Upgrade path for an existing PC

[Andrei Chiffa]

Budget (including currency): 500 CHF/year

Country: Switzerland

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: gaming (Civilization, City Skylines 2, World of Warcraft; No FPS); coding; extreme browsing (500+ tabs)

 

Other details:

Existing configuration:

 - MoB: Q470M-C

 - CPU: Core i7-10700

 - CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D9L (110 mm)

 - GPU: RTX 3080 10GB

 - RAM: 32 GB DDR4 (@ 2666)

 - SSD: Samsung 970 Evo

 - Case: Cooler Master Silencio 452

 - Screen: Dell P2418D (1440p, 8ms, 60 Hz)

 - Mouse/Keyboard: Logitech G502/G915

 

I am looking for an upgrade path for a working machine that I bought out at work after a couple of years (light ML loads: today everything has to go on the cluster anyway).

 

Right now, I am most bored by the power draw (~50W at idle) as well as the absence of Bluetooth (installed a USB wifi antena with TP-Link T3U), as well as to make the machine more gaming and less GPU compute - oriented.

 

My hunch is that I need to start with a new motherboard (switching between CPU graphics and GPU?), and then go after a CPU and invest into a screen.

 

What would you suggest ?

[jaslion]

47 minutes ago, Andrei Chiffa said:

well as to make the machine more gaming and less GPU compute - oriented.

 

It is literally as is a pretty darn fucking good gaming machine.

 

You have the 4th best gaming gpu from last gen, a performant i7 and well everything else is darn great.

 

This pc has no trouble what so ever to game at 1440p 60fps and will easily push to 100+

 

So quite literally as is id say just buy yourself a new 1440p screen and call it good.

 

50w at idle is beyond normal for a pc of this class. Not having bt or wifi is super easily solved by just getting a pcie add in card or usb stick.

[podkall]

9 minutes ago, jaslion said:

It is literally as is a pretty darn fucking good gaming machine.

 

You have the 4th best gaming gpu from last gen, a performant i7 and well everything else is darn great.

 

This pc has no trouble what so ever to game at 1440p 60fps and will easily push to 100+

 

So quite literally as is id say just buy yourself a new 1440p screen and call it good.

 

50w at idle is beyond normal for a pc of this class. Not having bt or wifi is super easily solved by just getting a pcie add in card or usb stick.

maybe enable XMP or buy faster RAM

 

12 minutes ago, jaslion said:

So quite literally as is id say just buy yourself a new 1440p screen and call it good.

only issue is their current screen is apparently already quite good, with the only downside of being 60Hz

 

and finding a screen that's gonna feel better in all categories will probably be hard without help or spending more cash

[Andrei Chiffa]

13 hours ago, jaslion said:

It is literally as is a pretty darn fucking good gaming machine.

- thanks! Good to know that specs from 2020 still held strong

 

13 hours ago, jaslion said:

getting a pcie add in card

Looks like that's what I will be going for - USB stick I have right now provides a decent WiFi connection, but no bluetooth. I imagine an Intel Wifi 6 desktop kit will fit into an M.2 slot, that's right under PCIEx 6 GPU slot?

 

13 hours ago, jaslion said:

So quite literally as is id say just buy yourself a new 1440p screen and call it good.

13 hours ago, podkall said:

and finding a screen that's gonna feel better in all categories will probably be hard without help or spending more cash

I was thinking about saving up a bit and waiting for a sale and getting myself a Samsung Odyssey G9.  My current screen is what I need for work as a second screen, but by itself it is a bit too small and I've daily driven a G9 at work for the last couple of years.

 

However, if you have any good 1440p high refresh monitor in the 300-400 USD//CHF range to recommend, I would be glad to check them out!

[jaslion]

11 minutes ago, Andrei Chiffa said:

M.2 slot, that's right under PCIEx 6 GPU slot?

Sure but well you can also just get a pcie add in card that id already fully complete too. Also which one are you looking at because intel has locked some of these behind VERY STRICT hardware requirements.

 

12 minutes ago, Andrei Chiffa said:

I was thinking about saving up a bit and waiting for a sale and getting myself a Samsung Odyssey G9. 

Nope this thing sucks*.

 

*the review units and units you may purchase with a good bit of luck will look great however the vast majority have: sever backlight bleed, color uniformity issues, wacky color calibration, singal issues, shaky screen line issues,... they are a low quality control item.

 

As for recommendation I have seen the gigabyte g27q drop to 200€ in multiple eu countries since its been replaced by a newer one where the only noticable difference is 35hz higher refresh rate aka dont matter at all for almost double the cost. Would be an AMAZING deal to snatch.

[Andrei Chiffa]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

ou can also just get a pcie add in card

Q470M-C really does not have a lot of space, so with the GPU in the first slot, the other PCIe is already covered and the bottom one is PCI, which - I am fairly certain - is no longer supported by plug-in cards. This is why I am looking at the M.2 slots, given that there are still 2 free ones.

 

Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 - Network adapter - M.2 2230 (link) - was one of the ones I was looking for, but I am not seeing the cables, plate or antennas.

Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX200 - Network adapter - M.2 2230 kit (link) - seems to be pretty much the same, but with the whole kit

 

Are any of those known to have issues?

 

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

gigabyte g27q

Thanks for the advice - I will be looking for one! Did not realize that Odyssey did not have a good reputation any longer!

 

 

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, Andrei Chiffa said:

Q470M-C really does not have a lot of space, so with the GPU in the first slot, the other PCIe is already covered and the bottom one is PCI, which - I am fairly certain - is no longer supported by plug-in cards. This is why I am looking at the M.2 slots, given that there are still 2 free ones.

 

Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210 - Network adapter - M.2 2230 (link) - was one of the ones I was looking for, but I am not seeing the cables, plate or antennas.

Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX200 - Network adapter - M.2 2230 kit (link) - seems to be pretty much the same, but with the whole kit

 

Are any of those known to have issues?

 

Thanks for the advice - I will be looking for one! Did not realize that Odyssey did not have a good reputation any longer!

 

 

Cant really find if your board is cnvio 2 because thats what it needs to use these. The 400 series CAN be comaptible however its not always the case. So basically its a gamble if it will work or not.

 

Older stuff wifi 5 stuff will for sure work.

 

Not much of a loss really as the high speed wii 6 is only available when theres little to no obstruction most of thr time you'll be in wifi 5 spec for most things.