Question Help me choose a CPU/GPU for my new rig ?

[RukelnikovFTW]

Heyas, I'm trying to get a new rig to replace my current PC, and looking for opinions on the matter, current PC:

MOBO: Z270 GAMING M3 (MS-7A62)
CPU: i5 6600k
GPU: MSI GTX 970

Now, I personally am not looking for 4k or even 1440p, what I want is 1080p 60 fps with everything maxed, a rig that lasts, and I don't care for RGB or looks in general, picking components on a base of performance and reliability, and I don't OC my rig.

My current one held up very well until around Baldur Gate 3 (2023), ACT 3 was kinda unplayable for me, but Control? Elden Ring? FF7Remake? I played and enjoyed those games a lot, even when I played them at low settings, and what I'm looking for is kinda that, something that 7 or 8 years from now is still running games released those years even when its at low settings.

So, I'm not completely PC illiterate, I've been working as coder for the past 15 years, but hardware-wise I dunno that much, from my recent research I get the GPU market is kinda screwed up and that availability and price seem to be deciding factors, now I don't have infinite budget, and don't wanna overpay, but would gladly spend an extra 500 usd for a rig that lasts 2-3 years longer, I usually divide the cost of the system by the number of years I expect the system to perform at acceptable levels to decide if its good value or not.

In general 4070 super seems like the second best value of the 40xx series after the 4060, but with 12 gbs of VRAM it'll start to show in a couple years, and 50xx series seems like a poor fit for me when its main features are upscaling and injecting extra frames, none of which is very important to me who is just interested in 1080p 60 fps, but the 5070 ti does have 16 gb of VRAM. And there's AMD, but what? RX 6800 is almost 5 years old, 7700xt? I don't think I'm brave enough to give Intel a try.

So IDK, I plan to pair this with a decent mobo (like in the B650M to X870-P range) and CPU likely in the 7700x - 9800X3D range, depending on the GPU I end up going for. I know people can't read the future, but please consider I'm not that worried about which is gonna hold better tomorrow but 5+ years down the line, here's a list of the parts and prices I can find in my country:

GREEN:

4070 Super GIGABYTE Windforce 3x/MSI Ventus 2x ~ 760 usd (12gb seems lowish and I'm wary of the quality of the GIGABYTE and 2 fans models)

4070ti Super GIGABYTE Windforce 3x ~ 1080 usd (16gb, but still wary of the quality of this card, if it was ASUS I probably wouldn't be making this post)

5070 MSI Shadow 3x/Gaming Trio ~ 935 usd (12gb seems low, don't think ill get much more from this than the 4070 Super in 1080p60 fps)

5070ti MSI Ventus 3x/ASUS Prime ~ 1210 usd (wary of the 50xx series in general, its brand new series, which is good for longevity, but with the black screens, missing ROPs, cables melting and stuff, makes me doubt, the ASUS gives me a lil confidence but PRIME is their base model I think, so not sure how reliable it is)

5080 MSI Ventus 3x ~ 1600 usd (16 gb but don't know if it will give me much more longevity than the 4070 ti Super that is much cheaper)

4080 Super ASUS ROG Strix ~ 1900 usd (Extremely expensive, but likely the most reliable card being ASUS ROG Strix)

RED:

7700xt SAPPHIRE PULSE/PURE ~ 525 usd (Radeon seems like step below NVIDIA in general due to drivers, but I had a HD 4890 that served me almost 7 years, and being Sapphire makes me think its a well built card, still 12 gb, it may be a decent pick over the 4070 Super)

6800xt SAPPHIRE PULSE/ASRock Phantom Gaming ~ 580 usd (16 gigs and there's SAPPHIRE, but its almost 5 years old, i seriously doubt its longevity)
6800xt ASUS TUF/ROG STRIX ~ 990 usd (Its a ROG STRIX, but I can get a GIGABYTE 9070 for the same price)

7800xt GIGABYTE Gaming OC ~ 770 usd (16 gig and less than 2 years old, but its Radeon and GIGABYTE, still interesting)

9070 GIGABYTE Gaming OC/ASUS PRIME ~ 1000 usd (I can get the XT for almost the same price)

9070xt GIGABYTE Gaming OC/ASUS TUF ~ 1100 usd (its expensive, but it is a brand new GPU and current GPU prices seem kinda insane in general, maybe the ASUS is a decent option? Is it better than the 4070 TI Super for what I'm looking for?)

Thanks all for taking the time to read this, and appreciate your input!

 

[dark_globe]

the current gpu market is in a bad state in general .
maybe you should just wait a little longer .
availability of new radeon and nvidia cards may get better in a few months
and prices should also drop closer to MSRP .

as it stands right now new radeons are a better buy compared to rtx 5070 in my opinion .

in any case gaming at 1080p and 60Hz/75Hz monitor would be a waste of potential for your new hardware .
if thats your goal and you are happy with it than you may consider saving money and
buying a lower end video card ... even something like rtx 4060(Ti) or an upcoming 5060
paired with ryzen 7600x/9600x cpu will be a significant upgrade over gtx 970 and i5 6600K .

 

[boju]

Usually one goes through more gpu upgrades than cpu, long as cpu choice was a good one at first. So yeah, go for the best you can afford.

Graphics card well im divided myself. Nvidia has the better software sure but their 12vhpwr plug worries me. Amd however are longing onto traditional power plugs but software wise aren't as good but doable. I think if it were me I'd try Amd again.

Make sure to get a decent psu yeah.

Btw it doesn't matter about refresh rates and all that bs, because all of that will be irrelevant eventually, just the more powerful stuff extends that eventuality further. So just get what you can afford.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Almost any cpu you upgrade to from that i5 to a ryzen 5 or ryzen 7 will seem amazing.

You mentioned the ryzen 7600, you could also look at the 7500f, which is about the same cpu but with no integrated gpu. Sometimes can be found for less. On a budget I say select one of those, or you can go with the 7700, 7700x or 9700x, all of which are 8 core 16 threads. The 7700 and 9700x are 65 watt parts as I recall and will run cooler than the 7700x, though you can enable eco mode. Personally I’ve got a 7700 in my rig, running a Thermalright peerless assassin 120 se for the cooler. I think about the highest temps I’ve seen from that cpu are around 70 degrees Celsius. Not to say it’s not been higher but I don’t actively monitor it once it’s set unless I’m noticing issues since I’m mainly just using it for gaming. But I think chips like the 7600x and 7700x will run right up to 95 degrees Celsius and stay there. I guess that can work but 95 is awfully warm for my liking.

GPU, my last few cards have been AMD. The breakdown is that 6000 series is going on 4-5 years old at this point, still decent, but aging.

7000 series is their last generation, still relevant, but if your going AMD I think you want a 9070 or 9070xt.

I say that as someone who owns a 7900xtx(got it around Christmas on sale). If I were to go to say a 9070xt, I’d loose 8gb of vram and a little bit of rasterization performance, but according to benchmarks it’s pretty close. However ray tracing performance and upscaling are better and closer to nvidia.

If you do go 7000 series, in my mind you really want to be on the level of the 7900xt or 7900xtx. But I’d opt for a 9070 or 9070xt. The 4070 and 5070 they are relevant but 12gb could be limiting as time goes on.

I think essentially the and rx 9070 is meant to compete with the 5070, while the 9070xt with the 5070ti. The 9070xt is I think a couple of % slower than the 5070ti, but in an ideal world it would cost $150 less in US dollars.