Upgrade from 2011 Build...

[Mattatooi]

Long overdue upgrade / new build. Way back in 2011 I built quite a good PC for what I payed for (when looking at the prices now for things!). This was my build back then...

 

M/B - Asrock P67 PRO3 SE Motherboard (Socket 1155, Onboard Sound and LAN)
£73.53

GFX - Sapphire 11179-09-20G HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
£145.58

OS - Windows 7 64bit OEM
£77.99

CPU - Intel® Core™ i5 2500K 3.30GHz Socket LGA1155 - Retail.
£167.99

FAN - Coolermaster Hyper TX3 CPU Cooler
£16.99

RAM - 2x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
£26.99 x2 = 53.98

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 32MB Cache Hard Drive SATA 6Gb/s 8.5ms 7200rpm - OEM
£43.98

PSU - Corsair CX 500W V2 ATX2.2 80 PLUS® Power Supply
£44.98

CASE - Fractal Design Core 3000 Full Tower Case - Black
£54.98

OPTICAL - Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x Blu-Ray Combo Drive - Retail
£50.99
Total in 2011 - £727

 

Now since then, I upgraded the RAM to 16GB 2133. I installed a 250 GB SSD for Windows, And I upgraded the graphics card to the Asus Dual GTX 1070. I have put off upgrading too long, adn really the only step forward now is CPU upgrade, which means new CPU, Board, RAM at bare minimum. However I feel like I will just keep this build as a computer my kids can use. When I looked into it, I found myself thinking, I may as well build a new PC.  So anyway..

 

 

1. Budget & Location

I am in the UK. £1000 , £800-900 would be a sweet spot.

2. Aim

Mainly gaming including all top recent AAA games and some music production (Abelton Live), and a solid future proof build that will have foundation to last for years. I am also greatly interested in VR further down the road. Again, I dont want to be upgrading in a years time.

3. Monitors

Currently I own a  27" 4k 60hz. I will make the leap to a higher refresh rate monitor in the near future.

4. Peripherals

Not needed. I may need to get windows. I currently own legit copy of Win7, which I upgraded to Win10 via free upgrade thing which is in current build. 

5. Why are you upgrading?

Some games I am noticing the GPU barely at 50% usage, and I feel the 2500k is bottle necking. I have ran the 2500k at 4.1 GHZ 100% stable since 2011. I think its time...

 

 

Now, as I said earlier i was considering just upgrading and utilising this case. However what I am finding is, it seems to be a bit smaller than todays norm. All the big fans like DH-15 etc, will not fit in the case. Says max Height of cooler is 160mm in the manual I found online. I have been hmmmin and haaaa-in and what to do. In one hand I dont mind for for best bang for buck, on the other hand, im really interested in making a really nice aesthically looking PC with a nice case and glass side. So these are the 2 builds I had so far;

 

Budget AMD Build using existing case;

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£318.00 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 64.95 CFM CPU Cooler  (£63.89 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£94.49 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£132.13 @ CCL Computers) 
Storage: Western Digital Black NVMe 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£129.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Dual Series Video Card  (£0.00) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£99.95) 
Total: £838.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-10 21:35 GMT+0000

 

Problem with this build is - I dont think that fan will fit, and I dont think I can acutally get it anywhere. Looking for CPU Fan suggestions.

 

 

All out AMD bling build in white;

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£318.00 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM SE 63 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£134.28 @ More Computers) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£169.97 @ Box Limited) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£149.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital Black NVMe 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£129.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Dual Series Video Card  (£0.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case  (£139.99 @ Box Limited) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx White 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£127.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Custom: GPU Backplate (£34.90)
Total: £1205.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-10 21:36 GMT+0000

 

Problem with this build is simple. Its coming in over budget. I am torn between it though. 

 

 

So I am asking for a compromise. Is there something I could build in the middle of these two. If it means sacrificing the bling build, and going for performance, and hide it all away, then so be it.

 

Suggestions welcome, sorry for the long post.

[brob]

Unless the price differential between the 3800X and 3700X is only a few pounds, the 3700X is the better buy. The stock performance difference is quite small.

 

This is a compromise build that sacrifices very little performance or bling.

 

There is no need for a white psu as the case has a psu shroud.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£281.98 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler  (£64.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£169.97 @ Box Limited) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£149.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£89.99 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Dual Series Video Card  (£0.00) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case  (£79.00 @ AWD-IT) 
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  (£64.31 @ More Computers) 
Total: £900.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-11 01:03 GMT+0000