Rebuild vs Upgrade a slightly ageing gaming PC

[BanthaFodder23]

Budget (including currency): £1500 (GBP) - although in practice I'd like to spend as little as possible

Country: United Kingdom

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming - Massive variety. AAA such as Jedi Survivor/Starfield/AC Mirage, sims like Anno, Civ & Factorio and casual MP games recently including Fall Guys, Payday, WoT

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): 

Hi All, I built my current rig back in 2018 which is a 1080ti, 8700k (OC'd to 4.9), 32gb DDR4 (not sure on speed but it's nothing fancy) and 5 years down the line it's starting to show it's age and I'm now struggling to hit 60 fps on my 3440x1440 ultrawide without cranking the settings right down - Starfield was unplayable.

I'm slightly depressed at how much I spent then and what the same money will get me now. I'm also getting married next year which makes it hard to justify a complete rebuild.

In my head I've got a couple of options:
-Buy a 6950xt at £550ish new which seems like the best bang for buck GPU option which will tie me over for now, the wait until AMD releases Zen5 and pick up a 7800x3d/ B650 combination when the prices fall.

-Stick with my 1080ti (for now) & platform rebuild with a b650, Ryzen 7600 combination for £600/650 (CPU, Mobo, RAM, Cooler). Wait for something decent to happen in the GPU market where I can get a decent performance uplift for £5/600 and have an upgrade path to Zen5/6.

 

I'll stick with my current case, PSU and I don't need any peripherals etc.

 

Ultimately my target is to be able to play AAA games at 120hz on my 3440x1440 monitor (I've no plans to upgrade it any time soon) at the best quality I can.

 

I could go the whole hog and do a total rebuild, but I'd be compromising on either GPU or CPU if I do and it seems like a waste of money given where things are in the current market and that I still have a perfectly servicable build.

 

So the question is really:

-GPU today, but one that's a generation behind 'as new'. Suffer being CPU limited (and unable to play things like Starfield properly for now) for now in search of a better deal next year.
-CPU & platform today with a hopefully decent upgrade path to avoid this total rebuild situation in the future, and deal without any real gaming improvements until the low end GPU's are far enough ahead of my 1080ti to make something worthwile buying.

 

Ask me on a different day and I'll give a different preference.

 

As a secondary note, anyone with any advice on decent B650 boards would be great. The whole idea of going Zen4 rather than saving with Zen3 and reusing things like RAM is to have an upgrade path.

 

As a final note, I'll resell my old components once they're upgraded to claw a little cash back.

 

 

 

[filpo]

11 minutes ago, BanthaFodder23 said:

Budget (including currency): £1500 (GBP) - although in practice I'd like to spend as little as possible

Country: United Kingdom

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming - Massive variety. AAA such as Jedi Survivor/Starfield/AC Mirage, sims like Anno, Civ & Factorio and casual MP games recently including Fall Guys, Payday, WoT

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): 

Hi All, I built my current rig back in 2018 which is a 1080ti, 8700k (OC'd to 4.9), 32gb DDR4 (not sure on speed but it's nothing fancy) and 5 years down the line it's starting to show it's age and I'm now struggling to hit 60 fps on my 3440x1440 ultrawide without cranking the settings right down - Starfield was unplayable.

I'm slightly depressed at how much I spent then and what the same money will get me now. I'm also getting married next year which makes it hard to justify a complete rebuild.

In my head I've got a couple of options:
-Buy a 6950xt at £550ish new which seems like the best bang for buck GPU option which will tie me over for now, the wait until AMD releases Zen5 and pick up a 7800x3d/ B650 combination when the prices fall.

-Stick with my 1080ti (for now) & platform rebuild with a b650, Ryzen 7600 combination for £600/650 (CPU, Mobo, RAM, Cooler). Wait for something decent to happen in the GPU market where I can get a decent performance uplift for £5/600 and have an upgrade path to Zen5/6.

 

I'll stick with my current case, PSU and I don't need any peripherals etc.

 

Ultimately my target is to be able to play AAA games at 120hz on my 3440x1440 monitor (I've no plans to upgrade it any time soon) at the best quality I can.

 

I could go the whole hog and do a total rebuild, but I'd be compromising on either GPU or CPU if I do and it seems like a waste of money given where things are in the current market and that I still have a perfectly servicable build.

 

So the question is really:

-GPU today, but one that's a generation behind 'as new'. Suffer being CPU limited (and unable to play things like Starfield properly for now) for now in search of a better deal next year.
-CPU & platform today with a hopefully decent upgrade path to avoid this total rebuild situation in the future, and deal without any real gaming improvements until the low end GPU's are far enough ahead of my 1080ti to make something worthwile buying.

 

Ask me on a different day and I'll give a different preference.

 

As a secondary note, anyone with any advice on decent B650 boards would be great. The whole idea of going Zen4 rather than saving with Zen3 and reusing things like RAM is to have an upgrade path.

 

As a final note, I'll resell my old components once they're upgraded to claw a little cash back.

 

 

 

What's your psu wattage and do you need any more storage?

I'd do a total rebuild 

Since you're playing at 1440p ultrawide you'll get away with a 7600 on a 7900 xt 

try this 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£213.99 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (£41.89 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B650-PLUS ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£139.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory  (£115.39 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card  (£784.82 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Deepcool CC560 ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case  (£65.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£149.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Total: £1511.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-01 16:09 GMT+0000

[Tetras]

9 minutes ago, BanthaFodder23 said:

Starfield was unplayable.

Don't play Starfield/Jedi Survivor & problem solved!

 

Serious answer: you have a decent PC, but a 1080 Ti is heading toward 1080p land now. I'd consider a 4070 or 7800 XT the "new" 1440p cards, though for max-details with AAA games even they can struggle at times.

 

I don't really like either of your options in the sense that, both of them sound like stopgaps (6950 XT or Ryzen 7600), whereas I'd prefer to go hard on either option (e.g. 7800X3D OR 4080/7900 XTX) and then do the rest later.

[BanthaFodder23]

I've already got a 1200w PSU, about 5TB of storage between m.2 SSD's and larger HDD's so I can save money there.

I guess I'm not keen on a total rebuild because for £1500 quid I'll be making compromises. I'd rather upgrade half now and half next year / year after and keep the cash for the wedding fund!

[BanthaFodder23]

1 minute ago, Tetras said:

Don't play Starfield/Jedi Survivor & problem solved!

 

Serious answer: you have a decent PC, but a 1080 Ti is heading toward 1080p land now. I'd consider a 4070 or 7800 XT the "new" 1440p cards, though for max-details with AAA games even they can struggle at times.

 

I don't really like either of your options in the sense that, both of them sound like stopgaps (6950 XT or Ryzen 7600), whereas I'd prefer to go hard on either option (e.g. 7800X3D OR 4080/7900 XTX) and then do the rest later.

Yeah, makes sense.

I guess I'm kind of resigning myself for a 'good enough for now' option and trying to keep my outlay right now as low as I can.

It might end up costing me more in the long run for exactly the point you make though.

[filpo]

1 minute ago, BanthaFodder23 said:

I guess I'm not keen on a total rebuild because for £1500 quid I'll be making compromises. I'd rather upgrade half now and half next year / year after and keep the cash for the wedding fund!

then go for this 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£363.88 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (£41.89 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B650-PLUS ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£139.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory  (£115.39 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Deepcool CC560 ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case  (£65.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Total: £726.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-01 16:14 GMT+0000

[BanthaFodder23]

1 minute ago, filpo said:

then go for this 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£363.88 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (£41.89 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B650-PLUS ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£139.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory  (£115.39 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Deepcool CC560 ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case  (£65.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Total: £726.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-01 16:14 GMT+0000

Serious question, what benefit am I going to get from a 7800x3d in the next 18 months (before I can drop a zen5/6 x3d part in) vs a 7600 which seems like a very capable gaming CPU (especially when OC'd).

Unless I go up to a £1k+ tier GPU I'm likely to always be GPU bound, so the extra £120 odd quid seems unnessecary?

[filpo]

 

1 minute ago, BanthaFodder23 said:

Unless I go up to a £1k+ tier GPU I'm likely to always be GPU bound, so the extra £120 odd quid seems unnessecary?

yes, call me the opposite of a bargain hunter  

[BanthaFodder23]

1 hour ago, Tetras said:

Don't play Starfield/Jedi Survivor & problem solved!

 

Serious answer: you have a decent PC, but a 1080 Ti is heading toward 1080p land now. I'd consider a 4070 or 7800 XT the "new" 1440p cards, though for max-details with AAA games even they can struggle at times.

 

I don't really like either of your options in the sense that, both of them sound like stopgaps (6950 XT or Ryzen 7600), whereas I'd prefer to go hard on either option (e.g. 7800X3D OR 4080/7900 XTX) and then do the rest later.

I guess just to come back to this - you're 100% right, but going hard on either platform or GPU now means shelling out a lot more initially than my stopgap solutions.

If I reframed the original question and said I only have £600 quid to spend - anyone have any thoughts on which side I'm better off investing it in?

[filpo]

4 minutes ago, BanthaFodder23 said:

If I reframed the original question and said I only have £600 quid to spend - anyone have any thoughts on which side I'm better off investing it in?

the cpu side for sure

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  (£213.99 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  (£41.89 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B650-PLUS ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£139.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory  (£115.39 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse G300A (1 Fan) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£55.00 @ Computer Orbit) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 PST 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fans 5-Pack  (£27.89 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £594.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-01 17:36 GMT+0000

[Tetras]

48 minutes ago, BanthaFodder23 said:

I guess just to come back to this - you're 100% right, but going hard on either platform or GPU now means shelling out a lot more initially than my stopgap solutions.

If I reframed the original question and said I only have £600 quid to spend - anyone have any thoughts on which side I'm better off investing it in?

My honest opinion is: I don't know. I think you mentioned that Starfield was the game you're struggling with the most and I can see from HUB's 32 GPU benchmark that @ 1440p native a 1080 Ti is nowhere near good enough and even with upscaling it won't maintain 60 fps. If you went with a 6950 as your original plan, then it can hit just over 60 fps @ 1440p native (high) in their benchmarks. The problem here is, the CPU they're using is a high-end CPU to remove the CPU bottleneck, so I don't know how applicable these results are to slower CPUs.

 

If I look at HUB's 44 CPU benchmark (1080p Ultra), then the 8700K hits 49 low and 58 average, but since there are no 1440p or 4K benchmarks, I don't know how these CPU results scale. In theory, since your 8700K is overclocked to 4.9 Ghz, I'd say that 60 fps at 3440 x 1440 should be achievable with a 6950 XT.