Trying to spec out an upgrade, scared I'm spiraling into a full rebuild.
Posted by MrShotson@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 10 comments
Hey Folks, I'm looking for some help upgrading my PC. I've been cobbling this thing together slowly over the years, but am still just a dumb idiot banging rocks together and plugging in like to like.
I started hitting some very strange bottlenecks lately, and the deeper I look, the more it's starting to feel like I almost need to go for a full build to get over these humps. I'm trying to be conscious of price, but I also have disposable income to put into this thing if it'll settle me for the next 5 years or so.
My use-case:
Heavy gamer and multi-screen brain-rotter, trying to keep everything at 1080P for the sake of my wallet and keeping things native resolution. I'm typically running some sort of game on my main monitor (love it when I can leverage the 144hz), with Chrome, Youtube, Discord, Steam chats, etc up on the secondary. Lots of active tabs.
At some point I was messing around with streaming, but I have a capture card to help with the load if I ever pick that up again.
I also do some VR gaming through the Valve Index, but that has faded since the VR game market seemed to be wearing thin.
Here's a semi-accurate list of my current specs:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zNyPV4
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zNyPV4)
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-11700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VW3gXL/intel-core-i7-11700k-36-ghz-8-core-processor-bx8070811700k) |-
**CPU Cooler** | [be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/F3gzK8/be-quiet-dark-rock-pro-4-505-cfm-cpu-cooler-bk022) |-
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte Z590 AORUS ULTRA ATX LGA1200 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/bvnypg/gigabyte-z590-aorus-ultra-atx-lga1200-motherboard-z590-aorus-ultra) |-
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VNJtt6/corsair-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-cmk16gx4m2d3600c18) | $178.99 @ Best Buy
**Storage** | [ADATA SU800 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7YQRsY/adata-ultimate-su800-256-gb-25-solid-state-drive-asu800ss-256gt-c) |-
**Storage** | [Samsung 870 QVO 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/37FKHx/samsung-870-qvo-1-tb-25-solid-state-drive-mz-77q1t0bam) |-
**Storage** | [Hitachi 7K1000.B 1 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hWsKHx/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-hdt721010sla360) |-
**Video Card** | [MSI GAMING X GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Wzyqqs/msi-geforce-rtx-2060-super-8-gb-gaming-x-video-card-rtx-2060-super-gaming-x) | $575.00 @ Amazon
**Case** | [be quiet! Silent Base 600 ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/K3Z2FT/be-quiet-case-bg005) |-
**Power Supply** | [EVGA 700 GD 700 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hRJmP6/evga-700-gd-700-w-80-gold-certified-atx-power-supply-100-gd-0700-v1) |-
**Monitor** | [Samsung CF591 27.0" 1920 x 1080 60 Hz Curved Monitor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/vG8H99/samsung-cf591-270-1920x1080-60hz-monitor-lc27f591fdnxza) |-
**Monitor** | [Acer VG270 Pbiip 27.0" 1920 x 1080 144 Hz Monitor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gByqqs/acer-vg270-pbiip-270-1920x1080-144-hz-monitor-umhv0aap02) |-
**Keyboard** | [Keychron Q6 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/WpbRsY/keychron-q6-rgb-wired-gaming-keyboard-q6j3) |-
**Mouse** | [Razer Viper V3 Pro Wireless/Wired Optical Mouse](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/sDgrxr/razer-viper-v3-pro-wirelesswired-optical-mouse-rz01-05120100-r3u1) | $129.99 @ Amazon
**Headphones** | [SteelSeries Arctis 7 Headset](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/cKjWGX/steelseries-arctis-7-headset-61463) |-
My Issues/Bottlenecks:
1) Small Ram & Old Disk Drive don't play nice, Corsair 2x8GB DDR4 & Hitachi 7k1000.B HDD
I've been running into a lot of games lately that have a very heavy RAM requirement. I've got 16GB of DDR4, but some games are trying to pull upwards of 28GB by themselves (looking at you, Gray Zone Warfare). What I didn't realize was that it was making up the difference by building a massive page file ON MY HDD. That was painful as hell trying to debug several games stuttering, freezing, and crashing out while they were trying to pull multiple GB of memory from a page file on an old disk drive. Had to learn what a page file even was because of that whole thing (thanks DUNE).
I've fixed the page file performance by locking it to one of my SSDs, but that just feels like I'm shoving it under the rug. In reality, it seems like 16GB of ram just isn't cutting it in the current era of bloated and unoptimized games.
2) Small SSD is too small for OS, 250GB ADATA SU800.
I'm currently using the 250GB SSD as for my OS, C Drive, etc. Lately, I've been running into issues with this drive completely running out of space, causing Chrome to crash and some games to fail to load shaders. All my game files, Steam, etc are stored on my 1TB Samsung 870 SSD with plenty of space, but the 250GB SSD seems to be acting as default home for a lot of stuff I'm not sure how to move or redirect.
I've gone as deep as I can manually cleaning out old files, uninstalling old programs, etc, but at this point I'm fighting over <1GB at a time, and I just need more space.
3) Old Graphics Card is Old, GeForce RTX 2060S
Ignoring the ram issues, I'm still struggling to play most new games on Medium setting at native 1080p. More intensive modern games are driving me to Low settings with upscaling. When I am able to keep things stable at Medium 1080p, my frames never reach the 144 fps capabilities of my monitor.
What I'm thinking I need to do:
Here's where I need some advice. I have started spiraling trying to figure out the best way to upgrade, and where to even start.
Start of Overwhelming Thoughts
As a baby step, I started looking at replacing my Disk Drive and Small SSD with larger SSDs, which I thought would be easy enough. But there are a stupid amount of SSD variants out there now. At one point I used to have an NVMe-based SSD, but I think that went out when I changed motherboards a long time ago.
However, the bigger wave of shenanigans came from deciding I wanted to upgrade my RAM. I figured if I wanted to upgrade, I should probably roll from my 16GB DDR4 into 32GB of DDR5. However, that's going to require upgrading my motherboard, and my CPU. I haven't looked deeply at CPUs since Kaby Lake was the new hotness, and motherboards have always been a black box to me aside from "do the cables fit". I'm not even sure my CPU is actually causing any issues, so that whole upgrade just for DDR5 seems questionable.
On top of all that, if my graphics card is holding back my framerate and settings, I'm thinking I need to replace that as well. When I was asking around at my local Canada Computers, one of the techs suggested I jump ship to Radeon, which opens up so many more possibilities it makes my head hurt.
End of Overwhelming Thoughts
So, I need a sanity check first. Do I actually need to upgrade all of these things? Are they actually aging out, or am I not managing my machine correctly?
Next, if they actually DO need replacing, what would y'all recommend? I'm hoping some good people can at least point me in the right direction for some of these parts so I can avoid the analysis paralysis I'm currently wallowing in.
If I go through with everything I'm thinking about, the only think left from my old build will be my case, the power supply, and maybe one of the SSDs. At that point, should I just treat this as a full build?
crazyjerryyy@reddit
Honestly, you don't need a full rebuild. Your i7-11700K is still plenty capable for gaming. I'd focus on the three things giving you grief: grab another 2x8GB DDR4 kit to hit 32GB (your mobo supports it), swap that 250GB SSD for a cheap 1TB NVMe — your Z590 board has an M.2 slot — and then upgrade the GPU when you're ready. The 2060 Super is definitely the weakest link now. A 9060 XT 16GB or RTX 5060 Ti would be massive for 1080p gaming. Don't let the DDR5 hype trick you into replacing a perfectly fine platform.
MrShotson@reddit (OP)
Thank you, I'm glad everyone is talking me down from the full-build ledge! The NVMe sounds like a solid plan to replace the 250GB drive, but what are your opinions on the HDD? Are disk drives still viable for anything these days, or is it just a risk and a hinderance? I keep looking at HDDs with the same disdainful nostalgia I give floppy disk, but I don't know if that's just propaganda from Big SSD twisting my thoughts.
Mixter_Master@reddit
Worry about the rest later. There are very few situations where you will be held back by your current, fairly modern CPU. If you don't install and store everything on the C: drive, 250GB is still plenty of space for the OS.
Spend as much money as you can afford on the best GPU that your PSU can handle, and you'll be happy for a LONG time with that platform.
MrShotson@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much for your input. It's giving my brain some much needed direction to spin in.
Could you elaborate on the 12vhp connector issue? Quick google makes it seem like a technical fault and source of early failure. Is that the main issue? Have you had it burn out prematurely?
Reorganizing the drives makes a load of sense. I've been afraid of losing data, but honestly I should just do a backup and bite the bullet to get it cleaned up.
Dumb_woodworker_md@reddit
Unless you have a 4090, 5090, or to a lesser extent a 5080, the 12vhpwr cable is a non-issue. If you got one of these high end gpus, it’s with spending some mental calories and summer money on a nice psu.
Mixter_Master@reddit
For the higher power draw cards, especially, the 12vhp connector has been occasionally melting due to a fundamental design flaw in the standard. Der8aur has good videos going into it in detail.
Suffice it to say, if you A. Don't want to buy a new power supply and B. Don't want to worry about your expensive GPU letting out the magic smoke, the good ol 8pin connectors are still standard on most Radeon cards.
deTombe@reddit
I've been there the only way a 256GB works for windows is linking the mechanical drive. That way all your downloads, pictures and documents don't take up space. I would get at least a 500GB for AAA games, 2x16GB DDR4 and a 9060xt 16GB or 5060ti 16GB +. Alternatives 3070, 4070, 4070 super.
Born_Bad_1294@reddit
1) I would backup all your important data and disconnect the HDD and the 256GB SSD from the PC and then reinstall windows on the 1TB SSD, so that it can become the C drive and you should reinstall all your software and games on that 1TB SSD. Use the 250GB SSD and the 1TB HDD as secondary storage.
By the way, your current motherboard supports M.2 SSD, so if you can afford it, I would buy the Teamgroup MP33 1TB Nvme SSD, as it's a budget TLC drive.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/64MTwP/team-mp33-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-tm8fp6001t0c101
2)As you mentioned, that you like to have many tabs and software open at the same time, your 16GB RAM is a huge bottleneck in this situtation. Your mobo has 4 slots of RAM and currently you are using two slots only, I would recommend buying the exact same set of the existing RAM you have double your capacity.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/VNJtt6/corsair-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-cmk16gx4m2d3600c18
3)As for the GPU, I would recommend upgrading to the RX 9060 XT 16GB, it's the best GPU for 1080p gaming, you could even play on 1440p using that GPU. It offers double the performance of the 2060 super in many games and scenarios and costs around 600CAD.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/fzh2FT/powercolor-reaper-radeon-rx-9060-xt-16-gb-video-card-rx9060xt-16g-a
If money's an issue right now, I would focus on doing steps 1&2. If you have any more doubts regarding anything, feeel free to ask me
MrShotson@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much, I KNEW I was overthinking this.
Regarding the RAM, is there a specific benefit of using the exact same set? As in, would it make a notable difference if I couldn't find the exact one? I could always just get a whole new 4-set if having identical sticks really makes a difference.
I'll definitely take a look at that graphics card. Good to know that my choice to stick with 1080p means there are decent reasonable options out there!
Born_Bad_1294@reddit
Same kit just offers better stability, if you can't find the same kit, just fine another kit with the same specs and you are good to go.