Build Path

[Spoonsfc]

Hi

I will be getting a 3070ti in about a month from a friend and wanted to build a pc around it.

I currently have a 1080GTX, Ryzen 1600, B450 Aorus Pro & 16g RAM, 1440p monitor.

Been advised to get 5700x3d, B550 MB & 32GB RAM

I mainly play AAA RPGs and also MMOs/arpgs

I would like to play now 2k at high-ish setting and then upgrade in 12-18months to play 4k. Happy to use dlss in both scenarios

My thinking though is if I am going to upgrade again later, it might be better for me to wait a while and get CPU, MB that is more future proof (AM5) and 4k monitor. But then how bad will my current setup be..


So questions are

- Is it worth waiting to get next gen CPU/MB or are they not that important in order to be able to have a 4k setup after that?

- How realistic is it to get 2k high if I just swapped GPUs.. guessing my CPU may be an issue here? what is the minimum CPU needed to achieve this with 3070?

- Is 4k Medium-High possible with 3070 or is that going to need to be upgraded as well?

 

[Gray2233]

If you're wanting to play AAA RPG's at 4K you're going to struggle with the 3070ti, while it's a decently quick card it's also VRAM limited. You'll get away with mixed settings and DLSS in some titles, but there's others that you're really going to struggle with. You should be alright with med-high settings depending on the game at 2K, although unfortunately for AAA games there's still going to be the odd scenario where you might run into VRAM problems, I did on a 3060ti at that res and that's a slower card than yours. I'd certainly say it's manageable as long as you're realistic with your expectations and settings.

You used to be able to get a 5700X3D for around £120-150, at that price point I'd say it's worth it so that is a good shout if reusing your existing B450. If you're planning on switching motherboard you might as well move to AM5, you're really not gaining anything worthwhile with B550 over B450. Regardless, your Ryzen 1600 at 1440P is going to hold back your 3070ti, so much so even a jump to a cheap 5600 with your existing motherboard should see a healthy uplift.

This is what I would do:

- Grab a 5700X3D now if you can get one for the prices I suggested and use your current motherboard, if not the cheapest 5600 you can find (should be easily possible for under £100), do not get the 5600G as it has half the L3 cache which cripples gaming performance.
- Upgrade to 32GB of RAM, ideally 2x16GB sticks as AMD can be finicky at times with 4x8.
- Do a full platform upgrade in 12-18 months to AM5, or the Intel equivalent assuming they can release a competitive product.

 

[Tetras]

- How realistic is it to get 2k high if I just swapped GPUs.. guessing my CPU may be an issue here? what is the minimum CPU needed to achieve this with 3070?

That's always going to be game dependent.

There are more recent games that'll struggle with the 1600, but older games it'll be no problem.

If you had a CPU like the 5600 (or better) there are nearly no games that'll have issues with the 3070 Ti.

- Is 4k Medium-High possible with 3070 or is that going to need to be upgraded as well?

Again, game dependent. MMOs usually have old engines that'll be alright, but newer AAA games will push the VRAM and need the details lowered.

The 3070 Ti has plenty of raw grunt even now, but 4K is still a premium resolution and costly to keep up with, at least if you want to play the latest games at high details.

- Is it worth waiting to get next gen CPU/MB or are they not that important in order to be able to have a 4k setup after that?

If you move to AM5 then you really have to go higher than an entry level CPU like the 7600, because otherwise you might as well just use the 5700X3D instead.

Personally, I don't see the point, because your freebie 3070 Ti is great value with an affordable upgrade (like a 5600 non-X and 32GB of RAM), but not so great if you go BIG and buy a 9800X3D, X870 and 64GB of DDR5.

 

[Spoonsfc]

If you're wanting to play AAA RPG's at 4K you're going to struggle with the 3070ti, while it's a decently quick card it's also VRAM limited. You'll get away with mixed settings and DLSS in some titles, but there's others that you're really going to struggle with. You should be alright with med-high settings depending on the game at 2K, although unfortunately for AAA games there's still going to be the odd scenario where you might run into VRAM problems, I did on a 3060ti at that res and that's a slower card than yours. I'd certainly say it's manageable as long as you're realistic with your expectations and settings.

You used to be able to get a 5700X3D for around £120-150, at that price point I'd say it's worth it so that is a good shout if reusing your existing B450. If you're planning on switching motherboard you might as well move to AM5, you're really not gaining anything worthwhile with B550 over B450. Regardless, your Ryzen 1600 at 1440P is going to hold back your 3070ti, so much so even a jump to a cheap 5600 with your existing motherboard should see a healthy uplift.

This is what I would do:

- Grab a 5700X3D now if you can get one for the prices I suggested and use your current motherboard, if not the cheapest 5600 you can find (should be easily possible for under £100), do not get the 5600G as it has half the L3 cache which cripples gaming performance.
- Upgrade to 32GB of RAM, ideally 2x16GB sticks as AMD can be finicky at times with 4x8.
- Do a full platform upgrade in 12-18 months to AM5, or the Intel equivalent assuming they can release a competitive product.

Thanks for reply. That sounds like the wise choice. Although looking at the prices 5700x3d is £220 and 5600 is like a £100 so would prefer the latter if it would do the job until I upgrade again in a year or so

 

[Gray2233]

Thanks for reply. That sounds like the wise choice. Although looking at the prices 5700x3d is £220 and 5600 is like a £100 so would prefer the latter if it would do the job until I upgrade again in a year or so

The 5600 will be a huge upgrade for you alongside the 3070ti, people forget how long the AM4 platform was relevant for (and it still is to a point even now). There's a good 5-6 years between the 1600 and 5600 off the top of my head, it's a very healthy purchase with your existing motherboard and will see you well for another couple of years at least.

As mentioned, make sure you get the 5600/5600X and not the 5600G.

 

[Tetras]

Thanks for reply. That sounds like the wise choice. Although looking at the prices 5700x3d is £220 and 5600 is like a £100 so would prefer the latter if it would do the job until I upgrade again in a year or so

It will keep you happy. As Gray2233 mentioned, the 5600 is a big step on a 1600.

 

[adrichardson81]

Have a look at some benchmarks - I went from a 5900x to a 7800x3d 4k and the difference wasn't exactly night and day in most games at 4k.

A 5700x3d gives you 8 cores with v-cache, so it's going to be significantly more future proof, while not requiring a new motherboard, ram, and a more expensive cpu (you're looking at for £450 - £500 for a 7800x3d or 9800x3d).

For 4k, you're heavily gpu bound so you will get more fps putying the extra you'd have spent on the am5 build into your gpu.

 

[Joxeon]

Are you getting the 3070ti for free?