Opinions on upgrades

[Gzr]

Budget (including currency): -

Country: Greece

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, light music recording/mixing/production, light video editing

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): (see below)

 

Hello everyone!

 

I'm jumping straight to the point. I've got a pretty decent system right now but I'm looking to upgrade soon enough. Mainly for future proofing and of course for the sake of upgrading, sort of.

Current system is a R5 2600 on a Gigabyte B450m DS3H, 8gb 2400mhz ram, 1660s and a 600w PSU. And a few drives, of course.

Of the above, I'm planning to keep the CPU (and overclocking it), the drives and the PSU.

 

So... I'm going for an X570 chipset mobo. I don't much care of have use for most of its features and I'd honestly be happy with a tomahawk BUT, considering I will want to put a zen 3 CPU in there at some point AND I wanna keep the 2600 for now, I think the X570 is the only viable solution, seeing as the upcoming 550's won't support 2000 series ryzen and they're still very much an unknown in general.

As for that, I'm really perplexed with the available choices. I don't want to fork over 300+ euros for a Taichi and honestly, considering its the zen3 compatibility and VRM quality/cooling I only care for, a Taichi would probably be overkill. Still, my first choices, namely the Asus P or TUF or even the Pro, all lack pretty essential (to me) features, despite their excellent VRM. Mainly dual bios or a bios flashback option. Which REALLY bums me out, since the alternatives at those prices concern me a little. Those alternatives of course being solely Gigabyte's offering(s) (Aorus Elite or perhaps also Pro). Going for the Aorus ultra is also pretty much a a no-go. If I'm going to pay 270 for the ultra, no matter how much I do like Gigabyte, I might as well pay the full 300 for the Taichi. 

 

As for the RAM, I'll be fine with a 16gb kit at 3200mhz. Not looking for overly expensive overkill solutions here, 16gb are enough for me. If I need more, I can get more later. I'm doing pretty well with 8gb now, anyway.

 

Now the graphics part is a bit of a complicated matter, since it really depends on whether or not I'm upgrading my monitor, as well.

 

Right now I'm running a 24" 75hz freesync IPS panel and thinking of going for a 27" 144hz panel instead. However, I can't say that it's really small or that 1080p bugs me or anything, I'd just like something bigger and better. On the other hand, I do like 144hz (from my very limited acquaintance with it) but I'm not really sure I need it or absolutely must have it, especially considering the upcharge. The games I play are nowhere near esports or FPS types (more of an RPG/open world fan) and aside from that, even with a better GPU, I doubt I'm going to be able to push more than 70-80 frames in 1440p to actually take advantage of the higher refresh rate. And sure, I know it's not as clear cut as 1fps=1hz but you (hopefully) get my point. In any event, I'll only go for an IPS panel.

 

Either way, GPU's probably going to be upgraded anyway, so with the above in mind, I was thinking 5700xt. The 1660s is a fine card and if I'm going to see noticeable differences, I believe the 5700xt is the only solution, really. I like NVidia just fine but the prices of comparable performance cards are ridiculous and I'm not made of money. So with that in mind, I also considered perhaps waiting a bit to see if either company releases their new gen offerings (big navi and nvidia 3000 series, respectively), instead of buying a 5700 xt now (well, in a month or two, anyway). 

 

So...

 

TL;DR1: Which X570 board under 250€? Asus boards (great VRM) worth the lack of semi-essential features?

 

TL;DR2: Upgrade monitor to 27" 1440p? 144hz really necessary?

 

TL;DR3: Wait for new gen GPU's or get the 5700 xt and call it a day?

 

I know it's a very long winded and branching post but I'd honestly love your opinions!

 

Many thanks in advance!

[Statik]

What's your budget?

 

I know the Tiachi is a great board. I personally have the X570 TUF and it's fantastic. Solid VRMs, and all around great board.

 

It's all personal opinion. I switched from 60 to 144hz and I could NEVER go back. I was never super onboard with it, but now if something happens and I drop from 100 to 50-60 it's VERY noticeable. I love 144hz.

 

I would personally say, if you're just driving a 1660S, then I'd keep it until new GPUs come out. But I have a 1660S in my laptop, and it rips 1080p, so there's no point in upgrading when it runs totally fine with new cards on the horizon.

 

 

[Gzr]

1 minute ago, Statik said:

What's your budget?

 

I know the Tiachi is a great board. I personally have the X570 TUF and it's fantastic. Solid VRMs, and all around great board.

 

It's all personal opinion. I switched from 60 to 144hz and I could NEVER go back. I was never super onboard with it, but now if something happens and I drop from 100 to 50-60 it's VERY noticeable. I love 144hz.

 

I would personally say, if you're just driving a 1660S, then I'd keep it until new GPUs come out. But I have a 1660S in my laptop, and it rips 1080p, so there's no point in upgrading when it runs totally fine with new cards on the horizon.

 

 

Well I don't really have a set budget. I can go for the taichi but I'd prefer to stay under 250 euros for the mobo, especially considering how good Asus' offerings are at those price points. It's just the lack of bios flashing that bugs me. You never know what can go wrong updating the bios!

 

As for the 144hz, I was "afraid" this might be the case. There are a lot of people out there that say the same thing - they can never go back to lower refresh rates. However, not having used a 144hz panel myself extensively, I cannot really say. I could spot the difference but yeah, it's quite the upcharge, especially in 27" monitors and I'm still mulling over my options.

 

The 1660s is a mighty fine gpu, really. It's just that, if I do go for 1440p, I don't think it'll be able to keep up. But yeah, I'm of the same mind, really. I can push back that specific purchase in wait for new gen GPU's and go from there. I'll be upgrading the mobo and ram first anyway, and even that will be in a month's time so... yeah.