Build Advice What should I upgrade first ?

[SneakyNorman]

Hey guys,

Im new to the forum and this is my first post. Ive always lurked in the past but been out of the community for some time. Nonetheless, my PC setup was built in 2018 and Im looking for your thoughts and what you think I should prioritize in my current setup. As of right now, I can run every title without issue for the most part unless its something massive like warzone rendering at times, but with titles like GTA 6 and the like coming out, Id like to refresh my system to get the most out of it and need some advice.

Current Specs:
CPU: Intel i7 8086k
GPU: Nvidia geforce GTX 1070 Ti
MOBO: ROG Strix z370-F Gaming
RAM: Corsair 2x16GB DDR4
Cant remember what my PSU is but I know I spent extra on that at the time of build and its a gold standard 1000W+
Storage: SSD-970 EVO 500GB, WD blue (i know..) 1TB

Currently Im looking to upgrade my storage to a WD black 2TB. Asside from that though, from my understanding my CPU will bottleneck anything beyond a 3070. What are your general thoughts on the system and what would you improve?

EDIT: Forgot to mention that my PC is used primarily as a media/gaming station now as I have been done with school for a few years at this point and I work in the ER so I dont work from home. With that (likely irrelevant information), my monitor is a Samsung Odyssey G8 34inch OLED panel.

 

[LordVile]

Depends on the requirements of the games you want to play. A good GPU and a platform upgrade will cost around the same

 

[Brillis Wuce]

Quickest and largest improvement - pick up a used 3070/3070ti for $400 or less.
Other than that, your PC has a ton of bottlenecks, specifically the CPU. Aside from having more storage, the WD Black SSD won't make any difference except slightly faster loading times in some games.
Wish I had better news, but if you want a meaningful upgrade, sell it for parts and build a new one.
Your Odyssey G8 needs justice 😉

 

[SneakyNorman]

Quickest and largest improvement - pick up a used 3070/3070ti for $400 or less.
Other than that, your PC has a ton of bottlenecks, specifically the CPU. Aside from having more storage, the WD Black SSD won't make any difference except slightly faster loading times in some games.
Wish I had better news, but if you want a meaningful upgrade, sell it for parts and build a new one.
Your Odyssey G8 needs justice 😉

Hindsight I realize I came off as though I was thinking the SSD would add performance the same way custom rims add 20% HP to a car hahaha. Rest assured that was not the case but rather just putting it out there that I need storage haha.

Anyways, I more than agree the monitor needs more tech behind it to get the most use out of er. Only reason I went with this was because I loved my old monitor but it finally went out about a year ago. Fortunately though, Samsung allowed me to stack my nurse and first responder discounts on top of a sale so I snagged this babe for around $650. I tried 2 others and was less than impressed for my use case.

Anyways. I guess thats what I was kinda looking to hear. Parting out the PC and building new looks to be the way forward. While I dont want to put out that much at the moment, the 3070 might be a good step in that direction so i have it for the next build but if thats the plan, i almost feel like waiting for all the 50 series to hit the market and picking up a 4070 + 13700k CPU might be a much smarter/cost effective move in the long run. From my understanding you can prett ymuch max out the 4070 with that combo but I may be wrong. Thoughts?

 

[beyondlogic]

Hindsight I realize I came off as though I was thinking the SSD would add performance the same way custom rims add 20% HP to a car hahaha. Rest assured that was not the case but rather just putting it out there that I need storage haha.

Anyways, I more than agree the monitor needs more tech behind it to get the most use out of er. Only reason I went with this was because I loved my old monitor but it finally went out about a year ago. Fortunately though, Samsung allowed me to stack my nurse and first responder discounts on top of a sale so I snagged this babe for around $650. I tried 2 others and was less than impressed for my use case.

Anyways. I guess thats what I was kinda looking to hear. Parting out the PC and building new looks to be the way forward. While I dont want to put out that much at the moment, the 3070 might be a good step in that direction so i have it for the next build but if thats the plan, i almost feel like waiting for all the 50 series to hit the market and picking up a 4070 + 13700k CPU might be a much smarter/cost effective move in the long run. From my understanding you can prett ymuch max out the 4070 with that combo but I may be wrong. Thoughts?

i would go with a 4070 super if cost allows while it doesnt provide much in terms of extra vram it does give a better gpu core boost

https://technical.city/en/video/GeForce-RTX-4070-vs-GeForce-RTX-4070-SUPER

its also a power sipper.

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-12700KF 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor ($168.98 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *ASRock Z690 Steel Legend ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $338.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-02-08 03:07 EST-0500

 

[ilukey77]

What is your budget ?

To a degree a cpu upgrade would help no doubt but your better to go to AM5 as intel is cooked but downside you going to spend alot going mobo , ddr5 ram cpu and decent cooling ..

flip side a GPU 7800xt , 4070, 16gb card will be better but with your current CPU will have bottle neck issues and probably cost you less than the CPU upgrade ..

So a GPU upgrade will probably give you the better bang for your buck over all !!

i try to avoid pointing people in Intel's direction as i have nothing against the CPUs as such bit as it stands now the better money spent no doubt is with AMD's AM5 platform