Looking for guidance on upgrading

Whitter

Whitter

Whitter

Associate
Joined
13 Apr 2004
Posts
54
It's been 11 years since I've called upon this great forum for advice on a PC upgrade. With the guidance of you guys the components that I settled on have served me well (and still are, but are getting old) and hoping to do the same again.

My current setup is:
  • CPU - Intel Core i7 920
  • Mobo - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5
  • RAM - 12GB DDR3
  • GPU - Gigabyte Nvidia 1080 GTX
  • CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-U12P
  • HDDs - Mix of hard drives, some SSD's
  • PSU - Antec CP-850
  • Case - Antec P183
With what I have above I'm just looking at upgrading the base system CPU, RAM and motherboard. Also thinking on repurposing the CPU cooler I have as well.

My first pass at picking the components:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £403.96 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

Also had a look at an Intel option, excuse the mounting kit being the wrong one, Overclockers does not seem to stock the Intel version.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £536.92 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

Been out of the loop so long I'm not sure which direction to go in (AMD or Intel)
 
I'd go for the ryzen - think the 9600k is maybe marginally better in gaming but the 3600 is better for pretty much any other workload whilst being cheaper.

May want to consider a new PSU too if your current one is 11 years old
 
bagel said:
May want to consider a new PSU too if your current one is 11 years old
Click to expand...

Can't actually remember how old the PSU is, could not find the receipt for it, but yeah it is at least 9 years old. Yeah was shocked a bit at the price of the Intel chips, can jump the Ryzen to a 7 and still come out cheaper than the i5 setup.
 
Maybe someone else can weigh in but I am not sure how likely component damage is in the event of an old PSU giving up the ghost - could be wrong but I think I'd prefer a new one to be on the safe side.

Yeah Intel is horrible value for money right now, 3700X would last you a good while with its 8c/16t. Something to bear in mind is there is a rumoured refresh coming for ryzen chips in July (3600XT, 3800XT, 3900XT) if you can wait that long. You can always upgrade later too as B450 boards should support the 4000 series of chips due at the end of the year by means of a BIOS update
 
bagel said:
Maybe someone else can weigh in but I am not sure how likely component damage is in the event of an old PSU giving up the ghost - could be wrong but I think I'd prefer a new one to be on the safe side.

Yeah Intel is horrible value for money right now, 3700X would last you a good while with its 8c/16t. Something to bear in mind is there is a rumoured refresh coming for ryzen chips in July (3600XT, 3800XT, 3900XT) if you can wait that long. You can always upgrade later too as B450 boards should support the 4000 series of chips due at the end of the year by means of a BIOS update
Click to expand...
If a psu doesn't have any warranty left and decides to go bang there's is a chance it could take other components with it which would then not be covered so could end up costing a considerable amount more than a new psu.
 
Last edited:
Whitter said:
With what I have above I'm just looking at upgrading the base system CPU, RAM and motherboard. Also thinking on repurposing the CPU cooler I have as well.

Also had a look at an Intel option, excuse the mounting kit being the wrong one, Overclockers does not seem to stock the Intel version.
Click to expand...

Have a read of this:

https://noctua.at/en/nm-i115x-mounting-kit

https://noctua.at/en/nm-am4-mounting-kit-order-form

I did the latter. got the mounting kit in the post about 2 weeks later.
 
bagel said:
Something to bear in mind is there is a rumoured refresh coming for ryzen chips in July (3600XT, 3800XT, 3900XT) if you can wait that long. You can always upgrade later too as B450 boards should support the 4000 series of chips due at the end of the year by means of a BIOS update
Click to expand...

Been reading up on all the backwards compatibility this afternoon. Really nice that they are support the AM4 socket for so long. Wondering whether it's worth bumping up to an X570 chipset to future proof a little with the PCIe 4 support etc...

Grimley said:
Have a read of this:

https://noctua.at/en/nm-i115x-mounting-kit

https://noctua.at/en/nm-am4-mounting-kit-order-form

I did the latter. got the mounting kit in the post about 2 weeks later.
Click to expand...

Yeah did noticed they hand them out for free with proof of purchase. Just need to settle on which upgrade I'm going with.
 
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