To upgrade not to upgrade

[placebopaper]

So here is my issue, presently I have a 990fx sabbertooth mobo, Fx 8350 cpu, and two 7950’s. Is it worth upgrading to a newer cpu, mobo, and gpu? Or should I just get a new gpu. On that topic should I get two rx580’s or one 1080ti(or wait for 2080ti). I pretty much only game now a days and occasionally do some video rendering and I use the adobe suite daily, along with several CAD programs. As far as performance on my work software I have no issues, however with games I am starting to run into roadblocks where I can’t support the games or run them at their highest settings anymore.
I have not kept up with hardware rating over the past 8 years since I constructed my current build, I want another rig that will keep up with the curve for atleast 3-5 years. Advice please?!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Getting a new GPU alone will not remove the performance deficiency from the 8 year old platform. It is seriously outdated. It would be highly advisable that you upgrade CPU, memory, motherboard and GPU card, as everything I see there is pretty old even though it was fairly decent for it's time. Unfortunately, unlike some platforms, that one was outgunned even when it was a current platform and it has simply continued to be left behind as time has gone on.

How much RAM do you currently have in use with that system?

What kind of budget would you be working with for an upgrade?

What are the exact model numbers of your current case and power supply?

Has the power supply been in service with that system for those 8 years?

Has that system been a dual card system for all of those 8 years?

What resolution and in game settings expectations do you have or plan to use?

WHICH CAD programs do you primarily use?

 

[J_E_D_70]

Is your cpu, gpu, or both at 100% liad on games that don’t perform like you want them to?

Is your monitor 1080p/60hz or something else?

 

[Dugimodo]

I recommend sticking to a single graphics card personally, and your CPU would limit you in modern games.

 

[placebopaper]

16gb 1866 Corsair vengeance ddr3 ram, amd Fx 8350 clocked at 4.8 ghz(watercooled), 990fx sabertooth, sapphire 7950 x 2 gpu, ax 1200i psu, 2 850 evo ssd(recent editions). The two gpu have been in service for 5 years, the cpu has been in service 8 at the above mentions clock speed, the ram has been there for 8 years, the psu has been in service for 5 years and kept dust free, I have two cases to choose from one is a cm storm and the other is a rosewell cube. The cm storm is my home server and the cube holds all my gaming components. I regularly use autocad, bsolid, solidworks, and rhino. I’d like to not spend more that 1500 initially but I am okay with 3000 if in incremental purchases. I would like to upgrade to 4K if the refresh rates on those displays are decent for gaming(haven’t done much research) I am presently operating with two 1080p displays of which I am happy with for the most part.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, here is what I think, and keep in mind it is only my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the community at large.

4k gaming is overrated. Unless you plan to game using very large monitors placed a good distance away from you, you would be much better off at 1440p if you want to increase resolution, or staying with 1080p. A lot of competitive gamers are actually dropping to 720/900p to increase frame rates and for targeting accuracy. Obviously, lower resolutions tend to increase the "size" of things, making them easier to target. I think targeting and frame rates on modern systems with top shelf cards is good enough at 1080p, especially if you are not a professional, competitive gamer. And of course, comparatively, few of us are.

There is something to be said for eye candy howerver, so 1440p makes for a good compromise between the benefits of higher and lower resolutions, plus 1440p doesn't increase the demands on the system so much that it dwarfs the benefits. Also, you can generally allow for higher refresh rates at 1440p than at 4k, which, depending on what you like might help to eliminate some visual problems like tearing etc. I think either 1440p or 1080p are still the more viable choices.

120hz is the maximum refresh rate you will be capable of currently allowing on 4k displays. You would have to seriously drop some settings down at 4k in order to achieve frame rates that don't cause problems with the refresh rate on any game that has high-medium to high resource demands.

I don't know at what level of expertise you use Solidworks and the rest of the CAD programs, and I am by no means a professional when it comes to use of such programs, but I do use them from time to time and I find that even at 16GB I tend to begin running low on resources when I run any somewhat complex or slightly larger projects on them. You might consider 32GB. If 16GB works fine for you now and you have no expectation of needing more memory for these applications, and have not seen any performance issues with heavy multitasking, then 16GB might be fine still.

Obviously, 32GB is a lot more expensive than 16GB. It's also highly recommended that if you THINK you might need 16GB at some point, you get it from the start using only two modules to do so. The use of four modules versus two puts a noticeable and generally unwelcome increased demand on the memory controller and usually requires a significant bump in CPU clock speed and DRAM voltage to achieve. Sometimes advertised frequencies on memory are not even achievable with four modules as most advertised speeds are ONLY intended to be applied to pairs of modules except on kits specifically intended and targeted for platforms that support triple or quad channel memory operation.

Also, what is your current watercooler model and do you know whether or not there are adapters available for it, for current socket configurations? Do you have a distinct preference for AMD or Intel? Currently Ryzen looks like the better choice for the CAD programs, but Intel is supposed to be releasing the 9th gen Core-I processors in the near future that increase core counts and return to the use of internal soldering between the die and heat spreader, which might very well make them good candidates for a bit of decent overclocking in addition to any added IPC or core increases they might see. Could be worth waiting for, along with seeing what the 2xxx series Nvidia cards offer once reviews hit.