Question PC upgrade advice ?

[gcuzza]

Ok so it’s time to upgrade !

In all honesty I have gamed for so long on the same RIG I’m completely out of date when it comes to bottlenecking etc. I have just got a massive Samsung 49” monitor for Christmas and I’m now up for some upgrading to the pc but what do you guys recommend I do in order to see better performance without completely destroying my setup (bottlenecking etc)

Current specs -
INTEL I7 8700K 3.7GHZ
GTX 980ti
ROG STRIX Z370-E MOTHERBOARD
16GB CORSAIR DDR3 RAM
EVGA 650w G2 GOLD

I’m 99 percent sure that’s my specs at the moment

Any help appreciated

Thanks !

 

[Why_Me]

What is your budget, what country are you located and what if any components do you plan on reusing.

 

[gcuzza]

What is your budget, what country are you located and what if any components do you plan on reusing.

Budget isn’t really the problem I just would rather save in areas if I can. I have heard getting a 3080ti is the next upgrade but I don’t want to bottleneck anything as like I say I’m not sure if it will as I’m out of touch now on components. I’m from the UK👍🏽

 

[logainofhades]

I would advise against a 3080ti. You can get similar performance, from a 6900xt/6950xt, for significantly less money, or spend a little more, and get a faster RTX 4080, or 7900xtx. I would also do AM5, for a better upgrade path. I included all the mentioned GPU's, just so you can see a price comparison.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 4.7 GHz 12-Core Processor (£444.88 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£123.62 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard (£274.46 @ Technextday)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory (£173.38 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£90.94 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£185.99 @ Box Limited)
Video Card: Palit GamingPro GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB Video Card (£995.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6900 XT GAMING X TRIO 16G Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB Video Card (£689.99 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Palit GameRock OmniBlack GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Video Card (£1185.99 @ Box Limited)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Black Edition Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Video Card (£1126.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case (£99.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Power Supply: Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£159.95 @ Box Limited)
Total: £5550.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-16 13:45 GMT+0000

 

[gcuzza]

I would advise against a 3080ti. You can get similar performance, from a 6900xt/6950xt, for significantly less money, or spend a little more, and get a faster RTX 4080, or 7900xtx. I would also do AM5, for a better upgrade path. I included all the mentioned GPU's, just so you can see a price comparison.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 4.7 GHz 12-Core Processor (£444.88 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£123.62 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard (£274.46 @ Technextday)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory (£173.38 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£90.94 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£185.99 @ Box Limited)
Video Card: Palit GamingPro GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB Video Card (£995.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6900 XT GAMING X TRIO 16G Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB Video Card (£689.99 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Palit GameRock OmniBlack GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Video Card (£1185.99 @ Box Limited)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Black Edition Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Video Card (£1126.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case (£99.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Power Supply: Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£159.95 @ Box Limited)
Total: £5550.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-16 13:45 GMT+0000

What if I just upgraded my graphics card initially would I see a performance boost then? I just honestly am not sure on what’s intergral with different components e.g what motherboard goes with CPU and GPU and what bottlenecks what etc

 

[geofelt]

What kinds of games do you play?
How do you assess performance?
Many fast action games will be limited by the graphics card.
What model of the samsung 49" monitor did you buy?
One has 3840 x 1080 resolution, and another has 5120 x 1440.
The latter will be much more demanding on your graphics card for fast action gaming.
Likely, you will want to upgrade your GTX980ti.
Tom's gpu hierarchy chart gives you a good idea of what you can get.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
For fast action, a 3070 class card or better is in order for the high res version.
I might be inclined to go slow and see how you do with your 980ti.
You will want a stronger/better psu.
850w will do, but 1000w usually costs little more.
That lets you up the graphics card in the future.
A psu will only draw the power demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.
A quality unit will have a 10 year warranty.
Look for Corsair rm units or Seasonic prime or focus units.

Today, a cpu upgrade is in order.
To my mind, the single thread performance of intel 13th gen is compelling.
Run the cpu-z bench on your 8700K.
You should get a rating of 468:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/pzi81n
The very best will be a I9-13900K if your budget permits.
Here is a review of the 13th gen K series:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-13900k-i5-13600k-cpu-review
You will need a lga1700 motherboard, preferably a Z690.
Since ddr3 no longer works, plan on a 2 x 16gb DDR5 ram kit.
Pick a middling speed.
You will need a new cooler for a lga1700 motherboard.
Unless you are an overclocker(not recommended for gaming) A good twin tower air cooler in a good case will do the job simply. Noctua NH-D15 for example.
It is the equivalent of a 240 aio.
The 13th gen processors have more efficient microcode giving more instructions per clock. That results in less heat generated. Games will not fully load all cores.
It is the multithreaded batch apps that can load all cores and could need a 360 aio or better.

This is a good time to upgrade your case.
Look for one with good airflow. Not just for the cpu cooling but also for motherboard vrm cooling and graphics card cooling.
Two 140mm front intakes can do the job.
Some cases will have 200mm front intakes.
Whatever, buy a case with the looks you love.

 

[logainofhades]

What if I just upgraded my graphics card initially would I see a performance boost then? I just honestly am not sure on what’s intergral with different components e.g what motherboard goes with CPU and GPU and what bottlenecks what etc

A GPU upgrade, along with a PSU upgrade, would give you a significant boost to gaming performance, even with your 8700k. Your 980ti is about on par with a 1070, or 1660. Being a 49" monitor, I am going to assume that is an ultrawide, so you want a beefy GPU. Your CPU will matter a bit less, on an ultrawide, like that.

 

[gcuzza]

What kinds of games do you play?
How do you assess performance?
Many fast action games will be limited by the graphics card.
What model of the samsung 49" monitor did you buy?
One has 3840 x 1080 resolution, and another has 5120 x 1440.
The latter will be much more demanding on your graphics card for fast action gaming.
Likely, you will want to upgrade your GTX980ti.
Tom's gpu hierarchy chart gives you a good idea of what you can get.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
For fast action, a 3070 class card or better is in order for the high res version.
I might be inclined to go slow and see how you do with your 980ti.
You will want a stronger/better psu.
850w will do, but 1000w usually costs little more.
That lets you up the graphics card in the future.
A psu will only draw the power demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.
A quality unit will have a 10 year warranty.
Look for Corsair rm units or Seasonic prime or focus units.

Today, a cpu upgrade is in order.
To my mind, the single thread performance of intel 13th gen is compelling.
Run the cpu-z bench on your 8700K.
You should get a rating of 468:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/pzi81n
The very best will be a I9-13900K if your budget permits.
Here is a review of the 13th gen K series:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-13900k-i5-13600k-cpu-review
You will need a lga1700 motherboard, preferably a Z690.
Since ddr3 no longer works, plan on a 2 x 16gb DDR5 ram kit.
Pick a middling speed.
You will need a new cooler for a lga1700 motherboard.
Unless you are an overclocker(not recommended for gaming) A good twin tower air cooler in a good case will do the job simply. Noctua NH-D15 for example.
It is the equivalent of a 240 aio.
The 13th gen processors have more efficient microcode giving more instructions per clock. That results in less heat generated. Games will not fully load all cores.
It is the multithreaded batch apps that can load all cores and could need a 360 aio or better.

This is a good time to upgrade your case.
Look for one with good airflow. Not just for the cpu cooling but also for motherboard vrm cooling and graphics card cooling.
Two 140mm front intakes can do the job.
Some cases will have 200mm front intakes.
Whatever, buy a case with the looks you love.

I play a lot of battlefield, call of duty, dayz etc ..

I have the Samsung c49j89 with the 3840x1080 resolution

I don’t necessarily have a budget but ideally don’t want to be spending thousands I just struggle to get a solid 60-100 fps on games like cod and escape from tarkov with my current setup and want to know what I could change to get the biggest fps increase and also not bottleneck and have a possibility to upgrade in future etc I hope this makes sense thanks for the reply much appreciated

 

[gcuzza]

A GPU upgrade, along with a PSU upgrade, would give you a significant boost to gaming performance, even with your 8700k. Your 980ti is about on par with a 1070, or 1660. Being a 49" monitor, I am going to assume that is an ultrawide, so you want a beefy GPU. Your CPU will matter a bit less, on an ultrawide, like that.

What psu and gpu would you suggest that would work with my current motherboard etc ? Thanks for the help much appreciated

 

[logainofhades]

Any of them will work in your current motherboard. Still recommend the PSU that I listed. As for GPU to get, that depends on how much you are willing to spend, and what your case can handle. You are best off getting the fastest GPU that you can afford, as long as the PSU is a solid one, quality wise, and sufficient wattage.

 

[Ar558]

Ok so it’s time to upgrade !

In all honesty I have gamed for so long on the same RIG I’m completely out of date when it comes to bottlenecking etc. I have just got a massive Samsung 49” monitor for Christmas and I’m now up for some upgrading to the pc but what do you guys recommend I do in order to see better performance without completely destroying my setup (bottlenecking etc)

Current specs -
INTEL I7 8700K 3.7GHZ
GTX 980ti
ROG STRIX Z370-E MOTHERBOARD
16GB CORSAIR DDR3 RAM
EVGA 650w G2 GOLD

I’m 99 percent sure that’s my specs at the moment

Any help appreciated

Thanks !

Given the size of your monitor and the games you play, I would suggest you probably want something along the following lines

Core i5-13600K
32GB DDR4-3600 (DDR5 is a waste of money given the added cost and not much more performance)
B660 mobo
6800XT/3080 (which ever you can get on the best deal - 40 Series are just overpriced)
850W Gold PSU.