Worthwhile new PC cost coming from 2011 iMac?

snow patrol

snow patrol

snow patrol

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Hi all,

I have a 2011 imac, 3.4ghz i7, 16 gig, external ssd boot drive. It kind of does the job for the most part although obviously i can't do any gaming on it which is something i'm missing a bit.

Given that 7 years seems a decent amount of time to have stuck with one system, i've recently been considering upgrading to a new system. However, macs are so expensive that i think i'd rather go down the PC route, especially for easy upgradeability in the future and for a bit of gaming.

How much would i likely need to spend to get a worthwhile upgrade that can game at 1440p? I do already have a dell 27" monitor alongside, though i'd likely want another one...

Also, i'd need my thunderbolt drives to be able to work on the PC - is this likely to be an issue? Thanks!
 
When you say gaming at 1440p, what are your expectations at ultra settings? 30fps? 60fps? 100fps? Is there anything else you use the computer for? As that would determine the type of CPU and amount of RAM that would be recommended as well.

Also, Thunderbolt I believe is Intel proprietary so you would have to have an Intel system. Which is a shame because AMD's Ryzen are by far and away the better value for money. I take it the thunderbolt drives are external drives right?

It's easier for you to have a budget of the average/max you want to spend (and what it needs to include i.e with monitor or without) and ask someone to build around that. Because someone could spec you a system for £500 and someone else could spec you a system for £3000 and both could match your current request list without extra info. No point someone wasting their time to spec you say a £1500 system for you to turn around and say "I only want to spend £700".
 
given its 2 different architectures ie a mac and windows, if you want to do a big of gaming from time to time, why dont you just keep the mac and buy a windows pc just for gaming? i dont know how imac works, but with windows AIO systems you can use them as a screen for another device, maybe that could be a short term option if it works?
 
twistedheat said:
When you say gaming at 1440p, what are your expectations at ultra settings? 30fps? 60fps? 100fps? Is there anything else you use the computer for? As that would determine the type of CPU and amount of RAM that would be recommended as well.

Also, Thunderbolt I believe is Intel proprietary so you would have to have an Intel system. Which is a shame because AMD's Ryzen are by far and away the better value for money. I take it the thunderbolt drives are external drives right?

It's easier for you to have a budget of the average/max you want to spend (and what it needs to include i.e with monitor or without) and ask someone to build around that. Because someone could spec you a system for £500 and someone else could spec you a system for £3000 and both could match your current request list without extra info. No point someone wasting their time to spec you say a £1500 system for you to turn around and say "I only want to spend £700".
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info - i certainly wasn't aware about the intel/thunderbolt thing. I suppose i wouldn't really want to spend more than a grand, which is why in fact, ExoMale's suggestion of having a separate (small) pc just for gaming is certainly a tempting one.

The thunderbolt drive is external (i mistakenly thought i had two, but it's just the one).

What i'm now thinking is a small form factor pc below my desk, which would have very good upgrade potential, but be good enough to game at 60fps at 1440 (or maybe 1080 for really demanding games), but that i could upgrade in a couple of years for newer games. As such i wouldn't need an extra monitor, so i'm thinking such a thing could be possible for 750/1000? (already got a mouse and keyboard!)
 
ExoMale said:
given its 2 different architectures ie a mac and windows, if you want to do a big of gaming from time to time, why dont you just keep the mac and buy a windows pc just for gaming? i dont know how imac works, but with windows AIO systems you can use them as a screen for another device, maybe that could be a short term option if it works?
Click to expand...

i like this idea! see above :)
 
So I'd probably go something like this:

It doesn't include a case as that would be a personal choice, and the motherboard is a regular sized one but if you wanted your case to be small form factor you could just change the motherboard for a small form factor one as well. Bear in mind you'd want to know the dimensions of the graphics card and the case prior to make sure it fits. But you can use the below as a base from which to make changes.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £918.54 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​
 
keeping with the Ryzen as above, i mocked up a smaller version, but with a nvidia graphics card and because this is a 2nd system, went with a single 500gb of high quality fast m.2 nvme solution, the case is subjective, just included one to complete the build and to tally the costs

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £998.15 (includes shipping: £12.30)



edit: i didnt purposely choose itx, just neither of the b450 m-atx boards are in stock or least under £100.​
 
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I went AMD with mine as OP said it's likely he'll want a second monitor, and freesync is so much cheaper than gsync I think anyone getting both a GPU+Monitor is better off going AMD+Freesync.

That said, if OP doesn't end up getting a new monitor than the 1070ti is a great card, and being a mini version will make it so there is likely zero issues in fitting inside of a small form factor case.
 
twistedheat said:
I went AMD with mine as OP said it's likely he'll want a second monitor, and freesync is so much cheaper than gsync I think anyone getting both a GPU+Monitor is better off going AMD+Freesync.

That said, if OP doesn't end up getting a new monitor than the 1070ti is a great card, and being a mini version will make it so there is likely zero issues in fitting inside of a small form factor case.
Click to expand...

while that is true and sort of the reason i got my 570 aside from nvidia being more expensive, freesync monitors are cheap as per one im looking to buy, i was giving the OP the option incase they wanted green team.

i suppose for the OP sake it would depend on when they would likely get a new screen as if its not for 6-12 months for example, im sure a g-sync monitor be more affordable to them otherwise if its shorter then yeah radeon + freesync cant be beat.
 
thanks guys - really appreciate those. I've heard good things about the 1070ti. I may hold off on getting a proper gaming type monitor for now though.
 
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