Upgrade Path? Trying to Get Back to Old Performance Levels

[Tuckplace12]

Budget (including currency): 1000 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, mainly Halo, Ark and Stellaris. I am also a computer science student so I code and do other stuff on it as well

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): Full existing spec list below.

 

PC:

Windows 11 Pro

AMD Ryzen 7 2700x

Corsair 360mm AIO

16 GB (4x4GB) Ram, HyperX 3200 Mghz CL16 (I think on the CL 16, also see note below about the ram)

ASUS x470 Crosshair Hero 7 (non-wifi)

AMD 6700xt Red Devil

850 W Evga power supply 80+ gold (Can't remember exact model)

ASUS Tuf gaming case

 

Also all EK materials for a custom water cooling loop for CPU.

 

Monitors:

1x Acer 1440p 144hz Free Sync

1x Acer1080p 144 hz

 

Hello everyone,

 

The purpose of this post is I am trying to figure out potential upgrade options. I know this system is already pretty damn good but it has some issues and this is lower spec than it was.

 

Before this GPU, I had a 1080ti, which I bought open box at microcenter right when the 20 series launched. It did amazing but sadly after over 3 years it kicked the bucked. Yes I have tried RMA to MSI, they refused because it was out of warranty and said they won't do anything with it at all. I could call them back and offer to pay for the repair but they did say they will do nothing at all. So it was replaced with the 6700xt. I now just have a dead 1080ti for decoration I guess unless anyone knows somewhere I can have it fixed? Would probably be board level. I did open the card up after it quit and I can not find any damage on it. When its in the system, and the GPU power cables are plugged it, system won't even start to post. Without them it will get going but gets stuck on VGA. This was replicated on another system.

 

This system was all built over time before the shortage (except the 6700xt) so honestly I did not pay all that much as it may seem looking at it now. My plan was to upgrade when the shortage ends but I really can't decide what to. I have noticed the 6700xt in this system at 1440p is getting a lot less FPS than the 1080ti. My purpose is to really just get back to the performance level the 1080ti sat at. Even gaining smart access memory. Yes, with the 6700xt I am getting around 75-90 FPS in halo, but the 1080ti was pulling over 100. Also the 6700xt was the only GPU I could really get my hands on with the money I had at the time.

 

Note about the ram: It currently runs at 2400. This is because whenever I try to run it at its rated speed, or anything above 2600 it will crash. Thinking its ryzen second gen weirdness. 

 

Also I do understand with the current shortage I should be glad I got a GPU, I paid 850 for the 6700xt open box, I am glad and this upgrade path would be for once the shortage calms down. Still drives me nuts that 3 years ago I paid 550 for that 1080ti and now I paid close to 1000 for a gpu that's slower but here we are. Also I bought the water cooling stuff before the GPU died, did not install it yet or do anything with it.

 

So what do you all think would be the best upgrade that makes sense spending 1000-1500 USD this summer? Also subtract out selling old parts getting replaced in cost of new ones, because I will do that. Wanting to keep spending to a minimum though, just get up to the performance it had before.

 

What I am comparing is do I upgrade to a 5800x or a 5900x? Or switch out the GPU? The budget is pretty arbitrary I would like to spend as little as possible.

 

Thank you for any help.

 

[Jurrunio]

5600x would do but if you plan on using the system for a long time, the 5900x and 5950x arent that expensive for their core count (which is lower than the 5600x). Games available in consoles would do with 6~8 cores so if those are all you will play, no need to get the Ryzen 9s

[Somerandomtechyboi]

29 minutes ago, Tuckplace12 said:

Before this GPU, I had a 1080ti, which I bought open box at microcenter right when the 20 series launched. It did amazing but sadly after over 3 years it kicked the bucked.

Try using any output other than hdmi, i think hdmi encoder or something can just randomly die, also try spraying/dunking the gpu + the ports with 99% IPA and see if it gets revived, if not then dunk in water and wait ~1 week for it to fully dry, if still dead then last ditch effort would be putting it in an oven or using a clothing iron to heat the gpu die

[GeorgeMKane]

Yeah, don't dunk a gpu in water. Try other methods, like repasting the gpu. That should be first. You might be able to find other solutions online, but try repasting first for sure. Try to recall when it first died out on you too. Like what exactly happened, did you maybe force the cable into the gpu after cleaning out the pc or what? You know.

 

As for upgrading, I would recommend going this route.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Zn6hCz

 

Sounds like you'll want new RAM as well, so I went with 32GB 3600MHz. I also put a 500GB m.2 nvme ssd in there too. Not sure if you had a nvme ssd for your build already, but the 970 evo plus 500GB is nicely priced right now.

[KaitouX]

4 hours ago, Tuckplace12 said:

This system was all built over time before the shortage (except the 6700xt) so honestly I did not pay all that much as it may seem looking at it now. My plan was to upgrade when the shortage ends but I really can't decide what to. I have noticed the 6700xt in this system at 1440p is getting a lot less FPS than the 1080ti. My purpose is to really just get back to the performance level the 1080ti sat at. Even gaining smart access memory. Yes, with the 6700xt I am getting around 75-90 FPS in halo, but the 1080ti was pulling over 100. Also the 6700xt was the only GPU I could really get my hands on with the money I had at the time.

Play Halo with some system monitoring on and look if there are any cores on the CPU getting to 100% load, and check the temperatures and clocks of the 6700XT while gaming, and check other games you remember the performance of the 1080ti. The 6700XT should be somewhere between 20%~50% faster than the 1080Ti at Halo(campaign at least), my guess is some difference on how the driver distributes the load is making the CPU not be able to keep up or thermal throttling slowing down the GPU.

[Tuckplace12]

13 hours ago, KaitouX said:

Play Halo with some system monitoring on and look if there are any cores on the CPU getting to 100% load, and check the temperatures and clocks of the 6700XT while gaming, and check other games you remember the performance of the 1080ti. The 6700XT should be somewhere between 20%~50% faster than the 1080Ti at Halo(campaign at least), my guess is some difference on how the driver distributes the load is making the CPU not be able to keep up or thermal throttling slowing down the GPU.

Interesting ok I will take a look. Every metric I have found, like GPU compare, seems to state the 6700xt is slower and I thought it was. I will also say my 1080ti did REALLY win the silicon lottery big time, overclocking amazing and passing a 2080 super stock by a decent bit. I am also talking multiplayer btw. Thank you I will have a look. Also did you see that article about 6700xts from power color leaving the plastic covers on the thermal pads for memory and such on some cards? Thinking that could be it. Not sure if I should open it, would void warranty I think?

[Tuckplace12]

17 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Try using any output other than hdmi, i think hdmi encoder or something can just randomly die, also try spraying/dunking the gpu + the ports with 99% IPA and see if it gets revived, if not then dunk in water and wait ~1 week for it to fully dry, if still dead then last ditch effort would be putting it in an oven or using a clothing iron to heat the gpu die

I am using display port, also tried HDMI. Uhhhh idk about dunking it water I guess I could in alcohol but I am not sure how that would fix anything? The system won't even attempt to post when the GPU's power cables are attached.

[Tuckplace12]

14 hours ago, GeorgeMKane said:

Yeah, don't dunk a gpu in water. Try other methods, like repasting the gpu. That should be first. You might be able to find other solutions online, but try repasting first for sure. Try to recall when it first died out on you too. Like what exactly happened, did you maybe force the cable into the gpu after cleaning out the pc or what? You know.

 

As for upgrading, I would recommend going this route.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Zn6hCz

 

Sounds like you'll want new RAM as well, so I went with 32GB 3600MHz. I also put a 500GB m.2 nvme ssd in there too. Not sure if you had a nvme ssd for your build already, but the 970 evo plus 500GB is nicely priced right now.

Yea water doesn't sound like it would help anything. Nothing touched in the system when it happened, nothing had been in weeks. Just got up one morning and went to play a game of halo, and dead. PC wouldn't start. I did repaste the new gpu before using non conductive thermal paste but that was years ago. 

 

Thank you for the list it looks great. I will say do you think the motherboard upgrade is needed? It is a top end x470 board. I already have a 970 evo plus and a WD blue nvme. I also have 6 sata drives, I know its a shit ton, but I collected them over the years. I appreciate the help.

[GeorgeMKane]

5 hours ago, Tuckplace12 said:

Thank you for the list it looks great. I will say do you think the motherboard upgrade is needed? It is a top end x470 board. I already have a 970 evo plus and a WD blue nvme. I also have 6 sata drives, I know its a shit ton, but I collected them over the years. I appreciate the help.

You may be able to just update the BIOS, but you're already having RAM issues. I would recommend just a new motherboard and RAM tbh, to eliminate any issue there. Plus, the new RAM is much faster. If you want to, you can just get the new RAM first and try it with your current motherboard. If it still doesn't work at the proper speed, then upgrade the motherboard. Just getting a new motherboard would save you some time though.

[Tuckplace12]

On 1/21/2022 at 7:27 PM, GeorgeMKane said:

You may be able to just update the BIOS, but you're already having RAM issues. I would recommend just a new motherboard and RAM tbh, to eliminate any issue there. Plus, the new RAM is much faster. If you want to, you can just get the new RAM first and try it with your current motherboard. If it still doesn't work at the proper speed, then upgrade the motherboard. Just getting a new motherboard would save you some time though.

MY BIOS is update I was thinking it was the second gen ryzen chip that was the issue? Not totally sure and I do want to get up to 32 GB anyways