Upgrading GPU

Marakith · 1 Oct 2022 at 20:12

Hello!

About 11 years ago, I built a PC using the ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard and an i5 2500k CPU. I've got 16Gb RAM.

It's been a proper survivor- I've a feeling it'll last me another few years with no problems. Initially I had the Radeon HD 6950, then in 2014 upgraded to a R9 290. I think this wonderful forum recommended the upgrade.

Now I'm thinking it's time to upgrade the GPU. What would be a good, similar bang-for-buck upgrade to the GPU? I mostly play GTA and Fortnite. I'm running my main monitor at 2560x1440 and I might opt for VR one day.

Thanks in advance!

jigger · 1 Oct 2022 at 20:28

The RX 6800 is todays R9 290, though the days of cards priced like R9 290 are well gone. An RX 6700XT would be a good fit for that system.

Intel Arc are looking good on pricing.

Tetras · 1 Oct 2022 at 20:34

3060 Ti FE or 3070 FE is the minimum I'd be looking at for 1440p, but GTA and Fortnite don't need that kind of performance, a RX 6600 would do the job. VR can be a different story.

Craig_d1 · 1 Oct 2022 at 21:49

I think an i5 2500k is going to start bottle necking a modern gpu such as a 3060ti or above. The fe cards were in stock last night when I checked(3060ti fe 369, 3070Fe £469), though at £469 AMD has it's own 6750xt available at that price which pip 3070 for performance, unless you want retracing, dlss etc)Think there good value compared to the new gen coming out(nvidia that is as AMD not launched yet)

Marakith · 2 Oct 2022 at 16:18

Thanks, all! Looks like I might have to consider a new rig if it's really the CPU causing stutter.

Marakith · 4 Oct 2022 at 18:22

Right - so I'm getting to the point where I'm going to get a RX 6700XT. Thing is - is this a shortsighted idea? Would I be better just ripping off the plaster and getting a better motherboard, CPU and RAM as well as a much better card? I'm a little worried about being CPU throttled (Cyberpunk 2077 was unplayable).

If I do go for an upgrade, I'm thinking of gutting my current PC and replacing the motherboard, CPU, RAM and GPU as follows:

CPU

Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail

Order Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MoBo

Asrock Z690 Extreme - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard

Order Asrock Z690 Extreme - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Cooler

Phanteks Glacier One 240MP All In One CPU Water Cooler D-RGB Black - 240mm

Order Phanteks Glacier One 240MP All In One CPU Water Cooler D-RGB Black - 240mm now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

RAM
Dunno yet - should I go for 16Gb or is 32Gb the new 16Gb?

PSU
Already have a Corsair TX650M 850W Power Supply

Vish Petrol · 4 Oct 2022 at 19:08

Marakith said:
Right - so I'm getting to the point where I'm going to get a RX 6700XT. Thing is - is this a shortsighted idea? Would I be better just ripping off the plaster and getting a better motherboard, CPU and RAM as well as a much better card? I'm a little worried about being CPU throttled (Cyberpunk 2077 was unplayable).

If I do go for an upgrade, I'm thinking of gutting my current PC and replacing the motherboard, CPU, RAM and GPU as follows:

CPU

Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail

Order Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MoBo

Asrock Z690 Extreme - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard

Order Asrock Z690 Extreme - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Cooler

Phanteks Glacier One 240MP All In One CPU Water Cooler D-RGB Black - 240mm

Order Phanteks Glacier One 240MP All In One CPU Water Cooler D-RGB Black - 240mm now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

RAM
Dunno yet - should I go for 16Gb or is 32Gb the new 16Gb?

PSU
Already have a Corsair TX650M 850W Power Supply

Thats more than you need to spend. You'd be more than fine with a ryzen 5600 and a cheap b450/b550 motherboard. For ram 16gb is fine, 32gb is futureproof, ram is cheap at the moment, but you're better off going for faster ram than higher capacity.

For a GPU a 6700xt would be overkill for the games you play. Just get a regular 6700 or even a 6600.

Pocket the savings for when gta 6 comes out and then look at whether you need to updgrade.

Marakith · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:02

Vish Petrol said:
Thats more than you need to spend. You'd be more than fine with a ryzen 5600 and a cheap b450/b550 motherboard. For ram 16gb is fine, 32gb is futureproof, ram is cheap at the moment, but you're better off going for faster ram than higher capacity.

For a GPU a 6700xt would be overkill for the games you play. Just get a regular 6700 or even a 6600.

Pocket the savings for when gta 6 comes out and then look at whether you need to updgrade.

Ahh - thanks! This is brilliant!

Are you in my brain? GTA 6 is definitely in my mind. Yes - I'll wait until then.

Looking at it, the 6700 is roughly 20% faster than the 6600. Given I'm pretty casual, I'm not even sure it's worth the extra £100 if I'm only going to ditch it when the new GTA comes along! :cry:

Do you think it's worth trying out the 6600 or 6700 on this current setup, then going the Ryzen route if that doesn't cut the mustard?

If I do upgrade, does this seem decent?

CPU

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

Order AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Motherboard

MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard

Order MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

RAM

Kingston Fury Renegade RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C19 4000MHz Dual Channel Kit

Order Kingston Fury Renegade RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C19 4000MHz Dual Channel Kit now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Thanks again!

ShiWarrior · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:02

Marakith said:
Hello!

About 11 years ago, I built a PC using the ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard and an i5 2500k CPU. I've got 16Gb RAM.

It's been a proper survivor- I've a feeling it'll last me another few years with no problems. Initially I had the Radeon HD 6950, then in 2014 upgraded to a R9 290. I think this wonderful forum recommended the upgrade.

Now I'm thinking it's time to upgrade the GPU. What would be a good, similar bang-for-buck upgrade to the GPU? I mostly play GTA and Fortnite. I'm running my main monitor at 2560x1440 and I might opt for VR one day.

Thanks in advance!

hi
you'll need to upgrade the motherboard + CPU too if you want a better GPU, otherwise you will be bottlenecked severely

i upgraded my system just before / start of covid 2020, and its brilliant
even before the upgrade i was playing fortnite ok

ShiWarrior · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:06

My basket at OcUK:

1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6750 XT Red Devil 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AH-PC) = £499.99
1 x MSI Pro X670-P WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-36S-MS) = £359.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £325.99

Total: £1,197.07 (includes delivery: £11.10)

ShiWarrior · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:07

dont know much about DDR5, so i cant recommend it as im unsure what speeds

unless you want me to do an AM4 build , which will be cheaper ?

Marakith · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:08

ShiWarrior said:
dont know much about DDR5, so i cant recommend it as im unsure what speeds

unless you want me to do an AM4 build , which will be cheaper ?

Oh yes please - a cheaper build is much better. Thanks

ShiWarrior · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:17

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset Mini-ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-57Y-GI) = £169.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3CC-AM) = £229.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32 (SKU: MY-456-CS) = £80.00
1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6750 XT Red Devil 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AH-PC) = £499.99

Total: £991.07 (includes delivery: £11.10)

ShiWarrior · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:18

mini ITX, but i would suggest swaping that for ATX full

ShiWarrior · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:20

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3CC-AM) = £229.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32 (SKU: MY-456-CS) = £79.99
1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6750 XT Red Devil 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AH-PC) = £500.00
1 x MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570S ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-362-MS) = £239.98

Total: £1,061.06 (includes delivery: £11.10)

Craig_d1 · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:26

Vish Petrol said:
Thats more than you need to spend. You'd be more than fine with a ryzen 5600 and a cheap b450/b550 motherboard. For ram 16gb is fine, 32gb is futureproof, ram is cheap at the moment, but you're better off going for faster ram than higher capacity.

For a GPU a 6700xt would be overkill for the games you play. Just get a regular 6700 or even a 6600.

Pocket the savings for when gta 6 comes out and then look at whether you need to updgrade.

if he wants to play cyberpunk, that's a heavy gpu game, and far more optimised for nvidia from all the yt vids I've seen. if he goes intel then ram speed not so important as ryzen. Nothing wrong with AMD though(on 5800X with b550 myself), but he could easily go 12400f with B660 also. just checked, 3070fe out of stock again which would be my pick for 1440p, but 3060tife still in stock at £369...

the msi board been rated best budget board from reviews (Hardware unboxed a good place to look)

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) = £99.95
1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £199.99......................................seen the 12400 for this price
1 x MSI Pro B660M-A WIFI DDR4 - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-36L-MS) = £149.99

Total: £460.43 (includes delivery: £10.50)

you could get away with a 12100f for £110 also..leaves room to upgrade in the future to a 13700k or above in a couple of years when price has dropped a bit maybe

the mortar board below can easily handle a 12900k if you want a a bit more premium and come down in price(as well as the pro b660m-a going up in price).

if you want full size atx, again the msi pro z690-a the budget board you want to go for..if you don't want wifi then shave £20, though didn't see it on OCuk so look around

If you want rgb ram and 32gb, then the corsair vengeance rgb rt 3600c18 can be had for £126 away. As @Vish Petrol says, 16gb fine, but as it's cheap and you want to keep for awhile, I'd go 32gb..

My basket at OcUK:

1 x MSI MAG B660M Mortar WIFI DDR4 - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-36G-MS) = £169.99
1 x MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI DDR4 - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-36D-MS) = £219.95

Total: £400.44 (includes delivery: £10.50)

if you plan on overclocking cpu the z690 board obv way to go with the 12600k

you'll prob also want a nvme drive now..someone said the sammy 980Pro gen4 is on a cashback deal away..just checked one place and they have it for £137 for 1tb, but you get £40 cashback bringing it down to £97 or 2tb for £252 less £80 so £172..

Going amd, you can get the b550 tug gaming wifi for £149, but can go more basic, and snag a 5600 for £168 (were down at £150 odd)...future upgrade would be the 5800X3d for gaming

Vish Petrol · 4 Oct 2022 at 21:27

Marakith said:
Ahh - thanks! This is brilliant!

Are you in my brain? GTA 6 is definitely in my mind. Yes - I'll wait until then.

Looking at it, the 6700 is roughly 20% faster than the 6600. Given I'm pretty casual, I'm not even sure it's worth the extra £100 if I'm only going to ditch it when the new GTA comes along!

Do you think it's worth trying out the 6600 or 6700 on this current setup, then going the Ryzen route if that doesn't cut the mustard?

If I do upgrade, does this seem decent?

CPU

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

Order AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Motherboard

MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard

Order MSI MPG B550 Gaming Plus (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

RAM

Kingston Fury Renegade RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C19 4000MHz Dual Channel Kit

Order Kingston Fury Renegade RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C19 4000MHz Dual Channel Kit now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Thanks again!

Cheaper mobo under £100 no way i'd spend over £100 for your usage unless you were doing a themed build.

Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard

Order Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

32gb of ram for £40 more, slightly slower but tighter timings, so real world performance will be the same

Team Group 8Pack Edition 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit

Order Team Group 8Pack Edition 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

32gb of ram for under £100, it is slower but there wont be a visible difference with the games you play. I'd recommend this personally as the money is better served towards a graphics card.

Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey

Order Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

If you want to play cyberpunk get the 6600 or hang onto your current graphics card for 2 more months and slide in the rx7600 or grab a price drop on one of the current gen.

Even if you have to turn down some graphics settings a bit its not worth buying an expensive gpu for a disappointment like cyberpunk. If you do, then buy a 6700, or wait 2 months.

Marakith · 5 Oct 2022 at 20:34

Thanks again for all the tips.

Yeah - I'm mostly playing First Person Shooters and Civ when I get the time. But it's my escape from a busy household and I love having a capable PC.

I'm struggling a little to wrap my head around the Ryzen. I've never built an AMD machine and am a bit loyal to Intel. I'm happy to be convinced otherwise but I'm seeing on most benchmarks the i5-12400 is a bit better than the 5600X and about the same price.

I'd also rather go for an ATX board, not a micro-ATX if possible. I have a full ATX case and like having room on the board and more slots.

I'm probably going to use NVMe as the system drive too.

Also finally - I'm running an Antec Kuhler on my current processor. It's fine, but I suspect it won't fit on the new board - can you recommend a good equivalent?

Thanks for all your patience fielding all these questions - a minefield!

Craig_d1 · 6 Oct 2022 at 07:59

Marakith said:
Thanks again for all the tips.

Yeah - I'm mostly playing First Person Shooters and Civ when I get the time. But it's my escape from a busy household and I love having a capable PC.

I'm struggling a little to wrap my head around the Ryzen. I've never built an AMD machine and am a bit loyal to Intel. I'm happy to be convinced otherwise but I'm seeing on most benchmarks the i5-12400 is a bit better than the 5600X and about the same price.

I'd also rather go for an ATX board, not a micro-ATX if possible. I have a full ATX case and like having room on the board and more slots.

I'm probably going to use NVMe as the system drive too.

Also finally - I'm running an Antec Kuhler on my current processor. It's fine, but I suspect it won't fit on the new board - can you recommend a good equivalent?

Thanks for all your patience fielding all these questions - a minefield!

about 12min 30sec in

I generally look at Hardware unboxed, which has 10 game av 5600X 195av frame 144(1% low) vs 184(137 lows) for the 12400 using a 6900XT at 1080p...ifd you game at 1440p then of course that narrows and then narrows again if you have a less powerful card...so in end becomes personal choice though some games favour intel over amd vice versa(remember when reviewed the 5600X was £250+ at time in uk)..the 5600 is within 3~5% of the 5600X if iirc
If going 12400 and you don't plan to overclock your cpu, then a b660 board is fine..otherwise it's z690..if going z690, the msi pro z690a i put in above for £219.99 is the best budget board around and is full atx. if you dont plan on overclocking cpu, then b660 board fine, top spot goes to the b660 tomahawk..also seen the asus rog strix B660-a gaming wifi for £183.78 which is a good board(was considered expensive as over £225 but now cheaper than the tomahawk)..the better budget board b660 tended to be the matx boards, but have a search, but then I'd check some reviews..some are poor and if you ever want to drop a 13700 or so 2 years down the line, their vrm's prob wouldn't be able to handle it
AM4, you can get a decent B550 atx board for £150 and drop a 5600 in for £170 or 5600X for £200...upgrade path for gaming would be 5800X3d
so come down to personal choice..they'll both give you comparable gaming to be honest, just go with what you're comfortable with..
antec kulher..did a quick google..depends on which one of couse, but one i looked at is compatible with am4, but not socket 1700

Marakith · 6 Oct 2022 at 21:48

Thanks, all!

Just installed the 6650XT - has made marginal improvements, but I'm definitely CPU bottlenecked.

Question - do you recommend reinstalling Windows on a change of CPU/ Mobo? I presume it's yes but maybe things have changed.