Upgrading my aging system (UK)

[SniperDan]

My current was built just before I started uni and has had a few minor upgrades over time, it's currently sitting at;

i5 4690k

4x4gb ddr3 Kingston hyperx fury

Asus maximus vii ranger

125gb sata ssd

256gb sata ssd

1tb wd black hdd

Gtx 1070ti

EVGA NEX650G

 

The gpu was upgraded around the time the 20 series came out when they dropped in price with the new release, so that isn't a major issue. I think it's finally time to upgrade the cpu, which of course means mobo and ram too, and while I'm at it, I may as well upgrade to an nvme ssd.

 

So my current planned upgrade components are

R5 5600x

MSI MPG x570

Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16gb 3200mhz

Samsung 970 evo 1TB

 

My budget is around £700 which is what these components are roughly coming to.

It's been a while since I've properly kept upto date with current pc tech, It'll mainly be used for gaming such as newer games through gamepass etc, with a little streaming, mostly to friends. I did look at b550 motherboards but for the relatively small price difference the x570's seemed much better. Any tips on component selection etc or anything I've done wrong/incompatibilities etc pls let me know!

 

[wall03]

Looks good.

I'd get a B550 but idk I don't know much about x570 or b550 for that matter.

[SolarNova]

Whats ur resolution and frame rate target ?

 

If u intend to aim for 4k, u dont need to upgrade ur entire system as ull be mostly reliant on GPU.

 

If ur aiming for 240hz 1080p then yes a system upgrade would help.

 

So what im saying is .. for that budget u can either get a 6800XT and aim for 4k gaming, keeping ur base system as is.

or upgrade the base system so that u can push 1080p fps figures higher using the 1070ti

 

Im in a similar situation and intend on going the 4k route.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, SniperDan said:

My current was built just before I started uni and has had a few minor upgrades over time, it's currently sitting at;

i5 4690k

4x4gb ddr3 Kingston hyperx fury

Asus maximus vii ranger

125gb sata ssd

256gb sata ssd

1tb wd black hdd

Gtx 1070ti

EVGA NEX650G

 

The gpu was upgraded around the time the 20 series came out when they dropped in price with the new release, so that isn't a major issue. I think it's finally time to upgrade the cpu, which of course means mobo and ram too, and while I'm at it, I may as well upgrade to an nvme ssd.

 

So my current planned upgrade components are

R5 5600x

MSI MPG x570

Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16gb 3200mhz

Samsung 970 evo 1TB

 

My budget is around £700 which is what these components are roughly coming to.

It's been a while since I've properly kept upto date with current pc tech, It'll mainly be used for gaming such as newer games through gamepass etc, with a little streaming, mostly to friends. I did look at b550 motherboards but for the relatively small price difference the x570's seemed much better. Any tips on component selection etc or anything I've done wrong/incompatibilities etc pls let me know!

 

The MSI MPG X570 boards are not good (X570 Gaming Pro Carbon, X570 Gaming Edge and X570 Gaming Plus). I would look at one of the MSI B550 boards instead i.e B550 Tomahawk or B550 Gaming Edge. Even the B550-A Pro is better than those X570 offerings.

 

The Samsung SSD's are usually overpriced. A WD SN550 is more than fine for a gaming pc.

[SniperDan]

10 hours ago, SolarNova said:

Whats ur resolution and frame rate target ?

 

If u intend to aim for 4k, u dont need to upgrade ur entire system as ull be mostly reliant on GPU.

 

If ur aiming for 240hz 1080p then yes a system upgrade would help.

 

So what im saying is .. for that budget u can either get a 6800XT and aim for 4k gaming, keeping ur base system as is.

or upgrade the base system so that u can push 1080p fps figures higher using the 1070ti

 

Im in a similar situation and intend on going the 4k route.

 

My main monitor atm is a 1440p 144hz monitor, generally the limiting factor isn't my gpu, it's almost always my cpu being maxed out, even being overclocked considerably.

 

10 hours ago, lee32uk said:

The MSI MPG X570 boards are not good (X570 Gaming Pro Carbon, X570 Gaming Edge and X570 Gaming Plus). I would look at one of the MSI B550 boards instead i.e B550 Tomahawk or B550 Gaming Edge. Even the B550-A Pro is better than those X570 offerings.

 

The Samsung SSD's are usually overpriced. A WD SN550 is more than fine for a gaming pc.

 

What's wrong with the X570's from MSI? Any other brands/feature I should look at with 5000 series ryzen?

I'd only selected the samsung ssd as I'd heard good things about them, but having a look at the sn550 it does seem like more than enough

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, SniperDan said:

What's wrong with the X570's from MSI? Any other brands/feature I should look at with 5000 series ryzen?

I'd only selected the samsung ssd as I'd heard good things about them, but having a look at the sn550 it does seem like more than enough

The MSI MPG X570 boards have really bad VRM's so there is no reason to buy one, especially when you can get a better performing B550 board for less.

 

What sort of budget did you have in mind for the board ? 

 

The Samsung drives are good performers, but you can get an alternative for less. The SN550 is good enough for a gaming pc, or there is the Sabrent Rocket which is still cheaper at £104.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LGF54XR?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

[SniperDan]

4 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

The MSI MPG X570 boards have really bad VRM's so there is no reason to buy one, especially when you can get a better performing B550 board for less.

 

What sort of budget did you have in mind for the board ? 

 

The Samsung drives are good performers, but you can get an alternative for less. The SN550 is good enough for a gaming pc, or there is the Sabrent Rocket which is still cheaper at £104.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LGF54XR?tag=pcp0f-21&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

I have found the SN550 for £90, is the Sabrent any better? for the extra £15?

The MSI was around £135 I believe, so any cheaper than that is a bonus, if I can save enough overall on the ssd/mobo, I may be able to upgrade the cpu to a r7 5800x, I'd probably be looking to have 4 dimm slots for future expansion, as I do some CAD work from home so may need.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, SniperDan said:

I have found the SN550 for £90, is the Sabrent any better? for the extra £15?

The MSI was around £135 I believe, so any cheaper than that is a bonus, if I can save enough overall on the ssd/mobo, I may be able to upgrade the cpu to a r7 5800x, I'd probably be looking to have 4 dimm slots for future expansion, as I do some CAD work from home so may need.

If you don't mind a micro ATX board the MSI B550M Mortar is available for £110, and it would handle a 5950X. You still get 4 DIMM slots and 2 x M.2 Slots.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9PDkcf/msi-mag-b550m-mortar-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-mag-b550m-mortar

 

 

If you wanted a value for money option, I would consider going with a 3000 cpu. Sure the 5000 might be faster, but you can save a nice amount of money with a 3000 series. Still good cpu's.

 

So for example this would come in at under £700 and you are getting a 12 core cpu. Maybe even consider the 3700X if you don't need 12 cores, and you would save another £100.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  (£383.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£109.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (£95.60 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.87 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £689.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-18 16:06 GMT+0000

 

 

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£278.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£109.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (£95.60 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.87 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £584.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-18 16:10 GMT+0000

 

[Avocheeseado]

I would go with this.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£311.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler	£59.16 @ CCL Computers
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	£149.99 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£69.59 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£89.89 @ CCL Computers
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£680.14
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-18 16:46 GMT+0000

A B550 motherboard like this MSI B550 Tomahawk will be great.

I also listed some faster memory + a cheaper NVMe drive.

I put an aftermarket cooler because the one that comes with the CPU is a step down from the 3000 series stock cooler and it can get quite loud depending on what you are doing. Its not absolutely necessary though.

[SniperDan]

6 hours ago, Avocheeseado said:

I would go with this.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£311.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk
CPU Cooler	be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler	£59.16 @ CCL Computers
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	£149.99 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£69.59 @ Amazon UK
Storage	Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£89.89 @ CCL Computers
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£680.14
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-18 16:46 GMT+0000

A B550 motherboard like this MSI B550 Tomahawk will be great.

I also listed some faster memory + a cheaper NVMe drive.

I put an aftermarket cooler because the one that comes with the CPU is a step down from the 3000 series stock cooler and it can get quite loud depending on what you are doing. Its not absolutely necessary though.

I probably should have mentioned, I already have a shadow rock 2 on my current build and can get the AM4 mounting hardware for £5 so will likely be transferring that across. I'm also hoping to keep 2x16Gb of ram due to the CAD work I need to do on occasion.

7 hours ago, lee32uk said:

If you don't mind a micro ATX board the MSI B550M Mortar is available for £110, and it would handle a 5950X. You still get 4 DIMM slots and 2 x M.2 Slots.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9PDkcf/msi-mag-b550m-mortar-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-mag-b550m-mortar

 

 

If you wanted a value for money option, I would consider going with a 3000 cpu. Sure the 5000 might be faster, but you can save a nice amount of money with a 3000 series. Still good cpu's.

 

So for example this would come in at under £700 and you are getting a 12 core cpu. Maybe even consider the 3700X if you don't need 12 cores, and you would save another £100.

 

Is there much else I'd lose out on by going ryzen 3000 rather than 5000? Yes, I should have looked more at micro atx, I was kind of stuck on full atx as that's what my current and previous builds were.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, SniperDan said:

Is there much else I'd lose out on by going ryzen 3000 rather than 5000? Yes, I should have looked more at micro atx, I was kind of stuck on full atx as that's what my current and previous builds were.

The R5 5600X will be faster for gaming, but you might struggle to get hold of one as everything new and shiny is out of stock, so I guess it depends on how soon you want to upgrade.