Question Is it worth upgrading this system or should I buy all new?

[Volzzz]

Hi everyone, I am looking for some advice.

TL;DR - I got an old system withe the parts below, should I keep using it and upgrade components or build brand new?

I've had the same system for the last 9 years or something like that and I'm at the point where I need to make a change. Or at least it feels like I'm ready.

Here's a description of my system.

Gigabyte GV-R797TO-3GD Radeon HD 7970 Graphic Card

ROG Maximus V Formula Desktop Motherboard

2x Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8G 8GB DDR3

Intel Core i5 i5-2400 3.10 GHz Processor
Kingston SSDNow V+200 120 GB 2.5" Internal Solid S

Corsair Carbide 400R Mid-Tower Chassis

Antec HCG-620M ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply

The only change I've had over the years is changing graphics cards to the Zotac GTX 1070 and I feel the CPU has been a bottleneck for a long while now, but I am not that knowledgeable.

The Questions:
Should I even think about upgrading CPU, GPU and RAM on this mobo and this build? If yes are there any suggestions the community can provide on parts?

OR

Would it be best to just build a brand new system with like a 3080 RTX?

I am somewhat overwhelmed from all the info online and limited by my knowledge which is why I am hoping turning to the community will help me better understand what sensible options I have.

Thanks everyone!

(Wrote this all on my phone, sorry!)

 

[rolli59]

Time for new system. Too old to upgrade you may even be happy with doing the platform and retain the GTX1070 if you are at 1080P

 

[Lafong]

The case may be perfectly OK.

Power supply is quite old. I'd probably replace it even if it seems to be in good working order.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi everyone, I am looking for some advice.

TL;DR - I got an old system withe the parts below, should I keep using it and upgrade components or build brand new?

I've had the same system for the last 9 years or something like that and I'm at the point where I need to make a change. Or at least it feels like I'm ready.

Here's a description of my system.

Gigabyte GV-R797TO-3GD Radeon HD 7970 Graphic Card

ROG Maximus V Formula Desktop Motherboard

2x Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8G 8GB DDR3

Intel Core i5 i5-2400 3.10 GHz Processor
Kingston SSDNow V+200 120 GB 2.5" Internal Solid S

Corsair Carbide 400R Mid-Tower Chassis

Antec HCG-620M ATX12V & EPS12V Power Supply

The only change I've had over the years is changing graphics cards to the Zotac GTX 1070 and I feel the CPU has been a bottleneck for a long while now, but I am not that knowledgeable.

The Questions:
Should I even think about upgrading CPU, GPU and RAM on this mobo and this build? If yes are there any suggestions the community can provide on parts?

OR

Would it be best to just build a brand new system with like a 3080 RTX?

I am somewhat overwhelmed from all the info online and limited by my knowledge which is why I am hoping turning to the community will help me better understand what sensible options I have.

Thanks everyone!

(Wrote this all on my phone, sorry!)

What are you trying to fix?
Are you trying to make a gaming rig for today's games?

 

[Volzzz]

What are you trying to fix?
Are you trying to make a gaming rig for today's games?

That is correct, would like to improve the gaming experience since my machine is so old. In the long run a new pc is inevitable but I wanted to check if there are some improvements worth doing to the current rig in order to give me more time to save up for a new machine.

Seems like I should just splurge now and get it over with.

 

[Bob.B]

That is correct, would like to improve the gaming experience since my machine is so old. In the long run a new pc is inevitable but I wanted to check if there are some improvements worth doing to the current rig in order to give me more time to save up for a new machine.

Seems like I should just splurge now and get it over with.

It's your call.
I suppose you could fit a 3770 cpu about 50 bucks.

A 500GB ssd and a new psu....about 125 bucks.
These you can move to new rig in the future.

 

[logainofhades]

I would say new rig time. It's just a matter of how much you are able to spend to get one.

 

[Volzzz]

Would y'all reckon a high end new rig would last another 5-10 years? Im assuming that if I was able to game this long with the last rig (we could argue my standards were low considering how weak it is in comparison to today's systems) with only truly becoming annoyed by it now, ~9 years later, the next one would likely satisfy me for a good 5 years at least.

I understand this is hard to answer and could be quite subjective.

With the 1070 that is in my current rig and the weak processor, I've been able to play quite a lot of games fairly well where it wasn't that big of an annoyance even though I clearly am not running newish games at high settings.

Im going to try to settle between a 3080 GTX and a 3090. Maybe I could go for 3090 TI and really try to max out. My faulty justification being I haven't spent on parts in quite a few years and maybe it's time to treat myself xD

I really appreciate all the responses so far!

 

[logainofhades]

Anything higher than a 3080 12gb, is a waste of money. Big markup for very little gain. 5yrs should be doable.

 

[Volzzz]

Sounds like the Best high end build on this guide should do well. I also see that the Super build on there is also staying away from the 3090 and using a 3080TI instead.

https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-pc-builds-gaming

Does it make any sense to try to go for ddr5 instead of whats proposed for those two builds? Trying to future proof as much as possible I suppose while avoiding the waste of money like you said @logainofhades

 

[logainofhades]

The 3080ti, on average, is only like 3-5 fps faster, than the 3080 12gb, while costing a lot more. You might want to consider a 6900xt for that extra V-ram, unless you really care about ray tracing. While there is no such thing as future proof, the extra V-ram should allow you to use your card longer, as games get more v-ram hungry. The weird v-ram capacities are my only real complaint about RTX 3000. That and some pointless releases along the way.

DDR5 kits are roughly half the capacity, of DDR4, for twice the price. I would recommend against ddr5, at this time.

 

[Karadjgne]

What are you going to game on? I'm assuming from the current build you are still at 1080p/60Hz.

Which makes an uber system pointless. For gaming value and worth, things have to line up. Even moving upto 1440p/144Hz, a 12400/3070 is perfectly adequate.

There's many ppl who still enjoy SWtOR, CSGO, Skyrim, LoL, WoW etc, all 10 year old games with large player bases, and pc demands haven't really changed that much for them. Every new iteration of CoD is somewhat more demanding than prior.

So once you figure out the how and what of what you really need, then figure what that's going to take. Only then decide if going bigger is really not going to last any longer or be worth the investment or not.

No point in spending $3k on a pc that in 5 years will be only mediocre, when spending $1500 now for decent and in 3 years spending another $1500 for decent means at the 5 year mark, you'll be ahead of the game with a faster pc, for the same price overall.

 

[logainofhades]

WoW requirements jump up every expansion. It would be utterly impossible to run it on hardware from back in the Vanilla days. With all the UI changes coming, for Dragonflight, it will go even higher. My 2nd gen Asus laptop, with a GT 540m, was unable to play 720p, on low, after a couple expansion releases, from when I bought it, despite being able to play on max settings initially. Cata was smooth, Mop a bit dicey but playable, WoD or later, forget about it. There are some instances where I cannot maintain 1440p, 60 Fps, with my 5800x and RX 6800, due to it being so CPU heavy. I have the same issue with my 9th gen i7, and 1660ti equipped laptop, at 1080p. It's the reason I upgrade as often as I do.

https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/requirements/world-of-warcraft-shadowlands/19221

 

[Karadjgne]

Must admit, it's been quite a while since I looked at WoW, so thanks for the update, it's another CoD. Normally expansions don't really add much in the way of graphics, makes for seamless integration with existing code. Cpu demands are somewhat different.