Upgrade my ageing PC

pc_fodder

pc_fodder

pc_fodder

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Joined
11 Apr 2017
Posts
43
Location
uk
So here is my PC setup that I got from overclockers:

  • "Titan Envy M DC" Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.4GHz Overclocked Nvidia GeForce Gaming PC
  • MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
  • Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD
  • Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW)
  • Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Red (HX24C11BRK2/8-OC)
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614)
Although I have since then upgraded my grahpics card to:
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 with 4GB memory

CPU and Motherboard from CPU-Z:

Based on another thread here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/i-would-like-to-upgrade-my-ram.18885619/#post-33567419

It was suggested to me that I really should be looking to upgrade my CPU. My motherboard does not support anything above core i7 (AFAIK). So it looks like I will need to replace my motherboard.

I have been googleing around to see the procedure. Looks sort of doable! This is what I think I need to do:

  1. Update my BIOS to the latest
  2. Get a new motherboard
  3. Get a new CPU
  4. Get new RAM (not essential, but this all started because I have not got enough RAM)
My graphics card is still good enough (I believe) and my corsair cooler is also (I think) fairly good (although I have another thread open to determine why my fans / CPU run hot. But my cooler is attached to two large case fans on the top of my tower.

Where I am struggling is what motherboard / CPU / RAM do I get?! - its just bewildering the choice. So maybe I can cat the list down a bit with my requirements:

  • I am a software engineer and so high computation (compiling) is required. I also run VMs to do this to the more cores the better :)
  • I am a casual gamer - I don't need the top graphics in a game, but I like decent graphics. I think my current graphics card is perfect for my needs
  • I want 32GB RAM mostly for my VMs
  • I probably would like ~6-8 cores on my CPU, I think parallelism is more useful to me then shear single CPU core grunt (I might be wrong about that!).
  • cost-wise: just to upgrade my PC I was hoping <£500... my original system only cost £1100 total back in the day.
The performance of my PC is decent (for my purposes), but the cost to upgrade the RAM is significant and as was pointed out to me, it is a dead-end upgrade. So I have started to look at upgrading more items to make it more cost effective and future up gradable.
 
I would move upto the DDR4 platform and look at Ryzen AM4 as their socket has been and will be around for a while so if you want a newer CPU in the future you'll only need a BIOS update, Unlike Intel i think they are looking to bring the 10th gen out with a new socket so if anybody wants one they will need a new Motherboard aswell.

As you've mentioned this not just being for gaming and you also work on this machine i've specc'd the 3700x as it has plenty of cores and threads to help you glide through any tasks you may have and when it comes to gaming you'll have no issues

EDIT: Just realised you said 32gb of RAM that will put the cost up to around £580ish :(

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £515.43 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​
 
GPU, 4 cores 8 threads still fine for 90% of games on Steam and Epic library .

£300-400 on GPU will give you most uplift

*** Sorry, sorry about VM ^^^ as above AMD . Interesting to see how Intel's will effect pricing in 2 weeks time
 
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Thanks @orbitalwalsh and @Minibiker - would have posted yesterday but I ran out of daily posts!

I think my GPU (GTX980) is still good for a few years - and I am only a casual gamer so I am happy not running graphics to the max :)
I have now ordered my all kit and really looking forward to trying to re-build my PC (and hopefully not bricking it!)
 
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