Gents,

 

I have a 5 year old machine (which was pretty much state of the art back then;-) with a GIGABYTE Z68X-UD4-B3 INTEL Z68 SLI/CROSSFIRE DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 LGA 1155 1 motherboard and was wondering if it's worth upgrading to the following:

 

CPU- I'm on a tight budget so it needs to fit this above board. I've found the fastest processors this board will take are the I7 2700K and I7 3770k (I do plan on overclocking) - wich is better for FSX?

 

Does anyone know what ram I should/can get with this old MB (currently 8 GB corsair 1600 DDR3

 

Last, but not least, if you believe the above upgrades will give me a performance boost, what GPU would you recommend, again biggest bang for your buck type of GPU would be preferable.

 

I'm running win 7 64 on a dedicated flight sim (FSX) pc, get pretty decent performance in pmdg products, but the current processor (I5-2500K) struggles if I throw in some harsh weather, payware airports and AI.

 

Thanks for your help in advance,

Pete

What's your budget exactly?

I was hoping between $500- $800.

I was hoping between $500- $800.

 

 

Ok, what's your current GPU? I would suggest a full upgrade rather than trying to find a 2600K or 2700K.

 

For nearly 1000 you can get something like this, you can drop down to lower components to save money of course.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING 3X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($122.89 @ OutletPC) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($92.99 @ Newegg) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card  ($419.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $964.86

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-06 21:02 EST-0500

What speed is your 2500K running? Your CPU should comfortably overclock to well over 4GHz.

 

Investing $500-$800 improving your current system is mostly a waste of money. Apart from the GPU, nothing will be usable in any future system. As sizziano says, for not much more than your current budget you could build a great system, especially if you go for an i5-6600K. You may also need to factor in a new PSU, depending on what you currently have.

 

If you want to start upgrading now but don't want to the whole system route, just get a GTX 1070 as this will work well with any future upgrades. However, depending on your current GPU it may not improve performance but should give a better image.

Yep, agree with the lads.

What speed is your 2500K running? Your CPU should comfortably overclock to well over 4GHz.

 

Investing $500-$800 improving your current system is mostly a waste of money. Apart from the GPU, nothing will be usable in any future system. As sizziano says, for not much more than your current budget you could build a great system, especially if you go for an i5-6600K. You may also need to factor in a new PSU, depending on what you currently have.

 

If you want to start upgrading now but don't want to the whole system route, just get a GTX 1070 as this will work well with any future upgrades. However, depending on your current GPU it may not improve performance but should give a better image.

 

I agree with this statement..I just went through the same dilemma and thought I could piecemeal my PC into getting the results I wanted. However, through talking to people and getting advice from others here in these forums, I quickly realized I would be wasting money by essentially putting a band-aid on a cut that needed stitches.

 

As Mike Holmes says, "If you're going to do it right, do it right the first time." My advise would be save some more money and build your system for the future. I just completed building a new rig and I love the results I am getting. For example, I am now finally able to max my sliders and run the PMDG 737NGX or Carenado's Phenom 100 with all my add-on sceneries with ActiveSky 2016 without a glitch.

Thanks for all your advice guys, I was afraid that it won't be worth it. However, the $1,000 option replacing the most important parts sounds appealing. My only problem is, I have never assembled a PC in my life.......

 

Cheers,

Pete

for the same price you might as well buy the newest 7600k or 7700k.on newegg the 7700k and the 6700k are the same price

Thanks for all your advice guys, I was afraid that it won't be worth it. However, the $1,000 option replacing the most important parts sounds appealing. My only problem is, I have never assembled a PC in my life.......

 

Cheers,

Pete

 

It's incredibly easy! Here are some videos to get you started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZUYymbCH1w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIF43-0mDk4&t=3s

Agree, if you can connect your DVD player to your TV, you can assemble a PC. The principles are exactly the same: just connect/plug the right parts together, that's all. 

Count in the upgrade price for a Windows 10 license if you're going to a Skylake processor.  Microsoft indicated limited support for Windows 7 and 8 with the newer generation processors.

 

Not sure if or when it will come to pass, but the comment has been made.

Carey Holzman is on eof my favoite youtubers who helped me a lot and gave me the confidence to build my current PC with ease.  It is really not as bad as you would think.

 

Carey Holzman is on eof my favoite youtubers who helped me a lot and gave me the confidence to build my current PC with ease.  It is really not as bad as you would think.

 

 

Yeah Carey is awesome, here is a more recent one that might be more relevant: