Upgrade or overhaul?

Soundwave61 · 17 May 2020 at 11:18

Here is my current pc:
-Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card
-Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail
-2 x Asus VN247H 24"Widescreen Super Narrow Bezel LED Monitor - Black
-Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
-Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gbs Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW)
-Aerocool Xpredator X1 Midi Tower Case - Black
-Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gbs 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD
-SuperFlower Amazon 450W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply
-OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
-Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler
-SanDisk SSD PLUS 240 GB up to 520 MB/s Sata III 2.5 inch Internal SSD
-HyperX HX324C11SRK2/16 Savage 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 2400 MHz DDR3 CL11 UDIMM XMP Memory Module, Red

I'm looking to buy a nice new monitor and upgrade my pc for about £700. Or would people recommend I hold off and spend more later, get an overhaul?
I'm upgrading partly because I'm wanting to use higher graphics settings in my games as it is struggling more often these days. And partly as a corona lock down project as I'm getting bored at home.

If it's really worth spending more on an overhaul in a year or 2 then maybe what would people suggest for a cheap and cheerful upgrade? I'm thinking my current weak points are power supply and graphics card but I'm not so clued up in all this. :s

OpenToSuggestions · 17 May 2020 at 11:24

Your current rig just isn't worth your hassle. It is very outdated I am afraid!

Wait a few weeks for the B550 motherboards to come out, then buy one with either a Ryzen 3300x or 3600. This way it remains up-gradable (as much as a PC can be) looking forward. The B550 supports PCI4.0 and will allow for the upcoming Ryzen 4000 chips , so it 3-4 years time (when they are 'old' and 'cheap') you could slap a 16 core Ryzen 4000 in without needing a new motherboard.
Ram - Any branded DDR4 16GB kit that is 3200 or 3600mhz in speed.
You 'may' need a new power supply - If you limit yourself to a low TDP CPU (say a 3600 which is 65W) and a low power graphics card (say a 5600XT at 150W) you can keep it, but use a PSU calcualator and assume your used PSU is really 400W to keep some margin.
Keep the case, hard drive etc.

There are of course Intel and Nvidia variants you could buy that are equally as good - The budget end market is really getting some fierce competition and it is brilliant!

I would get your rig so that it plays every single game at a perfectly flat 60hz at 1080p with the CPU or GPU being way off maxing out. A monitor really does matter, but a new monitor will be both higher resolution and have a higher refresh rate. No point having that until you have a PC that can power it

.

My screen is 'only' 75hz and people go on and on about that I should get a 144hz screen, but in all honestly games running at a perfectly flat 75fps no matter what is happening is serving me well.

If you'd like me to spec out some parts let me know

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Soundwave61 · 17 May 2020 at 12:12

Ah was kinda expecting this answer

this ol girls lasted very well but 6 years is a long time (where does it go?). So B550 is where its at? If you could cobble together a £700 pc that would be grand. I could save up for a decent monitor afterwards I suppose. Better to put all the pennies in the tower.

Joxeon · 17 May 2020 at 12:15

Soundwave61 said:
Ah was kinda expecting this answer this ol girls lasted very well but 6 years is a long time (where does it go?). So B550 is where its at? If you could cobble together a £700 pc that would be grand. I could save up for a decent monitor afterwards I suppose. Better to put all the pennies in the tower.

Selling your old mb ram CPU etc would offset some cost towards a new system.

OpenToSuggestions · 17 May 2020 at 12:27

I will focus on an AMD build as they are killing it at the budget end. Towards the higher end Intel is definitely king for gaming, as games seem to value clock speed over cores.

Ryzen 3300X - £140. Comes with a cooler. Add £40 on if you prefer the Ryzen 3600 which has 6 Cores. Don't bother with the 3600X as it has a higher power limit.
Motherboard - Not possible to say, just when the new ones come out check reviews for which ones have good VRMs (strong and stable power delivery) to bode you well for a future upgrade. Assume £120.
Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz 16GB DDR4 - £99
Graphics - Nvidia 1160 Super is good for now if you plan to stay at 1080p - £225. The AMD 5600XT is faster but costs more. AMD 5700 is far better and will do 1440p but is £330 (at this price I would not recommend the Nvidia 2060 as it is only 6GB).

I'd go for a 3600 with a 5700. The 3300X is as good now for gaming but looking ahead 6 cores>>>4 cores. You're just under £700 all in but it will be a ridiculous upgrade.
I have not got a depth of knowledge on 5700 overclocking, but in my experience graphics card overclocking gobbles power very quickly. Avoid that and your 450W PSU is fine.

Soundwave61 · 17 May 2020 at 13:27

OK cheers, I'll keep an eye out when the new motherboard is out then. Thanks for the advice!

OpenToSuggestions · 17 May 2020 at 13:29

Soundwave61 said:
OK cheers, I'll keep an eye out when the new motherboard is out then. Thanks for the advice!

No problem. I'm sure others will have some input too

.
Post back with some updates if you go ahead!
Just keep in mind that for your PSU I have assumed you do not have loads of fans, PCI cards etc as 450W really is low, albeit doable.