Upgrade Help for 6 Year Old System

strocky

strocky

strocky

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Joined
9 Jul 2007
Posts
406
Looking to get into 4K 1440p gaming and VR

Current system is

MONITOR = AOC 32" Q3279VWF
PSU = Corsair 620HX PSU
RAM = 8 Gb DDR3 RAM
MB = Asus P8Z77-V Premium
CPU = i5-3570K
GRAPHICS = Nvidia GTX 970
SDD = 2 x 500GB Crucial

Am I better trying to upgrade or sell the system and start from scratch?

Budget is around £600/800 for upgrade or in the event of a new build add the value to the what the old system is worth
 
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AMD have just announced new CPUs and GPUs. Wait for benchmarks. These will have impacts on prices down the line.

But your budget is highly optimistic for 4K gaming and VR: a decent 4K monitor will consume most of your budget. You can game at 4K on a GTX 970 but you'll only get decent frame rates on old games. I gamed at 4K on a 3770S with a 780Ti and ran Tomb Raider 2013 at 4K on a mix of medium and high settings. I then switched to a Maxwell Titan and 4k got very nice. Now I'm on an i7-8700 and 2080 Ti and I'm enjoying 4K gaming at > 60 Hz. I do not think that with your budget you will get a superior gaming experience to your current monitor with an upgraded GPU.

Your minimum GPU for VR should be the GTX 1070 / RTX 2060 or AMD equivalent for around £300. Those GPUs will also allow you medium-high settings at 4k on modern games. The faster the card the better to minimise reprojection rates.

Realistically, your old PC is not worth a lot; you might as well keep it as a spare. Cheap upgrades would be a 3770K and an extra 8 GB RAM.


The monitor I've listed is the refresh of my original 4K monitor:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £631.68 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 
Thanks for the prompt & helpful advice, think I'll stick @ 1440p for now, is there a big jump from 75Hz to 144Hz casual gaming (not oline multiplayer)?
Also if I broke up my PC for spares, what sort of prices would be reasonable to ask/expect? (rather get rid than keep as a spare)

I'm definetly holding off for the AMD Navi GPU & New Ryzen CPU's release in July, however I've a feeling the GPU's won't be anywhere near the $300 mark previously mentioned (more like $499)
Hopefully though it will bring the Vega 56 or 64 down even lower than the current costs of the GPU & CPU's
 
Vega 64 for your 32" 1440p 75hz freesync monitor


CODE
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £770.48 (includes shipping: £10.50)


Gigabyte better warranty and customer service. card is smaller and quieter .
sapphire for cooler card , but use the support brace given !

both come with 2 free games

when Ryzen 3000 drops, see prices of second hand i7 3***k chip and slap it in ! unless Ryzen 3600x overclocks well !​
 
Unless having really lots of money to burn, 2560x1440 is lot better.
Same frame rate at 3840x2160 needs 2.25 times the GPU power.
Even just lowly 60Hz is very demanding.

orbitalwalsh said:
see prices of second hand i7 3***k chip and slap it in !
Click to expand...
Just suspect probability of even really old Intel CPUs decreasing to proper price level is same as politicians and economical elite becoming honest...
Next-gen consoles will simply curbstomp those in CPU power available for games.
 
So been mulling over my options (and budget) and 1 of these 3 options are looking likely, comments welcome as I've been away from the scene for a bit

All options based on selling MB, CPU, RAM and GPU on Ebay (approx £150-200ish)
Keep rest of kit so saving approx £150 on purchasing new case & PSU

I forgot to mention I already have 2 x 64Gb Samsung 830's in RAID for the O/S to go along with the two 500Gb Crucial MX500 SSD's for Storage

Budget Option

Wait for Zen 2 to release and hope to purchase from new (discounted estimated costs in July)

CPU -: 2600X (£120)
MB -: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK (£90)
RAM -: Patriot Viper Elite 8 GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4 2400Mhz (£50)
GPU -: Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse (£230 inc selling promo game codes)
Total Upgrade Cost @ £340/£390

Mid Range Option - Worth the % Performance Increase?
As above but upgrade to

CPU -: 2700 (£200)
MB -: Aorus X470 (PCMI-E4 upgradeable??) (£100)
RAM -: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 (£110)
GPU -: Vega 64 (£280 inc selling promo game codes)
Total Upgrade Cost @ £540/£590

Baws Out Option

CPU -: Ryzen 7 3700X (£300)
MB -: Budget X570 (£200)
RAM -: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 (£110)
GPU -: NVIDIA 2070 Super (£400)
Total Upgrade Cost @ £860/£910
 
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Amended prices above to reflect AMD launch last night, now veering toward the budget option

Are the new CPU's worth the extra over ZEN 1 or are you just gaining a few FPS when gaming?
 
So looking like I’ll be going down the B450 and 3600 road, what’s the best RAM for this combo?
Or are X570 boards worth the £100+ premium?
 
Finally settled on the parts below for my upgrade, retained my existing case, PSU & SSD's
Sold my i5-3570K/MB/RAM Bundle & GTX 970 on Fleaby for about £190

MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8GB OC
Ryzen 7 3700x
MSI B450 Tomahawk
G.SKILL F4-3200C14D-16GFX 16 GB (8 GB x 2) Flare X Series DDR4 3200 MHz PC4-25600 CL14

Will the stock Wraith Prism Cooler be good enough for a mild OC?
 
strocky said:
Finally settled on the parts below for my upgrade, retained my existing case, PSU & SSD's
Sold my i5-3570K/MB/RAM Bundle & GTX 970 on Fleaby for about £190

MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8GB OC
Ryzen 7 3700x
MSI B450 Tomahawk
G.SKILL F4-3200C14D-16GFX 16 GB (8 GB x 2) Flare X Series DDR4 3200 MHz PC4-25600 CL14

Will the stock Wraith Prism Cooler be good enough for a mild OC?
Click to expand...

Final build as above (retained my old SSD's, Case, PSU, Sound Card & Bluray Player) except I managed to secure a 5700XT from the rainforest who had mispriced it as a 5700, only problem is I'll need to ebay the £202 promo cost MSI Radeon RX Vega 56 Air Boost 8GB OC on Flebay as I missed the returns slot from the shop I purchased from (didn't even make the rig)

It's a pity I've not got 1000 posts on here, I'd rather it went to an enthusiast :(
 
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