Upgrade or Build anew?

[DakterKwak]

I have had my current computer for a long time, and it has treated me very well. It plays older games with no problem, but in the last couple of years, it has really started to fall behind. With the help of this community, I was able to find RAM that my computer could use, and that upgrade helped a lot. But now it's my CPU and GPU that are starting to really fall behind. To add to that, my research has brought me to the conclusion that with the motherboard I have. I am approaching a point of demining returns. So my question is this, with the specs that I have, and with the newest games in mind, do you think I should upgrade, or build a whole new computer? (As a side note, I am perfectly happy with 30+ FPS, and lower graphics settings.)

 

My current Specs:

Intel Core i5-6600k

Asus Z170 Pro Gaming

Vengeance LPX 4x8GB 3200MHz DDR4 (32GB)

MSI GTX 970 4G

Corsair CX600M 600watt 80 Plus Bronze

Samsung 850 EVO 250GB

Western Digital Black 2TB WD2003FZEX

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Corsair Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Edition, Full Tower ATX Case CC-9011078-WW

 

P.S. Please be gentle, I have not built a computer in the better part of a decade, and I am very out of touch with the technical side of things.

[Jurrunio]

Better start new, but if you're good with worse graphics and 30fps I dont get why this system wouldnt' do?

[RONOTHAN##]

You'd want to replace the CPU, Motherboard, GPU, and PSU if you want a worthwhile upgrade (a 6700K/7700K would help, but not by enough to justify their high 2nd hand pricing), and you'll probably want to upgrade the cooler and RAM, so at that point you might as well just build a whole new system as you'd want to keep maybe the case and storage. It's a lot easier to sell your system as a whole than it is to sell it for parts, so for convenience sake you might as well swap those out too and just go for a full new system. 

 

If you don't have the budget to go for a full system, maybe try to see if you can find a deal on an i7 as hyper threading really does help in modern games (6700K and 7700K are designed to work, 8700Ks/9700Ks/9900Ks can work if you do some modifications to the CPU and motherboard and so aren't really recommended) and get a new GPU like a 1080 Ti (I've seen some rather good deals on them recently), but I'd treat those options more as half measures. If you want to play new AAA games, a whole new system is a good idea. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Budget?

Country?

 

Resell your cpu + gpu + mobo

 

Look for a used ryzen 5600(x) and a used b3/450 board, should be around 80-100$ and 50-70$ respectively

 

As for gpu depends on budget, a decent upgrade would be a used 6600(xt) or 5700(xt), should be around 120-150$ for non xt and abit more for the xt versions, otherwise just stick to that 970

 

Everything else can be reused but maybe the cooler will need a mounting kit

[DakterKwak]

54 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Budget?

Country?

The budget really depends on if I can get the parts from somewhere I can use Paypal's pay-in-4. If that is the case, then 100-500 per part. If I have to pay for the part in one go, 100-300 per part. Also, I am in the U.S.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

9 hours ago, DakterKwak said:

The budget really depends on if I can get the parts from somewhere I can use Paypal's pay-in-4. If that is the case, then 100-500 per part. If I have to pay for the part in one go, 100-300 per part. Also, I am in the U.S.

Essentially 900$ for just the cpu mobo gou? Just tell whats the total budget you have without having to pay later, probs in your best interest not to get fucked by high interest rates

 

but a used ryzen 3600(x)/5600(x) + b3/450 with a used 6600(xt) or 5700(xt) is a pretty solid choice for something around 300$

[DakterKwak]

9 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Essentially 900$ for just the cpu mobo gou? Just tell whats the total budget you have without having to pay later, probs in your best interest not to get fucked by high interest rates

 

but a used ryzen 3600(x)/5600(x) + b3/450 with a used 6600(xt) or 5700(xt) is a pretty solid choice for something around 300$

I think maybe I could have explained it a little better. I can be a very patient person, I spent the better part of a year building my first computer. The total bill was something like $1500 (with inflation that's almost two grand now). Broken up at roughly one part per mouth. Also, PayPal's pay-in-4 is interest-free, so I'm not worried about that costing me extra. If you want a solid figure, let's go with the above-mentioned two grand.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

37 minutes ago, DakterKwak said:

I think maybe I could have explained it a little better. I can be a very patient person, I spent the better part of a year building my first computer. The total bill was something like $1500 (with inflation that's almost two grand now). Broken up at roughly one part per mouth. Also, PayPal's pay-in-4 is interest-free, so I'm not worried about that costing me extra. If you want a solid figure, let's go with the above-mentioned two grand.

Prefferably youd wanna buy all in one go, just takes forever if you buy 1 part at a time

 

 

10 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

but a used ryzen 3600(x)/5600(x) + b3/450 with a used 6600(xt) or 5700(xt) is a pretty solid choice for something around 300$

If you still wanna do 1 part at a time just buy these as a stopgap so you dont have to wait a stupidly long time, besides you can resell em at a minor loss once you get your parts (maybe like 30$ ish loss if you resell em)

[Tetras]

I'd say it really depends what your expectations are for the PC and the games you're trying to play.

 

The CPU for socket 1151v1 systems was not worth replacing when the 6700K/7700K were silly prices (like $150-$200+ second hand), but they have fallen a lot and are now worth considering.

 

If you like messing around with PCs, you can even try a BIOS mod to fit 1151v2 CPUs, but there's always a risk of bricking your board.

 

The GPU is very old by today's standards, a RX 66x0 XT or higher would be much faster and from 6700K/7700K users that have posted their benches after the upgrade, it can be surprisingly effective to put a midrange, or even a higher-end card in these old systems.

 

You might want to check out this channel, since he does lots of videos with old hardware:

https://www.youtube.com/@RandomGaminginHD/videos

[Somerandomtechyboi]

On 9/16/2023 at 7:35 AM, Tetras said:

The CPU for socket 1151v1 systems was not worth replacing when the 6700K/7700K were silly prices (like $150-$200+ second hand), but they have fallen a lot and are now worth considering.

Id only consider a 6700 if theyre <50$, 7700 is garbage not worth considering due to no bclk oc, 7700k if it fits the same <50$, otherwise swapping the board to a used b3/450 for 50$ lets you buy a a used 5600(x) for 80-100$ or even a used 3600(x) for ~50$ which will both annihilate those old i7

 

On 9/16/2023 at 7:35 AM, Tetras said:

If you like messing around with PCs, you can even try a BIOS mod to fit 1151v2 CPUs, but there's always a risk of bricking your board.

Coffee lake is also obselete and not worth considering with the same <50$ criteria for something like an 8700k, again trounced on by even a used 3600

 

Bricking is not a real issue and can be ignored, most boards will have an spi header you can use to externally flash with a bios programmer like the ch341a, effectively makes you immune to a bad bios flash, and also allows you to crossflash your boards which i prersonally tend to do alot for overclocking benifits (most recently a p7p55d flashed with a p7p55d-e deluxe bios for better ram oc cause asus bios crippling)

 

Aa for the mod itself you can do a pad mod or a superio chip mod the former being alot easier as it doesnt involve soldering, pad mod is reminiscent of 771 pad mod only here its just to connect sktocc pin to vss so the mobo will actually turn on cause if sktocc isnt connected board will outright refuse to turn on. Superio mod does the exact same thing but you can turn the board on without a cpu attatched and honestly dont see why youd wanna do that unless you are testing voltage mods or something, pretty much find the pin that controlls sktocc and solder that pin to a nearby ground pad. I think theres even a tool thatll help you patch the bios to support coffee lake but im too lazy to re find it, just makes patching the bios more convenient than manually transferring bios modules with mmtool. This is just somd info i found when i got kinda curious with modding 100 and 200 boards to support coffeelake one time a few months ago, and if i do get my hands on a 100/200 series board ill definitely modify em to support coffeelake because resale value and screwing around with ocing coffeelake

[Tetras]

9 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Id only consider a 6700 if theyre <50$, 7700 is garbage not worth considering due to no bclk oc, 7700k if it fits the same <50$, otherwise swapping the board to a used b3/450 for 50$ lets you buy a a used 5600(x) for 80-100$ or even a used 3600(x) for ~50$ which will both annihilate those old i7

 

I agree it probably isn't the best value (in a similar situation, I got a 12100+H610 board for less than the 6700K would have cost me used), but given the OP's low expectations, it might be an option they're more willing/prepared to take.

 

9 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Coffee lake is also obselete and not worth considering with the same <50$ criteria for something like an 8700k, again trounced on by even a used 3600

 

I think you're overestimating the 3600 there, coffee lake is definitely competitive against Zen 2 when gaming, have a look at these Starfield results:

 

 

I admit they're unusual, since Starfield seems to favour Intel (8700K drawing level with a 5600X? Huh? ), but it does show the old coffee lake CPUs can hang in there just fine with modern games.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

12 hours ago, Tetras said:

 

I agree it probably isn't the best value (in a similar situation, I got a 12100+H610 board for less than the 6700K would have cost me used), but given the OP's low expectations, it might be an option they're more willing/prepared to take.

 

 

I think you're overestimating the 3600 there, coffee lake is definitely competitive against Zen 2 when gaming, have a look at these Starfield results:

 

 

I admit they're unusual, since Starfield seems to favour Intel (8700K drawing level with a 5600X? Huh? ), but it does show the old coffee lake CPUs can hang in there just fine with modern games.

Still wouldnt pay 100$ for an 8700k when the 3600 is 50-60$ and the 5600(x) is 80-100$ used not to mention being more power efficient and also having to pad mod the cpu + bios mod which is a little extra inconvenience

[DakterKwak]

Thank you all for your input, I found it very informative! I am still undecided, but I feel like I can now make an informed decision. Again, thank you so much!