[SOLVED] Upgrading my MSI GeForce GTX 1060 X 6GB and Rest of My Build Secondly

[Lazarist Letho]

I'm starting the process of upgrading my hardware since its been 3 years since I had built my computer and what is inside my computer is much older than that. The main thing I wanted to focus on was the graphics card, it is good but it is starting to show its age with the newer games coming out so I wanted to upgrade it with something that is better but I don't have a whole lot of money to work with I think I can spend around 500 not sure yet and I will post my computer specs below. I also have to upgrade all those as well but I can probably go with out changing some of them, probably just the monitor, motherboard, graphics card and RAM. I was looking around a lot and found Radeon RX 580, RX 5500XT, GTX 1650 Super, 1070 Ti and GTX 1660 but I cant figure out what is best or if they have any real significance in percentage boost from what I currently have. Any help would be appreciated and if I should move to a different thread for better help let me know this is my first time on here.

I have a Intel Core i5-7600k CPU @ 3.80GHz (3.79GHz),

HP Pavilion 22cwa 21.5Inch Full HD 1080p IPS LED monitor, VGA and HDMI

G.Skill Ripjaws V series 16GB (2x8GB) 288-Pin,

MSI GeForce GTX 1060 X 6GB, MSI Z270-A PRO LGA 1151,

Intel Z270 SATA 6GB/s USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard,

Fractal Design Define R5 Black Window Silent ATX Mid tower computer case,

Sea Sonic M12II 520 Bronze EVO Edition 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 80 plus bronze,

Asus Xonar DGX Gaming Grade PCI-Express x1 5.1-ch audio card

 

[RTX 2080]

I'm assuming you are using a Solid State Hard Drive (wasn't mentioned). If you aren't, you should get one.

A few things I noticed:

1.) Most of your hardware is still decent. 16 GB of RAM is what you want, there is no reason for you to upgrade that, it would be a waste of money.

2.) You mentioned upgrading your motherboard, but not your CPU:

• Usually, upgrading your motherboard isn't useful in of itself, most of the time its done to take advantage of a new type of CPU.
• You cannot upgrade your motherboard to a newer one without upgrading your CPU as well, as your current CPU is not compatible with a newer motherboard.
• Upgrading your motherboard and CPU in a way that mattered would use up most of your $500 budget; your current CPU is fine for most modern games (even though 4 core / 4 thread CPUs are starting to bottleneck certain games like Call of Duty Warzone, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Microsoft flight simulator to name a few examples). With a limited budget, I'd recommend you put your money where it'll make the most difference: monitor and GPU.

3.) GPUs are in an interesting place right now. Nvidia is releasing the RTX 3000 series which means you have one of two choices to make: wait for an RTX 3050/3060 to come out or buy a 1070 Ti. Allow me to explain:

• Most of the GPUs you listed are a bad idea to get: the RX 580, RX 5500XT, and GTX 1650 Super are essentially tied with your 1060; a 1660 would be only a tiny bit faster (5ish%). All of these are a waste of your money.
• Out of the ones you listed, the 1070 Ti is easily your best choice: expect a solid 50% speed improvement no problem.
• A new GPU faster than a 1070 Ti currently means a 2060 Super, which is expensive and is due to be replaced soon. I'd stay away from RX 5600/5700 cards; those have been plagued by driver/software problems from day one and I still don't trust them.

So if you want to upgrade now, I'd recommend a 1070 Ti (I saw some for roughly $250 on eBay) and a variable refresh rate 1080p gaming monitor like the Acer XFA240 (about $200 on amazon.com currently). The Acer XFA240 is 24 inches, color accurate, G-sync compatible, and goes all the way up to 144 Hz. Here is a review for it right here.

A 1440p gaming monitor would have better pixel density, but it would also be more expensive and you'd run into the same problem you have now, where your GPU can't keep up with the games you play (the increase in power from the 1070 Ti would be negated by the increased power needed to drive 1440p resolution). Thus, you should stick with a 1080p monitor.

 

[geofelt]

New gen 3000 series cards are a generational update.
If you want to buy new, I would wait for 3060 or 3070 availability and benchmarks.
If you will buy used, there should be some good sales on ebay for cards like GTX1080ti which are being dumped in favor of the new 3000 series cards.

 

[Quanticriver]

I second geofelt on this one, 2nd hand prizes of the 1080 are really dropping in my country too

Which in your case would be a stellar buy

 

[Lazarist Letho]

I'm assuming you are using a Solid State Hard Drive (wasn't mentioned). If you aren't, you should get one.

A few things I noticed:

1.) Most of your hardware is still decent. 16 GB of RAM is what you want, there is no reason for you to upgrade that, it would be a waste of money.

2.) You mentioned upgrading your motherboard, but not your CPU:

• Usually, upgrading your motherboard isn't useful in of itself, most of the time its done to take advantage of a new type of CPU.
• You cannot upgrade your motherboard to a newer one without upgrading your CPU as well, as your current CPU is not compatible with a newer motherboard.
• Upgrading your motherboard and CPU in a way that mattered would use up most of your $500 budget; your current CPU is fine for most modern games (even though 4 core / 4 thread CPUs are starting to bottleneck certain games like Call of Duty Warzone, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Microsoft flight simulator to name a few examples). With a limited budget, I'd recommend you put your money where it'll make the most difference: monitor and GPU.

3.) GPUs are in an interesting place right now. Nvidia is releasing the RTX 3000 series which means you have one of two choices to make: wait for an RTX 3050/3060 to come out or buy a 1070 Ti. Allow me to explain:

• Most of the GPUs you listed are a bad idea to get: the RX 580, RX 5500XT, and GTX 1650 Super are essentially tied with your 1060; a 1660 would be only a tiny bit faster (5ish%). All of these are a waste of your money.
• Out of the ones you listed, the 1070 Ti is easily your best choice: expect a solid 50% speed improvement no problem.
• A new GPU faster than a 1070 Ti currently means a 2060 Super, which is expensive and is due to be replaced soon. I'd stay away from RX 5600/5700 cards; those have been plagued by driver/software problems from day one and I still don't trust them.

So if you want to upgrade now, I'd recommend a 1070 Ti (I saw some for roughly $250 on eBay) and a variable refresh rate 1080p gaming monitor like the Acer XFA240 (about $200 on amazon.com currently). The Acer XFA240 is 24 inches, color accurate, G-sync compatible, and goes all the way up to 144 Hz. Here is a review for it right here.

A 1440p gaming monitor would have better pixel density, but it would also be more expensive and you'd run into the same problem you have now, where your GPU can't keep up with the games you play (the increase in power from the 1070 Ti would be negated by the increased power needed to drive 1440p resolution). Thus, you should stick with a 1080p monitor.

Thank you I really appreciate it, I do have a SSD (2) things you pointed out makes sense with the motherboard and CPU. I should have clarified that the 500 roughly budget was for just the GPU not the entire build I can pay a certain amount for each piece of hardware that I plan on getting. I will definitely look into the 1070 Ti and the monitor, as for the motherboard and CPU I don't remember the motherboard making any difference besides making everything fit but correct me if I'm wrong but in that field I can search something that will fit everything together. For the CPU I was taking a look at the ryzen series, I have never used AMD only intel but I keep hearing stuff about it and in some instances far better than an intel but I haven't done much research on that yet. Do you have any insight in that to share? my knowledge only goes so far as this is something I dont devote large amounts of time to.

 

[RTX 2080]

Thank you I really appreciate it, I do have a SSD (2) things you pointed out makes sense with the motherboard and CPU. I should have clarified that the 500 roughly budget was for just the GPU not the entire build I can pay a certain amount for each piece of hardware that I plan on getting. I will definitely look into the 1070 Ti and the monitor, as for the motherboard and CPU I don't remember the motherboard making any difference besides making everything fit but correct me if I'm wrong but in that field I can search something that will fit everything together. For the CPU I was taking a look at the ryzen series, I have never used AMD only intel but I keep hearing stuff about it and in some instances far better than an intel but I haven't done much research on that yet. Do you have any insight in that to share? my knowledge only goes so far as this is something I dont devote large amounts of time to.

Ryzen CPUs are popular these days because you get lots of cores and threads for a reasonable price which makes them oftentimes a better value than a similar Intel CPU. However, for the best performance in CPU intensive games (and at higher frame rates) a Ryzen CPU will hold you back.

The issue with Intel systems right now is that the extra performance is there, but it doesn't come cheap. A good Ryzen CPU can be paired with a relatively inexpensive motherboard, but the best Intel processors require a somewhat expensive Z490 motherboard. Then the CPUs themselves (i5-10600k, i7-10700k, i9-10900k) are not cheap, and they also use more power than their Ryzen counterparts and thus also run hotter, necessitating better cooling.

If you can afford $500 for a graphics card (in which case I'd say you should wait for a RTX 3070), you'll need a new CPU to keep up. If you can afford it, I'd recommend that you stick with Intel despite the caveats and upgrade to a well-reviewed Z490 motherboard and a i7-10700k, although a i5-10600k will do in a pinch. Whichever one you roll with, you should upgrade your power supply, as your current one won't cut it with both a RTX 3070 and a thirsty intel CPU; a high-quality 650 watt model should suffice, although more wouldn't hurt. I recommend you check out the Tom's Hardware best PSU list here.

Obviously, a RTX 3070 has so much more power that I'd recommend you a 1440p monitor for sure. Let me know how you feel about all this and I'll answer your questions as best as I can.

 

[Lazarist Letho]

Ryzen CPUs are popular these days because you get lots of cores and threads for a reasonable price which makes them oftentimes a better value than a similar Intel CPU. However, for the best performance in CPU intensive games (and at higher frame rates) a Ryzen CPU will hold you back.

The issue with Intel systems right now is that the extra performance is there, but it doesn't come cheap. A good Ryzen CPU can be paired with a relatively inexpensive motherboard, but the best Intel processors require a somewhat expensive Z490 motherboard. Then the CPUs themselves (i5-10600k, i7-10700k, i9-10900k) are not cheap, and they also use more power than their Ryzen counterparts and thus also run hotter, necessitating better cooling.

If you can afford $500 for a graphics card (in which case I'd say you should wait for a RTX 3070), you'll need a new CPU to keep up. If you can afford it, I'd recommend that you stick with Intel despite the caveats and upgrade to a well-reviewed Z490 motherboard and a i7-10700k, although a i5-10600k will do in a pinch. Whichever one you roll with, you should upgrade your power supply, as your current one won't cut it with both a RTX 3070 and a thirsty intel CPU; a high-quality 650 watt model should suffice, although more wouldn't hurt. I recommend you check out the Tom's Hardware best PSU list here.

Obviously, a RTX 3070 has so much more power that I'd recommend you a 1440p monitor for sure. Let me know how you feel about all this and I'll answer your questions as best as I can.

It is solid advice, I was trying to search my motherboard to see if what I was looking at (like the 1070 Ti) was compatible. I bought the motherboard in 2017 off of outletPC but that website is like going under and when I go back to the order the motherboard is no longer on the site and when I web search it it shows me what appears to be the motherboard but it says date first available was 2019 or 2020 so I'm not sure if that means on new egg it first appeared or when it was released. I don't know if that means its completely different than mine or what but I guess it doesn't matter too much since I would have to get a new one to compensate for the newer hardware I would have to get. I liked outletPC since it showed me what was compatible so it was easy to gather everything in one place.

I will take into account everything you have said and look them all up, the 3070 does look like a good option but I will see what everything else will set me back and go from there.