Upgrading 8 Year Old Rig.... Thoughts/Recommendations/Observations :)?

Mosie100

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
360
Hey everyone,
Well, it's getting to be that time since I have an 8 year old MOBO and very old processor. Thinking it may be time to upgrade, or wait another year?! I have a GTX 1080 that I'm hoping to last me another year or so, but am open to suggestions!

I game regularly on Overwatch, Valorant, and will play the big action rpg games when they come out (Assassins Creed, Jedi Fallen Order, other massive games)...
I care about having high FPS for my competitive games, and being able to play the open world games on max settings.

Not really looking to spend more than $800 altogether
Here is my current build and the upgrade I'm thinking of doing with it hyperlinked to page:
Red is current Yellow is Upgrade Green is Keep

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770k 3.5Ghz (OC 4Ghz) Upgrade: Intel - i7-10700K $379.99 (Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 RGB Edition) $44.99
MOBO: ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75| Upgrade: MSI - MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI (Socket LGA1200) $199.99
EDIT: Purchased i7 9700K and Asus Z390 combo from Microcenter for $340 total.

RAM: 4 x 4GB Corsair DDR 1333 || Upgrade: CORSAIR - Vengeance RGB PRO 32GB (2PK 16GB) $129.99
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 ||
PSU: Corsair HX850 ||
Monitor: Dell S2716DGR 1440P 144Hz ||

RAM: 4 x 4GB Corsair DDR 1333 ||
SDD: Samsung 860 1TB, and 500 GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 1TB Hard Drive ||
Case: NZXT Source 210 Midtower ||


Any thoughts or suggests would be extremely appreciated.
Thanks so much, love this community!
 
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Hey! Dropping in to say that I'm building my buddy a rig with very similar parts!

I think with the price point at $380, the 10700K hits a nice sweet spot. Even at stock it should do all that you are trying to accomplish. I went with an AIO cooler for him since he wants a bit of RGB inside his Corsair 280x. I also picked the same board as you. Same memory too, just the 16GB version.

On my main rig, I am actually still using the 1080 (non Ti) and it games pretty well. I'm waiting for Nvidia to fix their 3080 stock before upgrading. For my buddy's build, we're waiting on the 3070 or whatever AMD comes out with around the $500 price range. You might just keep the 1080 and maybe upgrade in 1-2 years depending on your gaming need.

In conclusion, I think you have a really good foundation. Good luck!

Edit - Prior to picking the 10700K. I contemplated about saving some $$ and build an i5 10600K and OC it to get close to the 10900K numbers but since it's his unit, he wants to run close to stock as much as possible. We also thought about going with the 5800x but with the potential stock issue, we decided to save some $ and go with the i7.
 
Hey! Dropping in to say that I'm building my buddy a rig with very similar parts!

I think with the price point at $380, the 10700K hits a nice sweet spot. Even at stock it should do all that you are trying to accomplish. I went with an AIO cooler for him since he wants a bit of RGB inside his Corsair 280x. I also picked the same board as you. Same memory too, just the 16GB version.

On my main rig, I am actually still using the 1080 (non Ti) and it games pretty well. I'm waiting for Nvidia to fix their 3080 stock before upgrading. For my buddy's build, we're waiting on the 3070 or whatever AMD comes out with around the $500 price range. You might just keep the 1080 and maybe upgrade in 1-2 years depending on your gaming need.

In conclusion, I think you have a really good foundation. Good luck!

Edit - Prior to picking the 10700K. I contemplated about saving some $$ and build an i5 10600K and OC it to get close to the 10900K numbers but since it's his unit, he wants to run close to stock as much as possible. We also thought about going with the 5800x but with the potential stock issue, we decided to save some $ and go with the i7.
Hey Chelica thanks for that! Makes me feel pretty good that you're getting the same MOBO and RAM :) :) Do you think those are good prices or should I keep looking/waiting for deals next month?

I've never been a fan of AIO, so getting a fan cooler like the cooler master or something will be my route. Do you recommend something better than the cooler master (I know it's pretty low-end, but I never OC).

RE: Is there really not that much of a difference with the i7 10700k and i5 10600k? Would turbo boost be enough?
I don't mind spending the extra $100 for the i7 instead of the i5, especially if it covers me for an extra couple of years...
 
Hey Chelica thanks for that! Makes me feel pretty good that you're getting the same MOBO and RAM :) :) Do you think those are good prices or should I keep looking/waiting for deals next month?

I've never been a fan of AIO, so getting a fan cooler like the cooler master or something will be my route. Do you recommend something better than the cooler master (I know it's pretty low-end, but I never OC).

RE: Is there really not that much of a difference with the i7 10700k and i5 10600k? Would turbo boost be enough?
I don't mind spending the extra $100 for the i7 instead of the i5, especially if it covers me for an extra couple of years...
If you have time to wait, who knows what Intel will do when the AMD 5000 series is out at the end of the month. There might be better deals. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is also around the corner. I pulled the trigger on my buddy's PC simply because he doesn't have a computer right now. We're upgrading him from a 4 year old Macbook.

The Hyper 212 CM is fine for the job. A lot of folks are using that in their build and haven't really read of any significant issues. We went with an AIO for aesthetic really.

We were looking at the 10600K due to the cost price/value and the usage case of the system but due to the price cut of the 10700K, we decided to just go with that. I don't think you can go wrong with either but if you have the funds, stick with the i7.
 
If you have time to wait, who knows what Intel will do when the AMD 5000 series is out at the end of the month. There might be better deals. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is also around the corner. I pulled the trigger on my buddy's PC simply because he doesn't have a computer right now. We're upgrading him from a 4 year old Macbook.

The Hyper 212 CM is fine for the job. A lot of folks are using that in their build and haven't really read of any significant issues. We went with an AIO for aesthetic really.

We were looking at the 10600K due to the cost price/value and the usage case of the system but due to the price cut of the 10700K, we decided to just go with that. I don't think you can go wrong with either but if you have the funds, stick with the i7.
I'm in no rush -- so I think I'll do exactly that... Wait it out and see what the deals are next month and go from there on purchasing everything. That's a relief on the Hyper 212.

As for the GPU, the 3080 is such a mess!
Fingers crossed on getting one sometime soon!
 
Just found a crazy deal at micro center for the 9700k @ $199. I feel like I can't miss out on that opportunity and there is barely any performance difference between the 9700k and 10700k right?
Any downfalls of getting a mobo for that? I don't even know where to start!
 
Just found a crazy deal at micro center for the 9700k @ $199. I feel like I can't miss out on that opportunity and there is barely any performance difference between the 9700k and 10700k right?
Any downfalls of getting a mobo for that? I don't even know where to start!

It's not a bad deal. You end up with a "dead end" platform, but the price is obviously very good seeing as that was a $350+ CPU. You really only lose out on hyperthreading.

On a strict budget, it's probably a better buy than the 10600k though since you don't upgrade very often, and the fact that its a dead end platform probably won't bother you.
 
It's not a bad deal. You end up with a "dead end" platform, but the price is obviously very good seeing as that was a $350+ CPU. You really only lose out on hyperthreading.

On a strict budget, it's probably a better buy than the 10600k though since you don't upgrade very often, and the fact that its a dead end platform probably won't bother you.
You're totally right -- I have no need for the hyper threading and it doesn't bother me to be dead end. Will probably upgrade my GPU next year when there is 3080's in stock and be done with it.
I literally just went and picked up this deal at MC today: i7 9700k and Asus Z390-a for $340
Thanks for everyone's advice. Going to get the ram and cooler ASAP (actually hoping to see if price goes down but doubt it will...
Cheers!
 
It's not a bad deal. You end up with a "dead end" platform

The 9700k will be as dead as the 10700k is in 5-6 months when the 11k series comes out. Intel has a predictable pattern of slightly changing the socket on every other subsequent processor series release for the last decade. They basically forcibly obsolete their older generation parts needlessly, which has been proven by motherboards with a special/modded socket BIOS that can run from 6-9th gen CPUs.

The only excuse they have is greed and the same problem AMD is having with AM4, where UEFI ROMs are too small to contain the microcode for the large number of available CPUs. Though that's partially the fault of board and UEFI vendors having riced up setup graphics with high resolution images and animated graphics that eat tons of space in the ROM.
 
The 9700k will be as dead as the 10700k is in 5-6 months when the 11k series comes out. Intel has a predictable pattern of slightly changing the socket on every other subsequent processor series release for the last decade. They basically forcibly obsolete their older generation parts needlessly, which has been proven by motherboards with a special/modded socket BIOS that can run from 6-9th gen CPUs.

The only excuse they have is greed and the same problem AMD is having with AM4, where UEFI ROMs are too small to contain the microcode for the large number of available CPUs. Though that's partially the fault of board and UEFI vendors having riced up setup graphics with high resolution images and animated graphics that eat tons of space in the ROM.

I mean I guess if he only upgrades every decade or so, would he rather a processor with HT or no? Probably wouldn't make much of a difference even then. I don't have big expectations for 11th Gen, especially since they'll be playing catch up on single and multi thread performance and are capping it at 8C/16T.

GN had a good video on the 16MB ROM issue. Long story short, when Zen came out board manufacturers didn't want to bet big money on AMD, so they cheaped out. Hopefully they go with 32MB in AM5.

Probably not a great time to be buying a CPU/MB for the next 6-8 years.
 
Just found a crazy deal at micro center for the 9700k @ $199. I feel like I can't miss out on that opportunity and there is barely any performance difference between the 9700k and 10700k right?
Any downfalls of getting a mobo for that? I don't even know where to start!

I just picked up that deal. If this is a gaming rig I highly doubt the 10700k will run anything the 9700k won't in the long run.

I figure by the time the 9700k is inadequate the 10700k and platform will be too.
 
I just picked up that deal. If this is a gaming rig I highly doubt the 10700k will run anything the 9700k won't in the long run.

I figure by the time the 9700k is inadequate the 10700k and platform will be too.
Sweet. Couldn't be more pumped about this deal. We'll have to link back up here in a few years and talk about our upgrades then too! haha 😂
 
GN had a good video on the 16MB ROM issue. Long story short, when Zen came out board manufacturers didn't want to bet big money on AMD, so they cheaped out. Hopefully they go with 32MB in AM5.

It's really both AMD and board vendors faults. AMD promised to support AM4 until the end of this year through several successive iterations of the Zen design, and the tail end of Bristol Ridge Faildozer parts. They should have known supporting so many CPUs on one socket was going to be unmanageable. Both Intel and AMD had plenty of experience with this 20-25 years ago on PGA370/Slot 1 and Super 7 where there were so many CPU models that some board vendors had to make two separate BIOS releases to support the whole range of parts.

But that doesn't take any responsibility away from board vendors with their ever more extravagant GUI UEFI setups. We got along fine for 30+ years with basic text mode BIOSes, all of that extra ROM space let them get ahead of themselves and cause the processor support issues we have now. It's so bad that some board vendors have full fledged web browsers and media players *INSIDE* UEFI setup, nobody ever asked for that. Who really wants to browse the modern web in a 640x480-1024x768 unaccelerated VESA mode? It's painful. Also using your multi thousand dollar man box as a crappy media player... lol.
 
Now I'm deciding whether to upgrade my hard drive from a 500 GB Samsung 850 EVO to this sweet deal for a 2tb wd blue m.2 2280 SSD for $175.
Should I look for an NVME or will there not be much of a noticeable difference?

Depends on how you describe noticeable. For normal desktop use, you won't notice a difference. That blue drive should be fine if you need more storage.
 
Depends on how you describe noticeable. For normal desktop use, you won't notice a difference. That blue drive should be fine if you need more storage.
I just want to make sure that games will run fast on it as well. I feel like it's a great deal and I shouldn't pass up on it, but if there's something better (NVME) then I'd rather wait until I can get one of those.
 
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