHz. I wouldn't go for a 1060, I would get a 1070 (big difference). No, it's not because I own one, but I think that processor would still bottleneck the video card, but it should give you more settings to go on. i.e: If you are running PUBG at medium settings, it should give you a performance boost that you need to run the game at High or maybe even Ultra settings. Plus the game will probably run at 60fps and if not, alittle higher. Then later down the line, you might want to upgrade the motherboard, cpu, and ram. 

[Perscitus]

@dihartnell I'm interested in this approach, might be able to get a decent enough vid card upgrade on the cheap and the OC shouldn't be a problem. do you recommend a specific source for acquiring second hand video cards? I have always purchased my components new. 

 

@Dynamic If I go 1070 the price jumps up, and out of the realm of what I would like to pay if I run with only upgrading the video card. I am pretty much prepping to get a complete new build... this will just be a hold over until then.

 

 

[EDIT: I was able to find an EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SSC GAMING, 04G-P4-6255-RX, 4GB GDDR5, ACX 3.0 for $130 :: It's lower performance than the GTX 1060, but the price seems decent, and feedback?]

Edited November 27, 2017 by Perscitus

[dihartnell]

@perscitus. Are you US based? Craig's list might be the place to try.

 

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Edited November 27, 2017 by dihartnell

[Perscitus]

@dihartnell Yes, right by NYC so craigslist is an option, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a website I was unaware of that was good for it. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by Perscitus

[dihartnell]

@dihartnell Yes, right by NYC so craigslist is an option, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a website I was unaware of that was good for it.

I'm not US based but when watching Linus Techtips on YouTube they use Craigslist to hunt down used parts they seem to get some great deals.

 

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[Perscitus]

Ended up getting the GTX 1060 6GB... I'll get enough use, and based on what I looked up from benchmarks, it was a worthwhile upgrade. Only thing to consider now is how much I should OC my i5-2500k.. any suggestions? Whats a good starting point? Going from 3.3 to 4.5 seems like a bit much, but I haven't OC'd in a few years..