Investing in my current rig vs a complete upgrade

[Ununhexium116]

My current rig has served me well, although its getting time for an upgrade. I'm not ready to pull the trigger on any upgrades just yet, but I've been looking around to see what my options are. I'm excited for Zen 2 (Ryzen 3) and what else Radeon has in store for us, but for right now I'm sticking to hardware that is currently being sold. I've narrowed my options down to 2: still investing money in my current rig, and essentially starting from scratch.

 

My current build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler	Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler	$24.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Gigabyte - GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Storage	Crucial - MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$99.89 @ OutletPC
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage	Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$72.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	MSI - Radeon RX 480 8GB GAMING X Video Card
Case	NZXT - H440 (Orange/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	Corsair - CXM 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.99 @ Amazon
Monitor	Dell - P2214H 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Monitor	Dell - P2214H 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor
Keyboard	Corsair - K70 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard
Mouse	Logitech - G403 Prodigy Wireless Optical Mouse	$98.89 @ Newegg
Headphones	Sennheiser - HD600 Headphones	$286.00 @ Adorama
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$672.55
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$662.55
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-16 11:41 EDT-0400

 

Here's the upgrades to my current rig that I was thinking about:

• Upgrade from i5 4570 to i7 4790k (150-200$ eBay)
• CPU AIO - I was intrigued by the look of that Kraken x52, I don't believe there is one "best" AIO, so i was going mostly off looks. (~130$)
• Additional 16Gb DDR3 - Hopefully another kit of 2133 memory. My current kit isn't on PCPartPicker so I went with an equivalent Corsair kit. (~100$)
• Another RX 480 Gaming X 8G - Forgive me for being difficult on this one, I refuse to purchase an Nvidia card unless it's absolutely required. Most of the games I play support CF, so I was just going to get another one to help breathe a little new life into a older rig. (150-200$)

I figure overclocking the i7 and CF RX 480s should be enough to play pretty much any game I would like even up to 1440p for the next few years.

 

What I would like for a complete upgrade:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor	$294.99 @ Newegg Business
CPU Cooler	NZXT - Kraken X52 Rev 2 73.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$132.59 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard	$119.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$214.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Western Digital - Black NVMe 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$129.89 @ OutletPC
Case	NZXT - H700i ATX Mid Tower Case	$188.99 @ SuperBiiz
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1121.34
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$1081.34
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-16 11:42 EDT-0400

I will use my RX 480 until another compelling option from Radeon comes out (if ever, Nvidia is really handing it to them), so this upgrade will feature a new GPU in the future.

 

One of the biggest reasons for the upgrade is actually because my i5 4570 is bottlenecking my RX 480. I know it doesn't sound right, but I can assure you that Overwatch does hit a noticeable CPU bottleneck sometimes. It's really annoying and one of the bigger reasons I want to upgrade. 

 

Let me know if its stupid to still invest money in a 5 year old system, or spend about twice as much and essentially get a whole new (modern) build.

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, Ununhexium116 said:

CPU AIO - I was intrigued by the look of that Kraken x52, I don't believe there is one "best" AIO, so i was going mostly off looks. (~130$)

280mm is one of the best radiator sizes for AIOs we have in the market with decent performance uplift from 240mm, last time I checked the x62 rev 2 cost only a little more.

 

Motherboard is questionable, not straight out bad but has it's own bucket of problems.

 

6 minutes ago, Ununhexium116 said:

Additional 16Gb DDR3 - Hopefully another kit of 2133 memory. My current kit isn't on PCPartPicker so I went with an equivalent Corsair kit. (~100$)

Can't use your DDR3 kit on Ryzen

[Tristerin]

6 minutes ago, Ununhexium116 said:

snip

If you have a budget, spend that.  If your budget can include 1 or the other - than I would upgrade completely, and sell the old rig on Craigslist as a Fortnite killer for decent coin.

[SkilledRebuilds]

I have a GTX1070 and an overclocked 4790K.

 

I previously had the 4690 (locked i5 on a Zboard for 2400Mhz DDR3)
I had Multicore enhancement enabled. I ONLY play at Ultra settings. 1080p 75hz /Ultrawide 1080p 75hz sometimes.

I was severely THREAD limited, but not core limited.

The "select few games" that gave me trouble were the common heavy hitters,.. BF1 was the first real issue though.. but few more have surfaced (AC:Origins/Sequel)
4cores4threads,.. 80-100% spikes, dropping GPU usages, dropped frames, recurring a lot.

4cores8threads, 40-75% Usages with maybe spikes to low 90's infrequently,...(in heavy hitters) and GPU usage never drops below 95% and frames are always delivered properly, no excess CPU usage ruining things.

 

With a GTX970 I was fine either way,.. (small occasions of HIGHFPS on AC:Unity/Syndicate=HighCPU load=GPU Usage drops infrequently)

But with a GTX1070,.. its worse,.. so like you,...had to decide.

Went to 8threads instead of a full platform upgrade.

Sent you a PM with more performance data.

@Ununhexium116

It's bloody GREAT to keep it kindly...

Ebay

[Ununhexium116]

8 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

280mm is one of the best radiator sizes for AIOs we have in the market with decent performance uplift from 240mm, last time I checked the x62 rev 2 cost only a little more.

I'll look into that then. H700i has plenty of mounting options for it, so I'll check prices.

 

11 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Motherboard is questionable, not straight out bad but has it's own bucket of problems.

 

Thanks for letting me know, I'll look at some other ones then.

 

13 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Can't use your DDR3 kit on Ryzen

Thanks for the warning, but the additional DDR3 kit was for the 4790k, not a Ryzen CPU.