i5-2500 → Looking to Upgrade. E3-1280?

High on 21/08/2020 - 01:21

I'm looking for advise on upgrading.

Got the ASRock RX 5600 XT today. And with current i5-2500 I was surprised Horizon Zero Dawn did run at 1440p average 24fps with some compromises.

I'm looking for a cost effective option to upgrade, I found Xeon E3-1280 CPU on eBay (from China) around $90, which would fit on my mobo.
Bottleneck calculator shows bottleneck will improve significantly… Not sure about real world figures but anyhow..

i5-2500 72.39% bottleneck
e3-1280 37.98% ($90)
i7-3770K 25.03% ($180~)

Don't know about these Xeon CPUs, are these ok for gaming?

To upgrade further I would need new mobo as well, are there some cheap options you'd suggest? I don't mind 2nd hand at all.

Or I should wait for new Ryzens.. Would spend much more but future proof for sure.

TIA for all suggestions.

Computing Computer Component CPU Intel

Comments

  • smashman42 on 21/08/2020 - 01:52
    +1

    I upgraded my daughter's ivy bridge machine from i5 to locked i7 recently - if you have a Z series board the "locked" i7-3770 is slightly overclockable to like 4.1ghz and I paid about $130 delivered within Australia for mine, so you'd think it'd be a better idea than the totally locked down Xeon while still cheaper than the K variant that gets you closer to that buy a new board/chip/ram level of money (unless you don't have the Z series board of course, in which case the xeon would be basically the same as the non K i7)

    Edit: how "unlocked" the "locked" early non-k i7 is might depend on your specific board too, I was only pleasantly surprised after putting it in that I could overclock it & up the power limits a bit

  • Satirical on 21/08/2020 - 08:02
    +2

    The Xeon is going to take ages to arrive (3 months or more isn't uncommon…even my ePacket items are averaging 1.5-2 months). The 3770 as mentioned is probably the better option locally at $135 over the Xeon and better value than spending another $180 on the 3770K

    If you consider upgrading, getting a Ryzen 3 3100 for $169, B450 board for $108, and RAM for $90 would allow upgrading to more cores/4000 series later on but still $230 more than just your CPU upgrade option.

  • vinni9284 on 21/08/2020 - 09:24
    +1

    I would spend the $90 on an upgrade rather than a CPU, depending on your budget.
    I think your i5 system has done a pretty good job over the years so when it starts to slow down a little, just get a nice refresh.
    You can sell off your old mobo, RAM and CPU together as it would be easier to sell than just a CPU.
    Basically you have the GPU, and the case, HDD etc ready for the upgrade.
    Cheers

  • High on 21/08/2020 - 11:30

    Thanks for the suggestions :) Mine's a H67M so not much OC potential here I guess.
    In the end ordered an e3-1230v2 from Aliexepress as there's no real hurry here so can wait. US$57.5 epacket.
    Cheapest 3770 I could find at the moment is around $170 pick up, so some savings here :)

    • jasong on 22/08/2020 - 13:12
      +1

      My last gaming pc used that exact Xeon with a 7950 and I never had any issues. Have since upgraded but it still goes alright!

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