[SOLVED] PC Built in 2015 - Time to upgrade?

[RossP]

Hi All,

Built my PC back in early 2015, and have not touched it since. Its been rock solid and run pretty much whatever I throw at it, but now I think its time to start upgrading. At first I thought I would just upgrade the GPU but then figured I would ask the community to see what else may need to be addressed.

Current Build:
CASE: Corsair Obsidian Series Black 550D
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS Maximus VII HERO Z97 DDR3 2600
CPU: Intel i7-4790k
CPU COOLING: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTx970
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR3 1600mhz
STORAGE: Crucial Mx100 512 SSD / WD 2TB SATA III 7200RPM HD
POWER: XFX PRO1050W Black Edition
OS: Windows 10 Pro
MONITOR: Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch 4k UHD LED-Lit Monitor

Goals/Use:
Gaming (COD WZ, Battlefield, FPS) at Max settings (4k)
General web browsing

Upgrade Budget:
~$1000 for any/all upgrades

Any help/feedback is appreciated!

 

[tennis2]

Honestly....wait a couple (2-3) months. There's widespread supply shortages and price inflation on CPUs, mobos, PSUs, and GPUs right now.

You're not going to get a max settings, high FPS, 4k gaming rig with a $1000 budget, but 1440p is achievable. What monitor do you have currently? Are you buying a new one? Does that monitor upgrade come from the same $1k budget?

Assuming shopping in the USA?

 

[RossP]

Honestly....wait a couple (2-3) months. There's widespread supply shortages and price inflation on CPUs, mobos, PSUs, and GPUs right now.

You're not going to get a max settings, high FPS, 4k gaming rig with a $1000 budget, but 1440p is achievable. What monitor do you have currently? Are you buying a new one? Does that monitor upgrade come from the same $1k budget?

Assuming shopping in the USA?

Yes shopping in the USA.

Monitor is Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch 4k UHD LED. (Updated in Original Post). Would prefer to not upgrade the monitor if possible.

 

[iiSlashr]

Yes shopping in the USA.

Monitor is Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch 4k UHD LED. (Updated in Original Post). Would prefer to not upgrade the monitor if possible.

There is no way you're going to get 4k60 or anything close on a $1000 budget. The most you could possibly get out of that is something like a 3060Ti, but you'd have to skimp on other components like the CPU and motherboard. Here is an example of a PC that is around $1000 vs a PC that would be ideal for 4k60 gaming.

Cheap (relatively)
Ideal ($1500, much better performance)

 

[FarmerFran]

The video card alone is going to eat up that budget.

 

[RossP]

The video card alone is going to eat up that budget.

I think I can achieve most of what I am looking for by upgrading the GPU, and then do a more comprehensive refresh down the road. Now just need to find someplace that actually has a GPU in stock.....

 

[mdd1963]

Right now, at 4k, the GPU is your largest limiting factor...(granted, the 4c/8t 4790K is no powerhouse by today's standards, but, it can still crank out acceptable frame rates in most games, certainly 60 fps when the GPU is not a limiting factor)

Get a reasonable/best GPU you can afford; review 4k gaming comparisons/prices for a 3070, 3060Ti, 2080Ti, 6800XT, etc...; you can always take the GPU with you when you get around to a new CPU/mainboard/RAM combo a few months from now....

 

[madchemist83]

Get 3080 if you can snatch it fast enough. Try discord or telegram for monitoring bots and be prepared with payments. Otherwise have to wait for 6 months or so.

 

[RossP]

Get 3080 if you can snatch it fast enough. Try discord or telegram for monitoring bots and be prepared with payments. Otherwise have to wait for 6 months or so.

Well, I was searching the internet high and low, following bots on discord etc. and was finally able to snag a 3080 off Amazon.......only for Amazon to cancel my order the next day for no reason. Contacted customer service and they could not provide any reason for the cancellation, they just said "the system just cancelled it". Super frustrating.

 

[SteelStruck]

The video card alone is going to eat up that budget.

Even high-end graphics cards cost much less than 1000$. I don't think your budget is too low.

 

[SteelStruck]

I would go with a higher-end graphics card then would usually be paired with your CPU for 4k, looks like you are on the right track with looking for a 3080, your CPU should be good enough for modern games at least for now. If you have the chance snagging a 3070 or 3060ti would be a good choice too,

 

[madchemist83]

Keep trying. Took me few times.

 

[RossP]

Thinking about approaching this from a different angle: Buying a pre-built PC and just scavenging parts from it, and selling what ever is left.

Newegg sells a prebuilt machine for $1900

• Intel Core i7 10700F 2.90GHz (4.80GHz Turbo), 8-Core 16-Thread
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB
• 16GB DDR4 3000MHz
• 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD

Based on my existing setup I think I could use the GPU and the SSD no problem (If I am wrong here, please correct me). That will offset some of the cost.

Also based on CPU benchmarks, the i7 10700 is an upgrade from my current CPU. Is this true? And will it work with my existing motherboard?

 

[madchemist83]

It won't work, wrong socket. The value is not bad, about 300 over the MSRP of the components. However motherboards are usually poor in prebuilt cases so I would advice against it.