[SOLVED] Are these upgrades worth it for the next 5 years, or should I wait to build a whole new system in 2-3 years?

May 18, 2020
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I currently have a rather dated system that's a mix of aftermarket and pre-built parts, but can still manage most games 1080p-60fps

CURRENT SPECS
CPU:
Intel Core i7-4770 @ 3.40GHz
COOLER: Noctua NH-D9l
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600 MHz (mobo doesn't allow higher frequency ram, but up to 32GB)
GPU: GTX 970 Windforce
MOBO: Dell OEM
HDD: Western Digital 1TB 7200 Rpm
PSU: EVGA 600w Bronze Semi-Modular
Case: Zalman Z9
OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit
-------------------------------------------------------
UPGRADES
($200) CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.0GHz
($200) GPU: GTX 980ti
($100) Drive: 1tb SSD
*If i did upgrade, my friend would buy my current GPU and CPU for $200 so i could put it towards the upgrades, only costing me $300
 
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Solution
That upgrade is completely worthless to you aside from the 980 ti upgrade.

Are those "upgrades" all coming from the same person and do you have to buy it all, or can you buy only the graphics card? If you can buy just the graphics card and then sell your current card, that would make the MOST sense.

The CPU isn't going to give you ANYTHING more than you have now, not realistically. It's a sidegrade, not an upgrade. I mean, yes, you'll gain a very minimal bump from the extra clock speed, but nowhere near enough to justify a 200 dollar investment.

If you want to upgrade the platform, THIS would make FAR more sense, and if you can sell your current CPU and GPU card for 200 bucks, then buy the 980 ti for 200 bucks, you are getting a...
That upgrade is completely worthless to you aside from the 980 ti upgrade.

Are those "upgrades" all coming from the same person and do you have to buy it all, or can you buy only the graphics card? If you can buy just the graphics card and then sell your current card, that would make the MOST sense.

The CPU isn't going to give you ANYTHING more than you have now, not realistically. It's a sidegrade, not an upgrade. I mean, yes, you'll gain a very minimal bump from the extra clock speed, but nowhere near enough to justify a 200 dollar investment.

If you want to upgrade the platform, THIS would make FAR more sense, and if you can sell your current CPU and GPU card for 200 bucks, then buy the 980 ti for 200 bucks, you are getting a TREMENDOUS upgrade over what you have now for around the same 300 dollar investment you were looking at to begin with.

This is pretty much the minimum upgrade right now for most people, that makes any sense at all.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($172.39 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $357.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-18 20:54 EDT-0400
 
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Solution

kwikgta

Honorable
Feb 27, 2016
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I see 2 options:
1) up grade to an SSD, and replace the card with a 160 gtx Super or Ti, to get a few more years out of this system.
2) Do an entire platform change to something current.
 
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SSD upgrade is always a good idea, for the overall performance and general snappiness of Windows, but it isn't going to have ANY effect on FPS which is generally the most important factor to any gamer followed closely by the ability to run at those FPS, AND have high to ultra quality settings.

SSD, obviously, isn't going to impact either of those things. But it's always beneficial overall. Certainly it will speed up map and level loading, textures, etc., but that's the extent of it's effect on gaming.
 
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Karadjgne

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Ssd is a satisfaction piece. Playing CSGO on hdd and having 20-30 second drop times was extremely annoying, rest of the team was already around the corner having fun before I even finished picking a weapon. I could take a nap waiting on some Skyrim maps to load when shifting outside. Ssd did wonders for just making the game much more pleasurable, even if it really had no impact on actual fps. Dropped drop times to 5 or so seconds, and map load times to 15 seconds or less.


K cpu:- A) probably will not work on a factory Dell bios. They are extremely proprietary about that and pretty much if there wasn't a model in the family with one, it was not included. B) total waste of money for the extra 3-5fps gain since you cannot OC, you end up paying for an advantage you cannot use.

$200 isn't bad for a 980ti, it'll go roughly head to head with a 1660 super, win depending on the game. The question being do you have a psu that'll support it. The 1660 super requires far less power.
 
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Thinking about it further, I'm really not sure it IS worth 200 bucks for the 980 ti considering that it's now five years old, has no warranty and really doesn't give you a tremendous increase in performance per dollar.

I think you are much better off saving your money to put towards a complete platform and graphics card upgrade. Personally I think you could upgrade the graphics card now, to something like a 2060 Super or 2070, once you have enough to do that, and then use that WITH your current system until you can afford to upgrade the platform. Again, the PSU is questionable as that 600w bronze unit is likely either a B1, N1 or W1, and none of them are very good. In fact, if you are having performance issues now, at 1080p, with a GTX 970, there's a really good chance that at least some of it might be due to having a crappy power supply.

You'll want to replace that for certain before or at the time you upgrade your graphics card.
 
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Karadjgne

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You can get a new 1660 super for just over $200 at Amazon, I'm sure there maybe cheaper out there. While $200 isn't bad for a 980ti, it's not exactly great now with the performance of newer cards, and it is upto 5 years old as Darkbreeze pointed out, and could have seen undetermined amounts of abuse or overclocking or overheating, which can drastically reduce the lifespan of the fans, not to mention the chipsets or even the thermal paste/pads.

600B will be a older B1, a builder grade unit, just good enough to throw in a pc and hopefully have it last longer than the 1 year build warranty. They don't come much more cheaply built in most US markets for a brand name psu.
 
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