Upgrade advice sought

Sanjiv · 11 Mar 2018 at 18:03

Hi all,

I've recently purchased a Strix 1080TI via Gibbo's very generous offer a couple of weeks ago.
I would like to upgrade the rest of my system and am struggling to work out what to do.
Primary use is fps gaming and VR use (Vive) with some development and video editing thrown in to the mix.

My current system is;

Strix 1080TI
IvyBridge 1155 [email protected]
2x8Gb DDR3 Corsair Vengeance (CMZ16GX3M2A1866C10R)
Gigabyte GZ-Z77X-UP4-TH Intel Z77 Motherboard
Very old air-cooled Lian Li PC-7 Plus case (with be-quiet fans throughout)
Corsair 650W Enthusiast Series 650T PSU (CP-9020038-UK)
Dell U3818DW 38 inch curved monitor 3840x1600@75Hz
1x256Gb Samsung SSD840Pro
1x256Gb Samsung SSD850Pro

The cpu, memory, motherboard and SSD840 are 5 years old and the case is 13 years old!
I ran 3d mark's firestrike v1.1 demo and got 13816. Graphics score of 28763 (132.03 fps, 118.79 fps), physics score of 5670 (18.00 fps), giving a combined score of 5038.

Cost wise I'm fortunate in that I'm not that limited at present, just need the right upgrade that will last me at least a couple of years ideally.

What do you learned people recommend?

Thanks,
Sanj

pastymuncher · 11 Mar 2018 at 18:38

The first thing that anybody is going to ask is how much do you want to spend?

Sanjiv · 11 Mar 2018 at 19:28

Thanks pastymuncher, I've not really got a budget in mind I just need the right spec to last me for a couple of years at least.
I think it would be good for me to upgrade, the mobo, cpu and memory at the least.
New case and psu if needed/recommended?

What do you reckon?

andicole0 · 11 Mar 2018 at 19:43

You could try an i7 3770K to give you 8 threads. Not much faster cpu but lots of things these days benefit from more threads.
Next step would be to change motherboard and Cpu.
Try looking at task manager when running your usual software to see if anything is running flat out.
Andi.

EsaT · 12 Mar 2018 at 09:04

andicole0 said:
You could try an i7 3770K to give you 8 threads. Not much faster cpu but lots of things these days benefit from more threads.

More precisely it's not games themself which would benefit that much.
But extra threads would help to minimize fps drops from all that background stuff running in Windows.

Pocah · 12 Mar 2018 at 09:24

The 3570K is capable but is the weakest link. Regards the case, it may well hold you back because of the limited cooling options and also it's just pretty dated!! I would start here by considering an ideal upgrade ~ case, cooling, motherboard, CPU, RAM then once you have that target in mind, decide in what order you want to do it. Personally I would upgrade the case now because it may well hold you back in future. It also gives your PC a new look and feel which makes that money expenditure seem worthwhile. To move to a more modern setup you also have to consider whether you want 5.25" bays and so on. Fractal Design Define R5 is a stunning case with good cooling options with a semi-modern layout. Corsair have some more modern cases that are equally impressive. The Corsair Air 740 looks stunning when illuminated, and is amazingly well ventilated. Never any heat problems with that one. The Corsair glass cases are lookers! Phanteks and NZXT make some lovely modern cases too. So yes, replace the case, then consider the CPU,motherboard,RAM combination you want.

EsaT · 12 Mar 2018 at 10:05

Sanjiv said:
Thanks pastymuncher, I've not really got a budget in mind I just need the right spec to last me for a couple of years at least.
I think it would be good for me to upgrade, the mobo, cpu and memory at the least.
New case and psu if needed/recommended?

High end CPU will last as good more than couple years withotu upgrading.
Though not that Intel even gives much easy upgrade chances...

While Intel has advantage in single thread performance and in many games, Ryzens aren't that much behind and anyway at that resolution it likely wouldn't bottleneck that much.
Unless you like minimizing graphics settings of games.
And AMD has confirmed current socket will be used by CPUs all the way to 2020 so rather likely that with Zen2 architecture and 7nm manufacturing process single thread performance easily catches Coffee Lake.
Zen+ (with tweaks to non-core areas of CPU) coming in about two months might already decrease Intel's advantage.
Leaked test results of cache/memory look very good for that considering how important memory latencies are for single thread performance needed in gaming:
https://www.techpowerup.com/242119/first-leaked-benchmarks-of-amds-ryzen-7-2000-processor
So on that side you might want to wait little.

But case could be upgraded already now and I would recommend it as first thing:

With very little plastic parts to rot that Lian Li would still make excellent case for light use PC, but for higher end gaming PC it's really badly outdated.
Layout of PSU on top as case exhaust was designed in time when PC parts typically produced 50W of heat.
And very ineffiecient PSUs themselves could waste nearly as much.
So over PSU's own cooling need heat output of PC parts wasn't that big deal.
Now CPU alone can produce even over 100W of heat.
Not to mention your graphics card, whose non-reference cooler dumps all of that 200W of heat inside case.
Standard PSUs with cheap parts would easily bake to death in such environment after some years.

Lian Li itself has collapsed to another fashion case maker and if you would like quieter case its current models don't have anything in ability to isolate noises of components.
Only older models like PC-A76 have design which could work as base for adding mass damping.

So check something like Fractal Design Define R series.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=Fractal+design+define
Also Antec P280 would be strong contender for myself if I had to look for new case. (only 9½ year old Lian Li PC-71B here)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/antec-p280-super-midi-tower-case-gun-metal-black-ca-168-an.html
Not fan of BeQuiet's look and while BeQuiet makes excellent combination sound insulation mat as accessory those cases use cosmetic fraud foam unable to absorpt vibrations or increase acoustic opacity.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cases-and-modding/pc-cases/midi-towers?ckSuppliers=71

Even if you don't have optical drive lots of other devices use 5.25" bay and like you know case is easily the longest time usable PC part.
So choosing it for some fad doesn't make sense.
That separate compartment for PSU is another such fad with zero sense:
With modern PSUs making only ~7-8% (or less) of PC's heat output its heat is insignificant for PC's parts and anyway PSU's fan exhausts most of that heat.
So it only makes assembling PC harder.

While that Corsair TX650 is made from quality parts, which is why it has survived in such hostile environment, also that could use updating.
Already 80+ Bronze design is simply outdated.
Seasonic Focus Plus has very high performance and likely because of internal design made for also easy manufacturing is now also extremely competive in pricing.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=seasonic+focus+plus

Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro is semi-modular version of same PSU:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=antec+earthwatts

BitFenix Formula would be cheapest with quality capacitors:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=bitfenix+formula

Sanjiv · 12 Mar 2018 at 19:15

Thank you all! Really appreciate all your advice, now to choose, case, psu, motherboard, cpu and memory.
Case wise as two have you given the thumbs up for Fractal Design Define R series that clearly has to be a contender.
I do prefer large cases as I find them easier to work in, saying that I have an external samsung blu-ray burner for the occasional use and don't really need any large internal bays anymore.

I'd like to purchase it all in the next couple of weeks, but I get that it might be worth waiting for the Ryzens though.

orbitalwalsh · 12 Mar 2018 at 20:02

If you can hold out a little, worth waiting not for first reviews , but maybe a month when a Bios or two has been released and members on here. I trust reviewers little as it's done once and that's it. Guys and girls on here it's with them till next upgrade and can help trouble shoot .
Intel had the advantage with single core due to their IPC and IMC, Ryzen caught up damn well with this, so then Intel relies on brute speed and Ryzen with thread power. It's great to see Ryzen+ looking to hit 4.4ghz on the X chips, it's the ram speed I'm looking forward to-do will has the ability to have the smallest effect or more as an over clock .
Bit early to say without reviews and owners of new zen+ chips, but can't help but feel how much hurt Intel would have been if original Ryzen was launched on same node as the coming one... Before coffeelake being tapped out...

Sanjiv · 12 Mar 2018 at 22:58

Love the look of the fractal design define R series, the R6 looks good to me. Need to check if the 1080ti will fit. The Antec earth watts gold pro 750wpsu fits the bill nicely I reckon. CPU, mobo and memory is going to be a wait by the looks of things until the dust settles on the AMD front.

In terms of cooling I’ve never gone the water cooling route, is it time for me to go in that direction or do I stick with air cooling? I’ve not done any overclocking in many years, maybe it’s time to give it another go.

Quartz · 12 Mar 2018 at 23:34

Sanjiv said:
IvyBridge 1155 [email protected]

Get yourself a 3770K and a decent cooler. You should consider the Silverstone FT05 as a replacement case.

Sanjiv · 16 Mar 2018 at 18:21

Thanks Quartz.
Changed my mind and I'm not going to wait for AMD.
I've taken a look at the Silverstone FT05 and case wise I still like the Fractal Design Define R6 Black.

I want to go watercooled, but I've never gone that route before so need to do some reading around that.
Any recommendations?

CPU wise I'm thinking 8700k, not sure which motherboard.

orbitalwalsh · 16 Mar 2018 at 19:13

Sanjiv said:
Thanks Quartz.
Changed my mind and I'm not going to wait for AMD.
I've taken a look at the Silverstone FT05 and case wise I still like the Fractal Design Define R6 Black.

I want to go watercooled, but I've never gone that route before so need to do some reading around that.
Any recommendations?

CPU wise I'm thinking 8700k, not sure which motherboard.

5.0-5.2 your going to want/need 360 rad or AIO kit . You've got lots of Choice from £90 Eisbaer elite that beats flagships from Corsair to lovely RGB glow NZXT kraken 77 or something like that .
EK and Alphacool both make nice cheap entry water cooling kits to if you want to dip your hand in the custom route

Sanjiv · 16 Mar 2018 at 23:09

Thanks orbitalwalsh.
Custom route scares me a bit!
Will do some research and more than likely come back with a load more questions.

Terrorfirmer · 17 Mar 2018 at 10:46

Quartz said:
Get yourself a 3770K and a decent cooler. You should consider the Silverstone FT05 as a replacement case.

I think this is good advice. The 3770K is still a good CPU and especially overclocked it's well capable.

Would allow you to put off an upgrade for another good while yet.

That said, I understand what the upgrade itch is like! Plus you'd have benefits of DDR4 etc as well.

Sanjiv · 30 Mar 2018 at 15:57

So what do you all think of this as an upgrade to go with my Strix 1080Ti, two samsung solid states drives and dell U3818UW monitor, not sure which memory to select?
Also not user what additional case fans to go for?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £99.95
1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)= £6.49
1 x Fractal Design Celsius S36 360mm All in One Water Cooler= £123.95
1 x Fractal Design Define R6 Midi Tower Case - Gunmetal Grey= £124.99
1 x Seasonic Focus Plus 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £124.99
1 x Team Group Xtreem "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-33000C18 4133MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black= £248.99
1 x Team Group Xtreem "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-36000C18 4500MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black= £289.99
1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £199.99
1 x Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £319.99
1 x Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 Intel Z370 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £229.99

Total: £1,769.32 (includes shipping: £0.00)

tamzzy · 30 Mar 2018 at 16:02

3200mhz ram is sufficient
also if you're doing video editing work, consider a larger nvme drive
550w to 650w psu is more than sufficient - unless you want to run SLI at some point

Sanjiv · 30 Mar 2018 at 16:25

So something like this;

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)= £6.49
1 x Fractal Design Celsius S36 360mm All in One Water Cooler= £123.95
1 x Fractal Design Define R6 Midi Tower Case - Gunmetal Grey= £124.99
1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £199.99
1 x Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £319.99
1 x Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 Intel Z370 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £229.99
1 x Seasonic Focus Plus 750W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £101.99
1 x Samsung 960 PRO Polaris 512GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £278.99

Total: £1,386.38 (includes shipping: £0.00)

What shall I do for additional fans?

tamzzy · 30 Mar 2018 at 16:36

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Antec EarthWatts Gold Pro 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £79.99

Total: £90.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)

when it comes back in stock

Sanjiv said:
What shall I do for additional fans?

dont need it
case already comes with 3 fans
and with the 3 fans on the clc cooler, you don't want to drown yourself with fans

Sanjiv said:
1 x Samsung 960 PRO Polaris 512GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £278.99

not quite needed. i'd go with either the 960 EVO or the SM 961
personally i'd go with the SM961 as its £40 cheaper than the EVO (at £200 vs £240)

tamzzy · 30 Mar 2018 at 16:43

if you want to save a few quid, then go with the bequiet clc loop instead - it's the same OEM iirc (alphacool)
or if you really want to take your chances: get the alphacool eisbaer LT360 for £100 - its supposed to be a 360mm rad - but ocuk thinks its a 240mm rad (and priced as such) - of course I don't know which one you'll get...either mispriced, or misadvertised.