Upgrade Advice

Stijn Teuwen

Stijn Teuwen

Stijn Teuwen

Associate
Joined
2 Apr 2021
Posts
9
Hello,
I had my gaming pc for quite a while now, I think I got mine back in 2014 and till this day I never did any sort of upgrade. Back then it was a very expensive and pretty high end pc i think. My pc always handled the newest games pretty good, so I saw no problem. I used to game a lot but then all of the sudden I almost completely stopped gaming for a while (a few years) but recently I have picked it back up but less intens then before (which I'm happy about:)).
But I noticed that my pc can't handle the recent games as good as it could before and I think it is time for an upgrade. I don't want to replace the whole pc because that would be way too expensive for me. So I thought about just upgrade a few parts.

I've been playing Assasin's creed: Valhalla, and that is where i noticed the performance problems. I think it is mainly due to my GPU so I think I would want to definitely upgrade this one. It is blowing very hard while gaming and sometimes it even just crashes during heavy graphical scenes. I also checked the temp of the GPU and it very very hot while playing these games.
I myself know a bit about pc building but im pretty much a beginner, so I don't know exactly what the best option is for me and what is compatible with the rest of my system.
It would be amazing if you guys could give your advice about what parts you guys think I should upgrade and also to what I should upgrade it to. I'm having a hard time because I know my system is older an therefore i'm scared if i for example buy a new GPU it might not be compatible with my other older components.
Your advice is very much appreciated. It would also be amazing if you could put a pricing behind these upgrades so I know how much it is going to cost me.

My specs:
Case: CMstorm strycker (another smaller and better case would also maybe be a good idea)
GPU: R9 290X Lightning
CPU: Intel core I7 4770K (22nm)
CPU Cooler: Crosair H80i
Power supply: Crosair AX860
Motherboard: ROG Maximus VI GENE
Ram: Vengeance LP 16GB (2x8) (DDR3)
SSD: Intel 530 series 240 GB

This is a picture of my PC, some different setup advice or tips are always welcome ;)
https://ibb.co/PGKMxZh
https://ibb.co/1n3WDZ1
https://ibb.co/SvjcNFj
PGKMxZh

SvjcNFj
 
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Have you cleaned the GPU cooler at all?? It oculd be all gunked up with fluff , small children etc

You could easily get away with replacing the 290X with a rx 6700xt or a gtx 3060/ti/3070. Obvioulsy finding one at a sensible price is a hard thing to do.

A smaller air flow case like:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £351.95 (includes shipping: £28.02)​
​
 
If you want to upgrade the rest you should be fine to keep the psu and just update the rest.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £969.06 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​

GPU will need to be sourced seperatly. Not needing wifi willl sve you a few pounds as well.

NINJA EDIT
Inhel build instead of amd (just incase)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £639.48 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
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Yes first the pc was terrible when I started using it again, but then i completely cleaned the pc. It really was disgusting how much dust was in the CPU and GPU cooler but that is fixed now and it was a whole lot better but still not as great as I want it. I also though about maybe replacing the thermal paste in the GPU but i'm actually a little scared to do this... Do you think that would solve some issues or do you think that I should definitely just upgrade my GPU?
To upgrade all the other components I don't really have the budget for or do you think this would be necessary?
Also should I get a new smaller case will this affect the performance or will I not notice it (it is mainly because I would like to place it on my desk but my current case is way too big to place on my desk)
 
If the gpu is still crashing after cleaning it then you could try changing the thermal paste. It should lower temps unless there is another problem.

Updating the gpu will (in general) make the biggest difference to the machine in gaming.

Not having wifi makes the board selection bigger and can save £10+ over a wifi enabled board. No other difference as wired connection is always better than wifi especially for gameing.

A newer smaller case will probably make little difference to overall temps as your old case seems to have resasonable airflow. RGB is optional and going no-rgb can also save money.
 
If i would only upgrade my R9 290X to the Rx 6700XT, is that possible with my motherboard and psu? This will improve my pc by a whole lot, right?
Because I have the idea that my current GPU is very out dated but you seem pretty positive about it being still good enough or am I understanding you wrong?

(Sorry for the maybe noob questions, I did not build my own pc back then because I was to young to understand any of it but now I'm very interested and I'm trying to learn and improve my knowledge about PC building...)
 
The 290x is still a reasonable card as long as your not using 4k resolution or after 1440p @ 144 mhz.

The 6700xt is much faster though in every resolution, approx 140% faster than the 290x. It will easily fit in your old case as the stryker is huge!! The motherboard and PSU will be fine.

All your componants will esily fit in a P400. Its a very nice case, it can fit a gpu in thats 420mm long!!

You could also try overclocking the 4770K

4.0 GHz can easily be obtained with your i7 4770K. Turn off Turbo Boost, C1E, C States and other power saving features. Set VCore to 1.250V (you can try using less volts, most reach 4.2GHz+ at this voltage ) BCLK @100MHz, Clock Ratio for all core active counts at 40. Leave Uncore at stock amount, 35.
 
Okay thanks, I will definitely try to overclock my cpu. But that will probably not help my graphical performance while playing these games...
What would you call a decent price for the 6700xt? Because if I search online I find an varying amount of prices.
 
A new GPU will definetly be needed if you want to play the latest games with high settings and decent fps but finding one right now is easier said than done as we are in the middle of a mining boom and people are using bots to buy up any cards in stock to resell at higher prices.

Gpus to look out for are the 3060ti 3070 3080 6700XT 6800 6800XT.

The new bang for buck gaming CPU is the 11400F at £150 or the 11600KF @£229 if you like doing some overclocking and paired with a B560 is a solid upgrade for gaming. Going ryzen will cost almost double for even their basic 6 core 5600X which isn't that further ahead and not really worth the extra outlay.
 
Your pc should be fine for playing all but the latest games, like cyberpunk 2077, at 1080p high settings. https://youtu.be/0rhn2ZNu-Uw?t=811
If you haven't played many games for awhile I would suggest looking for older games that will still run well on your pc and you haven't played. They should also be cheaper to buy compared to newly released games.
I would suggest getting a 11400f, motherboard and ram first, (if you sell your current cpu, motherboard and ram they will help to pay towards them). You will be bottlenecked by your gpu but at least it will eliminate stutter in games from your cpu and prepare you for a gpu upgrade when they come in supply and to a price that you want. AMD and Nvidia still have to release some cheaper gpus in their new series, eg the AMD 6700, which you could check for reviews on release
 
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