Help me Upgrade

[IamHoneyMonster]

Budget (including currency): £800-900

Country: ENGLAND

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming (photoshop and similar photo editing. GTA online role play servers, Heavily modded testing for bathesda mod creators and similar for SIms 3 and Sims 4 modders creating new content) 

Other details: See below

So 6-7 years ago I set about and built this PC for gaming. Now i want to upgrade and need help identifying the weakest components and advice on what to replace/upgrade and with what new component within a modest budget.

 

What I have. 

Power: 750 branded PCU - Sorry for lack of detail on brand atm

Case: Unbranded but large size case with plenty of space currently with current components - air cooled with fans

Mother board: Gigabyte z97p-d3

Ram: Kingston KHX1866C10D3/8G (2x 8GB sticks DDR3)

Storage: Boot up Drive - Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB 2.5" Internal SSD

Secondary Drive: Seagante 3.5" 1TB Hybrid HHB (ST1000DX 001-1NS162 SCSI Disk Device ATA-600)

CPU: intel core i5-4460 CPU @3.20GHZ

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 4GB

 

Currently I plan to just get a RTX3080 and throw it in along with a larger sized Primary SSD to replace what I have. Would an RTX 3080 be compatible with everything else I have and what else would give me the best value for money upgrade to performance in gaming?

 

Thanks

HM

[Herman Mcpootis]

it'll work as long as the PSU isn't crap, but the i5 will bottleneck it to hell and back. 

[IamHoneyMonster]

The PSU is 750W Cool Master one.

 

My CPU is pretty old but I am unsure if my motherboard (Gigabyte z97p-d3) will allow me to easly swap to a new(ish) more modern one to minimise bottlenecking with a better GPU? All the info I can find on Gigabytes own site just says the board can take the latest 4th and 5th gen intel chips, it seems this hasn't been undated since to account for the newer gen CPU's whatever Gen we have reached with those now. 

 

HM 

[Jonathan Lee]

Yea you would pretty much need a completely new computer. If you upgrade CPU + Mobo (can't really just upgrade CPU without Mobo with those parts), the GPU will be a big bottleneck. If you upgrade the GPU, the CPU will be a big bottleneck. Any modern platform right now also uses ddr4. So you would also need to get new ram.

 

You can still do it though. You will get a performance uplift, but the GPU probably won't be fully utilized. If you're looking for a good part selection to go with the rtx 3080, you can go with something this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-11700 2.5 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£305.98 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler  (£55.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B560-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  (£145.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: PNY XLR8 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (£109.40 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £617.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-10-24 04:56 BST+0100

 

You can also consider the 5800X with B550 mobo. Although, this will be more pricey.

[GeorgeMKane]

I wouldn't even bother with the gpu right now, especially with where the market is with them still. I know it's easier to get one in the UK, by a bit, but availability is still so low pretty much anywhere. I would recommend basically upgrading everything else, AND THEN get a new gpu later on this year or sometime next year. If you have another budget just for the gpu, then I could recommend a few websites to get one from. You're probably looking at a RTX 3060Ti or something though, depending...

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/7zwkht

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£270.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S redux 70.75 CFM CPU Cooler  (£43.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£109.97 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (£129.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£51.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  (£89.99 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair iCUE SP120 RGB ELITE 47.7 CFM 120 mm Fan  (£14.99 @ Amazon UK)
£797.90

[IamHoneyMonster]

Thanks guys, seeing as both these options are essentially everything else but a gpu without doubling the budget minimum. Meaning a new build but one that would leave me still using my old gtx 970. Only thing I can think of is to hold off for now to not blow budget. I don't think I want to put everything else together to then wait untill GPU prices come down, to upgrade that last thing. Especially as that time frame may mean of all these components some will definitely have newer versions out. So either that would be an option or older gens would be cheaper. Likely for now just get a bigger SSD as I am running out of space regardless. Gutted at how pricey gpu's are, basically as much as everything else in the case, plus the case itself. But I don't see a viable option after having also done extra research into the whole ddr3-4 switch since I made my machine way back. Thanks for the help though :)

 

HM

[IamHoneyMonster]

With a it more research and window shopping. Last resort to upgrade I can think of. Is to grab a i7-4790k (£70) and a gtx 1080 to (£400) pair it with a higher capacity SSD. From what i can tell these are highest tier components I can get without switching motherboard, ram and potentially case, PSU etc. Which also shouldn't bottleneck eachother as much. How much improvement over my current machine would this be?

 

Thanks

HM