Good time to upgrade? £1200 budget

DEL 707

DEL 707

DEL 707

Soldato
Joined
20 Mar 2004
Posts
4,578
My PC's getting a bit long in the tooth now, I think it's 10 years old. It's had a few upgrades along the way, but the motherboard and CPU are the same.

Current specs -
Intel i7 930 2.8Ghz (overclocked to 3.8ghz)
12gb RAM
Geforce GTX 970
1Tb Samsung SSD 850 Evo
1Tb Samsung standard drive
Blu-ray drive

It was overclocked to 4ghz till earlier this year but it started to become unstable. Unfortunately I've had a few crashes this week, but I've not bothered to do any fault finding.

I'm looking to build a new machine, with a max budget of £1200.
Only thing I'm looking to transfer over is my SSD and my blu-ray. I already have a Windows license, monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.

I was thinking of building it pretty soon, but would be willing to wait if there was any new tech coming out that might lower prices.

I would like to overclock again, so would like a decent heatsink and I would like a standard 2Tb hard drive.

Can anyone give me a suggestion on a new build?
 
Gone alone the lines o. You keeping the GTX 970 until prices start dropping g hopefully when Pascal stock runs low or Turing stock increases and resellers start to struggle to clear stock .

If you mention your current screen here, others might be able to help with full upgrade including GPU based on the screen .

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,123.13 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
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PC's just for gaming to be honest.
Monitor I use is a Asus VE228, can't say I have any interest in upgrading, 1080 suits my poor eyes, not sure I want to spend the extra money to get up to 4k.

As for the CPU, I've been using Intel in my last few builds.
I know it's a silly question, but how much difference is there between AMD/Intel. I want the biggest bang for my buck, how are they for overclocking?

Would it be possible to do me an AMD build as well?

Is it worth me keeping hold of my 780 GTX for the time being?
 
AMD best bang for bucket ! Easily, specially now . But intel still king of frame rates, specially at 1080p
This is amplified with more powerful cards .

AMD 2700x would be a nice choice with gtx 970 :)
And would help currently newly released AAA games, lessor titles , wouldn't notice much difference then with your current CPU
 
 
Thanks for all the replies so far.

I am thinking of going with the Ryzen, but does Intel offer some sort of tech or advantage, other then performance?
Would it be possible to get a build with the Ryzen without a graphics card, with the same budget? I am thinking of hanging onto my 970 for a few more months.

Will I see much of a performance difference over my old i7 930?
 
The two builds above, there is little or no actual performance difference, with the exception that the ryzen build gives you a new fairly up to date gfx card, the intel build has you stuck on your current card.

I see that as an absolutel massive difference, its four hundred quids worth of difference.

The tech differnce is that ryzen is more migigated against the hardware security flaws than the brand new intel processor, which is a little better than the old procesors, but still not fully patched.
 
DEL 707 said:
Thanks for all the replies so far.

I am thinking of going with the Ryzen, but does Intel offer some sort of tech or advantage, other then performance?
Would it be possible to get a build with the Ryzen without a graphics card, with the same budget? I am thinking of hanging onto my 970 for a few more months.

Will I see much of a performance difference over my old i7 930?
Click to expand...
I think even with the gtx970 you should see a drastic performance increase with a 2700x over the 930 in most newer games. Outside of gaming it will feel like a breath of fresh air.
 
Destination said:
The two builds above, there is little or no actual performance difference, with the exception that the ryzen build gives you a new fairly up to date gfx card, the intel build has you stuck on your current card.

I see that as an absolutel massive difference, its four hundred quids worth of difference.

The tech differnce is that ryzen is more migigated against the hardware security flaws than the brand new intel processor, which is a little better than the old processors, but still not fully patched.
Click to expand...

there a big difference with going from first gen to intels to 6th + Gen intels. Even did a build log on it using both old and new ROG boards . DX12 is a blessing for first Gen Intels . Move from first gen to 2nd gen saw IPC/IMC increase as well as speed - which is still key in most Games still .
I wouldn't pay price for current 9th/8th Gen intels though due to inflation in prices for low stock- AMD screams to be picked- not to mention addition of the board of sata 3 (specially when OP has a 1TB EVO sata 3) , some with wifi , USB 3.1 etc etc

Lee's build is indeed hard to ignore- wouldn't personally just grab a new card as the rest of the system will hold back its true performance

@DEL 707 - would be a nice upgrade in everything along with 1080p screen that can handle over 60hz with freesync. you'd see night and day over your current monitor - plus you get 3 free games with AMD gpu

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,121.09 (includes shipping: £15.30)​
​
 
Thanks for all the replies, I'm definately going to go for a Ryzen, feel like such a rebel!

Going to post what I wrote on the CPU sub forum.

I'm going to get that Optix G24C monitor, but lets not include that in the budget.
So using £1200 on the just the PC (not the monitor) is it worth using that extra money for a better CPU or GPU, should I aim for a Ryzen 7?
How are AMD graphics cards these days? I've been using Nvidia for years.
Click to expand...
 
DEL 707 said:
Thanks for all the replies, I'm definately going to go for a Ryzen, feel like such a rebel!

Going to post what I wrote on the CPU sub forum.
Click to expand...

Above has it all, with extra cash, you could push 31" 1440p 75hz AOC along with Gigabyte/Strix Vega 64 for extra £50 on top .

Or keep the above and add £200 on top for 27" 1440p 144hz Freesync screen
 
I'd rather stick to a 21" or maybe a 24" monitor, desk isn't that big and I sit quite close to it.
Would rather use that extra money on the CPU/motherboard.
 
How about something like this, over £1200, but I think I was lying to myself if I thought I was going to stick to that budget.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,489.77 (includes shipping: £15.90)
​

From what I read on the AMD website, the RX VEGA has freesync with it.
 
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@Journey is right.

OCUK before doing the Strix sale tested the card and it just kept failing ...

DEL 707 said:
How about something like this, over £1200, but I think I was lying to myself if I thought I was going to stick to that budget.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,489.77 (includes shipping: £15.90)
​

From what I read on the AMD website, the RX VEGA has freesync with it.
Click to expand...

Grab the Windforce for the same cash, always gets overlooked as it's 'small' but actually 2 X 100m fans and almost a 3 slot cooler and cools VRM and core a lot better then the Strix .

Would push 750w but at least 650w Focus/Antec/Whisper unit !

Would also Pro M Glass case for DVD drive and Glass... Plastic windows are the bane

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,416.77 (includes shipping: £15.90)​
​
 
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Thanks!

Looks like I'm almost there, but I noticed you put down 3000MHz RAM, is it not worth paying the extra £25 for 3200MHz?
Same question also applies to upgrading the CPU cooler from 130mm to 140mm?
 
DEL 707 said:
Thanks!

Looks like I'm almost there, but I noticed you put down 3000MHz RAM, is it not worth paying the extra £25 for 3200MHz?
Same question also applies to upgrading the CPU cooler from 130mm to 140mm?
Click to expand...

ryzen doesn't run as hot as intel for sure, also the stock cooler of the 2700X is pretty good and nice looking so most stick with it or go AIO , Non X 2700 cooler is okay but not as good so hence the aftermarket but not earth shattering - squeezing out the pennies basically.

if i was going for 3200hz then it would be smasung B-Die - as more likely to work first time off the bat- but you pay the extra price

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £664.86 (includes shipping: £9.90)
​

8 Pack and Aorus are B-Die, using ryzen calculator you can push the ram speed higher with correct timings for ryzen platform - more of a jump from 3000hz to 3333hz then 3200, most of the cases you just change 3200hz kit speed to 3333hz and it'll work most of the time , then the next jump is 3700hz is what ive found

with the ultra and 8 pack ram (4000hz kit ),using ryzen ram calculator I got max ram oc to 3466hz and then using Aorus 7 board was 3800hz
 
Not gonna lie, that all went completely over my head!

I would go for the Gigabyte RAM since it's the cheaper of the B-Die, but is that extra 200MHz would the extra cash?
 
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