Yet another 'help me upgrade my desktop' post - GTX 970 build

[ElevenFingers]

Hi all,

Long story short. I've been considering a system upgrade for the last few years. GPU and other component prices are finally coming down and I'd like to think about my options.

I currently run a single BenQ PD3200u (4k IPS with max refresh rate of 60 fps). I'm considering adding a second panel like the LG C2 42 inch. That way I'll have the IPS for productive efforts and the OLED for my unproductive hobbies.

My current setup (built in 2015):

EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
2 x Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB 2.133MT/s
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
2 x HGST HUH721008ALN600 8 TB
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit

I haven't currently overclocked anything, but I could.

Ideally, I'd like to upgrade the GPU and nothing else.

Is there a GPU out there with HDMI 2.1 for a panel like the LG C2 that can run 4K at decent frames that won't be bottlenecked by my other components?

Or, in general, is there a good value GPU out there that would allow me to squeeze a few more years out of the rest of my components?

Any other comments or questions?

 

[Mchart]

My opinion, you need at least 2080ti/3070 level of performance to do 4K gaming. Even then, you're doing DLSS balanced in the more demanding games, along with turning down settings. It'll be even worse if you don't have a hardware g-sync monitor to assist you in smoothing things out down low.

Nothing stopping you from buying a $500-$600 GPU, seeing how it does, and then upgrade the rest of the system at a later point. You will absolutely be losing out some due to that CPU even at 4K in some of these newer games. However, it's still a huge upgrade off the 970.

 

[chameleoneel]

A 6700K is going to be a large bottleneck

 

[Tactlesss]

Honestly as long as it has more than 4GB of VRAM the biggest question you should ask is how much should I spend?

 

[Mchart]

Part of the problem is that trying to 4K game is an expensive affair. Even a 3090 wasn't good enough. You're still turning down some settings somewhere or using DLSS. So unless you're willing to spend $1700 on a 4090, which is finally, arguably, the first real GPU that can do 4K in the latest games without issue - Do yourself a favor and get a 1440 panel for gaming. Leave the 4k for the work monitor.

 

[ElevenFingers]

Thanks for all the responses.

I added the motherboard and PSU to the first post since they were missing. The PSU is nearly 15 years old so it's going to be repurposed to power some LEDs or something.

I also indicated a budget.

In general I'm not too focused by having the game graphics all set to max. I don't mind scaling down to 1440p for the next 5 years, until 4k is standard and 8k is the thing cards can barely do. I would like to be able to play/edit video in 4k without too much stutter.

My opinion, you need at least 2080ti/3070 level of performance to do 4K gaming. Even then, you're doing DLSS balanced in the more demanding games, along with turning down settings. It'll be even worse if you don't have a hardware g-sync monitor to assist you in smoothing things out down low.

Nothing stopping you from buying a $500-$600 GPU, seeing how it does, and then upgrade the rest of the system at a later point. You will absolutely be losing out some due to that CPU even at 4K in some of these newer games. However, it's still a huge upgrade off the 970.

Yeah, I have been thinking along these lines. It will be easier to explain peace meal expenses to my partner who has never built or known anyone to build a gaming rig. Prices can be shocking for them.

Part of the problem is that trying to 4K game is an expensive affair. Even a 3090 wasn't good enough. You're still turning down some settings somewhere or using DLSS. So unless you're willing to spend $1700 on a 4090, which is finally, arguably, the first real GPU that can do 4K in the latest games without issue - Do yourself a favor and get a 1440 panel for gaming. Leave the 4k for the work monitor.

If I were to buy a single 3070 and get a second one later when I buy a 4k/120+hz monitor (and overhaul the system), would that suffice or is SLI no longer a thing/bad idea?

What about AMD cards like the 6800?

 

[chameleoneel]

SLI been dead for a long time

 

[Mchart]

Thanks for all the responses.

I added the motherboard and PSU to the first post since they were missing. The PSU is nearly 15 years old so it's going to be repurposed to power some LEDs or something.

I also indicated a budget.

In general I'm not too focused by having the game graphics all set to max. I don't mind scaling down to 1440p for the next 5 years, until 4k is standard and 8k is the thing cards can barely do. I would like to be able to play/edit video in 4k without too much stutter.



Yeah, I have been thinking along these lines. It will be easier to explain peace meal expenses to my partner who has never built or known anyone to build a gaming rig. Prices can be shocking for them.



If I were to buy a single 3070 and get a second one later when I buy a 4k/120+hz monitor (and overhaul the system), would that suffice or is SLI no longer a thing/bad idea?

What about AMD cards like the 6800?

SLI is no longer a thing. The AMD cards are great for what they are, but it's up to you if you want RTX/DLSS or not.

Yes, I strongly advocate not looking at 4K for gaming. A $500 GPU at 1440 will do great. At 4K? It'll barely achieve acceptable framerates and you'll be lowering settings / using FSR/DLSS/etc.

 

[ElevenFingers]

I've perused the interwebs a bit and both the 3080 and 6900 xt seem to come recommended at the higher end of my budget. Would you say they're better value than the 3070?

 

[Decko87]

Check out my deal post on hot deals, 6800 XT should be okay for 60 FPS at 4K as long as you aren't using RT. Faster than a 3070 by a decent margin.

 

[LukeTbk]

I think one element to keep in mind, it is perfectly ok to play at 1080p or 1440p on a 4k TV (and now you can often upscale yourself via FSR 2 - DLSS 2 instead of letting the TV do it), that what most game on console have been doing since 4k TV got popular with not much issue if any. depens quite a bit on your eyes and sitting distance.

I would look at the 6800xt right now, there was an interesting newegg deal:
https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-6800-xt-rx-6800-xt-gaming-z-trio-16g/p/N82E16814137720

And you can still use the TV in 4k for easier to run title (the title with lot of GUI interaction a la sim city-civ, etc... which benefit from higher res), youtube-movie watching on the side and one day gaming AAA title with futher upgrade. And obviously still have 4k available in desktop mode were there is a lot of value to higher resolution.

There a reason blindtest between 1080-4k use text a lot and different monitor.

Maybe someone that has an OLED plugged can give some feedback on how worst 1440p upscaled to 4k gaming is

 

[ElevenFingers]

I think one element to keep in mind, it is perfectly ok to play at 1080p or 1440p on a 4k TV (and now you can often upscale yourself via FSR 2 - DLSS 2 instead of letting the TV do it), that what most game on console have been doing since 4k TV got popular with not much issue if any. depens quite a bit on your eyes and sitting distance.

I would look at the 6800xt right now, there was an interesting newegg deal:
https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-6800-xt-rx-6800-xt-gaming-z-trio-16g/p/N82E16814137720

And you can still use the TV in 4k for easier to run title (the title with lot of GUI interaction a la sim city-civ, etc... which benefit from higher res), youtube-movie watching on the side and one day gaming AAA title with futher upgrade. And obviously still have 4k available in desktop mode were there is a lot of value to higher resolution.

There a reason blindtest between 1080-4k use text a lot and different monitor.

Maybe someone that has an OLED plugged can give some feedback on how worst 1440p upscaled to 4k gaming is

Yeah,

I like doing professional work in 4k.

I game on the same monitor in 1440p, which I'm fine with.

I'm looking at the 6800xt and 6900xt cards seriously now. Good performance. Low wattage.

Any specific manufacturers or specs I should look for when honing in on my final choice?

What CPUs would go well with those two cards?

 

[LukeTbk]

What CPUs would go well with those two cards?

You have a lot of options, 5600x-12400k have incredible price-value or if you want to go higher 13600k-5800x3d, can depend a bit on what else outside gaming you do.

If you were the type of upgrading often the new AM5 platform got release which should supported until 2025+, but if you are the upgrade every 6-7 years type that could be irrelevant and could take advantage of the possible rebate of going death platform.

 

[ElevenFingers]

My first build was in 2008, second in 2015.

Now it's looking like 2022/23.

So that puts me in 2030 before the next upgrade.

That's at least what I build for.

Outside of gaming I code, do photography and videography and watch a lot of content. I also have lots of stuff running in the background and like to multibox games. For these reasons, I like to get a relatively good CPU.

 

[Decko87]

Sorry my bad it's currently OOS, i'll update you the deal returns. You'll probably see a lot of 6900 XTs and 6800 XTs on sale right now, Nvidia seems intent on not budging.

 

[chameleoneel]

Yeah,

I like doing professional work in 4k.

I game on the same monitor in 1440p, which I'm fine with.

I'm looking at the 6800xt and 6900xt cards seriously now. Good performance. Low wattage.

Any specific manufacturers or specs I should look for when honing in on my final choice?

What CPUs would go well with those two cards?

If you are doing professional work-----the 13600k is the best bang for the buck. It matches or slightly beats the 12900k in gaming. Beats the 12700k in professional/productivity. $300 right now on Amazon and Best Buy.

 

[Advil]

13600KF, 32GB DDR4 3600 CL16, Cheap B660 motherboard with appropriate BIOS flash for the 13th gen. You can't beat the performance of that combo for the price right now.

Then you have to decide on power supply and video card which will kind of depend on each other. Some name brand power supply either 850w gold rated for video cards up to the 3080 or 4080 class, or a 1000w gold rated name brand for 3090 class or 4090.

The video card itself depends on your budget. You absolutely can game great at 4k (I do) with a 3080, 3080 Ti, or 4090. It just depends on whether you are expecting 50-70fps or if you really want to try to hold at and over 120fps (4090).

If you are using the card professionally VRAM may or may not be an issue for you. If you actually have a need for over 20GB on the card a new 3090 can now be had for around $1100-1200 but at that point... if you are buying for 8 years out and you need that much VRAM professionally you'd be crazy not to just get a 4090 at $1500+ and be done with it.

 

[Mchart]

Given he's on a budget, it likely makes more sense to just get the GPU, and wait until next year to upgrade the platform. Also, I don't think it makes any sense to be investing in a DDR4 build at this point. You're kneecapping yourself to the upgrade factor, whether it's AM5 or 1700. If you're sticking with DDR4, might as well get even cheaper and just look at a solid AM4 build. However, he's better off waiting at this point.

 

[XenIneX]

Also, I don't think it makes any sense to be investing in a DDR4 build at this point. You're kneecapping yourself to the upgrade factor, whether it's AM5 or 1700. If you're sticking with DDR4, might as well get even cheaper and just look at a solid AM4 build. However, he's better off waiting at this point.

They're riding a 7 year old processor, indicating it's good odds that it'll probably be the better part of another decade before they feel the itch to upgrade. Even if DDR5 is still a going concern, memory speed will have increased enough that any sticks they buy now will be woefully underperforming.

This person should buy for the now, not for a potential future which will, like as not, never be relevant.

 

[Advil]

DDR5 isn't there yet. Even DDR5 6000 isn't beating an affordable DDR4 3600 C16 kit by enough to justify the cost difference. Plus if you are going with the i5-13600K or KF you can slide by with the VRM power delivery on any of the B660 boards with good features like lots of fan connectors, AX wifi, 2.5G LAN and 7.1 audio outs... for $80 to $130. None of the other new MB features matter for the next couple of years. Not PCIE 5.0 or anything else. The odds of almost any home user actually doing another video card upgrade on the same platform 4 years from now is almost nil.

Reasons: If you buy DDR5 now you'll be buying more later when it actually matures to being worth it, when DDR5 7000-10000 is common. We're close to the changeover point but we are not QUITE there yet, especially if you are going the i5 route and trying to save money. The price/perf is just still barely on the wrong side of the line.

There's also nothing on the 700 series motherboards anyone really needs yet, making it a great time to put that 13th gen i5 on a far less expensive B660 and get almost all the performance for a fraction of the price.

Also, IMHO something is going to happen over the next few years as we move to DirectStorage 2.0 or 3.0 or a related technology that is going to require new motherboards and be a technology that EVERYONE wants. You can see the handwriting on the wall that real major architecture changes are coming. So I don't think the 700 series motherboards or higher end current CPUs / GPUs are going have the kind of 8+ year lifespan we've enjoyed up to now since the early Core CPUs and Nvidia 900 series GPUs.

Buy smart right now. The industry is milking everyone and playing us all like a drug dealer. Most of the top tier MB, CPU and GPU options currently being pushed are straight up BAD in both price to performance and value metrics.

 

[Ducrider748]

There are plenty of great deals out there for a upgrade. Moving forward just a few gens on his cpu would make a ton of difference. Great example is move to a 8700K on a Z370. Can be bought cheap. My daughter had hers with a 3070ti and did not see a major bottleneck in gaming. Another great deal is in the market place right now. 11900k , Z590 and 32 gigs of ram for $375 shipped. For $375 he would have a combo that will last a long time. I would start first with a GPU upgrade to a 3070ti/6800xt. What bottle neck he will have with those will not keep his system from functioning. Won't get full potential but will run. Then he can save up and see how the market goes for the rest of his system.

 

[crazycrave]

I don't see a need yet to go past the Ryzen 5 5600 $118 for the gaming part, need more cores get the 5800x if you need to keep it tight budget.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Speaking as someone who just moved from a 4770K 4.5 GHz/GTX 980 build to a stopgap 7700K 4.9 GHz setup (the CPU was free, just needed a mobo and DDR4) and then carried the DDR4 forward to a 12700K build ($350 Micro Center bundle) while still being stuck on that same GTX 980 since late 2015...

You really need to consider what you're playing and whether you want to go all-out on a GPU first before upgrading the rest of your system.

There's some benchmarks covering just how much of a bottleneck any 4C/8T Skylake permutation, let alone Haswell or anything older, has become by this point for GPUs as low-end as the RTX 3060, never mind anything faster. You're largely wasting money going beyond that unless you plan to upgrade your platform shortly afterward.

I already saw very noticeable gains in ArmA III just from the jump to Alder Lake, and while DCS doesn't seem to have improved much, it's excruciatingly GPU-limited in VR when running on a card that old. Other VR games that are actually optimized seem to have much better frame timing overall, no sudden drops that I've noticed. (Remember, VR gaming makes 4K gaming look like chump change in terms of requirements - you need high framerates that ideally never, EVER dip below 80 FPS or more, depending on HMD refresh rate.)

My suggestion? Get the $350 Micro Center bundle if you can, use your DDR4 in it as a stopgap (DDR4-2133 will probably bottleneck it a fair bit, but it'll at least work), and then bide your time while all the new GPUs trickle out, especially the RX 7900 lineup next month. That'll help push GPU pricing downward overall as people buy the new cards and sell off their old stuff for cheap.

If you can't get the Micro Center bundle in question, you could also pick up a cheap AM4 board that's known to support the 5800X3D and go for that while keeping your existing DDR4. Dead-end platform, of course, but at least you don't have to shell out the big bucks for DDR5.

 

[ElevenFingers]

Thanks for all your input. I've been watching a lot of videos and reading articles in an effort to catch up with the last 2 years of development and think about what might be best to buy in the upcoming months.

I think I've decided to build completely new from scratch and go with a DDR5 system, provided total system costs come down in Q1 2023 from where they are now (thinking of 7000 series AMD CPU systems). This should allow me to reap the benefits of the initial higher costs now, by being able to upgrade to the end of life components available being priced low in the future (similar to how building a DDR4 system is good value now as many of you have pointed out here). While it's a gamble, I think it's worth doing, but depends on how pricing develops in the coming months. I will re-evaluate in 2023. I reckon my budget for a new build will be around 2000 USD/Euro.

The other reason is that the only component worth really keeping from my old system is arguably the case and CPU cooler. Everything else would bottleneck a new system in one way or another, either immediately or within a short time.

My mom needs a new computer for general home use and I think just giving her my computer will meet her needs for the next few years, provided it doesn't critically fail. I'll take the 16TB of HDDs with me to the new system, since it's full of personal files, but everything else will go.

 

[ElevenFingers]

Hi all, so a few weeks have passed and I've spent tens of hours reviewing components and checking prices and now consider myself to be a bit more savvy than when I first started this post. It's been great reading through all of your input a second time, now that I know more.

I've come up with two builds, one with the i7-13700k and another with the 7700x which aren't final, but I'm fairly happy with. However, I can't help the itchy feeling that waiting just a few more months for more CPUs, GPUs and ATX 3.0 PSUs to be released might be the smartest option in the long run. As some of you correctly pointed out, I build my towers with the intention of using them for 5+ years.

So, with that in mind, I'm thinking of giving my old system a complete once-over; cleaning, reformatting, updating, overclocking (everything's been running stock), etc. I would squeeze another 6 months - 1 year out of it before sending it into retirement in my mom's house. Let's call it one last hoorah.

Here's the full list of components in the desktop as it stands:

Antec P182 Case
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
NOCTUA NH-D14
4 x Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB 2.133MT/s (2 separate sets, 1 bought used last year)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Asus Z170-A
Corsair TX650W
Fenvi FV-AX3000 (Wifi 6/BT expansion card from AliExpress)
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit

There are a few things I'm considering doing, if there's enough value in them:

• Upgrading the GPU - from what I've read, the 6700k pairs well with GPUs up to around the RTX 2060 - 2070 (RX 6600 - 6700) mark without being too imbalanced/bottlenecked.
  • If you have any specific model recommendations in this range, I'll add them to my list of GPUs and keep a look out in my local market. Bang for buck w.r.t. CPU is key here. Also if there are cards best avoided, let me know.
• Upgrading the 32GB of 2.133MT/s to something faster. I need to see what the best fit is for the 6700k and Z170-A.
  • From the spec sheet, it seems the Z170-A supports up to DDR4-3466. So maybe I should be looking for a set of 32GB of 3200MT/s? 4x8GB is better than 2x16, right? Would sinking money into a RAM upgrade be worth it or should I just keep what I have?
• Installing an NVMe in the PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot (I will eventually carry this over to the next build, so I may just get a PCIe 4.0 SSD like the SN850X and run it at lower speeds).
  • I plan to re-install a clean version of Windows and the programs my mom wants, to the 850 EVO and then disconnect it, for her to use when the time comes. Does this make any sense?

Before making any purchases, I'll weigh the scenarios against each other and try to make what I think is the most sensible choice. What are your thoughts?

 

[Tactlesss]

Upgrade the GPU to something with 6 or more gigs. Maybe add a new case fan or something and keep on keeping on.

I've never been able to determine whether the RX6600 ran the appropriate x16 speeds on PCI E 3 boards.

 

[chameleoneel]

Upgrade the GPU to something with 6 or more gigs. Maybe add a new case fan or something and keep on keeping on.

I've never been able to determine whether the RX6600 ran the appropriate x16 speeds on PCI E 3 boards.

Rx 6600 uses an 8x multiplier, no matter the type of PCIe slot.

 

[CraptacularOne]

Hi all, so a few weeks have passed and I've spent tens of hours reviewing components and checking prices and now consider myself to be a bit more savvy than when I first started this post. It's been great reading through all of your input a second time, now that I know more.

I've come up with two builds, one with the i7-13700k and another with the 7700x which aren't final, but I'm fairly happy with. However, I can't help the itchy feeling that waiting just a few more months for more CPUs, GPUs and ATX 3.0 PSUs to be released might be the smartest option in the long run. As some of you correctly pointed out, I build my towers with the intention of using them for 5+ years.

So, with that in mind, I'm thinking of giving my old system a complete once-over; cleaning, reformatting, updating, overclocking (everything's been running stock), etc. I would squeeze another 6 months - 1 year out of it before sending it into retirement in my mom's house. Let's call it one last hoorah.

Here's the full list of components in the desktop as it stands:

Antec P182 Case
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
NOCTUA NH-D14
4 x Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB 2.133MT/s (2 separate sets, 1 bought used last year)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Asus Z170-A
Corsair TX650W
Fenvi FV-AX3000 (Wifi 6/BT expansion card from AliExpress)
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit

There are a few things I'm considering doing, if there's enough value in them:

• Upgrading the GPU - from what I've read, the 6700k pairs well with GPUs up to around the RTX 2060 - 2070 (RX 6600 - 6700) mark without being too imbalanced/bottlenecked.
  • If you have any specific model recommendations in this range, I'll add them to my list of GPUs and keep a look out in my local market. Bang for buck w.r.t. CPU is key here. Also if there are cards best avoided, let me know.
• Upgrading the 32GB of 2.133MT/s to something faster. I need to see what the best fit is for the 6700k and Z170-A.
  • From the spec sheet, it seems the Z170-A supports up to DDR4-3466. So maybe I should be looking for a set of 32GB of 3200MT/s? 4x8GB is better than 2x16, right? Would sinking money into a RAM upgrade be worth it or should I just keep what I have?
• Installing an NVMe in the PCIe 3.0 M.2 slot (I will eventually carry this over to the next build, so I may just get a PCIe 4.0 SSD like the SN850X and run it at lower speeds).
  • I plan to re-install a clean version of Windows and the programs my mom wants, to the 850 EVO and then disconnect it, for her to use when the time comes. Does this make any sense?

Before making any purchases, I'll weigh the scenarios against each other and try to make what I think is the most sensible choice. What are your thoughts?

Well if you have any questions regarding builds with both those platforms I just happen to have 2 main rigs at the moment with a 13700K and a Ryzen 7700X. In games they are all but impossible to tell apart in performance, however for any tasks like rendering or video editing the Intel rig is faster by a good margin thanks to the 8 extra cores.

As for your current system you are a little constrained by your power supply at only 650w as to what GPUs you can move over too. I'd say a RTX 3070 / RX 6700XT would be your upper limit on a 650 watt PSU. Definitely don't waste anymore money upgrading things like your RAM on that system. You would hardly notice enough benefit to make it worth your while at 4k resolution. NVME drives are great but to be perfectly honest you won't be able to tell the difference from even a SATA SSD in day to day use. It's only if you're constantly moving around large files that the through put of a NVMe will be noticeable.

 

[wareyore]

Sounds like you've done a lot of research.

Ram and storage are super cheap now days. So, getting a bunch of fast ram and an NVME makes sense. Get a good drive and it will carry into your new build. Don't expect much more than 5% improvement from the ram upgrade, though, unless you are doing some memory intensive tasks. Things may feel snappier after install, especially if you OC a little and add the NVME. Clearly going AM5 in the future will mean DDR5 ram, so that won't carry over.

Going forward, it sounds like you are going to get a gpu soon. I'd get the highest performing gpu you can as it will carry you forward longer than worrying about bottlenecking a 6700k platform. Unless you are going to get another GPU soon after upgrading the cpu platform?

Are you doing anything that will lean performance wise to Intel, Nvidia or AMD? If not, of the choices you listed I'd lean to the 6700 ( or XT) and pair it with an AMD 7700 (or better) later. The 6700 (XT) is going to be a big improvement over the 970 you have now and will carry over better and longer than the other options you listed when you upgrade. You'll need all you can get to drive that LG 4K 144mhz monitor in your list.

Long term, if you need more cpu power later, based on the past and current info, AM5 is likely to offer far more upgradeability than the Intel 13 series. So, a drop in upgrade with a new cpu in 3 years is a real possibility on AM5.

 

[ElevenFingers]

Thanks for the input.

I shopped around a bit both secondhand and new GPUs. Secondhand prices aren't much lower than new in my area (20%), so I'm thinking of going new.

Upgrade the GPU to something with 6 or more gigs. Maybe add a new case fan or something and keep on keeping on.

As for your current system you are a little constrained by your power supply at only 650w as to what GPUs you can move over too. I'd say a RTX 3070 / RX 6700XT would be your upper limit on a 650 watt PSU.

Going forward, it sounds like you are going to get a gpu soon. I'd get the highest performing gpu you can as it will carry you forward longer than worrying about bottlenecking a 6700k platform. Unless you are going to get another GPU soon after upgrading the cpu platform?

Are you doing anything that will lean performance wise to Intel, Nvidia or AMD? If not, of the choices you listed I'd lean to the 6700 ( or XT) and pair it with an AMD 7700 (or better) later. The 6700 (XT) is going to be a big improvement over the 970 you have now and will carry over better and longer than the other options you listed when you upgrade. You'll need all you can get to drive that LG 4K 144mhz monitor in your list.

I'm honing in on either a 6600, 6650 xt, 6700 or 6700xt. I still need to research the AiBs for those and then do a quick estimate of total cost of ownership (expected lifetime and wattage delta - power is pricy where I live). Are there any specific AiBs you'd recommend for either GPU? Any that should be avoided?

I wonder if anything higher than the 6600 might be too much for my i7-6700k and 650W PSU (bought in 2008) to handle. I've read that the 6650xt does much better than the 6600 once you go 1440p or higher. I'll double check the prices for the 6700 and 6700xt, but if they just sit in my current rig for a year, being bottle necked by the CPU, I might as well not get them. There it might make more sense to get something cheap and sell it while it's still under warranty and then just get a big fat GPU when I build the next rig.

Definitely don't waste anymore money upgrading things like your RAM on that system. You would hardly notice enough benefit to make it worth your while at 4k resolution. NVME drives are great but to be perfectly honest you won't be able to tell the difference from even a SATA SSD in day to day use. It's only if you're constantly moving around large files that the through put of a NVMe will be noticeable.

Ram and storage are super cheap now days. So, getting a bunch of fast ram and an NVME makes sense. Get a good drive and it will carry into your new build. Don't expect much more than 5% improvement from the ram upgrade, though, unless you are doing some memory intensive tasks. Things may feel snappier after install, especially if you OC a little and add the NVME. Clearly going AM5 in the future will mean DDR5 ram, so that won't carry over.

I'll leave the ram as is I think. I'll just verify it's all working as intended since I bought the two kits 4 years apart.

I'm thinking of getting a cheap NVMe like the Kingston NV2 2TB. It should work well enough in the Z170-A's PCIe-3 x 4 M.2 slot and I can carry it over to my new build to be used as a secondary drive there. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many reviews about this drive, though it does seem popular.

Well if you have any questions regarding builds with both those platforms I just happen to have 2 main rigs at the moment with a 13700K and a Ryzen 7700X. In games they are all but impossible to tell apart in performance, however for any tasks like rendering or video editing the Intel rig is faster by a good margin thanks to the 8 extra cores.

I'd appreciate it if you had a few minutes to check out my two builds: i7-13700k and 7700x. I specifically built them for multitasking, productivity and gaming, with the intention of keeping the PSU for 10 years or so. If I went with the 7700x, I'd likely upgrade CPU, GPU and RAM near the end of the AM5 platform if my MoBo is up to the task. The 13700k would be a build and forget for 5+ years, similar to my current 6700k build, which I would have had already upgraded by now if crypto and covid weren't things.

 

[Advil]

Breaking this down to a nutshell without typing out a wall of text I'd do one of two things in your case:

Get a 6650XT from Newegg right now for $290 and call it DONE. You'll double your 3D perf over the 970 and you can watch for the next 12 months for a good opportunity to rebuild the whole machine, including a 4090 or whatever ends up floating your boat for 4k 120hz. The video card isn't so expensive that you can't put it in another computer, leave it in this one as a secondary, or gift it later.

My last post was in early November. So my suggestion is now going to change slightly:

If the goal is to try to maximize an expensive video card and go 4k 120hz or 4k 144hz, you're going to be looking at the RTX 4090 or 7900XTX at some point here. I would absolutely WAIT at this point specifically to see if the next Ryzen 7000 X3D CPUs are the right choice for that. If they are the superior gaming choice, and I suspect they will be, then you'll need a new expensive motherboard, fast DDR5, big power supply... the whole enchilada.

There's no reason to halfway this now until you know if X3D CPUs are going to be what you want and what RAM is needed. And it won't be cheap no matter what.

So under $300 to shore up your system right now with a RX6650xt, or probaby $2000-3000 between the video card, CPU, RAM, and Power Supply for the complete rebuild early next year.

I'm not suggesting stuff in between because you already can have "in between" performance by just bumping up the video card. To really have top notch 4k you have to replace everything and might as well do it right the first time.

 

[Ducrider748]

I went from a 2600k to my current 10850k not lonmg ago. It was a huge jump. I for see this system being able to last 10 years with my 3080 12g card. Will I keep it that long prob not but it could. With what I spent for it I could buy 13th gen intel on the used market and have a system that works faster and better to last the same amount of time. How many still run a 8700k as a gaming cpu still? A good bit because it's hard to beat it's single core performance. That does not mean it's outdated and old. Which it is. But still a good cpu to game with. My wife just get her upgrade to a 11600k from a 2600k. She can not believe how fast it is for what she needs it for. A 2070 super would be a great choice for a current upgrade to your current system. Remember when you step up to the new stuff it will need replaced also. 12th or 13th gen Intel or any of the soon oputdated AND 50xx series stuff will work for many yeras.

 

[crazycrave]

i7-6700k

The RX 6700 is the first card in line that is full x16, it will be the best card to get away from x8 that the RX 6600 / RX 6600 XT / RX 6650 XT offer.

 

[staknhalo]

what software do you use for work

 

[ElevenFingers]

what software do you use for work

Mostly office suite, BI tools, python. However my serious hobbies include photography, videography and designing diy stuff before building in fusion360. Most importantly, I'm lazy about closing software when not actively in use and alt-tab split screen a lot. I mostly play strategy games and MMOs. Those are the main reasons I value a bigger CPU/ram combo than what you'd generally see in a gaming rig.

 

[staknhalo]

photography, videography...fusion360

Then stick with the 13700k if you go that route, for intel quicksync/iGPU support for the software IMO

 

[funkydmunky]

Hi all,

Long story short. I've been considering a system upgrade for the last few years. GPU and other component prices are finally coming down and I'd like to think about my options.

I currently run a single BenQ PD3200u (4k IPS with max refresh rate of 60 fps). I'm considering adding a second panel like the LG C2 42 inch. That way I'll have the IPS for productive efforts and the OLED for my unproductive hobbies.

My current setup (built in 2015):

EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz
2 x Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4 8GB 2.133MT/s
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
2 x HGST HUH721008ALN600 8 TB
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit

I haven't currently overclocked anything, but I could.

Ideally, I'd like to upgrade the GPU and nothing else.

Is there a GPU out there with HDMI 2.1 for a panel like the LG C2 that can run 4K at decent frames that won't be bottlenecked by my other components?

Or, in general, is there a good value GPU out there that would allow me to squeeze a few more years out of the rest of my components?

Any other comments or questions?

Have fun with a cheap 1070ti or 1080/ti or AMD 5700/XT or go into the modern low end. 4K can be very forgiving on older hardware as long as the GPU is tough enough. Ignore the "shit" speakers as even a slight GPU bump will show benefits.
If you are $$ cautions you can't go wrong. See what works for you. Just be dilettante with the benchmarks. So many exclaim it is 100X faster because they FEEL IT! While in fact they are %10 better

 

[ElevenFingers]

I checked rough prices briefly in the Dutch and German markets, since I have similar access to both. For each card, I then took a rough average of the 3 lowest AiB prices. I also checked some benchmarks from Passmark and Tom's Hardware. I have no idea if these are good metrics to go by, but they were among the first set of google results. I then also checked full list of components wattage estimates for each of the GPUs. Again, I'm not sure how this metric is derived, but hopefully it's at least relatively indicative. If you know of alternative metrics I should consider, please let me know.

GPU	Passmark	Tom's Ras. FPS 2k	Price	GPU W	System W	PM/euro	T2kFPS/euro	PM/W	T2kFPS/W
Radeon RX 6600	14,785​	46.1​	275​	132​	345​	53.8​	0.168​	112.0​	0.349​
Radeon RX 6600 XT	16,236​	54.9​	390​	160​	373​	41.6​	0.141​	101.5​	0.343​
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB	17,131​	52.6​	370​	170​	383​	46.3​	0.142​	100.8​	0.309​
Radeon RX 6650 XT	17,652​	56.7​	335​	175​	388​	52.7​	0.169​	100.9​	0.324​
Radeon RX 6700	18,897​	63.5​	380​	175​	388​	49.7​	0.167​	108.0​	0.363​
Radeon RX 6700 XT	19,475​	73.4​	435​	230​	443​	44.8​	0.169​	84.7​	0.319​
Radeon RX 6750 XT	20,503​	78.2​	480​	250​	463​	42.7​	0.163​	82.0​	0.313​
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	20,516​	69.7​	450​	200​	413​	45.6​	0.155​	102.6​	0.349​
GeForce RTX 3070	22,401​	77.5​	560​	220​	433​	40.0​	0.138​	101.8​	0.352​
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti	23,729​	82.6​	670​	290​	503​	35.4​	0.123​	81.8​	0.285​

Based off of this table the 6600, 6650xt and 6700 are the best when it comes to value. The estimated system wattage is also below 400W, so hopefully my 15 year old 650W PSU won't be overtaxed.

The other cards either require too much juice or are currently priced too highly in my area. So now I just need to check out their AiB's features and see what'll work best.

Here are some specific deals for total cost to get them to my front door:

GPU	AiB	Price
RX 6600	Powercolor Fighter	270​
RX 6600	Saphire Pulse	290​
RX 6600	XFX SWFT 210	290​
RX 6600	Asus Dual	295​
RX 6650 XT	Gigabyte Eagle	330​
RX 6650 XT	MSI Gaming X	340​
RX 6650 XT	Asus Dual OC	355​
RX 6650 XT	XFX SWFT 210	360​
RX 6650 XT	Saphire Pulse	360​
RX 6700	XFX SWFT 309 Core	375​
RX 6700	Saphire Pulse	400​
RX 6700	Powercolor Fighter	410​

If any of the cards jump out as a particularly good deal, let me know please.

 

[crazycrave]

Well, got two on your list, Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 and 6700, the RX 6600 is locked at 100watts and will not cross it unless you allow up 120watt + 20% power slider, it is on my B550 /5600x running full spec pcie 4 and SAM enabled on driver 22 .11. 2 / Window 11 hooked up to a 43" 4K Roku TV @ 60Hz, been playing World of Tanks with it in 4K high settings with it so far.

Also have the Sapphire Pulse RX 6700, not installed right now, but that's all the power that it will use from one 8 pin connection.

 

[ElevenFingers]

Well, got two on your list, Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 and 6700, the RX 6600 is locked at 100watts and will not cross it unless you allow up 120watt + 20% power slider, it is on my B550 /5600x running full spec pcie 4 and SAM enabled on driver 22 .11. 2 / Window 11 hooked up to a 43" 4K Roku TV @ 60Hz, been playing World of Tanks with it in 4K high settings with it so far.

Also have the Sapphire Pulse RX 6700, not installed right now, but that's all the power that it will use from one 8 pin connection.

How did you decide on the sapphire's in both cases?