[SOLVED] Can anyone help with advice, and recommendations, to beef up my old rig.

[Daynhg]

Hello.
A thank you in advance, for any help.

And forgive if I have posted on the wrong forum, I will gladly move if needed.

I am in a bit of a fix at the moment. I wonder could anyone give me advice, and I apologise in advance for the long,- (But Ill keep it as short as possible) -post.

My current system is old.
And I cant afford the current prices of a new GPU, with all the corresponding hardware. So Am trying to find out the best components to help me through the next year or so.

My PC. (none of it is OC'ed.)
• Windows 10 pro 64bit
• Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 motherboard.
• NVIDIA Geforce GTX 980ti
• Intel i5 4690k
• 32gb DDR3 1333 ram
• XTR XFS 650 PSU
• Case Fractal Design. (I could not see a specific version.) But thing its a Define R5
• 2 x SSD, and 1 HDD.

I think the PSU is on the way out, as twice in the past couple of months the PC would not restart, after being on.
And only after a while (I assume cooled down) would It start / power-up.

For a 6 year old PC, its pretty incredible, and runs both games, and blender really well.

But I want / need to as well as replace the PSU.
And would like to gve the PC a little more oomph, if possible
So was looking at replacing the PSU,
And if possible the CPU.

The CPU I looked at was the..
Intel Core i7 9700K 3.6GHz Octa Core.

But have learned since that my motherboard does not take Intel 300 Series Chipsets.

So,- (and sorry for such a long into, just trying to cover the information bases.

What would be the most cost effective. (as-in cheap, but reliable) PSU? to replace the XTR XFS 650

And with the most powerful CPU, I could buy that would be compatible for my existing motherboard?

Or would I be better swapping to another motherboard. (Again as cheap as possible,) but more modern, and better than existing. That would accept my old 980ti.
And then again what PSU, and CPU, should I get for that new mobo?

I would rather stay wit intel, but am not to bothered if AMD would be a better, more cost effective "Ban for buck" upgrade.

I really appreciate any help, and guidance.
Thank you.

 

[Daynhg]

Nighthawk117

Once again, than you brilliant advice.

Which leave only one last question. (And thank you for the photos of the Dark Rock.)

With the .
MSI MAG B560M MORTAR WIFI Micro-ATX Gaming Motherboard

And the.. Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 64GB, taking up all 4 slots.
If the.. BE QUIET BK021 Dark Rock 4 135 mm, sits just over the first RAM slot. Would that stop that slot being used? Or would the Corsair Vengeance fit beneath the cooler.
Sorry I didnt quite understad if it would, or if the cooler stopped the use of that slot.

And if this is the case, is there a a solution? Other than having the water cooler, which, as you said, considering both the noise, and that I dont have, or could not find a dusk "roof" cover, for my case.


I did find this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CORSAIR-VENGEANCE-PC4-25600-Desktop-Memory/dp/B07Y4ZZ7LQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Corsair+VENGEANCE+LPX+64GB+2+x+32GB&qid=1638971111&sr=8-3&th=1

I found this 16GB. Is this Ram the same version, and as effective as the.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B085SNLSX3/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

Or would you suggest a better option please?

Again thank you so much for this literally invaluable help.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Nighthawk117

Once again, than you brilliant advice.

Which leave only one last question. (And thank you for the photos of the Dark Rock.)

With the .
MSI MAG B560M MORTAR WIFI Micro-ATX Gaming Motherboard

And the.. Corsair VENGEANCE LPX 64GB, taking up all 4 slots.
If the.. BE QUIET BK021 Dark Rock 4 135 mm, sits just over the first RAM slot. Would that stop that slot being used? Or would the Corsair Vengeance fit beneath the cooler.
Sorry I didnt quite understad if it would, or if the cooler stopped the use of that slot.

And if this is the case, is there a a solution? Other than having the water cooler, which, as you said, considering both the noise, and that I dont have, or could not find a dusk "roof" cover, for my case.


I did find this.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CORSAIR-VENGEANCE-PC4-25600-Desktop-Memory/dp/B07Y4ZZ7LQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Corsair+VENGEANCE+LPX+64GB+2+x+32GB&qid=1638971111&sr=8-3&th=1

I found this 16GB. Is this Ram the same version, and as effective as the.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B085SNLSX3/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

Or would you suggest a better option please?

Again thank you so much for this literally invaluable help.

Hey @Daynhg

Full disclosure, I haven't used the Dark Rock 4 on one of my builds I just happen to be familiar with the range. In terms of the RAM issue, my expectation is that you would be able to fit all 4 RAM sticks, but that the Dark Rock 4 fan would sit only a tiny bit above the first RAM slot. BeQuiet! has some details on RAM clearance below, the Dark Rock 4 is at the end:

The RAM clearance of our air coolers

In order to ensure compatibility between an air cooler and the main memory, attention must be paid to the dimensions of both components. Here we present an overview of our air coolers and their RAM clearance.

www.bequiet.com

As luck would have it, I have a kit of Corsair Vengeance LPX sitting on my desk. I've just measured it, Corsair says 33.53mm tall, that looks right to me, it looks like it would be around 32mm (possibly a hair less) tall once you plugged it into the board. I would have thought you could make that work personally.

The 2x32GB kit you've found would also avoid any potential issues with RAM clearance. On modern motherboards you would normally populate the 2nd RAM slot first and then the 4th to achieve dual channel. I've checked the manual for the MSI MAG B560M and this is also true here. You can find the details on page 30:
https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/E7D17v1.1.pdf

If noise is important to you then you will be happier with the air cooler.

 

[Daynhg]

Hey @Nighthawk117

This was really interesting, and as usual super informative.
Thank you.

Its great to hear that I could use the Dark Rock, and have the clearance, even if its a hairs width. As I do feel more comfortable with the air cooler.

So by this result, that would mean that I actually could go with the 2 x 32gb sticks (linked before.)
Meaning, as, and when, I can afford a new GPU, I could purchase another 2 x 32GM of the same RAM, and upgrade to 128GB for help with Blender?
Assuming the "MSI MAG B560M MORTAR WIFI" motherboard would accommodate 128GB RAM.
Is this right please?

And 2 associated questions. I hope really you don't mind.
1- Was the 2 x 32 GB Corsair RAM the exact same version as the 4 x 16Gb you recommended? <- As powerful / fast, and the same dimensions to fit under the cooler.

2- And (really thick question here.) When you said the 2nd and 4th slot, (and I could Google it, as It was 6 years since I built this PC.) But hope you dont mind me asking you. Is the 4th slot, the one beneath the Cooler, or the right hand side slot.
Again, I am just wondering. As, if the 2 x 32 RAM, is the same version, as the 4 x 16GB you linked.. (and so worth buying) it would also fit under the Dark Rock cooler?

Again sorry for the intricate detail to these final questions. I want to order the items, and just crossing the T's with your expert, excellent help, and guidance.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Yes you could go with the 2 x 32GB sticks you found. Yes the MSI B560M MAG MORTAR will support 128GB of RAM, though it does seem like a lot of RAM to pair with a 6 core chip but I couldn't comment on the performance gains, I know Blender can be a memory hog.

1- Was the 2 x 32 GB Corsair RAM the exact same version as the 4 x 16Gb you recommended? <- As powerful / fast, and the same dimensions to fit under the cooler.
It's basically the same thing but with double the RAM chips, you won't notice any difference in performance between them and yes same dimensions.

2- And (really thick question here.) When you said the 2nd and 4th slot, (and I could Google it, as It was 6 years since I built this PC.) But hope you dont mind me asking you. Is the 4th slot, the one beneath the Cooler, or the right hand side slot.
Again, I am just wondering. As, if the 2 x 32 RAM, is the same version, as the 4 x 16GB you linked.. (and so worth buying) it would also fit under the Dark Rock cooler?

No the first slot will be the one that sits under the cooler, the 4th would be to the right hand side. This is why with two sticks you definitely won't have a problem because you don't need the first slot anyway. The Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 modules are all physically identical in appearance and dimensions so if one fit's they will all fit.

A note for upgrading RAM should you ever need to do it, you will have to buy an identical Corsair kit to what you have. Also mixing RAM sticks that didn't all come in the same kit can sometimes mean they don't like running in XMP (full speed) together. Intel CPU's though are much less fussy and I haven't experienced any issue doing this on any of my Intel chips, 3200Mhz also tends to have less compatibility issues.

 

[Daynhg]

Hey Nighthawk117

All of the guys on this superbly helpful thread, have been brilliant.
And I thank them all. 👍

But you, have surpassed anything I could have asked for.
I honestly cannot thank you enough.

Seriously, I bow to your utterly incredible expertise, patience, time given, and amazing guidance.
As well as now knowing exactly ... "literally exactly" what I need to purchase.
I have also learned a ton from you.

Thank you Nighthawk117
So very much. 💯🥇

 

[Nighthawk117]

Hey @Daynhg

Thank you

Feel free to let us know how it goes.

One last note, in order to get the most out of your new chip you will need to change the power limit in the bios. There's a CPU Tuning option, the default is Boxed Cooler and 125W, you will need to change this to Tower Air Cooler 255W (this is what you need the big cooler for).

https://gtek.in/f/msi-b560m-mortar-wifi-memory-oc-review?blogcategory=Builds#:~:text=MSI%20has%20included%20a%20simpler,water%20cooling%20on%20the%20CPU

You can ignore all the memory OC stuff in the above, you just need XMP enabled for that, but it does illustrate the power limit bit.

Enjoy your upgrade