[SOLVED] Upgrade or new build?

[Tommy "Nightmare" Smith]

Looking for advice on whether to upgrade what I have, or if I should start looking for some new components.

So here's what I have now....built in 2009.

Tower:
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021

Power Supply:
Thermaltake toughpower W0105RU 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153035

Motherboard:
ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

CPU:
Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield Quad-Core 3.2 GHz LGA 1366 130W BX80601960 Desktop Processor
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115224

Cooler:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Memory:
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224

Video:
1023MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (EVGA)
No link cause I don't remember where it came from

Drives:
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM
https://www.newegg.com/samsung-850-evo-250gb/p/N82E16820147372

OS:
Windows 7 Ultimate

Monitor:
AOC 32" TV, 1360x768 display size

Plus some Seagate 4TB backup plus that were taken out of the enclosure and put in the tower for extra storage.


Just for more information:

Approximate Purchase Date: If I just upgrade what I have, I'm looking to do so within the next month. If I build something else, within 6 months.

Budget Range: don't know yet

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, editing video, surfing internet

Are you buying a monitor: Not yet

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, amazon

Location: Connecticut

Overclocking: maybe if I learn how

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Why Are You Upgrading: I need at least more memory and a better video card, and faster is always better.

I use my computer for basically everything, internet, gaming, movies, etc, etc. I typically have 2 or 3 Firefox profiles open at any given time, plus everything else I may run like Discord, Thunderbird, PowerDirector, American Truck Simulator.

I'm typically using over 80% of the memory and have to close out most everything to run American Truck Simulator. I'm running 12GB of RAM, the board only supports 24GB.

Would I be better off just maxing out on RAM and maybe upgrading my video card, or considering a new board, CPU, RAM, etc assuming I would be able to use my current tower, power supply, SSD.

For what it's worth, I've only ever had Intel and know basically nothing about AMD. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[theoneandonlyfoohyking]

That's a very old PC... not worth upgrading as you can't find parts for it

It's better buying a brand new one. The people here can give you plenty of advice regarding that

 

[julienruc]

You can keep things like the case, storage, and monitor. Possibly also the PSU but depending on your budget and the new parts you're getting you might get away with keeping the one you already have.

Can you provide a budget and let us know what the build is for? Because you will need a new combo of CPU/Mobo/RAM and possibly GPU if it's for gaming.

 

[Tommy "Nightmare" Smith]

Thank you for the responses.

I really use the computer for everything, surfing the internet, movies/tv shows, gaming (American Truck Simulator), editing videos in PowerDirector for YouTube. Basically always multitasking.

If I can use my case, drives, and monitor over and operating system aside, let's say a budget of $1000, give or take a hundred or so.

 

[Hellfire13]

This should be good...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | $309.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard | $114.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | $134.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Asus GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card | $499.99 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1059.96
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-24 10:26 EST-0500 |

 

[GarrettL]

I would suggest Ryzen as well.

Just updated from an i7 960 x58. Very noticeable upgrade in performance. You will not be disappointed.

 

[Tommy "Nightmare" Smith]

Thank you all so much for the responses and Merry Christmas!

This will be my first experience with AMD so I'm hoping for the best.

I like the looks of the setup, but I was wondering about this motherboard:
MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gw...atx-am4-motherboard-mpg-x570-gaming-edge-wifi

The reason I ask is even though it is a little more expensive, it supports double the memory and faster speed (128GB and up to vs the 64 of the Tomahawk Max).

 

[Hellfire13]

Thank you all so much for the responses and Merry Christmas!

This will be my first experience with AMD so I'm hoping for the best.

I like the looks of the setup, but I was wondering about this motherboard:
MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gw...atx-am4-motherboard-mpg-x570-gaming-edge-wifi

The reason I ask is even though it is a little more expensive, it supports double the memory and faster speed (128GB and up to vs the 64 of the Tomahawk Max).

Its a good board overall, that is if you dont try to be too adventurous...
https://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_mpg_x570_gaming_edge_wifi/11.htm

 

[Tommy "Nightmare" Smith]

oh I'm not too adventurous like that.... hopefully I can get all the parts in the next couple months here. Thank you very much for the advice and taking your time to help me! I'll report back eventually when it's all together.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I've had AMD for most of my computing life. But these new ryzen chips aren't the same as the fx series was. Put it this way, benchmarks on the 6 core 3600x that's about a 200 dollar chip showed it being about equal to an i7 8700k. So the higher models should be decent as well.

When they went to 1st generation ryzen, they did about a 40% uplift in performance in single thread performance from fx. They've kept improving since then though. Definitely making things interesting.

 

[Tommy "Nightmare" Smith]

That's great to hear, this will be my first experience with AMD since back in the day most of what I heard (whether true or not) that AMD was "cheaper" because it wasn't as good, but these days it doesn't seem to be the case.