Need help prioritizing upgrades!

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TizzlePain

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Jan 12, 2013
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I am looking to make some changes to my setup and was hoping you all could help me put together a list of most important/impactful to least. Here are the components I am thinking about upgrading and which parts I would replace them with.

1. CPU - going from an i5-3570k to i5-7700k
2. Ram - still have what is in my sig, but would be willing to upgrade. Need suggestions
3. SSD - not only is my SSD small (and full), I want to get a bigger SSD and also see if there is a way I can set up the OS to load off of the SSD and have it set up as my D drive
4. HDD - going from a 1TB to 2TB, and having it set up as my default C drive where I save most of my files including games, pictures, applications, etc.

That is everything I am looking to upgrade. Looking forward to hearing the responses everyone has and figuring out the best way to go about it.
 
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Hi again,

CPU - The 8700k price (RCP: $359) should be very close to the 7700k price but they are in very short supply which most retailers are taking advantage of.

M/Board - The first Coffee Lake Motherboards all feature Intel's high end Z370 chipset so are feature rich. They probably all have anyway, but 2 M.2 slots would be a good idea. Other features like 2 Graphics slots, wi-fi is your choice.

Ram - These boards will only take DDR4. There is no choice. DDR5 (Not to be confused with GDDR5 for Grahics) will not be available for a very long time.
Not many games recommend the need for more than 8GB, but this will change in the future so go for 16GB (2 x 8).
Unless you go for a small form factor m/board, you will have 4 slots, so you...
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Mike Prior

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Jul 24, 2013
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I can't really prioritise sensibly without knowing your budget but a few points.

CPU - As you will need a new motherboard anyway due to the cpu needing a different socket, you should go for the 6 core 8700k at a similar price as the 7700k.

SSD - You will want this as you C Drive for the OS and programs. If you can keep at least 20% free space (should be doable) that will be fine.

HHD - I'm assuming you will have a steam library. Store it here. Set up Windows to save Docs, Photos etc here.
I would partition the drive to keep your Docs separate to make back-ups simpler. Again, you will need at least 20% free space.

Ram - As previously stated you will need new ram.

You are looking at a lot of money to upgrade the cpu. I wonder if you may be best served by upgrading your gpu for the moment.
 
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TizzlePain

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Jan 12, 2013
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Well, as far as budget is concerned I am looking for the best value. To be more specific, I don't have many budget constraints, but I am not looking to drop over $1000 into a few simple upgrades either. In response to your reply point by point.

CPU - I haven't done much MoBo research lately, are there any features I need to pay specific attention to? Should I just check bundles that go with whatever CPU I pick? Also, while I wouldn't mind paying $400 for a CPU upgrade, I am curious if that is the minimum I would need to spend in order to get a decent upgrade. If so, I agree that ~$100 isn't a bad deal for the 8700k over the 7700k.

SSD - So I currently have an issue where my SSD is set up as my C drive, and have had to switch everything over to my D drive as the default installation drive and it just seems so tedious but maybe there is any easier way to do it that I just dont know of. Also, Im sure having more than a paltry 120GB SSD will go a long way in solving some of those problems.

HHD - I have a steam library but it is nowhere near as expansive as some of the others I have heard about. Either way, I saw that there are 2TB HHD's for like $65 so that shouldnt be to big of an issue.

Ram - Arguably the easiest part to upgrade, but is DDR4 the best value? Are most people going to DDR5? Should I also upgrade the size? What brands/specifics should I look for?

As far as GPU, I recently upgraded that and am pretty happy with my choice so if I can get away with leaving that as is, that would be ideal.

PS - might also be looking for a monitor if you have any suggestions also :)

 
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Mike Prior

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Jul 24, 2013
62
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10,660
Hi again,

CPU - The 8700k price (RCP: $359) should be very close to the 7700k price but they are in very short supply which most retailers are taking advantage of.

M/Board - The first Coffee Lake Motherboards all feature Intel's high end Z370 chipset so are feature rich. They probably all have anyway, but 2 M.2 slots would be a good idea. Other features like 2 Graphics slots, wi-fi is your choice.

Ram - These boards will only take DDR4. There is no choice. DDR5 (Not to be confused with GDDR5 for Grahics) will not be available for a very long time.
Not many games recommend the need for more than 8GB, but this will change in the future so go for 16GB (2 x 8).
Unless you go for a small form factor m/board, you will have 4 slots, so you could start with 2 x 4GB and add a matching pair later.
Bear in mind you can pay a lot for ram running at a higher speed but will probably only notice the difference in benchmarks.
Check out http://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-ddr4-ram/ for some ideas.

SSD - If you go for another, chose an M.2 interface one.
If your only running one O/System, 256GB should be fine.
Check on the internet/YouTube to see how to store your docs and steam games to another drive.
It is quite easy.

HDD - Just make sure it spins at 7,200 rpm.

Monitor - Read the reviews and decide how much resolution/refresh/g-sync/size/curvature are worth to you.
 
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