What to upgrade?

[Gerr]

Every year my parents give me $500 for my birthday in August which I use to upgrade my computers.  In previous years, I have always known what hardware I wanted to upgrade, but this year I am not sure what to upgrade.  Below I have listed all my PC's and their equipment, so please look them over and let me know what you would upgrade on them.  Thanks!

 

PC #1 (gaming)

Primary use: 1440p gaming (newer AAA games usually played at high settings)

Seconday use: YouTube/Netflix/Plex video watching

I7-7700K OCed to 5.0Ghz at 1.39v.

Corsair H110i v2 with ML fans

Asus Z170 Sabertooth S ATX mobo

16GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4-3200 CL14 (recently upgraded from 16GB Corsair DDR4-3000 CL15, which I still have sitting around)

500GB WD Black NVMe v2 SSD (OS & app drive, backed up to external 2TB HDD)

1TB Crucial MX500 2.5" SATA SSD (game drive)

MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X Trio GPU (+100 core)

Seasonic S12G 750W Gold PSU

Corsair 570X Case with 3xLL120 intake fans and a ML120 exhaust fan

Pixio PX329 32" VA 1440p 165Hz monitor

Ducky Mech keyboard with Cherry MX Black switches

Razer DeathAdder Elite mouse

Logitech Z333 40W 2.1 speaker system

Windows 10 Pro

 

PC #2 (productivity)

Primary use: Blu-ray ripping & transcoding (MakeMKV & Handbrake)

Seconday use: 1080p gaming (older AAA games usually played at high settings)

I7-8700(non-K)

be quiet! Dark Rock 3 CPU cooler

EVGA Z370 mATX mobo

32GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-3000 CL16

512GB HP EX920 NVMe SSD (OS & app drive, backed up to external 2TB HDD)

1TB Intel 660p NVMe SSD (game drive)

512GB Adata SX850 SATA SSD (ripping & transcoding drive)

EVGA GTX 1070 Ti FTW2 GPU (+200 core +500 memory)

EVGA GQ 650W Gold PSU

Phanteks Enthoo Pro M TG ATX case with two Thermaltake Riing 14 RGB intake fans and a matching exhaust fan.

Asus VG279Q IPS 1080p 144Hz monitor

Logitech G610 keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches

Mionix NAOS 7000 mouse

Dell 30W 2.1 speaker system

Windows 10 Pro

 

PC #3 (server)

Primary use: Plex & NAS Server

Seconday use: DVR (Blue Iris)

Xeon E3-1271v3

Cryorig H7 CPU cooler

Asus P9D WS C226 Workstation ATX mobo

32GB Crucial ECC DDR3-1600 CL11

256GB Samsung 860 Pro Sata SSD (OS & app drive, backed up to external 2TB HDD)

500GB Samsung 860 Evo Sata SSD (Plex app & transcode drive)

4x3TB HGST NAS HDD's in software Raid10 (Plex media drive, backed up to external 6TB HDD) 

2x3TB WD Red HDD's in software Raid1 (my personal NAS, backed up to external 4TB HDD)

2x3TB WD Red HDD's in software Raid1 (wife's personal NAS, backed up to external 4TB HDD)

2x4TB Toshiba N300 NAS HDD's in software Raid1 (family media NAS, backed up to external 4TB HDD)

3TB WD Purple HDD (DVR drive)

LSI 9211-8i HBA (adds another 8 SATA ports via PCIe x8)

Zotaz GT 710 GPU

Seasonic S12G 450W Gold PSU

Fractal Design Define R4 ATX case

No monitor, mouse, or keyboard (remote desktop only)

Windows Server 2016 Essentials

[Gerr]

Some of my early upgrade ideas...

 

1.  Upgrade the gaming PC's CPU/mobo to a Ryzen 3700x & B450 mobo.  Problem here is that since this is a 1440p gaming system, I am GPU limited so a better CPU won't give me much if any of an upgrade.

 

2.  Upgrade the CPU on the Productivity PC's CPU to a 9700K or 9900K if I catch it on sale.  Would also need to get better cooling.  Problem here is I don'g game on this PC much and mainly use it to transcode.  Yes the new CPU would make the transcoding go faster, but the difference between a 2 hour transcode and a 1.5 hour transcode is not worth $500 to me.

 

3.  Upgrade the Producitivity PC's CPU/mobo to Ryzen 3700X & B450 mobo.  Same problem as above.

 

4.  Upgrade the Server's CPU/mobo/RAM.  While I have multiple CPU/mobo/RAM options here, I am not stressing the current hardware and any upgrade would only make this 24/7 system more power efficient.

 

5.  Upgrade the Productivity PC's GPU to a 5700XT or RTX 2070S.  Problem is that I don't game on it enough to warrant the pricey upgrade.

 

6.  Upgrade the Gaming PC's cooling to a 360 AIO and add an additional 16GB of matching RAM to take it to 32GB.  Problem is that's about $300 in upgrades for minimal preformance difference.

 

7.  Sell the 1080 Ti and use the profits of that sale along with the $500 to get a RTX 2080S.  This is my leading idea at the moment as it should leave me with some money left over for some smaller upgrades.

 

Any thoughts, suggestions, comments, or other ideas on this?

[Gerr]

No one?

[trevb0t]

7 minutes ago, Gerr said:

No one?

Are you unhappy with performance from any particular piece?

 

Lol scrap PC 2 (sell it!), sell your 7700K and MOBO, and just build out a 3900X gaming AND productivity in one! 

 

(I'm joking.)

 

You could consider throwing that toward something like an Oculus Rift if VR interests you...

[Gerr]

Am I unhappy with the performance of any of the systems...no.  But that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement...;> 

 

Yes, I suffer from the upgraders disease, ie what I have is never good enough.

 

Since the $500 was in Newegg gift cards, what I could do wait until Black Friday sales and look for a good deal then.  Big question is how big of a hole will that gift card burn in my pocket...hmm

 

Really considering replacing the 1070 Ti in system #2 with an RTX 2070 Super.  Since it's only a 1080p system, I could play ray tracing games on it.  Plus I could sell the 1070 Ti and use that money to put a 360 AIO in PC #1 and upgrade its RAM to 32GB.  Just not sure yet, hence the reason I asked for suggestions.

[AcMaiden]

I could be the voice of reason and suggest you wait the extra 3 months for better deal...
But I'm the guy who bought a fucking 2080ti so...

Looking at your gaming build, the only thing that I could see is 4k display. But seeing yours is 165Hz, I take you like insane framerate, but I doubt you can go that high in 4k atm. I guess you could always upgrade for a G-Sync monitors tho?