Should I upgrade or start from scratch?

[TomG888]

Hi,

I’ve been off the gaming scene for quite some time and I never really had a strong understanding of the hardware I was using in the first place.

I played a lot of Total War Warhammer 3 and was always annoyed I could play it in 2k at a solid 60fps. I needed to be able to play it in 2k because I foolishly bought a 2k only monitor. Besides the point.

I’ve pasted my specs below and wondered if someone could give me some feedback on what they think I should do, upgrade my current rig or just sell it buy a new pre-build. I don’t really have the knowledge to build something myself so if I were to upgrade my current rig (which has been in storage for 2 years) I would presumably have to send it to someone.

I have a one terabyte SSD not a 250 GB like it says below but that is the only thing that has changed.

Case	THERMALTAKE V200 TEMPERED GLASS RGB EDITION GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard	ASUS® PRIME Z390-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	8GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive	250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCle NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2300MB/W)
1st Storage Drive	2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Intel Optane Memory	16GB INTEL® M10 OPTANE MEMORY - USE WITH MECHANICAL HDD
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply	CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card	10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options	MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Thanks
Tom

 

[BUDFORCE]

I would first test out some games you want to play and see how they run with what you've got first.

If you are unhappy with the performance go from there, that PC isn't too bad depending.

 

[Joxeon]

The largest upgrade would be the gpu, something like a 4070S would offer around double the performance.

 

[zaniro]

WH3 is a CPU intensive title, so a CPU upgrade would benefit you. The cache on the Ryzen X3D CPUs is good for gaming and excels in strategy games in particular.

 

[Joxeon]

WH3 is a CPU intensive title, so a CPU upgrade would benefit you. The cache on the Ryzen X3D CPUs is good for gaming and excels in strategy games in particular.

According to this its not that cpu intensive especially over 1080p.

Total War: Warhammer III PC Performance Analysis

Powered by TW Engine 3 (Warscape Engine) and using DirectX 11, it's time now to benchmark it and see how it performs on the PC platform.

www.dsogaming.com

 

[TomG888]

The largest upgrade would be the gpu, something like a 4070S would offer around double the performance.

I can’t just put a new graphics card in though can I? I’d need to change the power supply etc as well wouldn’t I?

 

[heatonpkmassive]

I can’t just put a new graphics card in though can I? I’d need to change the power supply etc as well wouldn’t I?

You would. The VS series aren't really made for powerful graphics cards, best to get a new one. Corsair RM series or Seasonic GX or Focus would do the job.

 

[Joxeon]

I can’t just put a new graphics card in though can I? I’d need to change the power supply etc as well wouldn’t I?

In terms of power consumption the 4070S is rated at 220w while your current 2080S is rated at 250w so it's actually a lower powered card.

 

[MissChief]

I'd consider a 1440p Monitor upgrade as well as I assume by 2k you mean 1080p?

 

[TomG888]

I'd consider a 1440p Monitor upgrade as well as I assume by 2k you mean 1080p?

No, sorry I mean 1440p, is that not 2K?

 

[dfour]

You could upgrade your psu to a better rated psu for more power effeciency and modular to save space in the case like the ones mentioned above.

A 4070 super would be a great upgrade and is a great card for 1440p.

 

[heatonpkmassive]

You could upgrade your psu to a better rated psu for more power effeciency and modular to save space in the case like the ones mentioned above.

A 4070 super would be a great upgrade and is a great card for 1440p.

He should do that anyway. VS series isn't the best.

@pastymuncher would probably agree.

 

[dfour]

He should do that anyway. VS series isn't the best.

@pastymuncher would probably agree.

Agreed they are pretty poor basic psus.

 

[AMDPower]

just drop a new GPU in there you could be shocked how well the system will handle modern games.

 

[Rob_B]

Your monitor is 1440p only?...

 

[TomG888]

Your monitor is 1440p only

Your monitor is 1440p only?...

When I try to switch it to 1080p everything gets really blurry and looks a mess. I think it is strictly 1440p. Is that unusual?

 

[TomG888]

You could upgrade your psu to a better rated psu for more power effeciency and modular to save space in the case like the ones mentioned above.

A 4070 super would be a great upgrade and is a great card for 1440p.

I would if I knew how to. How would you go about upgrading your rig if you didn’t have any technical knowledge like me?

 

[ED209]

I would if I knew how to. How would you go about upgrading your rig if you didn’t have any technical knowledge like me?

Take it to a friend that can assist or watch some YouTube videos.

 

[ben1987]

I returned to the hobby last year after 15+ years since my last build.

I found PC Centric on YouTube helpful. Watching a couple of his build videos brought it all back.

There’s one where he builds a pc for his mate who’s never built one before and explains everything step by step

 

[Gray2233]

For Total Warhammer you're possibly better off with a platform upgrade to an AMD X3D variant.

The 9900K is getting a bit long in the tooth at this point, I've seen people bottlenecking on it with cards not much faster than a 2080ti in some scenarios, I was quite heavily with a 3700X and a 4070 and there's only around 10-15% between that and the 9900K last I checked.

It's worth noting that the Total Warhammer series is a bit of a mixed genre, they have RTS battles where you control troops but there's also an overworld management part that's similar to a 4X type game. Think Civ, Crusader Kings etc, the management part can really nuke your CPU at times, especially if you're running a custom scenario with a lot of AI opponents as you need to wait forever between turns. The built in bechmarks aren't necessarily representative of the game proper, especially late into scenarios.