PC went pop - fix / upgrade or new one, all thoughts welcomed

[jfp]

Morning all

Had a gaming PC that I got 13 years ago second hand and it finally went pop (assume it was a capacitor in the power supply). I was thinking of getting a new PC soon anyway as the one that just went pop couldn't have windows 11 due to not meeting the minimum spec (TPM2.0) and with windows 10 loosing updates come October, I wanted to get something that could stay up to date.

Purchase Timeframe:
Next 1-4 weeks

Budget:
£1500 but could increase if necessity / logic dictates

Usage:
MS office stuff, word, excel, powerpoint, MS teams, outlook
Possibly light screen recording, light video editing (up to 10 min clips but cutting bits out and adding audio, and audio editing cutting bits and pasting from audio to create custom soundtrack to fit a video

Preferences:
PC

Current Hardware:
Case: Xigmatek Midgard II with Window Case
Power Supply: Xigmatek Centauro 800W Power Supply (80 Plus Certified)
Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K Quad Core (3.4GHz, 8MB Cache, overclockable 4.4GHz+, Hyperthreading) Socket 1155CPU
Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (check case)
Graphics Card 1: MSI GeForce GTX 1070 QUICK SILVER OC RGB 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (upgraded to this card in 2017)
CardGraphics Card 2:None - space to SLI another gtx

)
Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1866MHz C9 Quad Channel Memory Kit (4 x 4GB)
Motherboard:Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 Motherboard (2x PCIe 3.0, 2 way SLI and 3 way Crossfire, 8+4+2 Xtreme VRM)
Hard Disk Drive One:Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SATA III 6Gb/s Solid-State Hard Drive
Hard Disk Drive Two:Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SATA III 6Gb/s Solid-State Hard Drive
Hard Disk Drive Three:Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green 32MB Cache SATA II Hard Disk Drive
Optical Drive One:Blu-Ray Reader & DVD-RW Combo Drive
Sound Card: Onboard HD 7.1 AudioMonitor:AOC - LED e2450Swda

Peripherals:
None needed (have keyboard, mouse, webcam, two screens)

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi):
None

I was playing games on the PC but did stop around 2020 and switched to using consoles and have just used the PC for work (MS office applications) have done a small amount of video and audio editing for work but worked fine for that. I imagine the PC was overkill for my end usage but did enjoy the fact that everything ran super fast with no slow down.

My work provided laptop is only 2 years old but do notice it not being as quick as my desktop, it is also heavily locked down so cannot install anything so really need my own thing for at home.

If needed I wouldn't be super against upgrading certain components but with them all being very old wasn't sure if it was worth it.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

 

[Craig_d1]

1) If you're not doing much gaming at all, and the pc works for you're needs just get a new psu

2) next stage is get new mobo/cpu/ram, and psu by the sound and prob a 2tb m.2 ssd, and put in existing case (if you used dvd drive etc as new cases don't have slots for them anymore)

3)final but most expensive is just build a new rig


did you get slow downs on your existing pc before it went caput..we have some older i7 7th gen in office and they're painfully slow for our office work..depending how much work you do, maybe a b850 mobo(£125-£150) with a 9600x (£188 on ocuk), 32gb ddr5 6000c36 ram (£80), air cooler (£25), 2tb ssd (£100-120), psu £75....if you get the itch to start gaming then look at a gpu, otherwise just reuse the gtx1070

 

[jfp]

1) If you're not doing much gaming at all, and the pc works for you're needs just get a new psu

2) next stage is get new mobo/cpu/ram, and psu by the sound and prob a 2tb m.2 ssd, and put in existing case (if you used dvd drive etc as new cases don't have slots for them anymore)

3)final but most expensive is just build a new rig


did you get slow downs on your existing pc before it went caput..we have some older i7 7th gen in office and they're painfully slow for our office work..depending how much work you do, maybe a b850 mobo(£125-£150) with a 9600x (£188 on ocuk), 32gb ddr5 6000c36 ram (£80), air cooler (£25), 2tb ssd (£100-120), psu £75....if you get the itch to start gaming then look at a gpu, otherwise just reuse the gtx1070

1) was thinking this but read that you have to be super careful with different PSUs and cabling, I also don't know currently if anything else broke in the process, also wanted something windows 11 compatible.

2) that is actually seems a good shout, I am not wedded to the disk drive or case, the case is fairly ancient but could always get a new case while I am at it or is that actually just a new rig? (no idea if I am missing any components there). Is the spec you posted a fairly good spec?

3) Happy with this one if it seems like the thing to do, never built a pc before but I am good with my hands and have tinkered with electronics before.

No slow down, literally pressed the power button to turn it on and it went bang and there was a burning smell, so turned it off at the back and the socket and took the plug out.

 

[Craig_d1]

1) was thinking this but read that you have to be super careful with different PSUs and cabling, I also don't know currently if anything else broke in the process, also wanted something windows 11 compatible.

2) that is actually seems a good shout, I am not wedded to the disk drive or case, the case is fairly ancient but could always get a new case while I am at it or is that actually just a new rig? (no idea if I am missing any components there). Is the spec you posted a fairly good spec?

3) Happy with this one if it seems like the thing to do, never built a pc before but I am good with my hands and have tinkered with electronics before.

No slow down, literally pressed the power button to turn it on and it went bang and there was a burning smell, so turned it off at the back and the socket and took the plug out.

9600x is the latest 6 core cpu from amd. it's efficient and more than enough for office. gaming wise it beats on average the 5800x3d so is more than capable of powering any game.
regarding psu, a modern modular psu with come with it's own cables etc, so no reusing existing ones
if you're not wedded to case etc and don't mind spending a bit more, could just go all out on new build...the bulk of the cost is already done with everything else. What resolution is the monitor you're using?..



below is a pc config for someone else within budget but...you can save on mobo (b850 eagle), change ram/cooler to non rgb, change case to more traditional etc...but something like that will be a great work pc, and for gaming the 9070xt will be 380% uplift on the 1070... you'll basically be able to game 4k if you wanted...at 1080p you'd prob be better getting an x3d cpu for gaming if playing things like fortnite or c0mpetetive shooters as the cpu will be worked hard, but 1440p and above, 9600x more than good enough and think would be better than a 7600x3d at office work
this all might be overkill for games you play, but if you're playing ps5/xsx etc, you'll probably want something as good minimum, and this is better
you can save on gpu if too much....it's not something to get , just an example...also what sort of vid ediing are you doing? and what software are you using to do it?

below will show you relative performance for 9600x in regard to vid editing

AMD Ryzen 9600X and 9700X Content Creation Review

AMD has released their new Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X. How do these compare to their last-gen counter parts and Intel's 14th Gen i5 and i7 parts?

www.pugetsystems.com

as for building...if you can build lego and follow instructions, building a pc isn't that hard.... i literally just helped my son's friend build....or my son did most of it, while i was on whatsapp with them, and they'd never built anything before

if you wan an nvidia card, I'd be tempted to wait for the super cards to come out as they have more vram on them...cheaper card i'd only consider a 5060ti 16gb which will be 240% uplift from the 1070, but apart from that you'd have to go up to a 5070ti for a 16gb card...but a 9070 non xt can be had for £500 and provide a 340% uplift

scroll o realtive performance chart..i've got the 1070 on 100% scroll up for new cards...so how you can see how a card compares etc

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Specs

NVIDIA GP104, 1683 MHz, 1920 Cores, 120 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 8192 MB GDDR5, 2002 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03856) = £190.00
• 1 x PNY XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-PNY-04561) = £79.99
• 1 x Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03983) = £599.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £131.98
• 1 x Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99
• 1 x MSI MAG A850GL 850W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-012-MS) = £104.98
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £36.95

Total: £1,402.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Craig_d1]

anyway, 1st decide if you just want to repair youre existing or itching to just replace your 13yrs old machine...if you are, then can go from there. atx mid size prob easiest to buid in but can go matx..then type of case, standard, goldfish bowl like above, dual chamber etc..you want rgb or non, and go pure performance and put all the money towards the cpu/gpu etc...nice thing about building your own is you can tailor it to what you want

also if vid editing is more a priority, the the intel 265k might be worth a look at

 

[Quartz]

I wonder if here we have a use case for the RTX 5050? Not for gaming but for the other parts of the Nvidia ecosystem - NV Broadcast, RTX Voice etc?

 

[Gray2233]

I wonder if here we have a use case for the RTX 5050? Not for gaming but for the other parts of the Nvidia ecosystem - NV Broadcast, RTX Voice etc?

Feels like a rough sell when the 8gb 5060 is barely any more expensive, at least from a quick glance on OCUK.

£230 for the 5050 vs £248 for the 5060 for in stock options. Even if I didn't game I'd still pony up the extra £18 in that scenario.

No idea how prices are elsewhere however, but the 5050 would need to be closer to £150 to even become a consideration imo.

 

[Quartz]

Feels like a rough sell when the 8gb 5060 is barely any more expensive, at least from a quick glance on OCUK.

Good point.

No idea how prices are elsewhere however, but the 5050 would need to be closer to £150 to even become a consideration imo.

Agreed.

 

[Gray2233]

Good point.

Damned shame tbh, if it had been a good chunk cheaper you might have legitimately nailed a good niche for the card.

 

[jfp]

anyway, 1st decide if you just want to repair youre existing or itching to just replace your 13yrs old machine...if you are, then can go from there. atx mid size prob easiest to buid in but can go matx..then type of case, standard, goldfish bowl like above, dual chamber etc..you want rgb or non, and go pure performance and put all the money towards the cpu/gpu etc...nice thing about building your own is you can tailor it to what you want

also if vid editing is more a priority, the the intel 265k might be worth a look at

Think it will be a replace, machine is super old. Case is looking a little worse for ware, feels like upgrading is the way forward

 

[jfp]

9600x is the latest 6 core cpu from amd. it's efficient and more than enough for office. gaming wise it beats on average the 5800x3d so is more than capable of powering any game.
regarding psu, a modern modular psu with come with it's own cables etc, so no reusing existing ones
if you're not wedded to case etc and don't mind spending a bit more, could just go all out on new build...the bulk of the cost is already done with everything else. What resolution is the monitor you're using?..



below is a pc config for someone else within budget but...you can save on mobo (b850 eagle), change ram/cooler to non rgb, change case to more traditional etc...but something like that will be a great work pc, and for gaming the 9070xt will be 380% uplift on the 1070... you'll basically be able to game 4k if you wanted...at 1080p you'd prob be better getting an x3d cpu for gaming if playing things like fortnite or c0mpetetive shooters as the cpu will be worked hard, but 1440p and above, 9600x more than good enough and think would be better than a 7600x3d at office work
this all might be overkill for games you play, but if you're playing ps5/xsx etc, you'll probably want something as good minimum, and this is better
you can save on gpu if too much....it's not something to get , just an example...also what sort of vid ediing are you doing? and what software are you using to do it?

below will show you relative performance for 9600x in regard to vid editing

AMD Ryzen 9600X and 9700X Content Creation Review

AMD has released their new Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X. How do these compare to their last-gen counter parts and Intel's 14th Gen i5 and i7 parts?

www.pugetsystems.com

as for building...if you can build lego and follow instructions, building a pc isn't that hard.... i literally just helped my son's friend build....or my son did most of it, while i was on whatsapp with them, and they'd never built anything before

if you wan an nvidia card, I'd be tempted to wait for the super cards to come out as they have more vram on them...cheaper card i'd only consider a 5060ti 16gb which will be 240% uplift from the 1070, but apart from that you'd have to go up to a 5070ti for a 16gb card...but a 9070 non xt can be had for £500 and provide a 340% uplift

scroll o realtive performance chart..i've got the 1070 on 100% scroll up for new cards...so how you can see how a card compares etc

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Specs

NVIDIA GP104, 1683 MHz, 1920 Cores, 120 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 8192 MB GDDR5, 2002 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03856) = £190.00
• 1 x PNY XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-PNY-04561) = £79.99
• 1 x Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03983) = £599.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £131.98
• 1 x Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99
• 1 x MSI MAG A850GL 850W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-012-MS) = £104.98
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £36.95

Total: £1,402.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Thanks for this, would there be anything wrong with re-using my current 1070 for now? And then can upgrade that as and when the need arises?

 

[Craig_d1]

Thanks for this, would there be anything wrong with re-using my current 1070 for now? And then can upgrade that as and when the need arises?

yup, no issue youreusing the 1070
by way, worth shopping around a little..put the psu as available for £97 elsewhere, and for £110 you can get the level up with A850G (not the gl)..comes with a 10yrs warranty rather than 7 on the GL above. same place have the9600x at £173 also. I do like getting some componenets from here though. OCuk does have good service(or has for me), but still different shops have diff sales on at diff times etc

 

[jfp]

Might sound like a daft question, but if I am going with the build above, is there anything stopping me getting the power supply now to get my blown pc up and running (assuming nothing else got taken out with the power supply) and then buying the other components next month (had a large car bill this month)?

 

[jfp]

yup, no issue youreusing the 1070
by way, worth shopping around a little..put the psu as available for £97 elsewhere, and for £110 you can get the level up with A850G (not the gl)..comes with a 10yrs warranty rather than 7 on the GL above. same place have the9600x at £173 also. I do like getting some componenets from here though. OCuk does have good service(or has for me), but still different shops have diff sales on at diff times etc

Awesome, thanks. Feels like reusing my old card feels like a good decision if I am currently not gaming on it and can always upgrade that if it ever becomes a bottleneck in the future

 

[Craig_d1]

Might sound like a daft question, but if I am going with the build above, is there anything stopping me getting the power supply now to get my blown pc up and running (assuming nothing else got taken out with the power supply) and then buying the other components next month (had a large car bill this month)?

nope, that was my option 1 (had to go back and check ). The one I listed above is available for £99.99 elsewhere if you look, or they have the more premium MSI MPG A850G for £109.99. the 1st comes with a 7yrs warranty, the latter with a 10yrs warranty(on ocuk they £104.99 and £130 atm). On ocuk there's also the phanteks AMP GH850W 80plus for £104.99 also which has a 8 yrs warranty. You'll need a bit more patience with this one as the cables are all individually sleeved and loose so without a bit of time sorting can look a little messy (but conversely can looknice if you spend the time sorting)

 

[mickyflinn]

£80 gets you the Montech Century II 850W PCIE 5.1 80+ GOLD Fully Modular ATX3.1

Reviews well.

 

[Tetras]

Might sound like a daft question, but if I am going with the build above, is there anything stopping me getting the power supply now to get my blown pc up and running (assuming nothing else got taken out with the power supply) and then buying the other components next month (had a large car bill this month)?

If you do this, I'd make sure the PSU has a -12v rail.