Area-51 R2, possible CPU and ram upgrades

Question

I have an Alienware PC that I bought back in 2015 and I’ve upgraded the GPU a few times. I’m wondering what other upgrades I could do such as CPU and ram or upgrades cooler. The computer performs amazingly still after 5 years and keeps up with every game that has come out playing at 1080p.  My specs I know off hand:  CPU: i7-5820k Stock CPU cooler. I have 2 fans on the radiator in a push pull config. I have 3 front fans that are the stock fans. I'm putting in a MSI GTX 1660 6GB Ventus OC  I have 16GB 2133mhz 4gbx4 875 PSU that came with the PC. I also have the most recent bios 14  Thank you in advance

redxps630 · Answer

Some people upgrade cpu from Haswell-E to Broadwell-E which is the top Intel core cpu the motherboard can support. Not certain upgrade from i7-5820k to i7-6800k or 6820k will give you a significant boost in gaming. user benchmark shows only 2% improvement in gaming from 5820k to 6800k. https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-6800K-vs-Intel-Core-i7-5820K/3607vs2579 In terms of ram 16GB is more than enough. https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Area-51-R2-DDR4-Higher-than-2133-MHz/td-p/5553922 Your best chance of gaming boost is probably a more powerful graphic card. e.g., 1080 is 48% faster than 1660.

Broadwater · Answer

Thank you I will pick one up when I can they’re a little pricey right now for me. I also have a Radeon Rx 570 8gb OC idk if that’s better thank the 1660 OC. And what about a 2080 or 3080? Would they cause bottlenecking? Also what is the max Ram speed and amount I could use? Thank you again.

Broadwater · Answer

So the RTX 2080 will have no bottleneck? I would be fine with just a 2080. Also how come all the threads and cpu benchmarks I see the cpu is only turbo to 3.6 and on mine when I purchased it says 3.8? Has anyone taken the i7-5820k up to 4ghz?

redxps630 · Answer

Re: bottleneck. This is a crude estimate using online calculator. It gives you some idea but I would not hang my hat on it. I7-5820k. GTX 1080 or RTX 2080, no bottleneck https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-5820K/GeForce_GTX_1080/0BK0Uulu/16/100 https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-5820K/GeForce_RTX_2080/0BK12llu/16/100 RTX 3080 yes there will be bottleneck https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-5820K/GeForce_RTX_3080/0BK174lu/16/100/

redxps630 · Answer

Rx 570 is slower than 1660 https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1660-vs-AMD-RX-570/4038vs3924 A faster gpu gives you better future proof but costs more. 64-128 GB is max memory for X99. https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/128gb-ram-on-x99-platform-with-5820k-no-problem.222305/ 3200 MHz is about max ram speed for X99, but Dell OEM board is not as OC friendly as ASUS.

redxps630 · Answer

The online calculator assumes cpu and gpu at base frequency. Turbo is Intel transient boost of cpu frequency when needed, not user OC. https://www.techspot.com/review/1558-core-i7-5820k-test-in-2018/ No bottleneck with 2080. https://www.gpucheck.com/en-usd/gpu/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080/intel-core-i7-5820k-3-30ghz/ultra

Broadwater · Answer

Thank you Redxps630 for the info and help and links. I will pick up a 2080 when I can, hopefully soon. If I have anymore questions or problems I will post them to this thread. One more question should I get a base 2080 or get a 2080 Ti or something like that?

Broadwater · Answer

Ok thank you I will just get a regular or base RTX 2080.

redxps630 · Answer

2080ti is too fast for the cpu. https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-5820K/GeForce_RTX_2080_Ti/0BK12nlu/16/100

speedstep · Answer

I would want the 1500W power supply if I got 3080

Broadwater · Answer

Yeah I’m just going to get a regular RTX 2080 with the cpu I have and my 875watt power supply

redxps630 · Answer

You should be okay with one RTX 2080 and i7-5820k. The cpu under load power consumption is 270W when OC @ 4.6GHz. 2080 recommended psu is 650W.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1558-core-i7-5820k-test-in-2018/

Broadwater · Answer

Awesome thank you. Now I just have to save up for one

Broadwater · Answer

I have a quick question again on cpu upgrade paths. Would there be an 8core 16thread cpu I could upgrade to that is turbo and overclockable?

Broadwater · Answer

Awesome thank you. I’m just looking to make sure I get high steady FPS in games like destiny 2 and Fallout 76. I just got my msi gaming geforce gtx 1660 ventus xs OC. So I’m waiting to install that this weekend.

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