Long overdue upgrade

[PSGamer]

Hello all,
Hope you're well!

As always when looking to upgrade my rig I defer to the knowledge of the fine folks on this forum.
I feel that the GPU is still alright but my mobo, cpu and possibly ram are letting me down due to their age, is that a fair assessment? What sort of bundle would be most ideal? Probably looking in the range of £500-800 but could stretch up a bit if required.
Not particularly precious over AMD or Intel, it's just that recent games (e.g. Tekken 8, was looking at FF16 also) are getting held back due to my CPU I'm fairly sure. I think the 1080 ti is still reasonably strong even by today's standards?

I tend to build something and then bury my head in the sand to avoid wanting to aquire hardware for hardware's sake but it seems like the time now...

My current rig is as follow...

Gigabyte Z97X-SLI
i5 4690K w/ Corsair 4790 AIO
ZOTAX 1080ti (ZT-P10810F-10P)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 2x4GB DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Crucial BX100 250GB SSD
Toshiba 3TB mechanical drive.
Corsair modular PSU, either 750 or 850w
NZXT Source 340 Case

Thanks.

 

[Quartz]

A 1080 Ti is only just good enough for new games. It's roughly equivalent of the RTX 4050 or 4060, but with more VRAM.

Now is not the time to be buying a new GPU. Nvidia and Intel have new releases next month and the end of next week respectively.

For gaming, AM5 is the way to go: get yourself a cheaper AM5 CPU now like the 7600 and upgrade later to the 9800X3D. Or just go for the 7800X3D.

Given the age of your PC I'd be looking at replacing the PSU and mechanical drive.

 

[PSGamer]

So in short... start again probably?

 

[Quartz]

So in short... start again probably?

If you want a good experience with new games, yes.

 

[Tetras]

I think the 1080 ti is still reasonably strong even by today's standards?

They're decent cards by modern standards, in the sense that they can play pretty much any game, but they're only equivalent to a modest 1080p card (e.g. RX 6600 XT, RTX 3060).

It depends on the kind of games you play really, there's more to come from that card in more modern games that really want 6 fast cores (or at least, 4 cores and 8 threads), but older games (from Intel's quad core era between 2nd and 7th gen) should be fine with your current CPU.

Still, you'd struggle to upgrade everything meaningfully for £800, so your plan of going with the CPU/motherboard/RAM first is a good one.

An upgrade at the lower-end of your budget:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £179.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 EAGLE AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03569) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £22.99

Total: £435.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Higher-end of your budget:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £499.99
• 1 x Asrock X870 Pro RS WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03308) = £209.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99

Total: £830.95 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[PSGamer]

I forgot to mention that I did change to a 2tb nvme... So bare minimum would be PSU, mobo, CPU and ram I think?

 

[Dazzler]

I'm in same position set up black friday prices watches for everything I wanted nothing budged, just same old story was cheaper till about a month ago and then everything hiked right up, got a 2k Budget so hoping to get best I can with it so looks like advice would be to probably wait till after Xmas for best value to let Xmas madness pass and new cards come out to market?

 

[PSGamer]

Thanks Tetras.
Would this be a bit of a middle ground?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £188.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-38400C40 4800MHZ Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4D5-CS) = £89.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650M-Plus (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K3-AS) = £204.99
• 1 x CORSAIR RM750x Gold ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.1 Fully Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-02465) = £99.95

Total: £583.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)[/I
NDENT]​

 

[Tetras]

Thanks Tetras.
Would this be a bit of a middle ground?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £188.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-38400C40 4800MHZ Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4D5-CS) = £89.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650M-Plus (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K3-AS) = £204.99
• 1 x CORSAIR RM750x Gold ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.1 Fully Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-02465) = £99.95

Total: £583.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)[/I​

NDENT]​

Yeah that's fine, but I'd say the motherboard is much too expensive. You really want it to be around £150 or less if you're going B650.

Edit: I missed your memory, that's too slow too, aim for 6000.

For comparison, the X870 motherboard in my spec has USB4 and PCI-E 5.0 graphics.

got a 2k Budget so hoping to get best I can with it so looks like advice would be to probably wait till after Xmas for best value to let Xmas madness pass and new cards come out to market?

New cards are due between December and March(ish) from what I'm aware and hopefully that will give time for the 7800X3D/9800X3D prices to fall too. You can build a decent PC for £2K right now (for gaming), but the X3D prices are a sore point and I'd not be keen on dumping £1K+ on a current gen card.

 

[PSGamer]

Could essentially swap the mobo and ram from what you've suggested but keep the slightly cheaper CPU and then should be pretty good I think? As suggested I guess getting a new CPU and having it damaged when an older psu goes kaput isn't ideal.

 

[Tetras]

As suggested I guess getting a new CPU and having it damaged when an older psu goes kaput isn't ideal.

What model and age is your PSU?

Could essentially swap the mobo and ram from what you've suggested but keep the slightly cheaper CPU and then should be pretty good I think?

It depends what features you want and how long you're planning on this PC to last?

I'd normally be looking at a motherboard/RAM something like this with a 7600 build (delete ATX/Micro-ATX), depending on your preference:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £124.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650M D3HP AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03566) = £104.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £89.99
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £22.99

Total: £522.95 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[PSGamer]

Tell a lie... I have an xfx 1050w black edition full modular PSU though struggling to find the year and since there's a hiding panel on the window side can't see if the serials are on that side... Will investigate further... Googling seems to suggest at least 9 years old or so.

In terms of longevity... Getting 5 or so years out of it with the ability to upgrade to another am5 CPU (and GPU of course) would be a general ideal - I appreciate that's a little generic!

 

[Tetras]

In terms of longevity... Getting 5 or so years out of it with the ability to upgrade to another am5 CPU (and GPU of course) would be a general ideal - I appreciate that's a little generic!

Either of those boards is fine, e.g. they'd take a 9800X3D. You're sacrificing some of the newer features, but the price is good and they're a better fit for a 7600 build.

Tell a lie... I have an xfx 1050w black edition full modular PSU though struggling to find the year and since there's a hiding panel on the window side can't see if the serials are on that side... Will investigate further... Googling seems to suggest at least 9 years old or so.

If you can get the model number it would help, but from what I can remember most of their PSUs were based on decent Seasonic models, so I'd not be worried unduly.

 

[PSGamer]

XFX XPS-1050W-BEF 1050W by the looks, still doing some googling!

Edit: looks like 2011-ish so it's getting on

 

[Tetras]

XFX XPS-1050W-BEF 1050W by the looks, still doing some googling!

Edit: looks like 2011-ish so it's getting on

Hmm. From what I can gather, I'd consider it a low priority because it looks fine. You could upgrade it when you upgrade the graphics card, but I don't have any concern about using it with the new parts.

 

[tamzzy]

£800 is perfectly doable if you pick wisely

the Ryzen 7600 comes with a stock cooler so no need to get one off the bat (though if you do, then my recommendation is the thermalright assassin king 120 - available for £16)
you can reuse your case, psu and 3tb hdd, so that saves a chunk already
rest of the spec:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £124.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN580 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-00540) = £48.95
• 1 x SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7700 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 12GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture (SKU: GRA-SPR-00767) = £349.99

Total: £786.91 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[PSGamer]

The core for sure seems to be the below... possibly a daft question but the mobo is showing as preorder but no predicted date?
I've got a 2TB NVME... think I'll do this as an upgrade and then look for a new GPU if that doesn't scratch the itch.

Thanks everyone

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £124.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99

Total: £387.97 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[mickyflinn]

The core for sure seems to be the below... possibly a daft question but the mobo is showing as preorder but no predicted date?
I've got a 2TB NVME... think I'll do this as an upgrade and then look for a new GPU if that doesn't scratch the itch.

Thanks everyone

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £124.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99

Total: £387.97 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Pre order there is no indication of time so it's a case of waiting,buying an alternative or looking elsewhere.

 

[Tetras]

think I'll do this as an upgrade and then look for a new GPU if that doesn't scratch the itch.

Sounds like a good plan! FYI: the 7600 includes a cooler in the CPU box, the 7600X does not.

 

[SpellowHouse]

I forgot to mention that I did change to a 2tb nvme... So bare minimum would be PSU, mobo, CPU and ram I think?

Yes, that would make a substantial difference.

I assume the nvme is in a riser, which in that board, I think, means it's running at less than half it's potential speed. Getting it in a more modern board will help a lot.

I used to have the same system as that! I seem to remember that changing the CPU/MoBo/RAM led to a very appreciable smoothness in games. Less glitching and better lows. If you want to stick with intel then the 12 series is still very relevant and will give you such an uplift over the 4790K you won't complain.

The 1080ti is still quite competent, but it depends on what games you play, what resolutions and so on. Once you have a better CPU, it is an obvious target for a future upgrade.