Upgrade PC or New Build?

[subversiondjs]

Hello everyone,

I'm deliberating two options and thought I'd ask for opinions.

Should I upgrade my existing PC or build a new one?

I built my PC a while ago with the following components:
ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0
AMD FX6300
NVIDIA GTX 760
2X4GB Patriot DD3 RAM

I'm aware that DD3 is superseded by newer technology and my components are outdated now, so what do you think?

 

[DRagor]

Not much sense in upgrading it, but then it all depends on your budget. If you have enough money to get whole new build with decent components (either Ryzen or 8th gen Intel), it would be good move.

 

[JalYt_Justin]

If it were up to me, it'd be in your best interest to get a whole new system. As said before, it's all based on your budget, but nearly everyone on this forum would suggest getting a new system over trying to upgrade on an older platform.

It also kinda depends what you're looking at upgrading to, because basically every GPU GTX 1060/RX480 and above is being price gouged by retailers. I would wait and see if the market for RAM and GPUs stabilize since right now the prices are pretty nonsensical.

 

[subversiondjs]

At what budget does it become worth building a new build?

 

[DRagor]

At what budget does it become worth building a new build?

Assuming you can reuse parts from old build, and not changing GPU for now (because of current prices), the minimum would be around 300-350$.

Intel build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($127.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $342.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 09:24 EST-0500

and AMD build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($98.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $323.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 09:27 EST-0500

 

[subversiondjs]

At what budget does it become worth building a new build?

Assuming you can reuse parts from old build, and not changing GPU for now (because of current prices), the minimum would be around 300-350$.

Intel build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($127.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($92.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $342.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 09:24 EST-0500

and AMD build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($98.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $323.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 09:27 EST-0500

Thank-you, very informative.
When the time comes to upgrade I will probably be looking to spend £600-£800 ($840-1118) and I will be able to use some existing components such as the GPU until prices are more reasonable as you say. What would you suggest in that price margin?

 

[DRagor]

Well, in that case
AMD:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£244.99 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus - STRIX X370-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (£171.97 @ Box Limited)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£202.68 @ Kustom PCs)
Total: £619.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 15:04 GMT+0000

and Intel:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor (£323.95 @ AWD-IT)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - R1 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£72.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX Z370-F GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£176.95 @ AWD-IT)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£179.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £753.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 15:08 GMT+0000

 

[cryoburner]

For most gaming, you'll probably be fine with a more mid-range processor, unless you are live-streaming your gameplay with a CPU-based encoder or something, where those extra cores and threads could provide some benefit. Otherwise, an 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 1700 probably isn't going to provide better gaming performance than a 6-core, 12-thread Ryzen 1600, and a 6-core, 12-thread i7-8700k shouldn't likely provide much better gaming performance than a 6-core, 6-thread 8600k. The money saved by going with a more mid-range CPU could make a much more significant performance difference when you decide to upgrade your graphics card.

And like DRagor said, GPU prices are insanely high right now, and RAM prices are rather high as well. Your GTX 760 will under-perform the rest of the system a bit at 1080p, but I would stick with it for now, unless you are willing to spend far over retail to get a GTX 1060 or higher.

And for RAM, you could probably make do with 8GB for now, as most games still don't benefit much from having more than that. Just make sure that the motherboard you choose has four RAM slots, so you can add more when you actually have need for it, and when the prices have hopefully settled back down.