Build Advice Upgrade advice for 1080p gaming 2024

[Doxy06]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week/ASAP

Budget Range: Under £1000, though for 1080p I can't imagine spending anything close to that.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet browsing, watching movies/tv shows

Are you buying a monitor: No


Parts to Upgrade: Cpu and GPU, possibly upgrading PSU and CPU cooler depending on recommendation.

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon for new, CEX or Ebay for 2nd hand. In the UK theres a somewhat decent market for 2nd hand GPUs and CPUs, any recommendations I'd be willing to buy 2nd hand if available to save money.

Location: UK

Parts Preferences: AMD CPU

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: Main Monitor 1080p 144hz



And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: This past week my 2060 super gave out and after testing in different systems and psus, its seemingly completely fried. Luckily I was planning an upgrade soon so this is as good a time as any.

My current system is as follows:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
CPU cooler: Stock ^
Motherboard: B450 Tomahawk Max
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16gb DDR4 3200MHz
SSD/HDD: Kingston A2000 500GB M.2, 2x WD Blue 1TB SSD
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 8GB (DEAD)
PSU: Corsair TX550M from Late 2019
Chassis: Fractal Design Meshify C
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: Acer 1080p 144HZ, Asus 1440p 60HZ (unsure on models specifically).

I'm not interested in upgrading to AM5, so sticking with my Tomahawk for this upgrade with whatever BIOS update needed. Like I said above, just looking to upgrade my CPU and GPU, upgrading the CPU cooler and PSU too if needed.


My aim is for a gaming system which can comfortably handle any current or future AAA games thrown at it at highest settings (No interest in Raytracing), at 1080p for many years to come (5+ years). I'm not interested in upgrading to 1440p as of right now, though I imagine anything in the midrange or higher these days could handle 1440p too? Not looking to spend a huge amount of money, of course I spend a lot to get a high end combo to blitz any game at 1080p, looking for the sweet spot of price and performance for 1080p gaming right now.

Thanks for any help!

 

[LordVile]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week/ASAP

Budget Range: Under £1000, though for 1080p I can't imagine spending anything close to that.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet browsing, watching movies/tv shows

Are you buying a monitor: No


Parts to Upgrade: Cpu and GPU, possibly upgrading PSU and CPU cooler depending on recommendation.

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon for new, CEX or Ebay for 2nd hand. In the UK theres a somewhat decent market for 2nd hand GPUs and CPUs, any recommendations I'd be willing to buy 2nd hand if available to save money.

Location: UK

Parts Preferences: AMD CPU

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: Main Monitor 1080p 144hz



And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: This past week my 2060 super gave out and after testing in different systems and psus, its seemingly completely fried. Luckily I was planning an upgrade soon so this is as good a time as any.

My current system is as follows:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
CPU cooler: Stock ^
Motherboard: B450 Tomahawk Max
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16gb DDR4 3200MHz
SSD/HDD: Kingston A2000 500GB M.2, 2x WD Blue 1TB SSD
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 8GB (DEAD)
PSU: Corsair TX550M from Late 2019
Chassis: Fractal Design Meshify C
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: Acer 1080p 144HZ, Asus 1440p 60HZ (unsure on models specifically).

I'm not interested in upgrading to AM5, so sticking with my Tomahawk for this upgrade with whatever BIOS update needed. Like I said above, just looking to upgrade my CPU and GPU, upgrading the CPU cooler and PSU too if needed.


My aim is for a gaming system which can comfortably handle any current or future AAA games thrown at it at highest settings (No interest in Raytracing), at 1080p for many years to come (5+ years). I'm not interested in upgrading to 1440p as of right now, though I imagine anything in the midrange or higher these days could handle 1440p too? Not looking to spend a huge amount of money, of course I spend a lot to get a high end combo to blitz any game at 1080p, looking for the sweet spot of price and performance for 1080p gaming right now.

Thanks for any help!

It depends what you want to play really because you cannot guarantee that in a few years time you’ll be able to play hames at 1080p maxed.

Anyway you should look at a 5700X3D which is about £180, a 850W PSU which is about 100-120 leaving you 700 for the GPU. Just depends if you prefer team red or greens features

 

[jeremyj_83]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week/ASAP

Budget Range: Under £1000, though for 1080p I can't imagine spending anything close to that.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet browsing, watching movies/tv shows

Are you buying a monitor: No


Parts to Upgrade: Cpu and GPU, possibly upgrading PSU and CPU cooler depending on recommendation.

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon for new, CEX or Ebay for 2nd hand. In the UK theres a somewhat decent market for 2nd hand GPUs and CPUs, any recommendations I'd be willing to buy 2nd hand if available to save money.

Location: UK

Parts Preferences: AMD CPU

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: Main Monitor 1080p 144hz



And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: This past week my 2060 super gave out and after testing in different systems and psus, its seemingly completely fried. Luckily I was planning an upgrade soon so this is as good a time as any.

My current system is as follows:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
CPU cooler: Stock ^
Motherboard: B450 Tomahawk Max
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16gb DDR4 3200MHz
SSD/HDD: Kingston A2000 500GB M.2, 2x WD Blue 1TB SSD
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 8GB (DEAD)
PSU: Corsair TX550M from Late 2019
Chassis: Fractal Design Meshify C
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: Acer 1080p 144HZ, Asus 1440p 60HZ (unsure on models specifically).

I'm not interested in upgrading to AM5, so sticking with my Tomahawk for this upgrade with whatever BIOS update needed. Like I said above, just looking to upgrade my CPU and GPU, upgrading the CPU cooler and PSU too if needed.


My aim is for a gaming system which can comfortably handle any current or future AAA games thrown at it at highest settings (No interest in Raytracing), at 1080p for many years to come (5+ years). I'm not interested in upgrading to 1440p as of right now, though I imagine anything in the midrange or higher these days could handle 1440p too? Not looking to spend a huge amount of money, of course I spend a lot to get a high end combo to blitz any game at 1080p, looking for the sweet spot of price and performance for 1080p gaming right now.

Thanks for any help!

This is what I would look at for upgrading CPU, PSU, GPU, and CPU Cooler.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor (£169.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£52.43 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Fighter OC Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Video Card (£330.43 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£121.72 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £673.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-10 15:28 BST+0100


Going with an 850W PSU only raises the build about 30 quid.
PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£158.91 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £158.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-10 15:29 BST+0100

 

[Doxy06]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

This is what I would look at for upgrading CPU, PSU, GPU, and CPU Cooler.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor (£169.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£52.43 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: PowerColor Fighter OC Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Video Card (£330.43 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£121.72 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £673.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-10 15:28 BST+0100


Going with an 850W PSU only raises the build about 30 quid.
PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£158.91 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £158.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-10 15:29 BST+0100

Right now I can get the Corsair RM850e Fully Modular ATX Power Supply for just £100, is this a good PSU?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!


Right now I can get the Corsair RM850e Fully Modular ATX Power Supply for just £100, is this a good PSU?

The RMe is Corsairs more budget line. They are decent PSUs that go cheaper on some parts. Instead of having all Japanese capacitors link the RMx the RMe uses some cheaper capacitors on the secondary side. Here is a review of the 1000W version. https://hwbusters.com/psus/corsair-rm1000e-gen5-psu-review/10/

This is a good place to start for looking at the best PSUs that Aris has reviewed at different wattage. https://hwbusters.com/best_picks/best-atxv3-pcie5-ready-psus-picks-hardware-busters/

 

[Doxy06]

The RMe is Corsairs more budget line. They are decent PSUs that go cheaper on some parts. Instead of having all Japanese capacitors link the RMx the RMe uses some cheaper capacitors on the secondary side. Here is a review of the 1000W version. https://hwbusters.com/psus/corsair-rm1000e-gen5-psu-review/10/

This is a good place to start for looking at the best PSUs that Aris has reviewed at different wattage. https://hwbusters.com/best_picks/best-atxv3-pcie5-ready-psus-picks-hardware-busters/

I see. I'll have a look through, thank you! May I ask what was the thought process behind the 7700 XT over any other cards from AMD or Nvidia? I've become very out of the loop when it comes to PC components since my last build in 2019, so I'm not very clued in when it comes to the current GPU market.

 

[jeremyj_83]

I see. I'll have a look through, thank you! May I ask what was the thought process behind the 7700 XT over any other cards from AMD or Nvidia? I've become very out of the loop when it comes to PC components since my last build in 2019, so I'm not very clued in when it comes to the current GPU market.

Price/performance is what I was looking at. The 6750XT starts at 300 Quid and is about 15% slower than the 7700XT. At 330 Quid the 7700XT gives 15% more performance for 10% extra money so it makes sense. The 4060Ti 8GB starts at the same price as the 7700XT and is about 10% slower in rasterization performance and 10% faster in RT performance. However, with only 8GB VRAM soon that will be a limit for 1080p Ultra gaming. Going to the 4060Ti 16GB raises the price to 410 Quid and you don't get any extra performance over the 4060Ti 8GB. About the only thing is it has more VRAM than the 4060Ti. The 7700XT comes with 12GB VRAM which will be fine for 1080p Ultra for a long time. It does use more power than the 4060Ti though.

 

[Doxy06]

Price/performance is what I was looking at. The 6750XT starts at 300 Quid and is about 15% slower than the 7700XT. At 330 Quid the 7700XT gives 15% more performance for 10% extra money so it makes sense. The 4060Ti 8GB starts at the same price as the 7700XT and is about 10% slower in rasterization performance and 10% faster in RT performance. However, with only 8GB VRAM soon that will be a limit for 1080p Ultra gaming. Going to the 4060Ti 16GB raises the price to 410 Quid and you don't get any extra performance over the 4060Ti 8GB. About the only thing is it has more VRAM than the 4060Ti. The 7700XT comes with 12GB VRAM which will be fine for 1080p Ultra for a long time. It does use more power than the 4060Ti though.

Gotcha, makes sense. I noticed that the Powercooler Fighter card is seemingly a US Import with an expected delivery dating for somewhere in November which is too long of a wait for me

Would the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT GAMING OC be a suitable replacement, just for 40 quid extra? Or at that point spending 40 quid extra is there a better performing card I could be buying at a similar price range?

 

[jeremyj_83]

I didn't include the 4070 because it is 500 Quid for 10% more rasterization performance but almost 50% better RT performance. If RT is important to you then the 4070 could make sense. However, IMO rasterization performance is more important as not all games have RT and even on the fastest cards RT is a large performance penalty. For the same reason the 7800XT doesn't make much sense. It starts at 440 Quid for only 15% more performance so the value isn't there IMO.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Gotcha, makes sense. I noticed that the Powercooler Fighter card is seemingly a US Import with an expected delivery dating for somewhere in November which is too long of a wait for me

Would the Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT GAMING OC be a suitable replacement, just for 40 quid extra? Or at that point spending 40 quid extra is there a better performing card I could be buying at a similar price range?

For some reason the link you gave me has the Gigabyte card at 315 Quid. At that price it is a great deal. It says it is sold and shipped by Amazon so that is amazing.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Shockingly there is a Gigabyte 7800XT card for 400 Quid. At that price it could be interesting as you get 15% better performance for 25% more cost. You lose a little on the price/performance but it isn't like paying 50% more for 15% better performance. You also get 16GB VRAM which would help in the future if you went to 1440p gaming.

 

[Doxy06]

For some reason the link you gave me has the Gigabyte card at 315 Quid. At that price it is a great deal. It says it is sold and shipped by Amazon so that is amazing.

Shockingly there is a Gigabyte 7800XT card for 400 Quid. At that price it could be interesting as you get 15% better performance for 25% more cost. You lose a little on the price/performance but it isn't like paying 50% more for 15% better performance. You also get 16GB VRAM which would help in the future if you went to 1440p gaming.

Strange, both the 7700 XT and 7800 XT are £379.99 and £479.99 respectively for me

 

[jeremyj_83]

Strange, both the 7700 XT and 7800 XT are £379.99 and £479.99 respectively

That is really odd as I'm on Amazon.co.uk when looking at the prices. Try getting to the cards via the Gigabyte Amazon Store to see if the prices are different.

 

[Doxy06]

That is really odd as I'm on Amazon.co.uk when looking at the prices. Try getting to the cards via the Gigabyte Amazon Store to see if the prices are different.

https://imgur.com/a/YlmsPur

View: https://imgur.com/a/YlmsPur


Still no ball, I've never seen that before haha! Wish I had that 400 quid 7800XT deal!

 

[helper800]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week/ASAP

Budget Range: Under £1000, though for 1080p I can't imagine spending anything close to that.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet browsing, watching movies/tv shows

Are you buying a monitor: No


Parts to Upgrade: Cpu and GPU, possibly upgrading PSU and CPU cooler depending on recommendation.

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon for new, CEX or Ebay for 2nd hand. In the UK theres a somewhat decent market for 2nd hand GPUs and CPUs, any recommendations I'd be willing to buy 2nd hand if available to save money.

Location: UK

Parts Preferences: AMD CPU

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: Main Monitor 1080p 144hz



And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: This past week my 2060 super gave out and after testing in different systems and psus, its seemingly completely fried. Luckily I was planning an upgrade soon so this is as good a time as any.

My current system is as follows:

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
CPU cooler: Stock ^
Motherboard: B450 Tomahawk Max
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x16gb DDR4 3200MHz
SSD/HDD: Kingston A2000 500GB M.2, 2x WD Blue 1TB SSD
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 8GB (DEAD)
PSU: Corsair TX550M from Late 2019
Chassis: Fractal Design Meshify C
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: Acer 1080p 144HZ, Asus 1440p 60HZ (unsure on models specifically).

I'm not interested in upgrading to AM5, so sticking with my Tomahawk for this upgrade with whatever BIOS update needed. Like I said above, just looking to upgrade my CPU and GPU, upgrading the CPU cooler and PSU too if needed.


My aim is for a gaming system which can comfortably handle any current or future AAA games thrown at it at highest settings (No interest in Raytracing), at 1080p for many years to come (5+ years). I'm not interested in upgrading to 1440p as of right now, though I imagine anything in the midrange or higher these days could handle 1440p too? Not looking to spend a huge amount of money, of course I spend a lot to get a high end combo to blitz any game at 1080p, looking for the sweet spot of price and performance for 1080p gaming right now.

Thanks for any help!

You can very easily spend 1000 quid upgrading your current PC to be relevant to 1080p gaming for the next 5+ years unless you don't care about higher settings or 60+fps. Considering you may also want to jump to 1440p in the next 5 years or so I would suggest getting the best performance per dollar graphics card you can get which would be the 7900 XT IMO. Here is my full recommendation:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor (£169.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£33.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For £0.00)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (Purchased For £0.00)
Storage: Kingston A2000 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN580 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card (£638.39 @ Newegg UK)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For £0.00)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£119.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £961.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-10 16:37 BST+0100

 

[jeremyj_83]

https://imgur.com/a/YlmsPur

View: https://imgur.com/a/YlmsPur


Still no ball, I've never seen that before haha! Wish I had that 400 quid 7800XT deal!

That is wild that the prices are different.

https://imgur.com/a/weird

View: https://imgur.com/a/weird-wNxFui7?third_party=1


Are you able to get onto a VPN to access amazon.co.uk from the USA?

 

[Doxy06]

That is wild that the prices are different.

https://imgur.com/a/weird

View: https://imgur.com/a/weird-wNxFui7?third_party=1


Are you able to get onto a VPN to access amazon.co.uk from the USA?

Strange, I'll have a go.


By the way I'm able to get my hands on a second hand RX 6800 16GB for £350 (with an included 2 years of warranty), I've seen that those last gen Radeon cards stand up quite well to the 7000 series. What do you think?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Strange, I'll have a go.


By the way I'm able to get my hands on a second hand RX 6800 16GB for £350 (with an included 2 years of warranty), I've seen that those last gen Radeon cards stand up quite well to the 7000 series. What do you think?

The 6800 and 7700XT are almost identical in rasterization performance but the 7700XT has about 10% better RT performance. The biggest difference is in VRAM where the 6800 has 16GB and the 7700XT has 12GB. Either of them are good for 1080p and current 1440p.

 

[helper800]

The 6800 and 7700XT are almost identical in rasterization performance but the 7700XT has about 10% better RT performance. The biggest difference is in VRAM where the 6800 has 16GB and the 7700XT has 12GB. Either of them are good for 1080p and current 1440p.

Good for 1080p and 1440p is extremely subjective. If we are talking about the latest AAA games you will get playable framerates' (60+fps) now if you lower a few settings, but what about in 3, 4, 5+ years?

 

[LordVile]

Good for 1080p and 1440p is extremely subjective. If we are talking about the latest AAA games you will get playable framerates' (60+fps) now if you lower a few settings, but what about in 3, 4, 5+ years?

Also DLSS is significantly better than FSR so nvidia cards might have longer legs

 

[jeremyj_83]

Also DLSS is significantly better than FSR so nvidia cards might have longer legs

Image quality DLSS has a slight edge but performance isn't that big of a difference.