Aging PC upgrade options
Posted by ProfitMajin@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 5 comments
Hi all,
I'm looking for advice/opinions on options for my aging PC, specs as follows:
CPU - i7 4790k Cooler - Noctua D15 chromax Mobo - Asus z97 pro gamer RAM - Beast 1866mhz cl9 GPU - Sapphire Vega 56 pulse Storage - 1tb Samsung blue m.2 PSU - EVGA G3 850W Case - Phanteks p400a
I've an LG Ultrawide (2560x1080) 75 fps (max 80) IPS panel, the games I play are older (coh2) but it's rare I can hit, or even be anywhere near upper fps when in full flow, and I even sometimes drop below the minimum freesync rate of 40 fps too, causing noticeable stutter, let alone if I tried newer games...
I enjoy a spot of tweaking, and have pushed the silicon to its limits, everyday OC on the cpu of 4.63ghz, ram 2262mhz cl10, gpu by ~10%, even the panel for 80fps, and so I can see that new hardware is in order to reach my max fps at the detail level I'd like.
For reference the gpu scores an average of ~2950 in Cinebench, and the cpu 324 on multicore test, with negligible headroom for further OC improvements, unless running at the temperature of the sun counts...
I became aware that I'd need to upgrade when win11 installer said no to the cpu, and iirc lack of tpm 2.0 support, and then I realised how low my scores are compared to current gen after building and testing my FIL a PC.
The clear answer is to replace all the core components, which I will do, but I'd like advice/opinions on which would make the greater impact to fps, so as to upgrade that first.
I'd prefer to go for 'higher tier' components such as x or k cpus, z chipset instead of b et al. so that they allow for tweaking, and last as long as possible.
TL;DR - PC old, which part do I replace first.
I'm thinking to get ryzen am5 (mobo & ram too ofc), and a 7700xt or 7800xt: Should I upgrade the cpu first whilst waiting for new gpu generation to drop? Are new am5 3d cache ryzens on the horizon? Would my vega56 do better if paired with a newer cpu? Would a new gpu be held back by my ol' timer cpu? Are there other options I haven't considered?
Thank you very much!
littleemp@reddit
Dont waste your money. scrap it and start from scratch.
ProfitMajin@reddit (OP)
I mean, essentially yes, I'll be able to reuse the psu, case, and D15 to save some money, but do need to replace core 4 components, was mostly wonder why h would be the better way round to do it, as was planning 2 rounds of upgrade - cpu/mobo/ram as 1 round, and gpu as another
littleemp@reddit
Arrow Lake comes out on October, so wait until then to have all the info for the product stack from both companies.
Blackwell GPUs are expected to come out either late this year or very early next year.
ltecruz@reddit
At this point you have to make a choice - you will be bottlenecked by both ur CPU and GPU no matter which one you chose to upgrade first. Personally, I'd upgrade the core of the PC and leave the GPU last, because it will also make your browsing, media consumption, work etc much faster and smoother than a GPU upgrade.
If you want to wait for the next generation, you will always be waiting. There are always new things coming out. Just get what makes sense to you now with the budget you have.
Just be aware that AMD chips don't benefit almost anything from overclocking, at least not like Intel ones, but almost no one should be buying Intel atm due to the recent problems and controversies with their chips.
As for the build, what would your budget be?
ProfitMajin@reddit (OP)
Ya this is probably the better way to do it, I was just looking to avoid a situation where I buy component/s and they're immediately superceded, but can completely see that you're right and you could potentially be holding off forever for something.
Budget is around a £1,000, I can go a little higher for the right components, however from initial research it seems it'd be a waste/bad deal to go much past that for ultrawide 1080. Initially thinking around £400 for a 7700xt/7800xt, and the rest +/- a bit for the other 3 components.
Thank you for the heads up about AMD chips and OC, I wasn't able to find a clear answer on that, mostly coming across things about ryzen master et al. Is there any benefit to going for an AMD graphics card with an AMD cpu? And if so, anything that I should look for in a mobo to take advantage of that?