Upgrade suggestions for 8 year old rig

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Gregadethhh

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In the new year I'm looking to update my 8 year old rig, mainly the CPU, MOBO and RAM.

CPU: i7 8700k or i5 9600k or other suggestions?
Motherboard: Z370 or Z390 chipset?
RAM: 2x8Gb 2400 or 3200? (is it worth buying faster?)

I intend to keep my current GPU for the foreseeable future, Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 8Gb and my PSU is a 2 year old XFX Pro 1050W 80+ Gold.

I want to play the latest titles in high/ultra 1080p 60fps I may upgrade the GPU and go to 1440p in 18-24 months. I've got a budget of around £600-£750 ($750-$950). I'm not bothered about flashy RGB either.

Also, as a side note would I have to get a new CPU cooler? (I have a CM Hyper212+) and is Intel Optane Memory worth putting in my system for an extra £30-60?
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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I would not worry about the optane. The same cooler should work.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£239.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£164.38 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£126.95 @ More Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Total: £616.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-29 17:55 GMT+0000

Or a bit over your budget gets you 2 more cores.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£390.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£164.38 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£126.95 @ More Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Total: £766.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-29 17:56 GMT+0000
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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I'd get a 1440P/Freesync monitor with the upgrade.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£239.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£164.38 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£126.95 @ More Computers)
Monitor: AOC - Q3279VWFD8 31.5" 2560x1440 60 Hz Monitor (£198.49 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £729.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-29 17:59 GMT+0000
 
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Gregadethhh

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Thanks! I wouldn't need an OS as I'm just going to use the 2 HDDs I've already got which would put the i7 in my price range... are there major differences between the Z370 and Z390 chipsets?
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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If you have the OEM version of windows your going to need a new one to register it and a fresh install of windows. (The fresh install will be needed either way you cant just hook up a drive with windows on it to a upgraded motherboard and expect it to work)

The Z390 BIOS is ready for the 9xxx processor the 370 will probably need a BIOS update before the PC will work.
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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Their close in performance 8 true cores vs 6 cores with hyper threading.
The 8700K would put you back in budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£376.80 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£138.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£126.95 @ More Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Total: £727.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-29 18:13 GMT+0000
 
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Gregadethhh

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So even though I paid for Windows 10 Pro 64-bit in the past I have to re-buy because I've upgraded some components? Man why would Microsoft do that?
 
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jeremyj_83

jeremyj_83

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£289.20 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (£134.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£124.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£125.97 @ BT Shop)
Total: £675.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-29 18:12 GMT+0000

Going with Ryzen you can add a 1TB SSD and still be in you budget.
Gaming performance will be the same as with the Intel chip as well.
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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Depends on the exact version you bought some are good for 3 builds.
 
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jeremyj_83

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If you have the product key you can probably keep the same Windows copy. When all else fails, call Microsoft and tell them that you had to reinstall Windows.
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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Ouch. Their not stupid. When you reinstall on the same board it will activate.
 
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Gregadethhh

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thanks jeremyj_83 and Zerk2012. Never gone for the i7 before, currently rocking the i5 2500k! haha! I want a CPU that's as reliable as that beast. The 9700k/8700k should last me about 5 years? I only OC'd my 2500k recently so I'd be looking to do the same again.
 
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WildCard999

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"So even though I paid for Windows 10 Pro 64-bit in the past I have to re-buy because I've upgraded some components? Man why would Microsoft do that?"

Money.


Just lost my Win10 Pro because I changed my CPU/MB/RAM even though it was tied to my Microsoft account, after this I will no longer buy Windows, I know your pain.
 
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Gregadethhh

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ouch! Did their customer support not sort you out? I had a new motherboard when I had Windows 8 and only had an upgrade license but I called them up and they gave me a full license.
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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My son is rocking my old 2500K still kicking for the games he plays.

Should last around that long, nobody can tell what games and work related software will need in a few years. I have heard for a long time gaming will need more cores than 2 and more memory than 8gb both have just came true although the more than 2 cores was first.

My i7 4790k is 4 years old and still have no reason to upgrade.
 
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Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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Thst works sometimes and sometimes not. You can steal from a company or go legit.
 
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jeremyj_83

jeremyj_83

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Really look at the Ryzen chip. You can save some money that can be put to another spot on the PC and it will last 5 years. The Ryzen 7 is an 8/16 CPU that can handle whatever you throw at it.
 
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jeremyj_83

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That will only work if the computer has TPM setup. Otherwise it is not assured that a reinstall on the same hardware will result in the license working right away, if at all.
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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The license was legit, was a upgrade from Win7 Pro during the free upgrade period and is connected to my account. My next step is to call them but I had to do a email change which takes a month to do so that's coming up on 12/8/18 so I'm going to wait for that verification and see if logging into my MS account fixes it or not. If not I'm going back to Win10 home unliscened and if I get the watermark then oh well, I can't justify buying another license when I've already paid over $129 for the Win7 Pro.
 
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