Question Looking to upgrade my desktop

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Ravenhul_78

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Jan 10, 2013
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I've got a gameing desktop. I'm looking to upgrade it.
These are the Specs
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z97X-SLI (Intel Z97 Chipset)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 850W EVGA SuperNOVA
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (120GB Samsung 850 EVO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Seagate)
Internet Access: Wireless PCI-E ASUS PCE-N53 (Dual Band Performance) (Supports 802.11n/g/b)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Remote Controlled LED Lighting System (Multiple color options and lighting effects)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 120mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (High-Performance Edition)
CPU Boost: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking

As you can see i'm looking to upgrade the one terabyte storage, and the graphics card, and the power supply which will probably be necessary.

Anyone have idea's or recommendations. Also looking to upgrade the RAAM too. This is my first time upgrading a desktop. Any guides or help would be great. Thank you for you time.
 
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If this is a gaming system primarily, you don't need to upgrade the RAM. 16GGB is plenty for any current games. More than necessary probably but still a good thing to have. You don't need more.

Are you looking for MORE or FASTER storage as a replacement for the current 1TB drive? There are currently 1TB solid state drives available at very reasonable prices but if speed is less of a concern that capacity, then you will likely want to stick with a spinning hard drive as anything above 1TB becomes very expensive, very fast, when talking SSDs.

You don't mention WHICH model of EVGA Supernova power supply you have, so I'll just say if it's the G1 series, then replacement is commendable, but if it's the G2 series I seriously doubt you need to replace it at all unless you are having obvious problems with it. Those units come with a ten year warranty anyhow, so if you do have a problem it should still be covered.

It's also plenty of capacity for any current graphics card.

As to the graphics card, what resolution are you looking to target and what kind of settings are you looking for in terms of in game quality? What sort of frame rates are you looking for? What is the refresh rate of your current monitor? Are you going to be making a change of monitor anytime soon?
 
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Darkbreeze I should have mentioned I actually have 32GB of RAM, I upgraded it a while back.

Are you looking for MORE or FASTER storage as a replacement for the current 1TB drive?
Yes I am, but am not going to go solid state unless it's really affordable. I am still willing to stick with 120Gigabyte SSD. I just want to replace the 1TB Regular hard drive with something quicker and maybe larger.

You don't mention WHICH model of EVGA Supernova power supply you have, so I'll just say if it's the G1 series, then replacement is commendable, but if it's the G2 series I seriously doubt you need to replace it at all unless you are having obvious problems with it. Those units come with a ten year warranty anyhow, so if you do have a problem it should still be covered.
All I know is the following:
850W EVGA SuperNOVA is the power supply, that's accoridng to digital storm. I think it's a G1 cause i bought it back in 2015


As to the graphics card, what resolution are you looking to target and what kind of settings are you looking for in terms of in game quality? What sort of frame rates are you looking for? What is the refresh rate of your current monitor? Are you going to be making a change of monitor anytime soon?

I'm looking to play it at 3840 by 2160 the whole 60 fps on max settings on what ever game i play. any video card that can do that would be great. or maybe 1920 by 1080 is just fine to me. just looking to upgrade.

As for my moniter. It is this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014345

Thank you so much for the help. Any help on what to buy to upgrade would be much appreciated.
 
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So, your monitor is 1080p, which means that unless you replace it with a higher resolution monitor, you won't be gaming or doing anything else at 3840x2160. Which, in terms of the cost you'd have to invest in a gaming card is good, because it would be a lot less expensive. If however you PLAN to upgrade to a higher resolution monitor down the road at some point, then you might want to consider a pricier graphics card now, so that you wouldn't have to again replace it later just to get the performance you need to support that higher resolution. What works well for a 1080p system does NOT work well, or at all really, for a 4k system or even in some cases for a 1440p system.

Honestly, unless you plan to buy a very high end card, I'd forget about the 4k display and instead either focus on improving performance on your 1080p display or possibly considering an upgrade to a 1440p display later on, and a graphics card that can support that. 1440p will give you a higher resolution but only half of what you'd get at 4k, so it's a lot less demanding that 4k as well while still being visually superior to 1080p by a fair measure.

As for your power supply. Take the side panel off your case, and look at the PSU. There will be a label on the PSU, on one of the four sides, that has all the specifications including the model number on it. In some cases it might be necessary to unbolt the PSU from the case and turn it to see the other side, but I know that EVGA tends to put the specifications on the side that is visible from outside the case panel so there should be no need to do that. Simply look printed on the side of the PSU for the model or series. It should specify G1, G2, etc.

As for the storage, I think hybrid systems are a waste because they are just as expensive in most cases as a full on SSD, and there are really no other "faster" options at HDD other than gaining a minor improvement with a model that has a larger cache size. If you get a spinning hard drive, you are still limited by the SATA bus no matter what model or size you choose. A model with a larger cache will momentarily have faster performance but that will quickly taper off. So, if your current SSD is still large enough for your main OS drive, and you just need faster storage space as a secondary drive, I'd suggest looking at this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.88 @ Amazon)
Total: $53.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-31 12:34 EDT-0400

Or possibly considering an SSD instead, which for a 1TB model is going to run you somewhere in the area of about 110-130 dollars unless there happens to be a sale going on in which case you might find one for around 90-100 bucks.

What is your budget, as in, what are you willing to pay, for ALL of the upgrades INCLUDING a graphics card, that you are wanting to make?
 
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I'm basically looking to play Cyberpunk 2077 on it's max settings with highest fps in 3840x2160 i don't mind replacing my monitor. I don't think my 980 X will do that job.

I don't mind replacing my monitor eitheir.
 
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If you want Ultra settings at 4k you need to replace everything. It's improbable that you'll get a great experience on any moderately demanding game at 4k with a platform that old. Even with a 2080 TI you'd be frame limited by your CPU to less than what it sounds like you are wanting.

However, I'd try first. The only cards you really want to look at for 4k gaming are going to be the RTX 2080 and 2080 TI, for now at least. Other card models are either irrelevant now or incapable of offering 60+FPS consistently at 4k on Ultra settings. Some games might have trouble doing that even on a 2080 TI.

How much are you actually willing to throw at this?
 
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Darkbreeze said:
If you want Ultra settings at 4k you need to replace everything. It's improbable that you'll get a great experience on any moderately demanding game at 4k with a platform that old. Even with a 2080 TI you'd be frame limited by your CPU to less than what it sounds like you are wanting.

However, I'd try first. The only cards you really want to look at for 4k gaming are going to be the RTX 2080 and 2080 TI, for now at least. Other card models are either irrelevant now or incapable of offering 60+FPS consistently at 4k on Ultra settings. Some games might have trouble doing that even on a 2080 TI.

How much are you actually willing to throw at this?
Click to expand...

thank you for the help dark breeze. I'm willing to throw 500 - 2500$ at this, i think i'll just forget about 4 k for now and stick with upgrades. I just want my computer to be able to laugh at 2077 or what ever other graphically demanding game on max settings. Any ideas? Or recommendations? Because I was thinking of upgradeing my video, my hard drives to a large solid state hard drive . Also I plan to replace my regular 7200 RPM hard drive because i've had it for 4 years. card, perhaps my ram even though it's already at 32 gigs. Still debating if I want to replace my CPU too.
 
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No, but NOT being in the US will, because not everything that is available here is available everywhere, and a lot of other regions are twice or three times the price per component in some cases. So it's best to know where a person is from so a build can be sorted based on reality, rather than what it would be in the US.

Do you already have a case you want to stick with, or are you wanting a new case. If new, what sort of criteria would be mandatory in terms of functionality and aesthetics?

Are you firmly in the Intel camp, or are you willing to consider an AMD build?

As far as resolution is concerned, what about a middle ground with a 1440p (2k) display? They look miles better than 1080p but are half as demanding on hardware as a 4k build would be. If you think 1080p is sufficient, that's totally cool too. Myself, I still use 1080p monitors as well. When cheaper cards become more capable at higher resolutions, or higher end cards don't require a second job, then I MIGHT upgrade. LOL.
 
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I already have a case, its a digital storm PC. I just want it to be able to play games like cyber punk 2077 or ff7(If it some how becomes for PC too) or any new games. I'm not looking to replace my computer, just upgrade it.

I'd prefer intel, but i'm not sure if upgrading my cpu would be the best idea, or within my means, i heard AMD can cause problems. But you're the expert, so what ever you say i'll take your advice or whom ever's advice.
 
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If you want to run Cyberpunk 2077, the MINIMUM hardware requirements according to CD Projekt Red, is an 8700k and a 1080 TI. That's minimum.

My recommendation would be a new CPU, motherboard, memory, power supply, graphics card and a couple of solid state drives.
 
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If you are willing to spend $2500 you could build a whole beefy new system. If you want a current gen video card I would upgrade mobo, CPU and RAM along with it to keep from bottle necking. RTX 2080, (look up top variants). Or 2080Ti if you have the extra cash. As stated above you can get a 1 TB SSD for a touch over $100 Samsung 970 EVO is widely available and often on sale, very solid. Depending on gen of the psupply it has plenty of juice for any single card set up. But end of the day you could build a whole new system for 2500 with current gen everything.
 
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Nah, I wouldn't continue to run that G1 PSU with any top shelf hardware. If it was a G2 or G3, or even a GQ, it would be different. You'll end up having to replace it anyhow so might as well do it from the start because those G1 units typically don't hold up well, although at that capacity it's probably not as much of a concern as if it was a G1 that was right at the recommended capacity.

I think we could do something outstanding for more like about 1700.
 
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Something along these lines would be my recommendation. Obviously, some picking and choosing could be done, but this is basically about as solid of a starting point as you will find. Dollars can be shaved off going with lesser components, but this should probably be considered a baseline.

Equally obvious should be the fact that for about four hundred dollars more the 2080 TI is going to offer significantly better performance, but, it's four hundred dollars more, at least.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($399.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($126.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($74.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card ($739.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 ATX Mid Tower Case ($137.96 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1944.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-29 16:09 EDT-0400
 
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