Which hardware to upgrade next for gaming?

I see the 4k but I don't know what resolution you're are playing at ... looking at your build, I can't think of one thing that stands out as needing an upgrade. Most arguments I could make fro replacing one thing, I could just as well argue something else as system is well balanced. If the OC is that old, my major concern would be the CLC cooler, with no way to replace corrosion inhibitors which have a useful life of 18 - 24 months, Id have concerns about micro fin clogging on the block and and corrosion / leaks. See the pics and read the article here which describes what happens mixing aluminum rads and copper blocks in a water loop.

https://martinsliquidlab.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/corrosion-explored/

The 780 Ti is faster than the 390x when both cards are overclocked so you should be doing just fine if playing at 1080p




My recommendation would be to stand pat for now and over the next 1 - 2 years put a little away each month

Your GPU hands down. I'd say your CPU platform, especially if overclocked to 4GHZ or so...should be good another 4 years. Though by 2019 32GB or ram may be needed in some games. Maybe not. 16GB is the new sweet spot now when building a rig so I am sure you get the idea where as 8GB enough to game but it will cost you in some games in FPS. Ram use seems to double every couple years in my experience. I just took my sandy-bridge E system up to 32GB for exactly that reason plus I usually like to have double what ever the minimum gaming ram is. Though I am a bit of a hog so must user 32GB is over kill ATM, which your 16GB was when you build your rig so clearly you think ahead on your rig.

Anyways you know to keep an eye on your PSU. I might consider a bigger SSD for games. Not many games NEED an SSD. But there are always a few IO heavy games, doom 2016 I am looking at you! So more space SSD wouldn't hurt but is not mission critical. It's just who doesn't love faster load times? You did a good job on your build BTW. Anytime you build high on the CPU platform, for gaming, it lasts a long time. Just take a look at these gaming benchmarks for the i7 7740X. anandtech included an old Sandy lake CPU for good measure. It went toe to toe with the latest and greatest at 4K and even managed to beat it at 1080P in gaming...though it usually lost in most just by small measure. Peeps don't realize how long a GOOD gaming CPU lasts (not talking bang for buck here...talking all bang at release). Especially at higher resolutions only requiring a 60hz refresh rate/FPS. The GPU will be the bottleneck for a good while longer.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11549/the-intel-kaby-lake-x-i7-7740x-and-i5-7640x-review-the-new-single-thread-champion-oc-to-5ghz/11

There is something to be said for hold pat as JackeNaylorPE said. You can do everything at one time if your happy with the gaming experience now. I prefer the upgrade overtime path that way I only need to replace/upgrade to older bits which saves me money to spend more on extras/premium parts over the years. My current rig didn't start out with an m.2, 2 1TB samsung SSDs, 3 8TB HDDs, 4TB SSHD, gtx 1080s, etc. I pieced everything together since the launch of my CPU platform. One of the rare full rebuilds I did after moving to a new hotter climate then I was use too. I had to cut some corners/tech wasn't there yet to get it built since the PSU and motherboard both died on top of the fact my wife need a new gaming PC. It was basically scrap wars in my house. She ended up with the old stuff like my i7 970, case, GPUs, RAM, SSDs, but with a new custom liquid cooling solution, HDD, motherboard CPU/PSU blah blah broken stuff fixed. Leaving my original "new" storage options with 2 128GB agility 3 in Raid 0 (performance was ok in raid 0 but horrid in single drive mode, fairly middle of the road to cheap SSD drives at the time.) and a single old 1TB HDD from the SATA 2 era which died a year or so in. After getting a new case, CPU, CPU platform, cheap SSDs (cut corner), new GPU for my new rig I'd built 1.5 PCs. So choosing the upgrade path over fresh build all depends on how you want to manage your builds/funds. I feel like I end up with a better overall rig upgrading, especially if you have another rig to pass parts to (wife, kid, brother, etc) but there is no question at times I can be running some older hardware in various parts of my rig and at times I do spend more money going premium in hopes said upgrade will last a very long time (things like a CPU platform/new water block). Some times this risk pays off, like those builds. Others I wish I had just gone mostly all new, save the cases. Speaking of cases another potential candidate for a premium part and a much safer bet then any other part for premium if your into building your PCs long term

You go that route 4K is well within your reach. I know your at 1080P now....but i see that 4K panel you have. And I must admit I love 4K over 1080P a lot on large panel. The small gaming monitors 1440P is plenty....but when you hit 40+ inches 4k shines!!! (assuming a close ish viewing distance) For me on 55" 4K the difference is very noticeable up to 7 or 8 feat. Less so further back unless you have a very keen eye.