Upgrade or build a whole new PC?

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deadsa13er

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Hi,

My current build is starting to lag behind in recent releases, and as a result I was looking to upgrade. It was purchased as a prebuilt rig, and as a result I'm not too sure on the exact name of the RAM, although I know it's DDR3.

These are my current specs

OS: Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
CPU: AMD FX 4300 3.8Ghz Quad Core
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 960
Mobo: MSI 760GM P23
RAM: 8GB 1 stick - Kingston
HDD: 1TB WD Blue
PSU: ATX, 500 W

I know that the CPU is definitely a bottleneck, but I know that upgrading just a CPU would involve a lot of hassle, and at this point I think it might be worth getting a whole new build.

If so, I will probably buy it when I get my next paycheck, with around £1600 to spend on a high end 1070 rig.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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£1600 is enough for a new system so I'd sell your current one.

I added in a 1440P/IPS monitor to pair with the GTX 1070 and you can reuse your current one as a secondary monitor for websites/Netflix/etc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor (£215.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£55.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£127.95 @ Box Limited)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£173.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£77.30 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Palit - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Video Card (£446.92 @ Laptops Direct)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£43.48 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.80 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: BenQ - GW2765HT 27.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor (£284.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1630.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-17 16:41 GMT+0000
 
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deadsa13er

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If i wanted to go the extra mile and go for a i7 CPU would that be overkill? I won't be doing any 4k gaming since obviously.

Also regarding selling, would you say to sell as a whole rig or individual parts?

Thanks for the build, looks great btw.
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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I'd pass on the i7 as your going to have to adjust other parts to get the 8700K, the 8600K, especially when overclocked, is well more then enough for 1080P to 4K gaming but since we went with the 1070 I'd stick with 1440P or you could possibly consider a ultrawide such as 2560x1080 or 3440x1440.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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A couple of questions:

Do you really want or need a replacement monitor?
If you DO want a replacement display, do you have any preferences as for size, resolution and refresh rate?
I ask because with an extra <>£250 we can drop a significantly faster GPU into the mix and be ready for a monitor upgrade later.

In the meantime a contentious build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor (£231.59 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£70.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£173.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£77.30 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Inno3D - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Twin X2 Video Card (£554.92 @ Laptops Direct)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£43.48 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.80 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Acer - XZ271 27.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor (£279.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1635.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-17 18:01 GMT+0000

Yes, I know an Intel CPU would be better at 1080 rez but I can't use one without dropping the monitor to stay close to the £1600 budget, hence my earlier questions regarding a display.
 
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deadsa13er

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I hadn't actually intended to get a new monitor no, I was happy with 1080p gaming as it is. The £1600 isn't an exact budget, I can go higher since I don't have many outgoing expenses, so don't feel limited to that.

My intention was to spend around that much on the build itself, and look at getting peripherals at a later date.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Personally, I'd drop the monitor out of the build linked and listed by WildCard999, substitute a GTX1080 for the '1070 and maybe swap the PSU to a Seasonic Focus Gold 650W unit for a little extra breathing room and be done.
The above will be a cracking build, no matter what monitor ( sans 4K ;) ) you throw at it later.
There's little need to opt for a i7 for gaming, although you COULD add one without exceeding the budget by too much the performance gains are quite small, not really worth the extra.
Which would leave this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor (£215.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£55.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£127.95 @ Box Limited)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£173.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£108.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Palit - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GameRock Video Card (£609.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£43.48 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£89.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.80 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1544.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-17 18:33 GMT+0000

Note, I've also opted for a larger SSD.
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor (£291.84 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£55.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£127.95 @ Box Limited)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£173.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£121.19 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Inno3D - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Twin X2 Video Card (£554.92 @ Laptops Direct)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£43.48 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.80 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1572.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-17 18:38 GMT+0000

This could be considered a bit overkill for 1080P however it will last quite a long time without having to consider a upgrade.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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^ HA! HA! ;) Or that one.
Just one point, the GTX1080 will throttle a bit once it hits <>65C, from then on it'll throttle more and more, not a massive issue but you may find the Inno card linked by WildCard999 is susceptible to this, the bigger GameRock cooler less so. If you DO go for the Inno card and find it cutting the Boost frequency back too much a little tweaking of the fan curve using Afterburner should sort things out nicely.
Given that WildCard999 has mixed a i7 AND a GTX1080 I'd say he's got the winner here, yes it's big overkill for 60Hz 1080 but it'll handle anything you throw at it later, even 4K if you lower the settings a little...Nice.
 
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deadsa13er

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Well an extra £60 isn't much for the lack of throttling so I think a mix of both would be the ideal solution. I won't be buying anything until my next payday however, so maybe by then it could be cheaper. (I doubt it though, since it is only a month!)
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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@ WildCard999: I doubt that big Gigabye card will throttle at all, but it's not really a major issue, I just mentioned it in case the OP noticed and wondered what was going on. Still, good call.

@deadsa13er: Yep, looks like you have a system to purchase.
Just one last point; the case listed has only 2 front mounted fans, don't forget to add a pair to the rear/top locations for exhaust or to switch to a case that uses 140mm fans if you want a little less noise and better airflow, me I'd look at a Phanteks Enthoo Pro, but there's plenty of others .
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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As long as your in the area of a 8600K/8700K & 1070 ti/1080 you'll have no performance issues with games for at least a few years. Also just as a side note from someone who games with a 1080 ti at 1080P & 2560x1080P you may want to turn off features such as Hairworks as that can drastically lower your FPS although games that support PhysX works quite well so you can leave it on.
 
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