Upgrading CPU/Trying to find an optimal configuration for 1440p gaming

[Furnymac]

Hi there! So two years ago I built my first PC and have absolutely loved it, mainly because it was an awesome learning experience along with getting to re-experience games again with higher frame rates/higher graphic fidelity. My original build is as follows

• Intel Core i5-6500 Skylake Processor 3.2GHz 8.0GT/s 6MB LGA 1151 CPU
• Nvdia GTX 970
• 16 GB (G.Skill - NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory)
• MSI Pro Solution Intel Z170A LGA 1151 DDR4 USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard (Z170A SLI Plus)
• EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 120-G1-0650-XR 650W 80 PLUS Gold ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply
• Kingston 140GB SSD
• Seagate 2TB HDD
• Razer Blackwidow Keyboard
• ASUS 24-inch Full HD FreeSync Gaming Monitor [VG245H] 1080p

Initially this setup was great, and I got a lot of use out of it when it came to gaming, after awhile though I wanted to experience the joys of G-Sync and 144hz refresh rates so I ended up upgrading to a dual monitor setup consisting of these two 2560 x 1440p Dell Monitors. After making the monitor upgrade I moved onto buying a Nvdia GTX 1070 Founders edition GPU (before mining inflated the cost) along with a 500GB Samsung SSD. So now after using this setup for about a little over two years with the upgrades listed, I'm starting to see a CPU bottleneck with graphic intensive games such as PUBG, Quantum Break, and Fortnite when running them at higher settings. This results in a complete slow down of my system and my mouse will slowly drag across the screen trying to keep up with my movements. I've checked my thermals and that isn't what is causing the bottle neck, so I think it just might be time to upgrade my CPU to provide a little bit of elbow room. Then when it comes to the 1440p side of things I'm noticing my GPU is being maxed out when running at ultra settings on that specific resolution and while I could bump it down to 1080p lets just say the monitors don't downscale very well. Also it shuold be noted while I'm using a dual monitor setup I'm only playing games on one rather than stretching it across the two monitors.

 

My overall question here is what should I focus on upgrading? I'm looking at a budget of $1000 USD and was considering upgrading to a Ryzen 5 1600X for my CPU. which would necessitate a motherboard change, power supply change, and case change (all of which are fine because my case is on it's last legs and is running low on room because I want to add another SSD). Then for the 1440p side I was considering biting the bullet and trying to track down another 1070 Founders edition to run in SLI or just swap that card out for a 1080 TI whenever the price drops?

 

Included is a potential pc partpicker list I made for this upgrade, and while I realize the price is steep I'm keeping the RAM, graphics card, Storage (adding another M.2 SDD potentially), and then swapping out the case, motherboard, power supply, adding water cooling, and CPU while all of my peripherals are the same.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ghMv6s
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ghMv6s/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($210.39 @ OutletPC) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Asus - STRIX X370-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($176.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($167.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($159.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($227.79 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Hitachi - 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 
Video Card: NVIDIA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) 
Video Card: NVIDIA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) 
Case: Corsair - 760T Black ATX Full Tower Case  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($18.89 @ OutletPC) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($129.99 @ My Choice Software) 
Total: $1476.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-07 12:13 EST-0500

[TheGlenlivet]

I think a 6700K and a 1080 (Nonti) would get you to where you want to be for WAY less money that the SLI 1070 or 1080ti plan.

Also, if you decide to SLI, you don't HAVE to use the same cards.  You can SLI 2 different 1070s, they just have to use the same GPU(chip).

 

[monjanger]

A single card is almost always better than SLI. I would go for a 1080ti and sell the 1070 after prices normalize. You could sell the 1070 and game on the 970 now, and make a little money. 

 

[Streetguru]

25 minutes ago, Furnymac said:

 

You likely could have gotten $399 1440p 144hz IPS free-sync displays instead, RIP

Try to wait until april for Ryzen, because Ryzen 2 and X470 motherboards will be out.

SLI is a waste of money, or if you already have it sell one, since you already have 1 1070 just wait until next gen GPUs are out.

And you can just get windows for free at microsoft's website. And get a USB DVD drive if you really need one.

You also probably don't need a 960 EVO, just get a cheaper M.2 like the WD Blues last I checked.

 

And that case is straight overpriced man, should just grab a Silverstone RL06 PRO for airflow, or like a master case 5, or dark rock 600 if you want a silence focused case.

Also a 120mm AIO isn't going to be much better than the 4 heat pipe $25 tower coolers, go for a 240mm if you want water cooling.

And you probably want to try for around 3000mhz or higher RAM

That motherboard is encroaching on the top end boards, might as well get one of those if overclocking is your thing.

 

although if it were me I'd be trying to get a 1950X...
 

 

 

[SnowyMus]

It's a good build, but your CPU choice could be a little more balanced for your budget. You're spending ~$442 (CPU+motherboard+cooler) on that Ryzen 5 1600X.

 

For a little more, you can get an i5-8600K with a Z370 board and that H60 cooler you wanted (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/y7PFRG) which would get you better gaming performance. There are better air coolers that cost similarly to your H60, too, which could get you better overclocking headroom.

 

For a little less, you could get a Ryzen 5 1600 with B350 and the stock cooler (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YhRGM8) or Ryzen 7 1700 with a B350 board with the stock cooler (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HXhqJV), and both will get you very similar gaming performance. The stock cooler isn't going to be as good as a high-end aftermarket cooler, but they do give you a considerable amount of overclocking headroom.

 

As for your GPU choice, while adding a second 1070 may make some benchmarks look really amazing, you probably aren't going to see a significant improvement (if any) in most of the games you play. I'd avoid it unless you are certain you will benefit from it.

[Furnymac]

11 hours ago, monjanger said:

A single card is almost always better than SLI. I would go for a 1080ti and sell the 1070 after prices normalize. You could sell the 1070 and game on the 970 now, and make a little money. 

 

Gotcha that makes sense I'll probably wait for prices to level out and sell my 1070 to upgrade to a 1080ti. Thanks for the advice!

[Furnymac]

10 hours ago, Streetguru said:

You likely could have gotten $399 1440p 144hz IPS free-sync displays instead, RIP

Try to wait until april for Ryzen, because Ryzen 2 and X470 motherboards will be out.

SLI is a waste of money, or if you already have it sell one, since you already have 1 1070 just wait until next gen GPUs are out.

And you can just get windows for free at microsoft's website. And get a USB DVD drive if you really need one.

You also probably don't need a 960 EVO, just get a cheaper M.2 like the WD Blues last I checked.

 

And that case is straight overpriced man, should just grab a Silverstone RL06 PRO for airflow, or like a master case 5, or dark rock 600 if you want a silence focused case.

Also a 120mm AIO isn't going to be much better than the 4 heat pipe $25 tower coolers, go for a 240mm if you want water cooling.

And you probably want to try for around 3000mhz or higher RAM

That motherboard is encroaching on the top end boards, might as well get one of those if overclocking is your thing.

 

although if it were me I'd be trying to get a 1950X...
 

 

 

I actually am really happy with the Dell monitors, and the reason I held off from going freesync was because I was primarily focused on getting the most out of my Nvdia card through the use of G-Sync.

 

The reason I went with that specific motherboard was because it pairs well with the AMD chipset, but another person suggest a potential intel alternative so I'll be sure to weigh all those options and I'll be sure to take your recommendation into consideration should that be the route I go!

 

You're right about the case though I first picked it just as a placeholder because it was compatible with my build but I'm definitely going to shop around and look at other options that have reasonable airflow and can support the H60 cooler. 

 

I'm kinda stuck with my current ram given the drastic increase in price, but I'll keep that in mind for future upgrades. Overall though thanks for all the advice I appreciate it!

[Furnymac]

10 hours ago, Kavawuvi said:

It's a good build, but your CPU choice could be a little more balanced for your budget. You're spending ~$442 (CPU+motherboard+cooler) on that Ryzen 5 1600X.

 

For a little more, you can get an i5-8600K with a Z370 board and that H60 cooler you wanted (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/y7PFRG) which would get you better gaming performance. There are better air coolers that cost similarly to your H60, too, which could get you better overclocking headroom.

 

For a little less, you could get a Ryzen 5 1600 with B350 and the stock cooler (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YhRGM8) or Ryzen 7 1700 with a B350 board with the stock cooler (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HXhqJV), and both will get you very similar gaming performance. The stock cooler isn't going to be as good as a high-end aftermarket cooler, but they do give you a considerable amount of overclocking headroom.

 

As for your GPU choice, while adding a second 1070 may make some benchmarks look really amazing, you probably aren't going to see a significant improvement (if any) in most of the games you play. I'd avoid it unless you are certain you will benefit from it.

This really helped a lot, up until now I had been using air cooling and that's gotten me pretty far since I don't do any overclocking (it makes me nervous to). So do you think if I went with that higher i5 or maybe even an i7 that would help with my throttling issues? Also do you have any air coolers that you would recommend? 

 

I'll probably hold off on SLI because you're right it would be pretty overkill so I'll hold off and wait for GPU prices to balance out so I can pick up a 1080ti.

 

Last question, do you know of any good motherboards that support a large amount of usb 3.0 ports? It can be either intel or AMD but I have an oculus rift that has been sitting around collection dust because I don't have enough ports tp plug it into without removing things. Also thanks for all of your help and providing me with those pc partpicker links thosee really helped me in getting an idea at alternatives for my build,