Sunday 26 November 2017

Is 2018 The Year to Upgrade my Sandy Bridge?


so recently i've got the sudden infatuation with main computer tech that i've watched so many youtube videos by several tech pros and also read online from multiple sources on various CPU, MOBO, RAM & liquid cooling related stuff whenever i can. before moving on lets take a look at what i'm currently using and have been since 2011.. except for the casing, PSU and GPU upgrade later on.
don't mind the shady 500W PSU spilled some drinks accidentally on my Silver Certified Raider FSP 650W lol. so had to get a quick replacement sad stuff mate

oh and i also underclocked the GTX 960's clock speed and memory clock speed by 5% equally just for good measure. used the gigabyte OC guru 2 for underclocking the stock card and also because i don't really have the habit of pushing my rig till i hit a certain bottleneck whether be it CPU or GPU bound etc..

so basically i put this screenshot up for two things.. the ryzen 7 1700 and/or ryzen 5 1600 was such a pull for me to find some reason to upgrade my current rig on impulse. which i took great effort to resist lol. also because relatively speaking.. i don't reeaaaally need the extra cores and threads and cache etc. although i AM very enticed by all the cool RGB tech available now on motherboards, rams and liquid coolers etc 

second thing is just to show that i usually watch youtube at 1080p 60fps smooth as milk. i can tune it up to 1440p at 30fps if i want to but i haven't noticed any major differential between the two so it's not worth wasting my hardware's lifespan for like maybe 10% better quality on the pixels? but that's just me being a budget head haha

so this is currently the only game i play to destress and have fun. 101 is the max fps i can get in openGL mode in this counter-strike: condition zero game. but i wouldn't recommend running at this max fps if u're currently using the rig that i'm using. i mean i wouldn't wanna risk blowing up my almost 7 year-old CPU & MOBO eh? haha..

fps_max 77 is what i would set in console if i plan to play this game for about 2-3 hours. i would even lower it to 72 max if i plan to go at it for like 4-8 hours straight. obviously there's still room to listen to music/radio while playing this or even minimize to watch youtube when you're dead and waiting to spawn but i didn't include it in here cuz my brain was still at lunch u see lol..

oh and this game seems like it uses 2 cores mainly with the other 2 cores as backup prolly cuz it's a super old classic. i reckon the newer(well not really new tbh) counter-strike: global offensive uses up to four cores but obviously i'm not interested in learning new games right now cuz i've had enough back in the day and it's now more of a hassle than an entertainment to learn new games and get a kick out of it. but then again that's just me yea i'm not mainstream like that lol don't follow me! 

oh and at times i'll do video editing/content creation etc for my tiny little youtube channel and i feel that's the most taxing my computer gets as u can see from the "All CPU Meter" gadget at the top left area of this screenshot. this is just a sample of my latest penang pulse part 3 video. not only does my CPU die hit its max turbo speed on all four cores.. the small playback area of the editor isn't smooth and the line slider takes time to switch between cut up scenes etc. 

and if that isn't choppy enough.. it gets worse when i have to playback an area which has like two PIPs, text, music & some light effects etc that's the worst. plus if i don't playback a certain cut from the same position.. the sound goes off and doesn't match the proper scene anymore when i finish exporting the video into format for youtube. so it's loads of time used/wasted for longer playback or an alternative is to export the video in a lower quality just to see if it's fine etc.

rendering of video takes a while but that's fine cuz i can just go take a shower or grab a meal etc so how long it takes to complete exporting isn't a major turnoff for me.

so although it's not an everday thing.. content creation/video editing is still the most compelling reason for me to soft-look around for an upgrade on my sandy bridge i5-2400, gigabyte mobo and ddr3 ram. also maybe a new mid-tower case to replace my sharkoon t28 and another silver certified PSU for future proofing. i'm without question going to get RGB ram even tho it can only run at 2666mhz or 2933mhz it's totally fine for me. i jsut want that RGB cuz it makes my smile stay on longer on my face haha

so here are my options
1. save up for a ryzen 5 1600, r7 1700 or r5 2600 etc
more cores and threads but lower clock ceiling
can make use of the RGB stock cooler

2. save up for a coffee lake i5-8600k or i7-8700k etc
much better clock speed ceiling and quicker/snappier daily tasks
can get a CPU liquid cooler and finally say i own one lol

3. wait a little longer to see what's up by Q3 of 2018
can get my savings compounded for a more satisfying buffer in spending