Upgrading Gaming PC (Part tips required)

[MrTomLA]

Current Setup

 

GPU - ASUS STRIX 970

CPU - AMD fx6350

Motherboard - MSI 970 Gaming

RAM - HyperX Fury 2x4GB DDR3

Power Supply - Cant remember exactly but I'm pretty sure its 450watts. So it may be the case that this needs to be upgraded also.

 

1. Budget and Location - Around £1000 for all parts required. I live in the UK and will be buying the parts in the UK.

 

2. Aim - The aim of these upgrades is mostly for high-end gaming. With the current setup I have I am able to play most games with fairly good FPS, however, I would like to take it to the next level so that I can play the latest big titles with either very high fps or very solid fps with very high-quality graphics. Games I am playing currently include PUBG, COD, Football Manager, Battlefront 2, Battlefield 1 to name a few. I am also thinking about going into streaming at some point as well so the current setup I have is definitely not up to scratch.

 

3. Monitors - I am currently running 2 1080p monitors, but keep in mind that my long-term goal is to upgrade either one of those monitors to a 1440p monitor or maybe go to a 3 screen setup with 1 1440p monitor and 2 1080p ones.

 

4. Parts (I think) I need/would like - Intel compatible motherboard, Intel CPU, GPU, DDR4 RAM.

 

5. My Current Upgrade List - Keep in mind these parts were found after minimal research, hence why I am here seeking advice.

 

CPU - i5 7600k

GPU - EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming

Motherboard - Have not found anything here yet. Never know what to go for when it comes to motherboards.

RAM - Same as above.

 

If there is any info that I have missed that would help you help me then let me know then hopefully I can fill those gaps. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[TrApT]

Do you need a case and storage? Does it have to be Intel? If i get it right you want to use your current RAM with the new Setup ( not possible btw. ) ?

[Tom Cat]

I would upgrade to a i5 8600k but everything else looks good.

[This_guy1998]

The 970 is still an Okay card. I have one in my HTPC and it does 1080p games no problem. Somedays I still wonder why I went to a 1070 in my rig instead of keeping using the 970.

[This_guy1998]

Parts do look okay, but if price is an issue than either upgrade to a 8th gen i5 or a i3 8350k (same cores as a 7th gen i5)

[Lurick]

Intel Builds:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  (£301.75 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£146.95 @ More Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card  (£377.94 @ Aria PC) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1098.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

 

or

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  (£174.76 @ BT Shop) 
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£146.95 @ More Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card  (£377.94 @ Aria PC) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £921.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:34 GMT+0000

 

 

 

AMD Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (£175.19 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - X370 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£129.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB TURBO Video Card  (£468.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1046.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

[TrApT]

@Lurick had almost the same  

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/BMyyJV

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, TrApT said:

@Lurick had almost the same  

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/BMyyJV

What's crazy is you can get the Dark Rock Pro 3 for 6 bucks less, lol

I noticed that after I posted the builds so ninja edit  

[TrApT]

Just now, Lurick said:

What's crazy is you can get the Dark Rock Pro 3 for 6 bucks less, lol

I noticed that after I posted the builds so ninja edit  

Yeah that´s really weird. I noticed it before , but i thought the higher case compability of the Dark Rock 3 is worth the 6 bucks

[MrTomLA]

14 hours ago, TrApT said:

Do you need a case and storage? Does it have to be Intel? If i get it right you want to use your current RAM with the new Setup ( not possible btw. ) ?

Ah, my bad. Where it says same as above for the RAM, I was intending that to mean the RAM is in the same situation as the motherboard. I know that I will need to upgrade to DDR4. And no it doesn't need to be Intel, but I think I would prefer it to be as I think they would benefit more than an AMD chip. Case and storage are already sorted.

[MrTomLA]

14 hours ago, This_guy1998 said:

The 970 is still an Okay card. I have one in my HTPC and it does 1080p games no problem. Somedays I still wonder why I went to a 1070 in my rig instead of keeping using the 970.

 I agree, the 970 is still a good card, but from what I have seen from reviews and forums the 1070is a great consumer card for gaming and is great value for performance. And with the new games becoming more and more intensive, I would like to play them at a solid FPS rather than an ok one.

[Lurick]

17 minutes ago, sitdowncrew said:

 I agree, the 970 is still a good card, but from what I have seen from reviews and forums the 1070is a great consumer card for gaming and is great value for performance. And with the new games becoming more and more intensive, I would like to play them at a solid FPS rather than an ok one.

The 8600K build would be ideal but if you're playing high refresh rate 1440p or above then the Ryzen build with the 1080 would actually be better

 

Or, I've updated the 8400 build with a 1080 as well:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  (£174.76 @ BT Shop)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£146.95 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Turbo OC Video Card  (£476.52 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1020.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-16 13:09 GMT+0000

[MrTomLA]

14 hours ago, Lurick said:

Intel Builds:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  (£301.75 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£146.95 @ More Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card  (£377.94 @ Aria PC) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1098.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

 

or

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  (£174.76 @ BT Shop) 
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£146.95 @ More Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card  (£377.94 @ Aria PC) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £921.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:34 GMT+0000

 

 

 

AMD Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (£175.19 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - X370 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£129.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB TURBO Video Card  (£468.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1046.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

 

14 hours ago, Lurick said:

What's crazy is you can get the Dark Rock Pro 3 for 6 bucks less, lol

I noticed that after I posted the builds so ninja edit  

This is very helpful, thank you!

[Lurick]

Just now, sitdowncrew said:

 

This is very helpful, thank you!

Just edited my above post (not the one with the 3 builds) to also give you an 8400 with a 1080 option as well

[MrTomLA]

2 minutes ago, Lurick said:

The 8600K build would be ideal but if you're playing high refresh rate 1440p or above then the Ryzen build with the 1080 would actually be better

 

Or, I've updated the 8400 build with a 1080 as well:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  (£174.76 @ BT Shop)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£146.95 @ More Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Turbo OC Video Card  (£476.52 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1020.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-16 13:09 GMT+0000

When it comes to streaming is it just a coincidence that most of the big streamers use Intel chips? Or are the higher end AMD chips competitive too?

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, sitdowncrew said:

When it comes to streaming is it just a coincidence that most of the big streamers use Intel chips? Or are the higher end AMD chips competitive too?

I would say it depends on the game and the stream quality. If you want high stream quality and are maybe willing to turn down game settings a bit then AMD is great. Intel has better single core performance so if they want good game quality settings but maybe a lower quality stream then I can see them going for Intel still.

[TrApT]

Most of the Streamers are getting sponsored by Intel, so no real coincidence there.  For Gaming and Streaming at the same time the 1600 in my opinion is just as good as the Intel i5-8400. 

For me the Ryzen 5 1600 with the 1080 is the way to go, because you can easily overclock the 1600 to atleast 3.9 GhZ.

 

AMD Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (£175.19 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - X370 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£129.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB TURBO Video Card  (£468.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1046.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

 

 

[MrTomLA]

32 minutes ago, Lurick said:

I would say it depends on the game and the stream quality. If you want high stream quality and are maybe willing to turn down game settings a bit then AMD is great. Intel has better single core performance so if they want good game quality settings but maybe a lower quality stream then I can see them going for Intel still.

Just now, TrApT said:

Most of the Streamers are getting sponsored by Intel, so no real coincidence there.  For Gaming and Streaming at the same time the 1600 in my opinion is just as good as the Intel i5-8400. 

For me the Ryzen 5 1600 with the 1080 is the way to go, because you can easily overclock the 1600 to atleast 3.9 GhZ.

 

AMD Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (£175.19 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - X370 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£129.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB TURBO Video Card  (£468.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1046.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

 

 

I am now heading towards the Ryzen chip. If I did, would that mean I wouldn't need to change my motherboard, seeing as its already AMD compatible?

[MrTomLA]

3 minutes ago, TrApT said:

Most of the Streamers are getting sponsored by Intel, so no real coincidence there.  For Gaming and Streaming at the same time the 1600 in my opinion is just as good as the Intel i5-8400. 

For me the Ryzen 5 1600 with the 1080 is the way to go, because you can easily overclock the 1600 to atleast 3.9 GhZ.

 

AMD Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  (£175.19 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  (£50.38 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI - X370 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£129.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB TURBO Video Card  (£468.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£86.44 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1046.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-15 22:36 GMT+0000

 

 

Also, the 1600x seems to only be 10 or so pounds more than the 1600. Is there a big difference in performance between the two?

[Lurick]

1 minute ago, sitdowncrew said:

I am now heading towards the Ryzen chip. If I did, would that mean I wouldn't need to change my motherboard, seeing as its already AMD compatible?

No, you'll still need to change the board.

The socket is completely different going from an AM3 chip to an AM4 chip.

[TrApT]

Just now, sitdowncrew said:

I am now heading towards the Ryzen chip. If I did, would that mean I wouldn't need to change my motherboard, seeing as its already AMD compatible?

yeah you have to get a new one, since the Ryzen 5 1600 is  a new architecture on the AM4 platform.

[Lurick]

Just now, sitdowncrew said:

Also, the 1600x seems to only be 10 or so pounds more than the 1600. Is there a big difference in performance between the two?

1600X doesn't come with a cooler, the 1600 does.

[TrApT]

Just now, Lurick said:

1600X doesn't come with a cooler, the 1600 does.

And the AMD stock cooler is actually pretty decent and it looks good.