1700x PC Upgrade advice

2013 · 14 Nov 2022 at 17:59

Hi, I've been out of the loop regarding PC stuff for a couple of years, so not upto date with things.
Ill be honest ive not really faced any issues with my pc but I would like to keep my PC fairly upto date with things, so I dont need to drop a large sum of money all at once later but I'm unsure where I should start.

Current Spec:
CPU - AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
GPU - Powercolor RX 580 Red Devil/Dragon
Motherboard - Asus ROG CROSSHAIR VI HERO (WI-FI AC) AMD X370
Ram - Team Group Dark Pro 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4
Power Supply - XFX 850W
Cooling - Noctua U12S
Storage Drives - Samsung NVME SSD 980 1TB (Main)
Backup (6TB, 4TB)
Samsung 250GB SSD removed but considering keeping it as a games drive.
Monitor - Samsung SyncMaster 305T
Case - Phanteks Primo

Overall advice for the full PC.
Please let me know what you think.
Any advice would be much appreciated

Thanks

Tetras · 14 Nov 2022 at 18:43

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You can upgrade your graphics card reasonably affordably if you wanted to, the ASRock RX 6600 for £230 is a decent jump and should drop your idle power.

2013 · 15 Nov 2022 at 06:09

Tetras said:
You asked about the motherboard, right? My advice would be to keep it:

Does the Ryzen 7 5800X3D Work With B350 & X370 Motherboards?

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You can upgrade your graphics card reasonably affordably if you wanted to, the ASRock RX 6600 for £230 is a decent jump and should drop your idle power.

Thanks I was looking for advice on the overall pc. example would I need more ram, Graphic as you have suggested.

this does give me a good starting point

Tetras · 15 Nov 2022 at 06:20

2013 said:
Thanks I was looking for advice on the overall pc. example would I need more ram, Graphic as you have suggested.

this does give me a good starting point

What is it that you're finding slow, or what would you like to improve performance with? If you mainly play games, then what kind of games and resolution do you play at?

2013 · 15 Nov 2022 at 06:38

Tetras said:
What is it that you're finding slow, or what would you like to improve performance with? If you mainly play games, then what kind of games and resolution do you play at?

I'm not having many issues at all my ram usage has been below the 16gb, I dont play as many games like I use to nothing I really like.
the only issue I had was when I tried PC Building Simulator 2 and my pc fans and temp went sky high

The only reason I ask is because I've not looked in to things for some time and wanted to see what others thought,
I may as well ask and plan out things and you never know I may come across something over the next month (black friday deals but not expecting much) which I may end up missing if I don't know about it.

Haz123 · 15 Nov 2022 at 08:31

Your situation is actually quite simple and you are one of the AM4 jackpot winners. Update BIOS and put a 5600 (or 5700x/5800x if you do not want to lose cores) into your PC and away you go.

Anything with Building simulator in the title is almost guaranteed to be poorly optimized and run badly on even the greatest PC ever but it is a bad idea to gauge performance with games. You should check temps with HWmonitor whilst running a benchmark like Prime 95 or Cinebench R23 and with the later check your scores are within the expected range. You may just have had the cooler come lose so having a poor contact, repasting the cpu could fix your issues.

GPU - It is old and will be slow in pretty much everything. RX 6600 is not ideal for pcie 3 but you will more than double your graphical performance for £230. Another gpu to consider is Nv 3060ti FE when they are in stock.

If you have checked and are below full useage for ram then upgrading to 2x16gb 3600mhz cl14/cl16 may not make much difference so keep that as it is until you are fully saturating it in a game.

PSU - It may keep on ticking for next decade or could die tomorrow , no way of knowing but you can get a new one with 10 year warranty for approx £100.

SSD - 1 TB M.2 NVME pcie 3 SSDs are very cheap now so for well under £100 you can get a new boot drive. Swapping from a sata SSD to NVME is nowhere near as big as jumping from spinning rust HDD to SSD but it is a very cheap upgrade that will increase the general responsiveness of your PC.

2013 · 15 Nov 2022 at 16:45

Haz123 said:
Your situation is actually quite simple and you are one of the AM4 jackpot winners. Update BIOS and put a 5600 (or 5700x/5800x if you do not want to lose cores) into your PC and away you go.

Anything with Building simulator in the title is almost guaranteed to be poorly optimized and run badly on even the greatest PC ever but it is a bad idea to gauge performance with games. You should check temps with HWmonitor whilst running a benchmark like Prime 95 or Cinebench R23 and with the later check your scores are within the expected range. You may just have had the cooler come lose so having a poor contact, repasting the cpu could fix your issues.

GPU - It is old and will be slow in pretty much everything. RX 6600 is not ideal for pcie 3 but you will more than double your graphical performance for £230. Another gpu to consider is Nv 3060ti FE when they are in stock.

If you have checked and are below full useage for ram then upgrading to 2x16gb 3600mhz cl14/cl16 may not make much difference so keep that as it is until you are fully saturating it in a game.

PSU - It may keep on ticking for next decade or could die tomorrow , no way of knowing but you can get a new one with 10 year warranty for approx £100.

SSD - 1 TB M.2 NVME pcie 3 SSDs are very cheap now so for well under £100 you can get a new boot drive. Swapping from a sata SSD to NVME is nowhere near as big as jumping from spinning rust HDD to SSD but it is a very cheap upgrade that will increase the general responsiveness of your PC.

Thanks

The CPU is my first stop, 5800x is my first choice but all of them would be a upgrade for me, what ever comes my way really.
would the 3700x or the 3900x be worth considering ?

you are likely right PCBS2 is the only game ive had issues with, ill run Cinebench R23 to see.

GPU - I have no idea of the new GPUs so ill need to get some more information on them maybe checkout the graphics section
what the difference between the RX 6600 and the 3060ti

Cooling - Will Noctua U12S be ok to cool the new CPU or would I need a upgrade or AIO ?

RAM - Your right ill leave the ram till later I've not had any issues with it so lets move it to a later upgrade

PSU - Is on my list to upgrade but on the bottom for now since it still works and I can spend the cash on other upgrades.

SSD - I have a 1 TB M.2 NVME Samsung 980

Case - I do want a upgrade at some point just to give a new look and it will then look like a new pc as well.
No Idea what I want other than something smaller compared to the primo maybe a matx or a small full tower.

Monitor - Will upgrade at some point but I want to stick with around the same size 30-32 inch but they are not cheap.

tamzzy · 15 Nov 2022 at 16:55

2013 said:
The CPU is my first stop, 5800x is my first choice but all of them would be a upgrade for me, what ever comes my way really.
would the 3700x or the 3900x be worth considering ?

price dependent of course, but to be honest, if just for games, the 5600 for £140 is an excellent choice
the 3700x/3900x has to be substantially cheaper than that to be of any consideration at all

2013 said:
GPU - I have no idea of the new GPUs so ill need to get some more information on them maybe checkout the graphics section
what the difference between the RX 6600 and the 3060ti

3060ti is 35-40% faster than a 6600
if you have the budget, 5600 or 5700x (or 5800x only if it's nearly the same price as a 5700x) + 3060ti would be a nice combo to bring your pc to mid-high end 2022 specs

2013 said:
Cooling - Will Noctua U12S be ok to cool the new CPU or would I need a upgrade or AIO ?

is fine, leave it alone

2013 said:
RAM - Your right ill leave the ram till later I've not had any issues with it so lets move it to a later upgrade

correct leave it alone

2013 said:
PSU - Is on my list to upgrade but on the bottom for now since it still works and I can spend the cash on other upgrades.

leave it alone and no need to upgrade. most xfx psus (you haven't stated which model) are seasonic platforms so are of high quality (or at minimum, decent)
wouldn't bother wasting money needlessly

2013 said:
SSD - I have a 1 TB M.2 NVME Samsung 980

nice choice, again, no need to touch

2013 said:
Case - I do want a upgrade at some point just to give a new look and it will then look like a new pc as well.

no need to waste money yet, last in the "upgrade" path
phanteks primo still a very decent case after all these years

2013 said:
Monitor - Will upgrade at some point but I want to stick with around the same size 30-32 inch but they are not cheap.

you should get a 27inch 1440p monitor
you'd gain high refresh rate (ie look at the 144hz/165hz monitors) and also VRR which is very useful

no one makes 2560x1600 monitors for the consumer market anymore

Haz123 · 15 Nov 2022 at 16:55

2013 said:
Thanks

The CPU is my first stop, 5800x is my first choice but all of them would be a upgrade for me, what ever comes my way really.
would the 3700x or the 3900x be worth considering ?

I would say no. If you are upgrading with gaming performance in mind then you want a Ryzen 3 cpu like the 5600/5800x/5800X3D. They are considerably faster in games than Ryzen 2 3000 series cpus.

2013 said:
GPU - I have no idea of the new GPUs so ill need to get some more information on them maybe checkout the graphics section
what the difference between the RX 6600 and the 3060ti

It is complicated. RX 6600 is AMD and the best value gpu around but the 3060ti FE is significantly faster but only available directly from NV when they are in stock.

2013 said:
Cooling - Will Noctua U12S be ok to cool the new CPU or would I need a upgrade or AIO ?

Will be absolutely fine.

2013 said:
SSD - I have a 1 TB M.2 NVME Samsung 980

Sorry I thought EVO was the brand name for the sata ssds , my mistake and that is perfect for your needs.

2013 said:
Case - I do want a upgrade at some point just to give a new look and it will then look like a new pc as well.

Pick one you like. No rush for that and may be deals around Black Friday.

2013 said:
Monitor - Will upgrade at some point but I want to stick with around the same size 30-32 inch but they are not cheap.

Whole host of new monitors coming out in Q1 Q2 next year and I am hoping for a 5k2k 40" OLED with over 120hz but that may be wishful thinking on my part.

tamzzy · 15 Nov 2022 at 16:58

if you're going to buy new:
5600 (non-x) £140
3060ti FE £370
27inch 1440p 144hz monitor £250

this is where my money would go on upgrades
also remember you'd need a bios update before you can drop the new CPU in

2013 · 15 Nov 2022 at 18:18

tamzzy said:
price dependent of course, but to be honest, if just for games, the 5600 for £140 is an excellent choice
the 3700x/3900x has to be substantially cheaper than that to be of any consideration at all

Haz123 said:
I would say no. If you are upgrading with gaming performance in mind then you want a Ryzen 3 cpu like the 5600/5800x/5800X3D. They are considerably faster in games than Ryzen 2 3000 series cpus.

Thanks , my aim is still the 5800x but I dont think I can go wrong with any of 3 options.

tamzzy said:
3060ti is 35-40% faster than a 6600
if you have the budget, 5600 or 5700x (or 5800x only if it's nearly the same price as a 5700x) + 3060ti would be a nice combo to bring your pc to mid-high end 2022 specs

Haz123 said:
It is complicated. RX 6600 is AMD and the best value gpu around but the 3060ti FE is significantly faster but only available directly from NV when they are in stock.

next step would be the GPU both are good but it will come down to the price TBH

tamzzy said:
leave it alone and no need to upgrade. most xfx psus (you haven't stated which model) are seasonic platforms so are of high quality (or at minimum, decent)
wouldn't bother wasting money needlessly

I cant remember the model, I've had it for a few years now but its been working without issues, so I dont think I need a upgrade yet unless I see some sign telling me other wise, ill leave it till for a later upgrade.

tamzzy said:
no need to waste money yet, last in the "upgrade" path
phanteks primo still a very decent case after all these years

Agreed

Haz123 said:
Pick one you like. No rush for that and may be deals around Black Friday.

ill need to take a look whats available, it will be a later upgrade.

tamzzy said:
you should get a 27inch 1440p monitor
you'd gain high refresh rate (ie look at the 144hz/165hz monitors) and also VRR which is very useful

no one makes 2560x1600 monitors for the consumer market anymore

I will stick with what I have for now but my aim is around 30 inch (im gotten use to it)

Haz123 said:
Whole host of new monitors coming out in Q1 Q2 next year and I am hoping for a 5k2k 40" OLED with over 120hz but that may be wishful thinking on my part.

Good news ill keep a eye out, it will also give me time for the upgrade.

2013 · 15 Nov 2022 at 18:22

tamzzy said:
if you're going to buy new:
5600 (non-x) £140
3060ti FE £370
27inch 1440p 144hz monitor £250

this is where my money would go on upgrades
also remember you'd need a bios update before you can drop the new CPU in

Thanks thats me sorted for my upgrade options

im looking at both used and new options, where ever I can save some money and its worth going used.

thanks for the reminder ill update the bios ASAP so I don't forget.

tamzzy · 15 Nov 2022 at 18:27

2013 said:
I will stick with what I have for now but my aim is around 30 inch (im gotten use to it)

either way you'd be looking at a 27 or 32 inch 1440p monitor as there's no consumer 30 inch monitor

the pixel density is either 10% denser or sparser depending on which size you pick
i have both 27 inch and 32 inch 1440p monitors
your 305t is 100ppi, the 27 inch is 109ppi and the 32 inch is 92 ppi