Upgrade advice for two systems

[GeorgeStorm]

Hi all,
Apologies for the slightly rambly post but as the title suggests, I've currently got two systems I'm thinking of/looking at upgrading, they are as follows:
Media pc:
i5 6600k
CM212 cooler
Asus Z270m-prime plus
16gb gskill 3600 cl15 (running at 1066 cl19 aha!)
Msi gaming gtx 1080
Corsair TX650
Fractal Define

Personal PC:
i9 9900k
Thermaltake Frio cooler
Gigabyte B365M H
32gb Crucial 2666 cl19 mem
Palit GeForce RTX 3060 StormX 12GB
Seasonic Prime 1300W Platinum
Lamtron FC2 fan controller
Fractal Arc Midi

Both are connection to a 4k screen (TV/monitor), and play a mixture of games, heaviest of which have been Witcher 3, Hogwarts legacy, BG3, Anno 1800, Jedi Survivor. Mostly have been fine just changing settings as and when needed, but the media pc particularly has struggled more so with some titles even lowering settings, cpu hitting 100% usage etc, and my personal pc is msotly ok but I've been playing games a bit more recently and wouldn't mind a bit of a bump as well as being able to play some newer titles (Ghost of Tsushima, Star Wars Outlaws...), and so I figured I could try to upgrade both at the same time possibly utilising some of the stuff from my personal pc passed down to the media etc.

Current ideas being:
Media PC:
Sell cpu/board/gpu.
Sell i9 9900k from the personal pc, buy a cheap i5 9600 or similar and move the cpu/board to the media pc.
Buy a slightly beefier gpu (3070 type level?)
Possibly replace fans/cooler to try and help noise levels but keep the case as it's quite understated design wise and lets us use the BR drive.

Personal PC:
Sell the case/mem/gpu.
New AM5 based setup (either 7500f if going cheaper or maybe 9600x which seems to be similar price to 7600x 2nd hand)
Matx board -
32gb DDR5
3080/6800xt type GPU
New case (matx maybe something that looks ok and I'll take the computer out from under the desk to actually be visiable?) Had originally thought the Lan 207 from reading good reviews but don't think my PSU would fit and seems silly to get rid of such a high quality unit.
New cpu cooler (240/360 aio for a quiter setup if I'm considering having it on the desk but they seem to vary hugely in price?)

Mostly been looking at the 2nd hand market certainly for the GPUs to get the most value, but reckon £8-900ish overall should give a decent bump to both setups?

Open to thoughts/suggestions as I've not been keeping up with pc stuff for quite a while now since stopping overclocking 5 or so years ago.

Cheers

 

[mickyflinn]

9900k, mobo , memory and 3060 move to home pc, sell off 6600k , mobo ,etc and upgrade your with AM5 build and new GPU.

 

[GeorgeStorm]

9900k, mobo , memory and 3060 move to home pc, sell off 6600k , mobo ,etc and upgrade your with AM5 build and new GPU.

I did originally plan that but then I thought the hopefully £100+ or so I could get from selling 9900k and getting a 9600k for example could be put towards a gpu, for either setup and I didn't think there'd be that much of a performance difference but I didn't look much.

And I came across the lian li a3 wood which was another matx case I quite liked the look of that looks like it could in theory take a 360 aio if I wanted but again not sure if my psu would limit gpu length too much/make it unsuitable.

 

[mickyflinn]

I did originally plan that but then I thought the hopefully £100+ or so I could get from selling 9900k and getting a 9600k for example could be put towards a gpu, for either setup and I didn't think there'd be that much of a performance difference but I didn't look much.

And I came across the lian li a3 wood which was another matx case I quite liked the look of that looks like it could in theory take a 360 aio if I wanted but again not sure if my psu would limit gpu length too much/make it unsuitable.

If you think it's worth the Hassle then fine but sometimes it's better the devil you know. You have a few options if you ok with used items your going to get more for your money but AM5 I'd buy new.

You can import a 7500f from china if your prepared to do so for £130.

 

[GeorgeStorm]

If you think it's worth the Hassle then fine but sometimes it's better the devil you know. You have a few options if you ok with used items your going to get more for your money but AM5 I'd buy new.

You can import a 7500f from china if your prepared to do so for £130.

Yeah that's fair, if I wasn't already having to move the cpu/board and take stuff apart to potentially change/upgrade cpu cooler there's no way I'd bother but I'll think about it.
Yeah for older stuff happy to go 2nd hand but had planned to buy new for the AM5 stuff apart from potentially memory if I saw some at a decent price, and yeah I'd been told about them and I'm probably going to either go for one of those or I've seen some 9600x imports for £180 or so which is tempting compared to a 7600x.

 

[mickyflinn]

Yeah that's fair, if I wasn't already having to move the cpu/board and take stuff apart to potentially change/upgrade cpu cooler there's no way I'd bother but I'll think about it.
Yeah for older stuff happy to go 2nd hand but had planned to buy new for the AM5 stuff apart from potentially memory if I saw some at a decent price, and yeah I'd been told about them and I'm probably going to either go for one of those or I've seen some 9600x imports for £180 or so which is tempting compared to a 7600x.

Id probably just go for the 7600x local not sure it's worth the risk for the 9600x just prefer to cover myself but it's very attractive option .

AM5 advice.

If you get the 9600x on a b650 motherboard it's mite need a bios update to get the CPU working so get a motherboard with bios flashback , you can update the bios without the need for a CPU.

Memory you want expo , 6000mhz C30 its optimal but as long as it's 6000mhz your good performance wise.

First boot on AM5 can take up to 15mins for anything to show on screen and may reboot a few times this is because the motherboard is training the memory so be patient.

 

[GeorgeStorm]

Id probably just go for the 7600x local not sure it's worth the risk for the 9600x just prefer to cover myself but it's very attractive option .

AM5 advice.

If you get the 9600x on a b650 motherboard it's more need a bios update to get the CPU working so get a motherboard with bios flashback , you can update the bios without the need for a CPU.

Memory you want expo , 6000mhz C30 its optimal but as long as it's 6000mhz your good performance wise.

First boot on AM5 can take up to 15mins for anything to show on screen and may reboot a few times this is because the motherboard is training the memory so be patient.

Well I'm guessing they're imports I saw them on an auction site, but yeah regardless not sure which way I want to go yet, 7500f I think will be a nice upgrade and give me plenty of room to upgrade down the line and could put the money saved into bumping the gpu up a model potentially.

Ok thanks for the memory advice I'll use that as a baseline, not touched ddr5 before and been years since I've actually done anything with ddr4!

 

[mickyflinn]

Well I'm guessing they're imports I saw them on an auction site, but yeah regardless not sure which way I want to go yet, 7500f I think will be a nice upgrade and give me plenty of room to upgrade down the line and could put the money saved into bumping the gpu up a model potentially.

Ok thanks for the memory advice I'll use that as a baseline, not touched ddr5 before and been years since I've actually done anything with ddr4!

Your welcome.

Remember from an auction your not covered for warranty it's got to be a from a retailer, the 7600 is £175 with a cooler just for comparison.

Let's us know how you get on .