Upgrade/New Build Advice

Ewaf

Ewaf

Ewaf

Soldato
Joined
22 May 2007
Posts
3,904
Hey!

It's been a long time since I built my current PC (2013), though I have been upgrading it slightly over the years, and it's starting to show it's age a bit.

My current specs are:
  • Intel Core i5 4670K - OCed to 4.5ghz
  • Patriot 8GB (2x 4GB) 2133MHz Dual Channel DDR3 Viper 3 Black Mamba Memory Kit
  • Corsair Builder Series CXM 600W Modular 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX/EPS PSU
  • Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Motherboard
  • Samsung 850 PRO 256 GB 2.5 inch SATA III Solid State Drive
  • MSI GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING X 6GB Graphics Card

I'm looking for advice on whether any of the above is salvageable, happy to reuse the SSD for example as I only have 1 or 2 games installed at one time. I think the PSU should be replaced as it's 6 years old now.

I mainly play competitive games such as R6 Siege, Apex Legends, CSGO, BF V (When BR mode comes out),League of Legends, and I'll also be playing The Division 2. I play at 1080p, 144hz. No real interest in 1440p, plus i don't think my budget would stretch to it anyway.

Budget wise probably looking at £800-1000.

Looking for thoughts on the best course of action, whether that's building a new PC now or waiting for upcoming releases as I'm in no real rush to buy stuff.

Thanks in advance!
 
apex has been coded damn well, adaptive frame rates etc . was gonna say monitor but your sorted on that point .

if you are looking to push the frames for competitive play then GTX 1660ti or loud vega 56 blower card for £250 .

I tend to replace PSU once warranty goes out so rest of system doesnt haha

BFV BR mode will eat your CPU up though! you've prob noticed when in heavy gun fight with 63 others players your frame rate will drop hard, more netcode/pathways then anything else . Div2 should have better DX12 so would help your CPU out a bit

waiting to July maybe best shout , if your gunning for BFV

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £795.06 (includes shipping: £11.10)​
​
 
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Ewaf said:
I think the PSU should be replaced as it's 6 years old now.
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If you're enthusiast user with lots of daily power on hours that would be good to do ASAP.
Despite/regardless of brand those CXs have never been high quality built to last PSUs.

Would recommend Bitfenix Formula as starting level.
They have modern design/efficiency and quality capacitors.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?ssearch=bitfenix+formula
for that level graphics cards 550w would be easily enough, but 650w leaves more room for overclocks with graphics cards less frugal on power consumption. (like stock vegas)
if you would like to have some unnecessary cables less inside the case this antec would be good.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ante...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-24n-an.html
Seasonic Focus Plus Gold would be next level for fully modular cabling.

For rest it would be sensible to wait for summer and release of Zen2 Ryzens.
Those will both increase single core performance from current Ryzens and very likely bring good jump in number of cores to level which would be proof against next-gen console multiplatter games.
AMD demoed eight core Zen2 engineering sample matching processing power of 9900K at ~50W lower power consumption.
And next-gen consoles likely come with 8c/16t Zen CPU and hence have huge amount of processing power available for games.
 
Thank you for the above replies! Some stuff to consider then. Seems like I should consider waiting for the AMD stuff? Will have to keep an eye out for release bews.
 
Ewaf said:
Thank you for the above replies! Some stuff to consider then. Seems like I should consider waiting for the AMD stuff? Will have to keep an eye out for release bews.
Click to expand...

up to you, GPU upgrade would push your monitor to achieve prettier images and faster frames on that 144hz screen

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/apex_legends_pc_performance_review/5

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3443-apex-legends-gpu-benchmark-1080p-1440p-4k

rtx 2060 would see a good increase in frames!

gtx 1660ti should see around 95 on average

for battlefield, personally push RTX 2060

forgot to ask, if your monitor freesync or g-sync? better yet is make and model
 
My monitor is : LG 24GM77 24" TRUE 144Hz Widescreen LED Monitor

Probably due an upgrade but, works well for now.

Would the rest of my machine hold an RTX 2060 back? No idea!
 
Ewaf said:
Would the rest of my machine hold an RTX 2060 back? No idea!
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The RTX 2060 would sit fine in your present 'clocked' spec - as would the cheaper GTX 1660ti or consider the Vega 56 which comes with 3 free games.

​




As @orbitalwalsh mentioned you would see a significant performance increase across all games with any of the above cards.
 
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Hey,

I'm close to pulling the trigger and way too impaitent to wait until July. Currently looking at the below:

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Video Card: Sapphire - Radeon RX VEGA 56 8 GB PULSE Video Card
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Things I'm not sure about are the PSU, and whether I should get the Vega 56 or a 2060?

Any advice appreciated!
 
Ewaf said:
Hey,

I'm close to pulling the trigger and way too impaitent to wait until July. Currently looking at the below:

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Video Card: Sapphire - Radeon RX VEGA 56 8 GB PULSE Video Card
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Things I'm not sure about are the PSU, and whether I should get the Vega 56 or a 2060?

Any advice appreciated!
Click to expand...

In all honesty the RTX2060 isn’t going to cut it in Ray Tracing so IMHO it’s rather a waste, depending on what Resolution you intend gaming in there are better choices right now. I would aim for a 650w+ PSU if you intend going the Vega 56 route. I personally would go with the Ryzen 5 2600 as all Ryzen CPU’s can be overclocked.

You’d be better off re-investing the savings in a better motherboard and RAM, with Ryzen benefiting from high frequency low latency memory I’d go with a different kit.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £825.65 (includes shipping: £11.70)


The Seasonic PSU is currently on sale as are most of the components above!​
 
Thanks for the input! Reason I put the 2600x is because it can be had for a great price at the moment.

I game at 1080p, 144hz.

Will take a look at the other parts, cheers.
 
Ewaf said:
Thanks for the input! Reason I put the 2600x is because it can be had for a great price at the moment.

I game at 1080p, 144hz.

Will take a look at the other parts, cheers.
Click to expand...

It’s a good price but a 2600 can be manually overclocked to very similar performance, allowing better memory and motherboard at the same budget that will yield a better overall package.
 
ilc72 said:
It’s a good price but a 2600 can be manually overclocked to very similar performance, allowing better memory and motherboard at the same budget that will yield a better overall package.
Click to expand...

It can be found for just about same price, and comes with a better cooler than the 2600. The IMC on it is also said to be a bit better as it's binned silicon but who knows. Won't really find a better motherboard than that (Tomahawk/Carbon Pro*) unless you spend a lot more. However, speaking of memory, 3200MHz Kingston Predator can also be found for around same price as Team Group Vulcan 3000MHz.

* I see you chose the Carbon pro, thought Ewaf had. :)
 
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Danny75 said:
It can be found for just about same price, and comes with a better cooler than the 2600. The IMC on it is also said to be a bit better as it's binned silicon but who knows. Won't really find a better motherboard than that (Tomahawk/Carbon Pro*) unless you spend a lot more. However, speaking of memory, 3200MHz Kingston Predator can also be found for around same price as Team Group Vulcan 3000MHz.

* I see you chose the Carbon pro, thought Ewaf had. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input!

Only thing I keep going back and forth on is GPU, 2060 or Vega 56, or hold on to my 1060 until something comes out??
 
Ewaf said:
Only thing I keep going back and forth on is GPU, 2060 or Vega 56, or hold on to my 1060 until something comes out??
Click to expand...

Think between Tamzzy's and Orbitalwash's input, you know what your choices are. i.e. if you want more frames/higher graphics settings, upgrade GPU. If you're happy with frames and currently happy with monitor, then wait for something better/another time.

You're going to hate me because now you're impatient to upgrade but personally I would keep going with that 4.5GHz 4670K till Ryzen 3XXX. You are not going to see an fps improvement with 2600/2600X without a GPU upgrade. Only thing that may happen is a bit more smoothness and less drops in some of the games due to the extra cores/threads.

You're best waiting till July. New CPUs (that will gain you some fps) and likely better prices on graphics cards than currently. Stick a reminder on your calendar and switch your mind to other things for now is what I'd do. Maybe even save a bit more to get a 1440p 144Hz screen while you're at it. That should make the wait even more worthwhile. :)
 
intel for 1080p 144hz gaming - your CPU bound and speed .

gtx 1660 is out thursday or friday, and is just a little slower then gtx 16660ti- specs makes like like GTX 1070Ti to GTX 1080 in terms of cuda cores, but ram speed is different but will only effect when gaming at higher res.

apart from BFV, you'll notice slower frame rates if you were able to test ryzen and intel side by side at 1080p

ArtC5cw.jpg

you'll have to clock your ryzen 4.3ghz all cores with ram speed of 3466hz to match intel 9400 .

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £921.01 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

or 4.9ghz overclock


BB CODE
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £826.05 (includes shipping: £11.10)


getting 2 more cores over current and faster clock speed. 9400 boosts to 4ghz all cores i believe or 3.9​
 
orbitalwalsh said:
apart from BFV, you'll notice slower frame rates if you were able to test ryzen and intel side by side at 1080p



you'll have to clock your ryzen 4.3ghz all cores with ram speed of 3466hz to match intel 9400 .
Click to expand...

The Cinebench R20 benchmark thread in the CPU forum is interesting. The Ryzen 2XXXs, with 3200MHz RAM, are matching Intel 9th Gen clock for clock in single core (give or take some measly points). So unlike with Ryzen 1st Gen, a Ryzen 2600X should now match a 4.1GHz Intel 9400F.


humbug said:
Thank you :)

2700X @ 4.2 = 4320
9900K @ 4.2 = 4436 (+2.6%) pretty much exactly how i calculated.

Single-Threaded is just about identical.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/32566035/
Click to expand...
 
Danny75 said:
Think between Tamzzy's and Orbitalwash's input, you know what your choices are. i.e. if you want more frames/higher graphics settings, upgrade GPU. If you're happy with frames and currently happy with monitor, then wait for something better/another time.

You're going to hate me because now you're impatient to upgrade but personally I would keep going with that 4.5GHz 4670K till Ryzen 3XXX. You are not going to see an fps improvement with 2600/2600X without a GPU upgrade. Only thing that may happen is a bit more smoothness and less drops in some of the games due to the extra cores/threads.

You're best waiting till July. New CPUs (that will gain you some fps) and likely better prices on graphics cards than currently. Stick a reminder on your calendar and switch your mind to other things for now is what I'd do. Maybe even save a bit more to get a 1440p 144Hz screen while you're at it. That should make the wait even more worthwhile. :)
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Ah, I think you're definitely right, so I guess the solution is definitely getting a GPU. I just know that come July my funds I've put aside will be swallowed up by something less exciting, so ready to commit now..! I last upgraded in 2013, so I do get good mileage out of my PCs..

@ortbitalwash thanks for those, I didn't know that intel was better for 1080p 144gz. That changes a lot, and now I'm back to square one :S
 
Ewaf said:
@ortbitalwash thanks for those, I didn't know that intel was better for 1080p 144gz. That changes a lot, and now I'm back to square one :S
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If you can overclock them/or get a chip that's faster clocked than Ryzen at stock. Little point in i9-9400F v Ryzen 2600X when they are just about the same and you miss out on the extra threads of the Ryzen. But certainly an overclocked 8600K/9600K will be noticeable.
 
Danny75 said:
The Cinebench R20 benchmark thread in the CPU forum is interesting. The Ryzen 2XXXs, with 3200MHz RAM, are matching Intel 9th Gen clock for clock in single core (give or take some measly points). So unlike with Ryzen 1st Gen, a Ryzen 2600X should now match a 4.1GHz Intel 9400F.
Click to expand...

3200 B-die and should be killer. only problem is , sync benchmark doesn't match up to gaming performance . though workstation loads R20 is damn good. should have been out!

pretty sure r15 had ryzen beating intel - as they have stronger Threading, SMT does out perform HT

and as danny mentions, got to give some future thought.. 8600k is at a good price to 2600x BUT Still need agood £40 cooler if you havent got one

Pinning my hope on Ryzen 4000 - not much faith in ryzen 3000- it'll be good, just 7nm + node will be better! but your talking a good year and half off
 
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