Upgrade or Buy New?

Geordie1881 · 17 Apr 2025 at 14:16

Hi All

I have a system which I originally bought from Overclockers in April 2018 which has had a couple of additions/replacements as follows:

CA-24K-AN - Antec P8 Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black Glass Window
MB-15K-AK - Asrock Z370 Extreme 4 Intel Z370 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
CP-63R-IN - Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor (overclocked as part of the build @ 4.9GHz)
GX-19U-GI - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070Ti WindForce 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
MY-09S-TG - Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TLGD416G3200HC16CDC01)
CA-05Q-SS - Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0 - (replaced 650W in Sep 2024)
HD-233-SA - Samsung 500GB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E500B/EU)
HD-39E-SE - Seagate 8TB Barracuda 5400RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST8000DM004) - (added March 2020)
HD-366-WD - WD 1TB Blue 7200rpm Internal Hard Drive (WD10EZEX)
HS-00B-FD - Fractal Design Celsius S36 360mm All in One Water Cooler - (replaced Alphacool Eisbaer Water Cooler which was faulty on system delivery)

As I understand it, the hardware won't support TPM 2.0 (required for Win11) and I believe this is motherboard related (?). I'm confident that it's in need of a refresh, but am I better off upgrading specific components or buying a new system? I'm finding the SSD sizing to be limiting. I'm personally leaning towards getting a new system as I'm also thinking that I may need additional cooling as my new space for the tower is likely so see less airflow.

If I'm looking at getting a new system, I'd appreciate some recommendations. Aside from the usual browsing, watching YouTube etc. it would be used for games such as RDR2, GTA V, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Planet Zoo etc. (nothing necessarily bleeding edge right?)

My thoughts have been around:

CPU - i7 vs i9 (more familiar with Intel so that would be preference unless there's some major reason why I shouldn't). 13700/14700 (i7) or 14900 (i9) were ones I've looked at
GFX - currently 8GB, so suspect I'd go up a notch to 16GB ? Again, not sure what I'd require here but looked at RTX 4070 (all seem out of stock) and RTX 5080 which perhaps seem high-end for what I'm planning on doing?
RAM - probably leap up to at least 32GB 5600MHz would seem sensible? or even 64GB?
SSD - I'd aim at 2TB as a minimum. 4TB if not too cost prohibitive
HDD - I'd likely re-use the 8TB from my old machine
Motherboard / PSU / Case etc. - I have no idea what I'd need, which I guess would depend on choices above.

In terms of the budget, my previous system cost £1,700 back in 2018, so I'm sort of expecting to be somewhere in the region of £2,250 to £2,500 but this isn't set in stone (exc. monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers)

If anyone is willing/able to share some considerations or ideas, it would be great,

Cheers

tamzzy · 17 Apr 2025 at 14:33

If all you're interested in, is running Win 11, then your 8700k system will run Win 11, just update the BIOS (you'd lose the OC settings though, so take pictures of the settings before you update)
If you need a larger SSD then just upgrade the SSD, your board has a M.2 slot so it literally is plug and play

If you're happy with the performance currently then just soldier on with the current system
The 8700k OC is in between the performance of the Ryzen 3600 and Ryzen 5600 (closer to the 5600 TBH), so you could potentially leave the whole system alone and just upgrade the GPU if you just need GPU grunt. The RX9070 (non-XT) would be a worthy upgrade and pair well with the 8700k
If you want to blow the budget and fully upgrade, then of course that can also be sorted

Though looking at your list of games I'd personally just save the money.
BIOS update, then get a new NVME SSD, 32GB RAM and 9070 non-XT would be what I'd opt for

Gray2233 · 17 Apr 2025 at 14:33

If your current rig is already performing well for your needs you might as well stick to what you have.

ASRock > News

www.asrock.com

Your board supports W11.

A GPU upgrade would probably be worthwhile regardless, that 1070 is probably a bit long in the tooth for KD2, maybe wait and see if you can get an MSRP 9070.

Tetras · 17 Apr 2025 at 14:35

Geordie1881 said:
CPU - i7 vs i9 (more familiar with Intel so that would be preference unless there's some major reason why I shouldn't). 13700/14700 (i7) or 14900 (i9) were ones I've looked at

Given the potential issues with these CPUs I would not buy one anymore and since you're really only a gamer there's not much benefit from Core Ultra CPUs either (versus AMD's X3D), but I'd rather buy one than a 14th gen.

Geordie1881 said:
As I understand it, the hardware won't support TPM 2.0 (required for Win11) and I believe this is motherboard related (?).

8th gen is fully supported for the OS and the CPU/platform has TPM 2.0 integrated, so you don't need a TPM hardware module installed on the motherboard, however the BIOS has to expose the TPM config and some motherboards need to be updated for Windows 11 before the option is available.

Geordie1881 said:
I'm personally leaning towards getting a new system as I'm also thinking that I may need additional cooling as my new space for the tower is likely so see less airflow.

The case you have would be sufficient for almost any build, since it has enough fan mounts. You could look into something like Antec's C5 ARGB, which includes 7x 120mm fans, or the Flux which has received good reviews.

Geordie1881 said:
GFX - currently 8GB, so suspect I'd go up a notch to 16GB ? Again, not sure what I'd require here but looked at RTX 4070 (all seem out of stock) and RTX 5080 which perhaps seem high-end for what I'm planning on doing?

8GB cards are not what I'd consider a decent upgrade from the 1070 Ti, but I'd really look at the resolution you want to play at before the size of the memory. The 4070 is what I'd class as a 1440p card, the new 5060 Ti 16GB is a bit slower.

The 5080 is poor value for what many of the cards go for (e.g £1200), I'd only look at that if you're desperate for 4K with all the shinies. The 9070 XT at around £600-£650 is what I'd be looking at, unless you have a compelling reason not to buy one. The 5070 Ti is similar performing and not bad for ~£750 ish, but if you pay too much it approaches the price the 5080 is meant to be (~£900-£1000).

Geordie1881 said:
RAM - probably leap up to at least 32GB 5600MHz would seem sensible? or even 64GB?

Given you have 16GB already then 32GB is fine, but personally given the issues running 4 sticks I'd just get 48GB or 64GB now and not need to touch it for years.

The speed would be dependent on the CPU chosen, so can't help there yet.

Geordie1881 said:
In terms of the budget, my previous system cost £1,700 back in 2018, so I'm sort of expecting to be somewhere in the region of £2,250 to £2,500 but this isn't set in stone (exc. monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers)

If anyone is willing/able to share some considerations or ideas, it would be great,

If it was me, I'd consider just buying the 9070 XT and maybe a new case (if you think the new position merits it) and then see how it goes.

If you want a full system and prefer Intel, e.g.:

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £338.99
1 x Gigabyte Z890 EAGLE WIFI7 (LGA1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03487) = £229.99
1 x Intel Motherboard Master Key - Star Wars Outlaws (SKU: DIG-INT-04686) = £0.00
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C40 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (SKU: MEM-TMG-03146) = £179.99
1 x Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03983) = £649.99
1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
1 x Asus TUF Gaming 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-05Z-AS) = £159.95
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02665) = £29.99

Total: £1,923.86 (includes delivery: £11.98)

Geordie1881 · 17 Apr 2025 at 14:52

Thanks All, appreciate the responses and advice. I'll do some digging/reading on the W11 point and look at some of those suggest upgrades. If I upgrade then I'm sure I'll find something else to waste money on

Geordie1881 · 17 Apr 2025 at 16:09

tamzzy said:
If all you're interested in, is running Win 11, then your 8700k system will run Win 11, just update the BIOS (you'd lose the OC settings though, so take pictures of the settings before you update)

Hi @tamzzy, thanks for this. In terms of the OC settings to take snaps of, is that the information under OC Tweaker? or somewhere else? Sorry, I haven't done this before.

tamzzy · 17 Apr 2025 at 16:38

Geordie1881 said:
Hi @tamzzy, thanks for this. In terms of the OC settings to take snaps of, is that the information under OC Tweaker? or somewhere else? Sorry, I haven't done this before.

Yes I think it should all be in oc tweaker.
(I haven't used an Asrock motherboard in ages so going off my memory)

Tetras · 17 Apr 2025 at 17:01

FYI: if you had a mad moment and decided to buy a 5090, there have been a few threads on the forum that have had issues with 8th-10th gen PCs and there's a number of them on reddit too.

Not sure yet if this is a widespread compatibility issue between 5000 series and Z370/390 & Z490, but I'd definitely investigate before you do anything like that.

I don't know if AMD's 9070 / 9070 XT have had similar problems, but haven't noticed anything reported here.

Geordie1881 · 18 Apr 2025 at 13:44

@tamzzy @Tetras @Gray2233 - thanks again, I've managed to update the BIOS and the system now says it will support W11 which I couldn't have done without your help and guidance. I really appreciate it.

------------

CPU & Motherboard - based on your inputs, I'll leave these as-is

------------

SSD - I've looked at the Crucial T500 NVMe SSD suggested by @Tetras as part of a new build and this looks like a good direction for an upgrade choice. Looks like the T500 2TB is at £130 or T500 4TB at £240. There's also the T700 2TB at £180. 2TB will likely be enough but is there a need to go with the T700 over the T500 ? Do I need to choose one with Heatsink (~£10 extra on 2TB, ~£25 extra on 4TB) ?

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £126.95
1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (SKU: STO-CRU-01092) = £138.95
1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (SKU: STO-CRU-02890) = £262.99
1 x Crucial T700 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen5 M.2 Solid State Drive (CT2000T700SSD3) (SKU: HD-07D-CR) = £177.95
1 x Crucial T700 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen5 M.2 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (CT2000T700SSD5) (SKU: HD-07G-CR) = £186.95

------------

GPU - The 9070 has been mentioned by you all but with @tamzzy suggesting non-XT and @Tetras recommending XT. Is there a reason I'd choose one over the other or is it just a case of bang-for-buck ? I'm currently using 3 display ports on the 1070 Ti and see that the 9070 comes with 2x Display Ports. Am i likely to see any issue in mixing use of HDMI and Display Port to connect to my 3 external displays? or do I need to keep to a GPU with 3x Display Ports (such as the 5070 Ti)?

------------

RAM - I had a look around and it appears that Socket 1151 with 8th Gen CPU can support a max of 64GB (128GB for 9th Gen) but only 16GB per slot. Is this correct? If so, @Tetras mentioned an issue running 4 sticks, so to get to 32GB I can either use all 4 slots by adding 2x 8GB or am I better off buying 2x 16GB DDR4? If running all 4 slots isn't an issue I could go with 4x 16GB DDR4. If I am remember back to when this was built, I think "dual channelling" was likely a restriction to not use all 4 slots. I also can't seem to find the max speed i can run but seem to recall 2666 MHz even though the current build is 3200MHz.

How does these look (different MHz if applicable)?

My basket at OcUK:

------------

PSU - Currently I have a 750W PSU, will that be ok if I uplift the SSD, RAM (most likely 2x 16GB, ??? MHz) and GPU (9070 or 5070 Ti depending on feedback) or do I need a bigger PSU ?

------------

Thanks again for your help with this

tamzzy · 18 Apr 2025 at 13:56

Geordie1881 said:
SSD - I've looked at the Crucial T500 NVMe SSD suggested by @Tetras as part of a new build and this looks like a good direction for an upgrade choice. Looks like the T500 2TB is at £130 or T500 4TB at £240. There's also the T700 2TB at £180. 2TB will likely be enough but is there a need to go with the T700 over the T500 ? Do I need to choose one with Heatsink (~£10 extra on 2TB, ~£25 extra on 4TB) ?

don't need the heatsink, don't need pcie gen 5 either
your mobo only supports gen 3, so, a cheap ssd would be fine (as long as TLC nand)
in real world performance, outside of heavy I/O workloads (such as video editing/encoding ie heavily sequential read/write demands), there is minimal gain going from a SATA SSD to even a gen 5 NVME, so be prepared not to see a material difference in your day-to-day experience
you could get a gen 4 ssd if you want if the price difference is a couple of quid, so you can potentially carry it over to a new build...
...but in a few years i would suspect our answer would be just to get a full new build, as gen 5 ssds would've come down in price, hopefully

Geordie1881 said:
GPU - The 9070 has been mentioned by you all but with @tamzzy suggesting non-XT and @Tetras recommending XT. Is there a reason I'd choose one over the other or is it just a case of bang-for-buck ? I'm currently using 3 display ports on the 1070 Ti and see that the 9070 comes with 2x Display Ports. Am i likely to see any issue in mixing use of HDMI and Display Port to connect to my 3 external displays? or do I need to keep to a GPU with 3x Display Ports (such as the 5070 Ti)?

value, basically, as cost-per-frame the 9070 non-xt is ever so slightly cheaper than the 9070XT
(the 9070XT is £100 more expensive, which would put it at 17.5% dearer but with only 11% performance increase, when compared to the non-XT)
in terms of bottlenecking, your 8700k will be more of a limiting factor for the 9070XT, than the non-XT (as the XT is faster than the non-XT, obviously :cry:

)
either would see you through the next 4-5 years and then your next upgrade, would be a full new system

Geordie1881 said:
RAM - I had a look around and it appears that Socket 1151 with 8th Gen CPU can support a max of 64GB (128GB for 9th Gen) but only 16GB per slot. Is this correct? If so, @Tetras mentioned an issue running 4 sticks, so to get to 32GB I can either use all 4 slots by adding 2x 8GB or am I better off buying 2x 16GB DDR4? If running all 4 slots isn't an issue I could go with 4x 16GB DDR4. If I am remember back to when this was built, I think "dual channelling" was likely a restriction to not use all 4 slots. I also can't seem to find the max speed i can run but seem to recall 2666 MHz even though the current build is 3200MHz.

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

this is fine, i wouldn't spend more than that. DDR4 is old tech and you will not be able to carry it over to a new build

Geordie1881 said:
PSU - Currently I have a 750W PSU, will that be ok if I uplift the SSD, RAM (most likely 2x 16GB, ??? MHz) and GPU (9070 or 5070 Ti depending on feedback) or do I need a bigger PSU ?

750w is fine

Tetras · 18 Apr 2025 at 14:18

Geordie1881 said:
GPU - The 9070 has been mentioned by you all but with @tamzzy suggesting non-XT and @Tetras recommending XT. Is there a reason I'd choose one over the other or is it just a case of bang-for-buck ? I'm currently using 3 display ports on the 1070 Ti and see that the 9070 comes with 2x Display Ports. Am i likely to see any issue in mixing use of HDMI and Display Port to connect to my 3 external displays? or do I need to keep to a GPU with 3x Display Ports (such as the 5070 Ti)?

I haven't looked that deeply at it, but I think it is only Sapphire that do the 2x HDMI and 2x DP thing? They're supposed to have 3x DP and 1x HDMI.

I didn't mean to specifically recommend the XT version, the non-XT version is fine and still a big upgrade on what you have.

Geordie1881 said:
RAM - I had a look around and it appears that Socket 1151 with 8th Gen CPU can support a max of 64GB (128GB for 9th Gen) but only 16GB per slot. Is this correct?

Your 8700K can support 128GB. Intel initially said it'd only be 9th gen, but 8th gen CPUs are basically the same CPU and they have no issue running 32GB per slot (for 128GB).

Intel Ark used to have a note that it requires an updated BIOS and platform support, but not sure if it still does. Most 8th gen motherboards still say they only support 64GB, but often there is a BIOS update that says "added 32GB DIMM" or something like that.

In reference to the speeds and the number of sticks: 2 sticks is safer to run "out of the box", but it does usually work fine to run 4 sticks with 8th/9th gen, especially if you're prepared to run at 2666. Officially, the 8700K only supports 2666, but unofficially if you have a Z board overclocking the CPU's memory controller is no problem.

Geordie1881 · 18 Apr 2025 at 14:59

Thanks again @tamzzy & @Tetras

SSD - Looks like a £20 offset between a Gen3 and Gen4 when at 2TB. So I reckon I'll go with Gen4 and I'll make a snap call on whether I go 2TB or 4TB when ordering (no Heatsink).

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £126.95
1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.98

GPU - Thanks, looks like all of these have 3x DP as you suggested. The Gigabyte non-XT version is out of stock. Is the Asrock version ok? and is "challenger" versus "Steel Legend" simply aesthetics? I'm leaning towards Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT but in case I decide to save the £100 would Asrock be an ok choice?

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04037) = £578.99
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 Steel Legend OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04035) = £599.99
1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-04216) = £589.99 CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 XT Steel Legend 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04036) = £689.98
1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-04215) = £698.99

RAM - This is the bit I am still mostly confused by. If I go with 2x 32GB and the motherboard using 8th gen CPU only supports 16GB per slot, will the RAM fail or will it be limited to 16GB per slot (appreciate that may be the dumbest question of the day, but I honestly don't know the answer). If I do need to update the BIOS, how difficult is that to do?

If I play it safe, I'd go

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

If I am brave and go with 2x 32GB then I suspect there'd be no reason to go with anything 'better' than one of the 3200MHz Corsair options below right? From what I can see, the difference between those is that one is RGB and the other doesn't (i.e. no performance difference)

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £109.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4CC-CS) = £125.00
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0B9-TG) = £149.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-29200C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMW64GX4M2D3600C18) (SKU: MY-4CD-CS) = £124.99

PSU - I'll stick to the 750W as you've said it'll do the job and is only 6 months old

Cheers

tamzzy · 18 Apr 2025 at 15:05

Geordie1881 said:
SSD - Looks like a £20 offset between a Gen3 and Gen4 when at 2TB. So I reckon I'll go with Gen4 and I'll make a snap call on whether I go 2TB or 4TB when ordering (no Heatsink).

Those listed are high-end gen 4 drives. If you want to spend that much that you have options, obvs not all stocked at ocuk so you need to research on your own, what the cheapest is.

For this class of SSD, you have choices, posted this list previously, but these are the options:

tamzzy said:
As it's such a high-spec build, I would not settle for any less than an SSD with DRAM

The usual suspects are (in no particular order):
Samsung 990 pro
WD SN850X
Crucial T500
Seagate Firecuda 530
SK hynix Platinum P41 / Solidigm SSD P44 PRO
Kingston Fury Renegade
Adata XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE

I would go with any on the list, whichever is cheapest on the day

Edit: added a couple more choices

Geordie1881 said:
GPU - Thanks, looks like all of these have 3x DP as you suggested. The Gigabyte non-XT version is out of stock. Is the Asrock version ok? and is "challenger" versus "Steel Legend" simply aesthetics? I'm leaning towards Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT but in case I decide to save the £100 would Asrock be an ok choice?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asrock-radeon-rx-9070-challenger-16gb-gddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gra-asr-04037.html

This ^

Geordie1881 said:
My basket at OcUK:

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

You don't need 64GB, 32GB is sufficient. Just get this.

Tetras · 18 Apr 2025 at 15:27

Geordie1881 said:
RAM - This is the bit I am still mostly confused by. If I go with 2x 32GB and the motherboard using 8th gen CPU only supports 16GB per slot, will the RAM fail or will it be limited to 16GB per slot (appreciate that may be the dumbest question of the day, but I honestly don't know the answer).

I believe the 128GB / 32GB support was added in BIOS updates around 2019 (I don't know if your board received those updates, or when), so I wouldn't recommend using 32GB sticks with a BIOS that is dated prior to this.

It is hard to say what would happen, it might just not boot (i.e. stuck at a black screen) and/or beep at you, or it might boot and function fine, just without fully detecting the memory you added.

Since it is quite likely that you'll end up with memory that is 16Gbit density, regardless of going with 2x16 or 2x32, a BIOS update is prudent anyway and that also applies with the graphics upgrade. Be aware/warned that if you have a TPM enabled and use bitlocker encryption or Windows Hello, updating the bios can clear your keys.

Geordie1881 said:
If I play it safe, I'd go

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

If I am brave and go with 2x 32GB then I suspect there'd be no reason to go with anything 'better' than one of the 3200MHz Corsair options below right? From what I can see, the difference between those is that one is RGB and the other doesn't (i.e. no performance difference)

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £109.99

1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4CC-CS) = £125.00

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0B9-TG) = £149.99

1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-29200C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMW64GX4M2D3600C18) (SKU: MY-4CD-CS) = £124.99

Are you running your memory at 2666, or what speed?

At this point, I really don't think there's any point paying for premium memory and outside of a few outliers like Skylines (or modded games) I doubt you'll get anywhere near 64GB usage.

Note that if you're allowing your memory to be automatically detected and operate at 2666, some sticks designed for XMP will only boot at 2133 (if you check Corsair's website, I believe Vengeance is one of those).

Geordie1881 · 18 Apr 2025 at 15:37

Thanks @Tetras

The RAM appears to be running at 3200 according to the performance tab in task manager. I'm assuming this means XMP is enabled in BIOS but i'll check this.

Thanks @tamzzy

I've had a quick scan through some of the SSD options and it looks like the Crucial T500 is cheaper than what I've seen for the other models. Re GPU and RAM, thanks for helping to round those off.

So My basket at OcUK:

1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £126.95
1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04037) = £578.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

For a total of £761.93 (exc, delivery) for 2TB SSD option or £871.97 (exc. delivery) for 4TB option

I'll make the choice between 2TB and 4TB when I stick the order in later this afternoon

Thanks again @tamzzy @Tetras @Gray2233 for your help on this yesterday/today.

Cheers

tamzzy · 18 Apr 2025 at 15:42

Tetras said:
a BIOS update is prudent anyway and that also applies with the graphics upgrade. Be aware/warned that if you have a TPM enabled and use bitlocker encryption or Windows Hello, updating the bios can clear your keys.

Geordie1881 said:
thanks again, I've managed to update the BIOS and the system now says it will support W11 which I couldn't have done without your help and guidance. I really appreciate it.

sounds like OP's already updated the bios to the latest version already

Geordie1881 said:
Thanks again @tamzzy @Tetras @Gray2233 for your help on this yesterday/today.

Cheers

no worries, enjoy your "new" PC

the 9070 will stretch the 8700k's legs and it'll feel like you've properly upgraded

Tetras · 18 Apr 2025 at 16:04

Geordie1881 said:
The RAM appears to be running at 3200 according to the performance tab in task manager. I'm assuming this means XMP is enabled in BIOS but i'll check this.

Sounds like XMP yeah, your board predates 3200 without XMP.

Geordie1881 said:
MY-09S-TG - Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TLGD416G3200HC16CDC01)

Geordie1881 said:
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

You can try those together if you want to. Currently running 40GB on the PC I type this

Gray2233 · 18 Apr 2025 at 16:26

Geordie1881 said:
Thanks @Tetras

The RAM appears to be running at 3200 according to the performance tab in task manager. I'm assuming this means XMP is enabled in BIOS but i'll check this.

Thanks @tamzzy

I've had a quick scan through some of the SSD options and it looks like the Crucial T500 is cheaper than what I've seen for the other models. Re GPU and RAM, thanks for helping to round those off.

So My basket at OcUK:

1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £126.95

1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99

1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04037) = £578.99

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99

For a total of £761.93 (exc, delivery) for 2TB SSD option or £871.97 (exc. delivery) for 4TB option

I'll make the choice between 2TB and 4TB when I stick the order in later this afternoon

Thanks again @tamzzy @Tetras @Gray2233 for your help on this yesterday/today.

Cheers

No worries, let us know how you get on.

It should be a pretty hefty uplift over what you had, going from a 1070ti to a 9070 is a gigantic leap.

Funnily enough, it might actually be worth bunging the 1070 into your second slot if you've room and using it for PhysX if you're into that stuff. You'd have support for games still running on the 32bit version, unlike people with current gen Nvidia cards. :cry:

Geordie1881 · 18 Apr 2025 at 18:52

Tetras said:
You can try those together if you want to. Currently running 40GB on the PC I type this

I hadn't thought of that, thanks. Do I need to worry about what stick (8GB vs 16GB) is in each slot?

Gray2233 said:
No worries, let us know how you get on.

Absolutely, will do!

Gray2233 said:
Funnily enough, it might actually be worth bunging the 1070 into your second slot if you've room and using it for PhysX if you're into that stuff. You'd have support for games still running on the 32bit version, unlike people with current gen Nvidia cards.

You've absolutely exceeded my knowledge-base now. I can move the 1070Ti but I'd have no idea whether i'd need to do anything to configure it to run and no scooby what PhysX nor what I'd use it for :cry:

Is this something I need to think about? or bury my head and not worry about it?

Cheers

Gray2233 · 18 Apr 2025 at 19:07

Geordie1881 said:
You've absolutely exceeded my knowledge-base now. I can move the 1070Ti but I'd have no idea whether i'd need to do anything to configure it to run and no scooby what PhysX nor what I'd use it for Is this something I need to think about? or bury my head and not worry about it?

Cheers

It's hardware accelerated physics that Nvidia supports, only for a handful of mostly older games at this point however so it's probably not worthwhile.

Here's a list of supporting titles:

List of games that support Nvidia PhysX - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

If there's any particular games you really enjoy it's worth considering but I'd not be too fussed, last I checked it would literally just be a case of having the 1070 in the slot and any supporting games would detect it.

As for the RAM, you'd want to pair sizes to matching slot.

So

A 8gb
B 16gb
C 8gb
D 16gb

I believe that should allow you to still run in dual channel mode assuming the sticks work together without issue.