Build or Prebuild?

[QlimaxUK]

EDIT: Original Discussion has changed, read on for details

 

[tamzzy]

your current computer is still fine. don't know why you'd want to upgrade the whole system.
the only thing that needs changing to keep up to date is the gpu, and get an ssd.
if you haven't already done so, get an aftermarket cooler and overclock that 4790k.

 

[Bickaxe]

^This.

I have a very similar set up albeit I use SSDs (m2 as boot drive) and now have a 1070. Not struggling with anything @1440.

Can't see any reason to upgrade for another year at least.

 

[EsaT]

Another quad core would make -273C worth of sense!

"Fifth gen" Broadwell was just tiny tweak and didn't even come to desktop.
"Sixth gen" Skylake was small incremental improvement.
"Seventh gen" Kaby Lake was renamed Skylake with little more clocks.
And "eight gen" Coffee Lake is more of Skylake cores.
Released to hide the fact that Ryzen surprised Intel with its pants down licking its own balls...
After Intel had kept consumers limited to four cores for whole decade.

And because of Intel artificially limiting compatibility (to sell more chipsets) you couldn't even upgrade Coffee Lake CPU to Kaby Lake motherboard.
While AMD has confirmed current motherboard/socket to be usable up to 2020.
Meaning next year's notably improved Zen2 architecture CPUs made with also better for high performance use 7nm process are easily upgradeable to current PC.


That Zen2 or if Intel actually manages to pull out something which is actually improvement would be lot better update moment.
Also by then maybe you wouldn't have to pay more for 16GB of memory than what you likely paid for your current PC.
(you want 2x8GB dual channel kit at decent speed instead of slow left over not wanted by anyone)

And neither is it exactly that good time to buy new graphics card at the moment.
Because in practise you would be paying more like £550+ for GTX 1070.
Which might well be less performance per £ than in your current!
Finding/getting any better performing graphics card at even remotely near RRP is simply pipe dream at the moment.

Upgrading any of those would simply give very little lasting value of any kind for the price.
Especially when you apparently don't have "money growing on trees".

Myself managed to fortunately snatch Vega 64 at good price in end of November, but after that I don't really have much plans to update from i7 Haswell with the current memory pricing.
Maybe if Zen+ brings some clock speed improvement on AMD side that might make me update.

Corsair 750w CX Modular

But that's something I would start swapping.
Despite of brand illusion CXes are cheap low end PSUs and shouldn't really be considered worth the PR rating on sticker.

I would trust this lot more than that cheap production Corsair:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-05p-ss.html
And 650W would be enough for most single graphics card gaming PCs:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-05q-ss.html

And unlike most parts at the moment quality PSU is something which keeps its value.

 

[Smash&Dash]

nononononononononononono why buy a new system when ALL current processors are vulnerable to spectre and meltdown.

plus you have a 4790k, oc that beauty to 4.5ghz+ and there will barley be a difference between that and the skylake/kabylake chip's in game's. then you can get whatever 6-8 or 10 core chip intel releases in the meantime that have the vulnerability's ironed out.

thats what im doing anyway , i went from 4670k to 4770k. now im waiting to double my core count on a mainstream platform before i upgrade.

 

[QlimaxUK]

But that's something I would start swapping.
Despite of brand illusion CXes are cheap low end PSUs and shouldn't really be considered worth the PR rating on sticker.


And unlike most parts at the moment quality PSU is something which keeps its value.

Wait what?!?

Thing is I have been having power cut issues when running demanding games such as GTA5 with the worst being PUBG where I have had to slam the graphics settings to low just to make it not power cut and I know that its not an overheat issue as the GPU only gets to about 50/60 range with these lower settings and other games such as ETS2 I can keep the settings high allowing for higher temps <70c without any power issues however it can still happen with this game when playing the MP mod and only when in a crowded player traffic area while on this mod.. now I blame/assume its the 970 GPU at fault for this but could it actually be the PSU causing this or bit of both so if I just buy a new 1070 GPU should I also get a new PSU too? I was just going to get the GPU on its own and then test and if it still happened then maybe try a new PSU?

As for new system idea part the reason is that I need to replace my backup rig which is an aging Q6600, 4GB RAM, GTX 660 which has its own problems such as a bios fault so I have to manual select the boot drive at power on each time, I also read that with GPU prices being so high right now it 'can' work out cheaper to find a pre-built with the required GPU installed but I don't think this option is going to work out so I think just a new GPU for now will be good and maybe a new PSU?

 

[EsaT]

Thing is I have been having power cut issues when running demanding games such as GTA5 with the worst being PUBG where I have had to slam the graphics settings to low just to make it not power cut

As for new system idea part the reason is that I need to replace my backup rig which is an aging Q6600, 4GB RAM, GTX 660 which has its own problems such as a bios fault so I have to manual select the boot drive at power on each time

Sudden "hard"/instant shut downs of PC are sign of possible failing PSU struggling under load.
And cheap PSUs are pretty much built to fail.
Especially in lots of usage hours "power" use wouldn't trust cheap PSUs like Corsair CX to be reliable more than 3-4 years.
One or two CX models have even failed to delliver PR rating as new.


And PC having "amnesia" for things like boot settings hints toward empty "BIOS"/RTC battery.
Try replacing that to old PC.
Should be CR2032.

 

[C-Roy]

your current computer is still fine. don't know why you'd want to upgrade the whole system.
the only thing that needs changing to keep up to date is the gpu, and get an ssd.
if you haven't already done so, get an aftermarket cooler and overclock that 4790k.

Sound advice.

 

[QlimaxUK]

Sudden "hard"/instant shut downs of PC are sign of possible failing PSU struggling under load.
And cheap PSUs are pretty much built to fail.
Especially in lots of usage hours "power" use wouldn't trust cheap PSUs like Corsair CX to be reliable more than 3-4 years.
One or two CX models have even failed to delliver PR rating as new.


And PC having "amnesia" for things like boot settings hints toward empty "BIOS"/RTC battery.
Try replacing that to old PC.
Should be CR2032.

So it might not be my GPU at all then? I just figured that given the 970 has the whole thing with only having 3.5 GB memory instead of the 4 GB that it should have, that maybe this card was faulty in other areas such as power draw.. so does this mean that for once nVidia are actually NOT to blame this time!

and thanks for advise on the battery, one thing I have never done before despite building a small handful of PC's for my personal gaming use is that I have never replaced a motherboard battery, I knew that this is a common problem for older boards, just that I have always found that by the time the battery needs replacing the system has gotten obsolete and requires a full upgrade anyway but I may look into fixing it instead

So what PSU's should I be looking at and how am I meant to tell whats good anymore, I remember about 10 years back on these forums the Corsair brand used to be the only option that the community would ever recommend and every other brand was 'just not worth the risk' but its seems things have changed a lot now and Corsair have lost a lot of trust, crazy to think about it really.

 

[tamzzy]

Corsair have lost a lot of trust, crazy to think about it really.

and not to mention the corsair tax.
i can't pinpoint the fault of your computer, but if you're looking change the psu -

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Bitfenix Formula Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £69.95

Total: £80.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)​

​

on a "this week only" special. best bang-for-buck psu currently on ocuk

 

[EsaT]

So it might not be my GPU at all then? I just figured that given the 970 has the whole thing with only having 3.5 GB memory instead of the 4 GB that it should have, that maybe this card was faulty in other areas such as power draw.. so does this mean that for once nVidia are actually NOT to blame this time!


So what PSU's should I be looking at and how am I meant to tell whats good anymore, I remember about 10 years back on these forums the Corsair brand used to be the only option that the community would ever recommend and every other brand was 'just not worth the risk' but its seems things have changed a lot now and Corsair have lost a lot of trust, crazy to think about it really.

Only way for graphics card to really draw abnormally much power without triggering some thermal throttling would be short circuit.
And obviously PSU wouldn't allow PC to start after that.
Unless short circuit current was high enough to burn away that shorted component like one phase of VRM.

First Corsairs were made by Seasonic and even first lower priced model (VX450) used quality capacitors.
Then Corsair added CWT's high end platform based PSU.
But after that Corsair started expanding to standard cheap low end PSUs using brand image to sell them.
Mostly from CWT.
Likely because Seasonic simply seems to be rather unwilling to build PSUs with cheap capacitors.

Ever since reviews started looking into inside of PSUs basically every single Seasonic, except maybe one or two very cheap ones, have used high quality capacitors.
And now with internal design/component layout likely made also for easy manufacturing Focus Plus PSUs aren't even any pricier than other high quality PSUs, but the opposite.

 

[QlimaxUK]

So I have a new shopping list:

GPU: at least a 1070 but will settle for 1060 6 GB if the price is right (<£300) budget maybe 400-500 for 1070 or 1070ti
PSU: Got the 750 CX now so need something to replace that if required with new GPU
HDD: 2 TB HDD

Side list: also need a CR2032 battery for older PC, have been looking online but I find the delivery costs are very high just for a little battery so need to know where to look, maybe a shop or somewhere that has free delivery


Now I don't intend to buy this stuff right now I can wait (maybe April) but any input will be great thanks...

 

[lee32uk]

Your best bet for the battery is on the auction site. Loads on there with free delivery.

 

[tamzzy]

Side list: also need a CR2032 battery for older PC, have been looking online but I find the delivery costs are very high just for a little battery so need to know where to look, maybe a shop or somewhere that has free delivery

you can get them from the rainforest, 2 for just over £1 - with free delivery

 

[Habakkuk]

Can confirm, got a dozen CR2032 from there.