- Dec 2, 2023
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Hello, I'm looking to upgrade my current build while re-using as many of my current parts as possible. My current build is my first ever PC that my friend helped me put together back in 2020. I've had zero problems with it and all the components seem to be in great condition from what I can tell, but I'm looking to upgrade as I've started having to turn settings down farther than I would like to maintain a desirable framerate.
As far as upgrades go, I'd (preferably) like to reuse the MOBO, Memory (I'd be adding another 2x8gb kit to get to 32gb total RAM), Storage, and Case. Rebuilding the whole thing around an AM5 socket MOBO doesn't feel like a great idea when I could just upgrade what I have now and then maybe do a complete rebuild around a new gen in a few years. If you feel like there are great benefits to swapping to an AM5 build I am absolutely open to it, this is just the mindset I've arrived at with my very limited knowledge. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this, and my current logic is that since I don't typically do small upgrades year-to-year, being on a new gen doesn't benefit me as much. I am also interested in switching to 1440p gaming while keeping my 1080p monitor as a backup for when this build can't handle certain titles at 1440p (I've read that setting a 1440p monitor to 1080p doesn't look as good as just using a 1080p monitor.) If you think that this build would make for a good 1440p PC once upgraded, then I would really appreciate some monitor recommendations as well. They can be separate from the budget of the actual PC, as I might pick up the monitor at a later date if it would go too far over budget.
My current setup looks like this:
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
MOBO: MSI B550 A Pro
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX - 2 x 8b - DDR4-3200 - CL 16 (I plan to add another kit to this of the exact same kind)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe Gen 4
GPU: RTX 2070 Super
PSU: Corsair RM 550x 80+ Gold 550 Watt
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C
Monitor: Acer - 1080p - 165hz - IPS - 24" (I don't have the exact model on hand, but I am perfectly happy with it if I decide to stick with a 1080p build, otherwise I would appreciate any possible recommendations for a 1440p monitor)
All of the components were purchased new from a local Microcenter at the time, except for the GPU which I got used off of Ebay and the SSD which I upgraded to around a few months ago.
These are the upgrades I'm currently considering:
CPU: Ryzen 7 5800x3D (Link)
I've been told and seen many people say that this is simply the best CPU you can get on the AM4 platform. Considering I'm sticking with AM4 in order to reuse my current MOBO and Memory I figure I might as well get the best that I can within that gen. Again, if a case can be made for switching to AM5 while staying relatively close to budget, I am more than willing to look at changing this to something like the 7800x3D.
I have also heard that this chip can run really hot, so I wanted to know if my current Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo would be enough for it, and if not what cooler you all would recommend.
GPU: RTX 4070 (Link) - Radeon 7800xt (Link)
I've never owned an AMD graphics card before, but I have no preference between the companies, so whatever GPU recommendation fits the build best is good with me. These were the two I was looking at because they're right around the 500-600$ range and I've seen that going any farther than that gives you a pretty poor price-to-performance ratio, with even these two picks even being a little on the inefficient side in that regard. I know Nvidia cards are better able to handle high ray tracing loads, and while I can't say that I've used RT very much up to this point, that's mainly been because it has hurt my FPS too much for me to justify doing so. I feel that this build would probably have the headroom to utilize it at 1440p, and certainly at 1080p, so I'm leaning slightly towards the RTX 4070. The extra 4gb of VRAM on the AMD GPU does sound appealing to me, but I can't seem to find a consensus on this online. Some people say 12gb on the 4070 won't be enough going forward, others say that's an exaggeration, I'm not sure what to think to be honest. Nvidia cards have better upscaling, so if the VRAM becomes an issue it would seem to me that I could just utilize DLSS and Frame Generation to make up for it, but the whole point of my upgrade in the first place was to hopefully not turn settings down for as long as possible, so I'm really interested to hear what you all think. From what I understand, both have an AV1 encoder, so no problem there as far as possible streaming goes.
PSU: Corsair RMe1000 (2023) 80+ Gold 1000 watt (Link)
This is definitely overkill for what the currently planned upgrades would draw, however I kind of regret not getting a higher wattage PSU when I built my current PC, as if I'd sprung for a 750w or 850w I wouldn't be looking at buying a new one now. Is it worth it to spring for a 1000w hoping that it's the most "future proof" component of the build, or should I just assume that I'll be buying a new PSU once again when I more than likely make a whole new build around a new MOBO here in a few years? If it isn't, then I will probably just get a 850w so I can hover around 50% PSU usage, which I've heard is a good benchmark to aim for. I'd prefer to get something from the A-tier on the cultist network PSU tier list either way.
Approximate Purchase Date: This will be a Christmas present for myself that some family members will also be chipping in on, so I'm looking to purchase all the upgrade components within the next week or so. However, I have no problem with an after-holiday delivery time if somewhere has a good deal that wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas.
Budget Range: Around $1500 - I'm decently flexible on this, both in cutting unnecessary costs and bumping up to better components if they're a justifiably better value. As I said I'm getting some help with part of the cost, so I have a little more breathing room for bumping potential components up a tier or two.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: This will be primarily a gaming PC, although I am looking to dip my toes into streaming/video editing. My biggest concern though is gaming at the highest settings/framerate that I can manage within my budget.
Are you buying a monitor: A 1440p monitor if it is believed that whatever upgrades we settle on would make a good 1440p rig, otherwise I would stick to my current 1080p monitor.
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Anything is fine. I prefer using websites I am familiar with like Amazon or Newegg; however, I am very open to suggestions if another site has a good deal going on.
Location: I'm located in the United States, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.
Parts Preferences: I have no preference when it comes to specific brands.
Overclocking: I have never attempted overclocking before, so I would prefer not to if at all possible. If it's a must for getting potential performance out of something where I'd otherwise be leaving a lot on the table, then I am willing to learn.
Thank you all so much in advance for your advice and recommendations! Also, if you think that I'm headed in the complete wrong direction with this, or that I have some kind of misconception about how something works, don't be afraid to correct me. I'm super open to new ideas and eager to learn more about all of this, so please don't hesitate to dump as much info on me as you'd like, even if some of it would probably go over my head lol.
As far as upgrades go, I'd (preferably) like to reuse the MOBO, Memory (I'd be adding another 2x8gb kit to get to 32gb total RAM), Storage, and Case. Rebuilding the whole thing around an AM5 socket MOBO doesn't feel like a great idea when I could just upgrade what I have now and then maybe do a complete rebuild around a new gen in a few years. If you feel like there are great benefits to swapping to an AM5 build I am absolutely open to it, this is just the mindset I've arrived at with my very limited knowledge. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this, and my current logic is that since I don't typically do small upgrades year-to-year, being on a new gen doesn't benefit me as much. I am also interested in switching to 1440p gaming while keeping my 1080p monitor as a backup for when this build can't handle certain titles at 1440p (I've read that setting a 1440p monitor to 1080p doesn't look as good as just using a 1080p monitor.) If you think that this build would make for a good 1440p PC once upgraded, then I would really appreciate some monitor recommendations as well. They can be separate from the budget of the actual PC, as I might pick up the monitor at a later date if it would go too far over budget.
My current setup looks like this:
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
MOBO: MSI B550 A Pro
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX - 2 x 8b - DDR4-3200 - CL 16 (I plan to add another kit to this of the exact same kind)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe Gen 4
GPU: RTX 2070 Super
PSU: Corsair RM 550x 80+ Gold 550 Watt
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C
Monitor: Acer - 1080p - 165hz - IPS - 24" (I don't have the exact model on hand, but I am perfectly happy with it if I decide to stick with a 1080p build, otherwise I would appreciate any possible recommendations for a 1440p monitor)
All of the components were purchased new from a local Microcenter at the time, except for the GPU which I got used off of Ebay and the SSD which I upgraded to around a few months ago.
These are the upgrades I'm currently considering:
CPU: Ryzen 7 5800x3D (Link)
I've been told and seen many people say that this is simply the best CPU you can get on the AM4 platform. Considering I'm sticking with AM4 in order to reuse my current MOBO and Memory I figure I might as well get the best that I can within that gen. Again, if a case can be made for switching to AM5 while staying relatively close to budget, I am more than willing to look at changing this to something like the 7800x3D.
I have also heard that this chip can run really hot, so I wanted to know if my current Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo would be enough for it, and if not what cooler you all would recommend.
GPU: RTX 4070 (Link) - Radeon 7800xt (Link)
I've never owned an AMD graphics card before, but I have no preference between the companies, so whatever GPU recommendation fits the build best is good with me. These were the two I was looking at because they're right around the 500-600$ range and I've seen that going any farther than that gives you a pretty poor price-to-performance ratio, with even these two picks even being a little on the inefficient side in that regard. I know Nvidia cards are better able to handle high ray tracing loads, and while I can't say that I've used RT very much up to this point, that's mainly been because it has hurt my FPS too much for me to justify doing so. I feel that this build would probably have the headroom to utilize it at 1440p, and certainly at 1080p, so I'm leaning slightly towards the RTX 4070. The extra 4gb of VRAM on the AMD GPU does sound appealing to me, but I can't seem to find a consensus on this online. Some people say 12gb on the 4070 won't be enough going forward, others say that's an exaggeration, I'm not sure what to think to be honest. Nvidia cards have better upscaling, so if the VRAM becomes an issue it would seem to me that I could just utilize DLSS and Frame Generation to make up for it, but the whole point of my upgrade in the first place was to hopefully not turn settings down for as long as possible, so I'm really interested to hear what you all think. From what I understand, both have an AV1 encoder, so no problem there as far as possible streaming goes.
PSU: Corsair RMe1000 (2023) 80+ Gold 1000 watt (Link)
This is definitely overkill for what the currently planned upgrades would draw, however I kind of regret not getting a higher wattage PSU when I built my current PC, as if I'd sprung for a 750w or 850w I wouldn't be looking at buying a new one now. Is it worth it to spring for a 1000w hoping that it's the most "future proof" component of the build, or should I just assume that I'll be buying a new PSU once again when I more than likely make a whole new build around a new MOBO here in a few years? If it isn't, then I will probably just get a 850w so I can hover around 50% PSU usage, which I've heard is a good benchmark to aim for. I'd prefer to get something from the A-tier on the cultist network PSU tier list either way.
Approximate Purchase Date: This will be a Christmas present for myself that some family members will also be chipping in on, so I'm looking to purchase all the upgrade components within the next week or so. However, I have no problem with an after-holiday delivery time if somewhere has a good deal that wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas.
Budget Range: Around $1500 - I'm decently flexible on this, both in cutting unnecessary costs and bumping up to better components if they're a justifiably better value. As I said I'm getting some help with part of the cost, so I have a little more breathing room for bumping potential components up a tier or two.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: This will be primarily a gaming PC, although I am looking to dip my toes into streaming/video editing. My biggest concern though is gaming at the highest settings/framerate that I can manage within my budget.
Are you buying a monitor: A 1440p monitor if it is believed that whatever upgrades we settle on would make a good 1440p rig, otherwise I would stick to my current 1080p monitor.
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Anything is fine. I prefer using websites I am familiar with like Amazon or Newegg; however, I am very open to suggestions if another site has a good deal going on.
Location: I'm located in the United States, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.
Parts Preferences: I have no preference when it comes to specific brands.
Overclocking: I have never attempted overclocking before, so I would prefer not to if at all possible. If it's a must for getting potential performance out of something where I'd otherwise be leaving a lot on the table, then I am willing to learn.
Thank you all so much in advance for your advice and recommendations! Also, if you think that I'm headed in the complete wrong direction with this, or that I have some kind of misconception about how something works, don't be afraid to correct me. I'm super open to new ideas and eager to learn more about all of this, so please don't hesitate to dump as much info on me as you'd like, even if some of it would probably go over my head lol.
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