Based on my PC's current specs, should I repair or build a new PC entirely?

[cpugeek21]

My PC's graphic card stopped working in around early 2023, and I just didn't get it fixed. At the time, the components were as follows:

• Ryzen 3600

• Asrock B450 Steel Legend

• Kingston DDR4 HyperX (16GB)

• Powercolor Red Dragon RX 580 (likely spoilt, PC does not turn on at the moment when GPU is plugged in)

• Seasonic Prime Gold 850W

• Scythe Fuma 3 Air Cooler

• Samsung 860 Evo SATA SSD (128GB)

Honestly, I don't want to tinker and troubleshoot by myself anymore (other priorities in life), so I'm just going to leave it to the PC repair shop. They quoted me ~$680 USD for the following services:

• Fractal Design North Case

• RTX 4060

• 1 TB Lexor SSD

• Service fee, including stress testing

My question is, does it make sense to pay $680 USD to fix the computer, or am I better off just building a new one? My main use-case is playing CS2 and Valorant, and maybe more intensive titles like Batman or Sniper Elite.

The PC repair shop did mention that my system would likely be bottlenecked by the CPU, and a search shows that Ryzen 3600 gives around 150 - 200 FPS (monitor is 144Hz, so this is manageable). Batman would provide ~65FPS on 1440p.

 

On the one hand, I don't like to "waste" money when most of the PC parts are all pretty new. The PC was refreshed in around 2021, and the PSU still has ~7 years of warranty. On the other hand, however, I don't want to keep on buying parts to repair the system. When I built the PC for the very first time, I was on a cycle of gaming --> component spoilt --> fix --> another component spoilt --> fix etc. I get quite a bit of anxiety when the PC hangs, since I just get reminded that one of the components might be spoilt and I will need to fix it again. Would I be better off just buying a new system from the start?

 

Another alternative would be to buy a new system, but still salvage the usable parts (namely the mobo, cpu, ram, PSU, SSD) from this old system to build a homelab, which is something I have been interested in for a while.

 

I'm blabbering at this point, but would love to hear the thoughts of others who might have been in a similar situation before. Thanks in advance!

 

[Jeppes]

Just save the psu, cooler, case and ssd. Youll pay like 100$ more than the service and get a new motherboard, cpu and ram also. Although I would maybe aim for a better gpu than 4060 as the value for the upgrade is just plain better with 4070 super. 4070s is about 100% faster and the upgrade package is less than 40% more expensive.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Lexar NM790 w/Heatsink 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($71.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card  ($309.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $792.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-11 03:41 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Lexar NM790 w/Heatsink 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($71.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card  ($599.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1082.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-11 03:44 EDT-0400

 

 

 

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($35.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: *MagniumGear Neo Air 2 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $511.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-11 04:24 EDT-0400

 

A better look at those components.

 

https://www.phanteks.store/products/magniumgear-neo-air-2-atx-mid-tower-high-airflow-wood-texture-front-panel-design-black

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-7600-non-x/ 

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-phantom-spirit-120-review 

 

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B650-S-WIFI

[PDifolco]

1 hour ago, cpugeek21 said:

My PC's graphic card stopped working in around early 2023, and I just didn't get it fixed. At the time, the components were as follows:

• Ryzen 3600

• Asrock B450 Steel Legend

• Kingston DDR4 HyperX (16GB)

• Powercolor Red Dragon RX 580 (likely spoilt, PC does not turn on at the moment when GPU is plugged in)

• Seasonic Prime Gold 850W

• Scythe Fuma 3 Air Cooler

• Samsung 860 Evo SATA SSD (128GB)

Honestly, I don't want to tinker and troubleshoot by myself anymore (other priorities in life), so I'm just going to leave it to the PC repair shop. They quoted me ~$680 USD for the following services:

• Fractal Design North Case

• RTX 4060

• 1 TB Lexor SSD

• Service fee, including stress testing

My question is, does it make sense to pay $680 USD to fix the computer, or am I better off just building a new one? My main use-case is playing CS2 and Valorant, and maybe more intensive titles like Batman or Sniper Elite.

The PC repair shop did mention that my system would likely be bottlenecked by the CPU, and a search shows that Ryzen 3600 gives around 150 - 200 FPS (monitor is 144Hz, so this is manageable). Batman would provide ~65FPS on 1440p.

 

On the one hand, I don't like to "waste" money when most of the PC parts are all pretty new. The PC was refreshed in around 2021, and the PSU still has ~7 years of warranty. On the other hand, however, I don't want to keep on buying parts to repair the system. When I built the PC for the very first time, I was on a cycle of gaming --> component spoilt --> fix --> another component spoilt --> fix etc. I get quite a bit of anxiety when the PC hangs, since I just get reminded that one of the components might be spoilt and I will need to fix it again. Would I be better off just buying a new system from the start?

 

Another alternative would be to buy a new system, but still salvage the usable parts (namely the mobo, cpu, ram, PSU, SSD) from this old system to build a homelab, which is something I have been interested in for a while.

 

I'm blabbering at this point, but would love to hear the thoughts of others who might have been in a similar situation before. Thanks in advance!

 

For the price of the shop upgrade you could rather get a 7700xt and a 5700x3d, which will give you quite good performance 

The rest of the rig is still ok

[cpugeek21]

49 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

For the price of the shop upgrade you could rather get a 7700xt and a 5700x3d, which will give you quite good performance 

The rest of the rig is still ok

Right, but that's assuming I don't go with the shop and DIY the whole upgrade process yeah? Which is something I'm trying to avoid. Or is your recommendation to do the CPU and GPU upgrades while still going the PC repair shop route?

[cpugeek21]

1 hour ago, Why_Me said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($35.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: *MagniumGear Neo Air 2 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $511.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-11 04:24 EDT-0400

 

A better look at those components.

 

https://www.phanteks.store/products/magniumgear-neo-air-2-atx-mid-tower-high-airflow-wood-texture-front-panel-design-black

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-7600-non-x/ 

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-phantom-spirit-120-review 

 

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B650-S-WIFI

Thanks for the PCPartPicker list, much appreciated! Same qn to you, are you recommending to go for these upgrades, but still go the PC repair shop route?

[cpugeek21]

1 hour ago, Jeppes said:

Just save the psu, cooler, case and ssd. Youll pay like 100$ more than the service and get a new motherboard, cpu and ram also. Although I would maybe aim for a better gpu than 4060 as the value for the upgrade is just plain better with 4070 super. 4070s is about 100% faster and the upgrade package is less than 40% more expensive.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Lexar NM790 w/Heatsink 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($71.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card  ($309.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $792.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-11 03:41 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Lexar NM790 w/Heatsink 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($71.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card  ($599.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1082.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-11 03:44 EDT-0400

 

 

 

 

Qn, so are you recommending that I don't go the PC repair shop route at all and just DIY everything myself? Because I did do that in the past. Not sure if it's just bad luck but the components in the PC I built just gradually spoilt over the years. So the amount I spent to repair almost cost me the same as a new PC. I'm trying to avoid that, hence going for the PC repair shop route, where they will take care of everything and do the stress testing for me as well.

[Why_Me]

44 minutes ago, cpugeek21 said:

Thanks for the PCPartPicker list, much appreciated! Same qn to you, are you recommending to go for these upgrades, but still go the PC repair shop route?

Now might be a good time to jump over to a new platform. You can always scavenge parts from your existing build.

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

2 hours ago, cpugeek21 said:

Honestly, I don't want to tinker and troubleshoot by myself anymore (other priorities in life), so I'm just going to leave it to the PC repair shop. They quoted me ~$680 USD for the following services:

• Fractal Design North Case

• RTX 4060

• 1 TB Lexor SSD

• Service fee, including stress testing

My question is, does it make sense to pay $680 USD to fix the computer, or am I better off just building a new one? My main use-case is playing CS2 and Valorant, and maybe more intensive titles like Batman or Sniper Elite.

complete scam

 

if you cant be arsed to do any diying just buy another rx 570/580 theyre like 30$ for the 4gb variants and 50$ for the 8gb variants

 

or if you dont wanna look around on the used market buy a new rx 6800 for 370$ which will be a massive upgrade over that 580 and all you do is click buy instead of looking on the used market and yes itll be a hell of alot faster than a shitty 4060 (cant even beat the last gen 3060ti) and the 6800 is somewhere inbetween a 3070ti and 3080

 

then you just drop the gpu in and you are good to go

[PDifolco]

1 hour ago, cpugeek21 said:

Right, but that's assuming I don't go with the shop and DIY the whole upgrade process yeah? Which is something I'm trying to avoid. Or is your recommendation to do the CPU and GPU upgrades while still going the PC repair shop route?

Really swapping a CPU and installing a GPU is pretty easy , as you'll keep your board you won't really have to build 

[Nena Trinity]

What RAM speed is that RAM? 3200MHz or better I would suggest keeping the CPU, MOBO & RAM and just fix everything that is not working.

 

For GPU anything that is on par or better than RX 6700 should be good enough!