Gaming desktop refresh

[Grindspine]

I have been using the same Core i5 since about 2015, but was hitting a limit of a handful of games that I could not play with that processor.  In recent years, I had upgraded my RAM to 16 GB of DDR3 1600, upgraded the drives (Samsung EVO SSD 1TB, WD Velociraptor 1TB), but finally got around to a minor upgrade for the processor.  I am still using an old Ivy Bridge platform and frankly, between the silicone chip shortage and the pain of transferring recording software to a new platform, I opted for just a processor upgrade.

I found an oldie, but goodie i7-3770k, the best of the Ivy Bridge procs, and landed it in my old LAN box with some Gelid Extreme thermal paste and a Zalman copper cooler.  It still will be a bit of a bottle neck for the 2060, but at least I can play another generation of games without dropping over a grand on a new system.

[Grindspine]

New phone, higher res picture.  So far the PC feels a bit snappier with the new processor.  I can now run Skyrim at even more ridiculous resolutions with too many mods!

[Grindspine]

Okay, I think that this'll be the last update on my old desktop.

I got some cable sleeving so that I could tidy up the inside with some cable management for the larger PSU cables.  I also did a slight overclock, changing the BIOS ratio to 39, so that I am running 3.9 gHz, air cooled with that Zalman copper cooler at 43 degrees C at light load.  I have not done a proper stress test on it yet or seen how far turbo boost pushes it under load.

In the mean time, I upgraded my ASUS TUF gaming laptop to Windows 11 over the weekend.  Overall, I have already changed some dumb user interface tweaks that Microsoft chose to make.  Other than that, it looks about the same as Windows 10 for the light gaming and internetting that I do on that piece.

[Grindspine]

Here we go, this should be the last update until I am ready to build a new computer.  Here is a shot with the new Zalman cooler over the Core i7 processor along with the cable sleeving added.  I think that is about as much as I can do with this motherboard!  All potential is now tapped!

[CreepinDeth]

I love upgrading PCs. I think it's awesome that you're keeping it running regardless of the chip shortage. It's looking good! Should last you at least another 2 years.

I plan on upgrading my wife's PC from a 2 core Pentium processor to an i7 4770. Should give the computer a much longer life.

I will say this, once you get a contemporary CPU, that 2060 is going to fly. I went from a i7 4790 to a Ryzen 5 3600X and my GTX 1080 could do 4K in a lot of games all of a sudden.

At the very least, CPUs don't seem to be hit as hard as GPUs.

[Grindspine]

I figure that I have bled the last bits of upgradability out of this rig.  In a year or two, it'll be time to move to a DDR5 supporting platform!

[BLUEVOODU]

I somehow missed this post ... cool stuff @Grindspine   The 2060 is still pretty good. It's really only a generation behind the current generation... so it should have a good amount of life left in it.   

It's definitely looking good.  I'd love to do this again at some point.  I think I am going to stay laptops for awhile until I have more room for a desktop system.

It's interesting you're still rocking the velociraptor.  Once you get there and upgrade to m.2 nvme in the future... you're going to be blown away (I think).

[Grindspine]

I have an m.2 drive in the Asus laptop.  My main OS drive on this desktop is a Samsung Evo 850, which is getting close to as fast as SATA III can really get.  The Velocriraptor still loads Steam library games fairly well, but it is definitely not an SSD.

I have a third drive, mostly for media, a few overflow games, and sound sample libraries.  That is only a 7200 rpm Baracuda.  That spindle drive is significantly slower than the Velociraptor, even.  You can feel the latency while opening files.  It is strange, but the difference between 7200 rpm and 10k rpm feels bigger than the difference between 10k and SSD.  I mean, the SSD is definitely faster, but dropping back to Velociraptor does not feel so insanely slow as the 7200.

When I get to my next build, it'll be as much m.2 drive as is possible, only using the current SATA drives for backup, if anything.

[BLUEVOODU]

The nvme m.2 sata's are ridiculously fast.  There's no turning back from those anymore... just insanely fast.  Once you go that route, it's impossible to go back.