[SOLVED] Upgrading an old PC

[GingerGeneral91]

Hello!

I'd appreciate anyone's help or views in identifying the best way to upgrade the build. Typically I use the PC for strategy games or First person/racing games.

My plan is to replace the 980 GPU with a 4080 once the new card releases. Do you see any bottleneck issues with this in the build?

Aside from that do you have any advice on what you would upgrade with an additional £500 or so beyond the GPU upgrade I will make?
Basically looking to get another 4-5 years out the machine. Do I need to replace the all in one cooler? Upgrade the motherboard and CPU or RAM etc?

Please see the components I have below from 2014:
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: H100i (8 years old)
Motherboard: ASUS Z97x Gaming 3
Memory: 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 Memory
Storage: 256gb SSD, 1TB HD, 2TB HD
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 4GB
Case: Coolermaster StormTrooper
Power Supply: 850W Gold

Thanks!


Old post:
PC | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com)

 

[Eximo]

Hmm. Which 850W PSU? RTX4080 is likely to pull between 350W and 450W and have power spikes similar to the high end 30 series cards. You will be looking at 3 8pin PCIe connectors minimum. Also, if that PSU is also 8 years old, about time to replace it.

i7-4790k is going to be a bottleneck to a top of the line GPU, yes. It will work, but there will be a lot of FPS left on the table, particularly in newer games. You would also be running PCIe 3.0 x16 vs the 4.0 x16 that will be on the RTX4080, again, not a huge problem, but it will reduce FPS somewhat. (I am currently running a 3080Ti with PCIe 3.0)

8 years is well beyond the expectations of a closed loop cooler. It would be wise to retire it sooner rather than later.

Your chassis has a clearance of 322mm for GPUs. So most big GPUs are going to fit, but something to check before placing an order.

I would say you should more or less start over.

What kind of monitor are we talking here. Not much point in an RTX4080 if you only have a 1080p 60hz monitor.

CPU
CPU Cooler
Motherboard
RAM
NVMe SSD (you can still use your other storage, but this something you will want)
New Power Supply

About the only thing you could keep is the chassis. And you might want to consider replacing its fans.

Still a few months out from the RTX 40 series launch, Possibly September for an announcement. Though there are rumors that Nvidia wants to push the date back. They overproduced 30 series GPUs thinking the crypto boom would last.

If you want a platform upgrade on the cheap you can look into a i5-12400F and a B660 motherboard.

But we also have Intel 13th gen expected to launch soon, so might be worth waiting for that too.

 

[GingerGeneral91]

Thanks for the swift reply, really helpful comments!

For the PSU it's currently a Corsair 850W RM850 RM Series Power Supply.
For the monitor it's a 49" CRG9 Dual QHD so 5120 x 1440 at 120hz and a 4k TV occasionally simultaneously.
The 980 struggles a little when it comes to games on the monitor but still runs.

As you say it seems a complete rebuild is the direction to go in.
For the 6 items you recommend upgrading, which components would you purchase for value for money?
I'm happy to wait for a 4080 and new intel chip, if the components aren't worth keeping I would just leave it as is.

I've added my guesstimations on cost
CPU - £300
CPU Cooler - £100
Motherboard - £150
RAM - £100
NVMe SSD - £100
New Power Supply - £100
So £850, where would you spend the remaining £150 aside from GPU?

Sounds like I could run the current machine as a server for example.

 

[Eximo]

Well, things are a little pricier then you recall. Swap in a 13600K when the time comes, probably put you a little over £1000.

Corsair RMx 850W should be enough, but it will depend on the RTX4080 in question. Custom AIB boards are likely to be able to pull a lot.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor (£273.51 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler (£60.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z690-P D4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£179.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (£146.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£97.19 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£177.98 @ PC Catalyst)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan (£9.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan (£9.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan (£9.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan (£9.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Total: £971.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-07-18 20:21 BST+0100

 

[GingerGeneral91]

Amazing, what a legend thanks for all the help!
Indeed, that's 8 years of inflation at about 5% average.

Apologies for my remaining dumb questions!
Guessing the bottleneck of those components would be the CPU if I want to unlock even more?
Guessing that motherboard will fit with any new intel chips later this year if I decided to go for that?
Any reason not to get a DDR5 ram motherboard?
Closed cooler not worth it?

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

As you say it seems a complete rebuild is the direction to go in.

^^THIS^^.... if your rig was a few gens newer, maybe stick with it for a while, but otherwise go for it !

And remember, there is a very healthy & robust market for used pc parts, which means you could get back some of the $$ that you spend on a new rig, making that idea a bit moar tempting, yes ?

For example, when I built a new machine last year, I spent $1000 USD for everything except the DDR4, fans, & rad, which I kept for the new build.

But I sold off all the old parts for $722, so the much newer, much faster one only cost me $278.... a pretty sweet deal IMHO