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Worth the effort of an upgrade?

Musty Pie

Musty Pie

Musty Pie

Soldato
Joined
6 Jan 2009
Posts
6,488
Location
Hertfordshire
Currently have an I9 9900k chip running in an Asus motherboard with 32GB of DDR4 RAM (cant remember the speed off the top of my head) and a 2080 - not much by todays standards but it has done me fine for casually gaming on a 1440p 165hz monitor but mainly use the PC for normal tasks, and general office work when working form home 2 days a week.

Ive been offered, for free (the crucial part) an I7 12700k CPU, and can get a decent motherboard for it too (also free)

I would need to use old parts from my PC (2080 / M.2 ssds & 2.5 inch SSDs) upgrade my RAM etc.

Question is, is it worth the faff of a full strip down, rebuild and reinstall of the OS etc? Ive been out of the hardware game for quite some time, so im not sure if its worth the effort. Ive also been toying with the idea of downsizing my current case (Corsair 750D) as im no longer using all the space for HDD/SSDs etc. since setting up a NAS

Any thoughts would be welcomed, and suggestions on decent RAM if its even worthwhile upgrading
 
I would just to move onto a more recent platform, it's only going to cost you the price of a motherboard and time ,which is recouped by selling your old stuff.

Not a massive uplift in gaming.

 
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A free motherboard and 12700K? Hell ya, its always abit of a pain to do the upgrade but its worth it and unless the RAM is something at/above 3200mhz it should be fine.
 
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ah I thought the free mobo for the 12700K was DDR4 and going by your comment you need new RAM so its a DDR5 motherboard?
 
Musty Pie said:
Yeah its a DDR5 Motherboard!! So will need to look at a good mid ground kit of DDR5.
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If you're looking for an upgrade on the 32GB you have now, Crucial do cheap kits of 48GB and 64GB. They're a bit slow, but since the whole lot was free, wouldn't bother me. 12th gen can't do massive speeds anyhow.
 
Ive had corsair ram for so many years in this and previous builds. I was inclined to stick with them looking at 32 / 64 gb kits of ddr5 at around 6000mz? Would that be a good place to start?
 
Musty Pie said:
Ive had corsair ram for so many years in this and previous builds. I was inclined to stick with them looking at 32 / 64 gb kits of ddr5 at around 6000mz? Would that be a good place to start?
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Yeah, ~6000 is usually plentiful and decent value, though many kits are AMD EXPO at this speed 'cos that's what AM5 likes.

Is the board 2 or 4 slot?
 
Tetras said:
Yeah, ~6000 is usually plentiful and decent value, though many kits are AMD EXPO at this speed 'cos that's what AM5 likes.

Is the board 2 or 4 slot?
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found a boxed unused kit on local marketplace of this for £100 with some fans and some CPU paste - Reasonable? or worth it to look for a "new" direct from retailer?
 
Musty Pie said:
ROG MAXIMUS Z790 DARK HERO
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That's a very high-end board for free!

Musty Pie said:
found a boxed unused kit on local marketplace of this for £100 with some fans and some CPU paste - Reasonable? or worth it to look for a "new" direct from retailer?
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Hmm, if you need the fans, I guess? But, £100 is a price you could get 32GB new (direct), unless the fans are something good.
 
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Yeah very lucky on the motherboard and CPU front, which is why I cant really say no!

Marketplace offering was as follows:

1x Corsair VENGEANCE RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s Memory
2 x NZXT F120 RGB 120mm RGB Fan Black
1 x Artic MX-4 Thermal Compound

Could probably knock then down a bit - but yes I thought the same in regards to brand new.

Also not sure if now is the time to look at a better m.2 OS drive also not looked at the prices of these in such a long time.
 
If you are buying new drives don't bother with pci-e 5.0 drives as they are overpriced and run hot plus you will not notice any speed difference outside of benchmarks. I can't tell the difference between my gen 3 and gen 4 drives unless I bench them.
 
Musty Pie said:
2 x NZXT F120 RGB 120mm RGB Fan Black
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I'm not much for fans, but from what I can see, they're not cheap. So, if you want the fans anyway it is a good deal.

Musty Pie said:
Also not sure if now is the time to look at a better m.2 OS drive also not looked at the prices of these in such a long time.
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Prices are fine at the moment, nothing special, but not bad either.
 
I think to get any use out of the RGB I think they need an independent controller.

Toying with the idea of a new case too. My 750d is so old and on the larger side now most my big drives are in a NAS these days.
 
Ive plumped on a B-grade LianLi 011 Air - i almost went for a brand new one, but seeing as im trying to keep the cost down, and it will be a good downsize / refresh for my old 750D, seemed a good buy for £60!
Managed to get the marketplace RAM / Fans and CPU paste for £70 so thats not a terrible deal (1x Corsair VENGEANCE RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s Memory / 2 x NZXT F120 RGB 120mm RGB Fan Black/ 1 x Artic MX-4 Thermal Compound)

The only thing im stuck on is a decent M.2 main OS drive to choose now - I don't need Gen 5 really, and ill tansfer over most my old ones over (2x m.2 older drives dont even know the gen) and 2x 2.5 SSD's ....
 
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