[SOLVED] Budget PC upgrade opinions

[srcordeiro]

Hello,

I have my PC since 2013 and I’ve been pretty happy with it’s performance, but I’m starting to notice a need for better performance, since cash isn’t abundant right now I’m thinking on getting a budget upgrade. My current system is:

CPU Intel i7 4770 3.4GHz
MBO Asus Z87 plus
GPU Nvidia GTX 770 2GB Vram
RAM 2x 8GB DDR3
SSD Samsung 250GB 840 basic
HDs 2TB, 3TB and 4TB drives
PSU Cooler Master G 700w

My main use is to edit photographs in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, some video editing in Davinci Resolve, ocasional Cinema 4D modeling and render and some videogames on spare time.

My SSD is always full, like often less than 10gb free, so getting a new one is crucial. Thinking on getting a Samsung 1TB one and cloning the current 250 tb to the new one.

Besides this, I’m thinking on getting 2 more 8Gb DDR3 sticks (to double my current RAM) and getting a new GPU to help with photo and video editing (new AI algorithms use the GPU a lot) and of course to be able to play some newer games. For this I’ve seen that the general opinion of the best budget GPU is the Nvidia GTX 1660 super, but no idea if my mainboard supports this card.

So what do you guys think of this? Would you opt for anything different or anything additional to this with a budget-friendly approach?


My budget will be around 400 to 450 eur.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kevinburrow]

I think it would be very helpful if you could give a rough estimate of your budget so it can be put to best use. The z87 is indeed compatible with the 1660 super.

 

[srcordeiro]

I think it would be very helpful if you could give a rough estimate of your budget so it can be put to best use. The z87 is indeed compatible with the 1660 super.

Thanks, you’re right forgot to mention the budget, will be 400 to 450 eur, updated the main post.

 

[EdgeT]

Go for the extra RAM. Maybe get a second 770 and SLI them? Should be cheapest, but check if your software is SLI-compatible, it sometimes causes issues.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

Sli-ing an additional 770 with a older budget psu isn't what I'd consider ideal. The psu is a bit of a weak spot, but overall seems decent enough to power a 1660s considering it has been powering a higher tdp 770. Though it really depends on how old the psu is, though atm, the psu market is extremely hostile.

I don't see much of a need for an additional 16gb ram, usually in image editing, simply making the ssd become a scratch disk is good enough. Unless you're rendering complex things in cinema and rendering 4k videos, then 32gb is needed. Remember, there is no guarantee that an identical 2x8gb kit will work with your current set, but the chance of it working is much higher then a using different model 2x8gb kit.

Getting a 1tb ssd like the mx500 or 860evo is a good choice, avoid the 860qvo, it's a slower and lower durability unit aimed at the budget market.

 

[srcordeiro]

Sli-ing an additional 770 with a older budget psu isn't what I'd consider ideal. The psu is a bit of a weak spot, but overall seems decent enough to power a 1660s considering it has been powering a higher tdp 770. Though it really depends on how old the psu is, though atm, the psu market is extremely hostile.

I don't see much of a need for an additional 16gb ram, usually in image editing, simply making the ssd become a scratch disk is good enough. Unless you're rendering complex things in cinema and rendering 4k videos, then 32gb is needed. Remember, there is no guarantee that an identical 2x8gb kit will work with your current set, but the chance of it working is much higher then a using different model 2x8gb kit.

Getting a 1tb ssd like the mx500 or 860evo is a good choice, avoid the 860qvo, it's a slower and lower durability unit aimed at the budget market.

Yes, I would prefer a new GPU than a second 770, never liked the idea of SLI, seems like a power hungry and heat generating brute force solution compared to a elegant new more powerful and efficient GPU.

I have this PSU since I bought the PC in 2013, no idea if I’m pushing it too much.

The idea of getting more RAM is indeed becoming less attractive, even more so being DDR3 that I will not be able to use if I get a new rig in the long run. Will get the SSD first to see how it goes. I was eyeing the Samsung QVO, thanks for the alert, I will check either the EVO one or the Crucial.

With the cash I will save from the RAM, I’m thinking if it wouldn’t be better to use it to get a better GPU, maybe a RTX 2060? (once more, no idea if my board and PSU can take it).

Also considering getting a better CPU cooler, with the AI algorithms that I’ve been running, the CPU has been reaching 90 C (even though I suspect this is just because the program isn’t using my current GPU because it’s old and unsupported).

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

I have this PSU since I bought the PC in 2013, no idea if I’m pushing it too much.

Having a budget psu for 7 years is quite long, I'd suggest getting a new psu first. Where are you located?

Also considering getting a better CPU cooler, with the AI algorithms that I’ve been running, the CPU has been reaching 90 C

90c is too high, when at 100% load it should be as cool as possible and at 90c it's probably throttling as many cpu's have a max temp of ~80c. Are you using the stock cooler, most aftermarket coolers will keep it below 70c at load for not much money.

 

[srcordeiro]

Having a budget psu for 7 years is quite long, I'd suggest getting a new psu first. Where are you located?


90c is too high, when at 100% load it should be as cool as possible and at 90c it's probably throttling as many cpu's have a max temp of ~80c. Are you using the stock cooler, most aftermarket coolers will keep it below 70c at load for not much money.

I’m on Portugal. The PSU concerns me, but every time I read about it I get mixed opinions on whether I should replace it right away or let it run until it dies since some can last a long time post estimated warranty. For what I’ve seen I don’t even need 700W, I ran a online test that estimated my system needing around 350 to 400 watts.


Regarding the processor, for what I’ve seen I think it only reaches this temp when using the machine learning “enhance details” feature on Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop. There’s warning that it’s very processor intensive, and the fact that my GPU isn’t used at all doesn’t help. Thinking on getting a new better cooler anyway, my only concern is that those things tend to be huge, will have to see if there’s space.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

Question is, do you want to power a €250-€350 gpu with a barely passable psu unit from 7 years ago? I'd really recommend getting a quality unit, spend €100-€120 on a corsair rm650/rm650x and you'll be good for another 7+ years.

The intel stock cooler is terrible, a soda can strapped to the cpu could cool better
An inexpensive tower cooler, such as an arctic 34, could do the job and be able to work on a new system when you feel you need to upgrade further.

 

[srcordeiro]

Question is, do you want to power a €250-€350 gpu with a barely passable psu unit from 7 years ago? I'd really recommend getting a quality unit, spend €100-€120 on a corsair rm650/rm650x and you'll be good for another 7+ years.

The intel stock cooler is terrible, a soda can strapped to the cpu could cool better
An inexpensive tower cooler, such as an arctic 34, could do the job and be able to work on a new system when you feel you need to upgrade further.

Thanks for the recommendations.
That cooler seems nice, I will get it as soon as I confirm it will fit, seems better and cheaper than the other I was seeing, the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO.

Did a bit of investigation on the PSU, came around a brand named NOX, people give good reviews on those and the prices are very tempting. Anyone have experience with the brand?

I will probably buy the new SSD tomorrow, the Samsung diagnostic software says the old 250GB seem to be in good state even after all this years (took good care of it). I would really like to keep it, even if only as a scratch disk for Photoshop and to store the Lightroom catalog, the problem is that I have all the SATA cables occupied (3 normal HDDs + 1 SSD). Is there a way that I could still use this old SSD?

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

The only decent looking nox units look to be the hummer GD series, based on the cwt gps series, it's not a very good unit, although probably better then your current unit. Only 2 year warranty as well. Overall, Nox is bad brand, (good reviews mean nothing if they don't have data on the actual hardware or testing) it's a no from me.

You can get a pci-e x1 sata controller card, it will have sata ports on the card so you can add more drives.

 

[srcordeiro]

As an update to this, I've upgraded my PC with the Samsung EVO 1TB SSD, the ARCTIC Freezer 34 CPU Cooler, and a MSI GTX 1660 Super.

I was able to maintain the old SSD after all, discovered that I had more power cables to use and only needed another SATA cable.

Regarding the PSU, had a tech guy to test it and he recommended to still keep it, so that's what I did but still considering updating it in a near future.

The upgrade went almost smoothly, only had troubles with getting no image at higher resolutions, but I discovered that's a common problem with Nvidia GPU's on some systems when used with DisplayPort, switched to a HDMi cable and it worked. Other than that I had some occasional beep warnings when turning the PC on (1 long and 4 short), but turn it on again and it then boots normally. This happened about 4 times and I've not been getting any error for about a week now, so let's see.

I've been very satisfied with the new performance, the GPU made a huge difference with the machine-learning software I use, it's much quicker and I see on the hardware monitor software that the CPU isn't being taxed like it was before. Also the CPU is now much, much cooler, at 30ºC idle (compared to prior 50-60ºC) and getting at 50-55ºC at 100% workload, what a difference.

The whole system is much quieter now too.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback, had some very helpful and valuable info here.