Gaming PC upgrade

[judas]

I've had my current gaming PC for 8 years now. It was pretty high spec at the time but now it's getting a bit long in the tooth. The only upgrades it's had in that time were to shove in more hard drives, another 16GB RAM (up to 24) and upgrade the graphics card from a GTX680 to a GTX1080.

Current cpu/mobo is an Intel i5 2550K and Asus P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3,with the CPU especially now being a bottleneck for newer games and no worthwhile upgrades that can work with the mobo.

Have the following in mind as an upgrade:

• Asus Z490 ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO (WI-FI) ATX Motherboard
• Intel Core i9 10900K 5.3Ghz 10 Core Processor
• Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 32GB 3200 MHz DDR4 Dual Channel Memory Kit
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus V-NAND M.2 1TB SSD

The plan is to re-use the existing Coolermaster case, 850W PSU, graphics card, liquid cooled CPU fan and hard drives but reinstall Windows on the new SSD. Once the new Nvidia RTX3000 series cards are out I will likely upgrade the video card - don't think now is a good time to be dropping £1000+ on a 2080Ti.

Questions I have are:
Is this a decent combo and likely to be reasonably future-proof for the next 5+ years?
Will the CPU cooler be compatible with the new CPU, or should I be getting a new one?

[Monty Python]

judas said:

I've had my current gaming PC for 8 years now. It was pretty high spec at the time but now it's getting a bit long in the tooth. The only upgrades it's had in that time were to shove in more hard drives, another 16GB RAM (up to 24) and upgrade the graphics card from a GTX680 to a GTX1080.

Current cpu/mobo is an Intel i5 2550K and Asus P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3,with the CPU especially now being a bottleneck for newer games and no worthwhile upgrades that can work with the mobo.

Have the following in mind as an upgrade:

• Asus Z490 ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO (WI-FI) ATX Motherboard
• Intel Core i9 10900K 5.3Ghz 10 Core Processor
• Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 32GB 3200 MHz DDR4 Dual Channel Memory Kit
• Samsung 970 EVO Plus V-NAND M.2 1TB SSD

The plan is to re-use the existing Coolermaster case, 850W PSU, graphics card, liquid cooled CPU fan and hard drives but reinstall Windows on the new SSD. Once the new Nvidia RTX3000 series cards are out I will likely upgrade the video card - don't think now is a good time to be dropping £1000+ on a 2080Ti.

Questions I have are:
Is this a decent combo and likely to be reasonably future-proof for the next 5+ years?
Will the CPU cooler be compatible with the new CPU, or should I be getting a new one?

Looks okay, and I don't think you can truly "future-proof" a PC - DDR5 is out soon, not to mention RTX300 and "Big Navi". As for the cooler, it's unlikely to fit, but it's worth checking with the manufacturer in case there's a bracket. The i9 does have a higher TDP (125W vs. 95W), so that's worth checking too.

My only concern is that you're spending a lot on the CPU - the i9 9900k is £100 cheaper and will probably deliver a similar level of performance.

Edited by Monty Python on Wednesday 22 July 21:19

[FourWheelDrift]

Monty Python said:

Looks okay, and I don't think you can truly "future-proof" a PC - DDR5 is out soon, not to mention RTX300 and "Big Navi". As for the cooler, it's unlikely to fit, but it's worth checking with the manufacturer in case there's a bracket. The i9 does have a higher TDP (125W vs. 95W), so that's worth checking too.

My only concern is that you're spending a lot on the CPU - the i9 9900k is £100 cheaper and will probably deliver a similar level of performance.

Edited by Monty Python on Wednesday 22 July 21:19

The i7 10700K is basically the equivalent of a i9 9900k and even cheaper and better. With what you save buy another 970 Evo, your board does have 3x M.2 slots. Would be a waste just to fill one

[judas]

Thanks chaps! Most useful input.

According to these benchmarks the i9 is 1% faster than the i7 - hardly worth the bother!

In terms of 'future proofing' - yep, there are no guarantees but I just want to be sure I'm not buying some gimped setup

Won't bother with a second SSD as I already have about 7TB of disk space including a 500GB 860 EVO that I meant to make into my boot drive but never got around to it

[RobDickinson]

If you want future proof I wouldnt put an intel socket or chipset in my box.

[judas]

RobDickinson said:

If you want future proof I wouldnt put an intel socket or chipset in my box.

Ooh, that's fighting talk! Care to elaborate why?

Given my current CPU has given me 8 years why would another high end Intel cpu not do the same? Bear in mind that I don't really keep up with hardware until it's time to buy something new, so genuinely interested (but not if it's just smack-talk, partisan Apple-vs-Android type stuff )

[Monty Python]

RobDickinson said:

If you want future proof I wouldnt put an intel socket or chipset in my box.

If I was building now, I'd go with an AMD Ryzen 7, but only because I'm aware that there are still issues with the chipset drivers (look at AMD motherboard BIOS releases to see how often releases are "to improve stability". One thing in Intel's favour is that they've been around a long time and have had time to iron out the vast majority of these bugs.

[RobDickinson]

Monty Python said:

If I was building now, I'd go with an AMD Ryzen 7, but only because I'm aware that there are still issues with the chipset drivers (look at AMD motherboard BIOS releases to see how often releases are "to improve stability". One thing in Intel's favour is that they've been around a long time and have had time to iron out the vast majority of these bugs.

Apart from the vast list of hardware vulnerabilities requiring patching out and hitting performance?

[RobDickinson]

judas said:

Ooh, that's fighting talk! Care to elaborate why?

Given my current CPU has given me 8 years why would another high end Intel cpu not do the same? Bear in mind that I don't really keep up with hardware until it's time to buy something new, so genuinely interested (but not if it's just smack-talk, partisan Apple-vs-Android type stuff )

They were good, I had a 2500k overclocked massively in 2011 still running now.

But now they dump support, sockets etc every gen , chips are barely overclockable, and the latest boards they've artificially limited memory speed on all but the highest spec even though the controller is on the cpu

Amd bent over backwards to support ryzen 3 on old boards

[judas]

RobDickinson said:

They were good, I had a 2500k overclocked massively in 2011 still running now.

But now they dump support, sockets etc every gen , chips are barely overclockable, and the latest boards they've artificially limited memory speed on all but the highest spec even though the controller is on the cpu

Amd bent over backwards to support ryzen 3 on old boards

Thanks, I will look at what's out there and see what makes the most sense.

[judas]

Interesting. CPU roughly the same price but mobos seem cheaper.

[RobDickinson]

Intel single thread is I think still a bit faster but those 3900 and 3950 are absolute monsters.

I have a 3700x and it's crazy fast already

[judas]

Just found the original order for my current PC. This is the CPU cooler - any able to say whether this will fit newer cpus/mobos?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tech-labs-240m...

[FourWheelDrift]

judas said:

Just found the original order for my current PC. This is the CPU cooler - any able to say whether this will fit newer cpus/mobos?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tech-labs-240m...

Looks like it - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/rDZ2FT/ocuk-24...

States socket LGA1200 on the description, which is the socket for the 10thG Intel CPUs.

Since it's a Overclockers own, drop them an email and ask?

[HRL]

RobDickinson said:

Intel single thread is I think still a bit faster but those 3900 and 3950 are absolute monsters.

I have a 3700x and it's crazy fast already

Absolutely. I have a hard time recommending any current Intel CPU.

If the OP can afford the 3950X just get one. 16 cores, 32 threads. What isn’t there to like! It’s about as future proof as you can get right now.

Agreed, wouldn’t buy an expensive 2000 series Nvidia GPU at present, they’re now EOL and clearing stock in preparation for the 3000 series. That’s coming from a 2080Ti owner who is eyeing up the next Ti and just looking for an excuse to hand down the 2080Ti to the kids.

[judas]

I decided in the end I really can't be arse upgrading my current PC - I spend all day every day dealing with technical problems and trying to fix st, so I ordered a whole new PC but with a crappy GT 2030 graphics card I can swap out for my 1080. I'll then get a RTX3000 when they come out.

The build is:

• Ryzen 3900XT
• Corsair Hydro Series H100i RGB Pro XT CPU cooler
• Corsair Crystal Series® 680X case
• 4TB Seagate IronWolf Pro SATA-III HDD
• 1TB Corsair MP600 M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
• 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4/3200 Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM
• MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon WIFI motherboard
• Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold PSU

Should be coming next Friday!

Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions, especially regarding the Ryzen CPUs. Always been an Intel guy until now

[Mattt]

Why did you bother paying for graphics you don’t want to use? It can use onboard initially surely.

[judas]

Mattt said:

Why did you bother paying for graphics you don’t want to use? It can use onboard initially surely.

There's no onboard graphics with the 3900XT, plus I can swap out the new card into my old PC, which will be repurposed as a general media server/dumping ground

[Jinx]

judas said:

I decided in the end I really can't be arse upgrading my current PC - I spend all day every day dealing with technical problems and trying to fix st, so I ordered a whole new PC but with a crappy GT 2030 graphics card I can swap out for my 1080. I'll then get a RTX3000 when they come out.

The build is:

• Ryzen 3900XT
• Corsair Hydro Series H100i RGB Pro XT CPU cooler
• Corsair Crystal Series® 680X case
• 4TB Seagate IronWolf Pro SATA-III HDD
• 1TB Corsair MP600 M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
• 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4/3200 Corsair Vengeance Pro RAM
• MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon WIFI motherboard
• Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold PSU

Should be coming next Friday!

Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions, especially regarding the Ryzen CPUs. Always been an Intel guy until now

Very nice spec - twelve cores of goodness. Enjoy your new machine and have fun with cinebench r20
Always fun to run a few benchmarks to see what the new beast can do (my 8 core barely gets 3700pts but can still finish a WU in F@H in a couple of hours) .

[judas]

The new gaming PC finally arrived today after being 'lost' by DPD for a few days. Not that it really mattered as it was badly damaged in transit - poorly packaged and no padding between the outer box and the inner glass-walled case, resulting in a box - and PC! - full of broken glass. Rejected and put back on the delivery van. Given the complete farce it's been I'm now expecting to led a merry dance in getting a refund as I certainly won't be accepting a repair or replacement.

Hey ho - back to the drawing board.