What would you upgrade of this setup?

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

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Joined
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Woking
Morning chaps,

So I'm running the following and (obviously) have been for a number of years without any major issues. I'm about to move it into a mini-ITX build, so as I'll have to get a new motherboard I need to consider what else might need upgrading.

CPU: Intel 2500K @ 4.4 GHz CPU
RAM: 16 GB DDR3 dual-channel @ 1600 Mhz
MB: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H (soon to go)
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 GAMING 4G (overclocked a bit, more when water cooled)
SSD 1: 120 GB (IIRC) Kingston thing
SSD 2: 240 GB (IIRC) OCZ Agility

My first inclination is to upgrade the CPU, but I did a little bit of digging last night and if I stick with the LGA1155 socket, I'm not really going to get much more power for my money. Nor am I sure that I need it as I really just use my PC for gaming.

I know I can't afford to upgrade the GPU, so that's staying.

I am finding my storage quite annoying. I might actually change to a large M.2 drive (maybe 1 TB) and stop running two SSDs. I was also running an HDD for a while which had loads of stuff on it, and that seems to have perished, so I'd quite like to replace that.

So, any thoughts?

EDIT: just seen that this might be better off in the Upgrade section. Could a mod move it please?
 
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What is your monitor resolution and Hz ?

What games are your key ones.. like say wanting to play new Flight sim which doesn't take advantage of more cores... Or new assassin's creed games which do eat up cores.

Straight away, 1TB SSD. M.2 also helps keep an ITX neat
 
orbitalwalsh said:
What is your monitor resolution and Hz ?

What games are your key ones.. like say wanting to play new Flight sim which doesn't take advantage of more cores... Or new assassin's creed games which do eat up cores.

Straight away, 1TB SSD. M.2 also helps keep an ITX neat
Click to expand...

Monitor resolution is 1920 x 1080 and 60 Hz. Main games I suppose are Warzone right now, but in more normal times Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Skyrim, some other RPGs are mostly what I play.

Agreed, I think the M.2 has to be on there.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Monitor resolution is 1920 x 1080 and 60 Hz. Main games I suppose are Warzone right now, but in more normal times Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Skyrim, some other RPGs are mostly what I play.

Agreed, I think the M.2 has to be on there.
Click to expand...

Depends on your budget ?... Able to stretch to 8 core ryzen or 6 cores on intel with high overclock then should last you a long time .
GPU, would wait till Xmas for rest of range to be released and see how pricing comes around with current gen cards .
Intel still has lead with 1080p gaming but news if 11th Gen drops beginning of Sept .
 
orbitalwalsh said:
Depends on your budget ?... Able to stretch to 8 core ryzen or 6 cores on intel with high overclock then should last you a long time .
GPU, would wait till Xmas for rest of range to be released and see how pricing comes around with current gen cards .
Intel still has lead with 1080p gaming but news if 11th Gen drops beginning of Sept .
Click to expand...

Budget is low. At a glance the M.2 is going to cost maybe £100, and a motherboard I could get second hand but I think it's still going to be £50-100. I

I'll also need a new PSU to fit into a tiny case, plus rads, fittings, tubing, pump, CPU block. I have the GPU block.

I'll be able to recover some money by selling what I have, but I reckon that'll only be in the order of £100-150.

What sort of price would I be looking at for either of those? Frankly, when I go and look for CPUs I have no idea what all the new stuff is. I'm still in 2011!
 
What case do you have does it need a sfx psu ?

Why watercool ? Put the money to components.

3600 £180
16gb 3200mhz teamgroup ram £56
MSI B450I GAMING PLUS AC (SOCKET AM4) MINI-ITX MOTHERBOARD £110
 
mickyflinn said:
What case do you have does it need a sfx psu ?

Why watercool ? Put the money to components.

3600 £180
16gb 3200mhz teamgroup ram £56
MSI B450I GAMING PLUS AC (SOCKET AM4) MINI-ITX MOTHERBOARD £110
Click to expand...

Interesting. I want to water cool to squeeze more out of the components I do have, particularly the GPU. I'm less fussed by the CPU as this seems to meet my needs.

I don't have a case yet but due to space in my "office", I want a much smaller computer. That in itself isn't expensive.

So you're suggesting I keep the GPU as-is, and upgrade more or less everything else. Seems like it would cost a similar amount....interesting.

Which CPU would you go for? I know you say 3600 but I believe there are quite a few different ones?
 
Gigabyte A520 is £100 and better designed .

Hunt for Ryzen 3500 6 core 6 threads. Should be £150 odd if you really need to save the cash !

9** GPUs you could sent a lot of volts to overclock them. But honestly against 1660 or 2060/5600 it's just easier to upgrade come Xmas time etc
 
orbitalwalsh said:
Gigabyte A520 is £100 and better designed .
Click to expand...

Is it mini itx ? Op wants to downsize

dirtychinchilla said:
Interesting. I want to water cool to squeeze more out of the components I do have, particularly the GPU. I'm less fussed by the CPU as this seems to meet my needs.

I don't have a case yet but due to space in my "office", I want a much smaller computer. That in itself isn't expensive.

So you're suggesting I keep the GPU as-is, and upgrade more or less everything else. Seems like it would cost a similar amount....interesting.

Which CPU would you go for? I know you say 3600 but I believe there are quite a few different ones?
Click to expand...

I'm just giving options, biggest performance gain is gonna be a new gpu.

A 1660 super s £210 Would be a massive upgrade from you 780.

But you also want to downsize which you say budget is tight.

If you happy with you cpu then its up to you if stay with it.

Case you really need to pick one especially if you want downsize mitx case because that has limitations on components sizes.

Way up the options and cost then decide which way to go.
 
I'd suggest waiting till you have the funds available to do a proper upgrade and maybe just adding a GPU in the mean time.
 
You may be right. What would you guys recommend for an M-ITX build then? I'm probably going to use the Ghost S1 and then try and cram some water cooling in somehow as well.

I guess I'll need a CPU, MB , RAM, PSU, M.2 drive, and a GPU. Ignoring the case...

I know it's the most sensible thing to do but I can't help but see the price just rocketing up into £6-800 which I definitely don't have. If I just change my motherboard and go small form factor with the watercooling, I can continue as I am with very little investment. Maybe just an M.2 drive and the watercooling kit for the GPU only.
 
Personally I think it all needs upgrading so you either do it bit by bit or save up and build a new rig. :)

Water cooling is a total waste money in this scenario for very little, if any, gains.
 
chroniclard said:
Personally I think it all needs upgrading so you either do it bit by bit or save up and build a new rig. :)

Water cooling is a total waste money in this scenario for very little, if any, gains.
Click to expand...

I think I can get more out of my GPU though.

I know what you mean...initially I could just upgrade the MB and CPU I suppose, but that's still £300 and I might get £100 for my existing stuff.
 
You might be able to overclock the GPU a tiny bit and get a few more FPS but its just not worth the outlay. Better off putting that money towards a new GPU that will drastically increase your performance.
 
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