GPU upgrade advice

[Chillimonster1]

Hi all,

I'm after some advice on upgrading my graphics card. Haven't upgraded anything since I bought it in Aug 2018. Any help would be really appreciated

PC specs:
Motherboard Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370-Gaming 5 AMD
AMD Ryzen 5 Six core 2600 cpu @3.9 ghz
16 Gb ram
22" LED monitor 1920x1080 1080p 60Hz
power supply Super Flower Leadex Platinum 850w
budget no more than £400

Current graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070i 8Gb

 

[Chillimonster1]

Is that a 1080P 60hz screen or? Any plans on upgrading it in the future?

Yes it is both of those!

 

[Chillimonster1]

What games are you having trouble with specifically? The 1070 Ti should still be pretty capable at that resolution.

Not really having any problems, was just looking to upgrade.

 

[Chillimonster1]

If your budget is super strict and you're going to stick to 1080P this is an idea:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel ARC A750 Gaming 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-08U-IN) = £249.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £149.99

Total: £407.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

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Pick up another 16gb of RAM down the line.

Normally I'd go straight for a 6700XT but unless you're planning on changing the CPU and perhaps monitor out it might be a waste. Selling your current GPU and CPU as suggested by @tamzzy is a good idea if possible, and would net you a better upgrade in the form of the 6700XT + 5600 CPU.

Just hold in mind that if you upgrade your CPU you'll need to update your motherboard bios.

Edit: I can't remember if the ARC series needs resizable bar or not at this point, or if your setup would support it. I'd double check before taking the plunge if that's the route you go, I seem to remember that motherboard getting a bios update for it but I'm fuzzy brained from the gym lol.

Cool, thanks for the advice. Would OCUK be able to tell me if the potential GPU would be supported on my setup?

 

[Chillimonster1]

I suspected as much.

Honestly I don't think I would bother with a GPU upgrade right now, for a 60hz 1080P screen the 1070ti is still fairly respectable depending on what you want to play. Unless you really want to get a feel for ray-tracing you're not gaining a lot by diving to a modern GPU in my opinion. I'd Look at platform longevity with a 5600 + RAM upgrade, then save for a better monitor and GPU at a later date. You'd probably see more consistent frames with the better CPU even while using a 1070ti at that resolution tbh.

The other option would be just saving enough to do a full platform upgrade.

Fair enough! Thanks for the advice. May well just update the CPU/RAM to keep it ticking along then.