Build Advice Recommendations for upgrading my old gaming PC ?

[NikTB]

Hi,
New to this forum, as my next project is to upgrade one of my old gaming PCs. Being well retired and a tad out of touch with latest tech, your collective knowledge and expertise would be huge to help confirm or advise accordingly! Thank you...

The old system spec is:
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT: PCI-E 3.0 READY,WIFI, SLI, X-FIRE
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER
NVIDIA 1080 Graphics card.

The new system is to run X Plane 12 as a Master PC. That means it will run the core XP12 app connected to a second PC running 3 x 38" screens. The Master will also run two other applications concurrently for Navigation and three cockpit screens plus interfaces to Raspberry Pi and Mega 2560s for 100+ switches etc.. The current system (above) works fine but getting slower i.e. FPS is now low 20s . The biggest driver to make the change is Win10 will no longer be supported soon and the system is just too old to support WIN11 and TPM.

My research so far is to switch the CPU and Motherboard to use the existing cabinet, and power supply etc. I'm leaning toward:
Intel Core i7 14700KF
ASUS TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI
32 GB Corsair VENGEANCE 5200MHz (2 x 16 GB)
plus
The AMD RX 6700 XT GPU from the other PC which will be upgrade to support higher graphics capability.

1. I'm thinking the current power/cooling will be sufficient? yes/no?
2. DDR5 would help with the multiple concurrent applications? I guess yes
3. The other PC is running visuals very well with an Intel i5 so could this scenario be supported by the Intel i5 range?
4. Budget is always a consideration, so is there a lesser cost choice to consider?

There is a huge choice out there !!

Thank you in advance if you would offer advice or recommendations.

Cheers, Nik

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Users are advise to stylize their threads with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

which helps lend some context to your predicament and the community will chime in with worthwhile suggestions.

1| I'd avoid Intel's 13th and 14th Gen platform.

3|
Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

For context here are the system requirements;

X-Plane 12 System Requirements | X-Plane

Minimum Hardware Requirements:Contents1 Minimum Hardware Requirements:2 Recommended Hardware Requirements:3 Supported Video Cards:4 Supported Operating Systems: Disk Space: 25GB CPU: Intel […]

www.x-plane.com

 

[LordVile]

Hi,
New to this forum, as my next project is to upgrade one of my old gaming PCs. Being well retired and a tad out of touch with latest tech, your collective knowledge and expertise would be huge to help confirm or advise accordingly! Thank you...

The old system spec is:
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT: PCI-E 3.0 READY,WIFI, SLI, X-FIRE
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER
NVIDIA 1080 Graphics card.

The new system is to run X Plane 12 as a Master PC. That means it will run the core XP12 app connected to a second PC running 3 x 38" screens. The Master will also run two other applications concurrently for Navigation and three cockpit screens plus interfaces to Raspberry Pi and Mega 2560s for 100+ switches etc.. The current system (above) works fine but getting slower i.e. FPS is now low 20s . The biggest driver to make the change is Win10 will no longer be supported soon and the system is just too old to support WIN11 and TPM.

My research so far is to switch the CPU and Motherboard to use the existing cabinet, and power supply etc. I'm leaning toward:
Intel Core i7 14700KF
ASUS TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI
32 GB Corsair VENGEANCE 5200MHz (2 x 16 GB)
plus
The AMD RX 6700 XT GPU from the other PC which will be upgrade to support higher graphics capability.

1. I'm thinking the current power/cooling will be sufficient? yes/no?
2. DDR5 would help with the multiple concurrent applications? I guess yes
3. The other PC is running visuals very well with an Intel i5 so could this scenario be supported by the Intel i5 range?
4. Budget is always a consideration, so is there a lesser cost choice to consider?

There is a huge choice out there !!

Thank you in advance if you would offer advice or recommendations.

Cheers, Nik

Do not get a 14th or 13th gen intel. They have oxidising issues which is a hardware level defect. It’s been mitigated by microcode updates but not fully resolved. They’re also hot chips.

Look at an AM5 platform with a 7700X or a 9700X, you can get a B series chipset if it had enough ports for you.

DDR5 is standard now I wouldn’t go DDR4, 6000MHz is the price/performance sweet spot.

As far as GPU goes anything over a 2070 is recommended, you could grab a 5060/Ti or 9060XT model and be within spec, if you don’t need to spend any more than that is there much need to? However for gaming it depends on your resolution rather that screen size.

 

[Zerk2012]

You need to replace that power supply, probably over 12 years old.
The V2 was good back in the day manufactured by Seasonic.

 

[geofelt]

Your I7-3700 has 8 processing threads and a passmark rating of 6371. It has a single thread rating of 2074.
Your suggestion of a i7-14700KF Passmark (28, 53657/4470) is reasonable and a big jump in capability.
It goes for some $315 on newegg.
13/14th gen does not get much love on this forum, from early issus.but the issues have been resolved.
https://community.intel.com/t5/Mobi...en-Desktop-Instability-Root-Cause/m-p/1633442

Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen Vmin Shift Instabilty Update - New Microcode Update (0x12F)

As part of its effort to continually improve its products, Intel is releasing a new microcode update (0x12F) supplementing the 0x12B microcode update released in September 2024. This new microcode further improves system conditions that can potentially contribute to Vmin Shift Instability on...

community.intel.com

The key is to update your motherboard bios and do not indulge in overclocking.
There is very little overclocking headroom anyway.
That said, take a look at the similarly priced but stronger Ultra 265K with 20 threads and a rating of 58261 and the all important 4812 single thread rating.
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-u...-1851-desktop-cpu-processor/p/N82E16819118506
This is a low power chip that does not need much cooling.

You will need a LGA 1851 motherboard and a modest cooler.
Your current cooler will not mount on lga1851 without an adapter if there even is one.
The thermalright peerless assassin will mount on lga1851:
https://www.newegg.com/p/13C-000Y-000M3?Item=9SIBVHXKCK2083


It uses DDR5 ram and a 2 x 16gb kit of any type should be fine.
With heavy multitasking, you might consider a 2 x 24gb ram kit for about $110.

Start with reusing your 1050 or the 6700XT.
You will then be able t better assess how strong your graphics needs to be.

With some age on it, I would consider replacing the 650w psu.
Look for 850w with a good 10 year warranty.
That will allow a future graphics upgrade.
It will only use the power demanded of it.
Modern graphics cards can have very high power spikes that a stronger psu can handle.
Corsair and seasonic are good places to start.