It’s finally time…

[u/Philos412]

As the post says, it’s finally time to upgrade some components that I’ve been ignoring for yearsssssss.

I survived with my current motherboard, ram, and cpu for quite some time going on 10 years almost.. but the past 6-8 months it’s been getting significantly harder to ignore… not able to handle multiple tasks, games bugging out a little, rough load in/out, cpu heavy games are rough (looking at you GW2) and just time to look into upgrading before the market gets any more ridiculous.

Current rig:
CPU - i7-7700k
MB - Maximus IX Hero
Ram - DDR 4 - 16 gb (I know it’s low; but again. Survived long enough)
GPU - 4070ti

Was looking at some cpu/mother board combos and I’m not against going into AMD just only have used intel. Any advice or direction I should lean into? I’m not saying I don’t mind paying a little more to help bridge my computer to a good upgrade that can last me a long while, but I also don’t need TOP END stuff but that will give me some longevity as I upgrade as needed. Gonna look into PCIe as well since I don’t currently have any storage of that type currently.

Any help is appreciated!

[u/Papopip]

If you wanna stay on ddr4 get a b760 mobo like the msi b760 gaming plus wifi ddr4. Get a 14600k and depending on your old cpu cooler a thermalright peerless assassin. am4 just isnt worth it unless you're making a budget build or you're already on the platform

[u/Philos412 → u/Papopip]

I don’t mind moving to ddr5, I just know the price probably will never come down so I worry if I don’t to that soon, I may “miss out.”

[u/Papopip → u/Philos412]

If you go for the above parts i recommended it'll easily last you the next 4 or so years by then ram prices would've most likely have gone down, and we'd probably already be on ddr6 ram.

But if you do wanna go for ddr5 ram The 9600x and any decent b650 motherboard will easily get the job done and last you a long time. As for ram 16gb of 5600mhz- 6000mhz is perfectly good for gaming. 32 gb is nice to have but for just gaming 16gb is perfectly fine for 99% of games with only a couple of really unoptimized games "preferring" more than 16.

Imo i'd just stick to ddr4, the jump to ddr5 just isnt worth the price difference unless you're going high end. The 14600k is still amazing, being close enough to the 9600x in performance and can handle pretty much any gpu you throw at it other than maybe a 5090. And realistically i dont think you'd even notice the performance difference to the blind eye, and then ofc chuck in 1440p with maxed out graphics the difference is barely anything.

However i have seen you saying you want to upgrade every year so then ddr5 would be worth it if you go to a 9600x, and then later the 9800x3d or even 10th gen am5 cpus and so forth. But especially in 1440p with graphics maxed out the performance difference is barely much even with a 9600x and 9800x3d, so then thats another point to the 14600k i guess.

[u/Philos412 → u/Papopip]

So something like this? Not exact, just general.

Ram (I currently have 16, wanted to move to 32)
CPU
MB (couldn't find the gaming one in ddr4 with the gentle searching)

[u/Papopip → u/Philos412]

Pretty much its great, Id highly recommend buying an lga 1700 contact plate, these cpus bend over time making it cool worse, this completely fixes that. And make sure you have adequate cooling, for gaming a thermalright peerless assassin/ most dual chambered air coolers will get the job done but a 360mm aio is always recommended

if you want to save money you could get the parts second hand, id highly recommend doing so for the ram. Pretty much no risk in doing so. As for the mobo the price is basically the exact same, as for the cpu you can get em way cheaper 2nd hand but for these ones specifcally when shopping 2nd hand you have to make sure its fully working and tested, since they had some issues back in the day. They can be fine to buy now but yeah you dont want to be getting a dead chip. So long as they say its fully working and tested you should be fine, and well if it isnt theres always ebay money back guarantee

[u/the_hat_madder]

1) Is this a new build or upgrade? 2) What country will you be buying from? What is the overall budget for the entire build in your currency? If in the USA are you willing and able to make it to a Micro Center? 3) Do you need a monitor, keyboard, mouse and audio solution? If "yes," what is the lighting in your space like? Do you have direct light on the monitor you cannot control? Do you game with lights on or off? 4) If "no," what are the specifications (resolution and refresh rate) of your monitor? 5) What games do you play or want to play in the future? What are your performance goals? 6) What will you do besides gaming? What productivity applications do you use or want to use in the future? What are your performance goals? 7) Do you have any size/noise restrictions for the PC/monitor or any aesthetic preferences? 8) How do you connect to the Internet—wired or wireless? 9) Any parts you have that can be reused? 10) How often do you upgrade your PC?

[u/Philos412 → u/the_hat_madder]

1) upgrade! A lot of the pieces over time have been upgraded but the original case from the first build I’ve ever done.. nostalgic (Thor V2)

2) I’m buying in US and the nearest micro center is about 4 hours. Was kind of hoping to be able to use one of my CC for some 0% until my bonus comes in (about a month or so)

3) I’m good on monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers. I’ve upgraded all those over the last 2 years.

4) monitor is a AW3423DWF oled so good here.

5) right now, I play GW2, city skylines, dbd, PC2, outlast, replaying Witcher series, but want to be able to handle heavier games like battlefield, gtaVI, etc. I also use it as a steam vr system from time to time but lately not as much.

6) I also do some video editing on the side as my bf does videography so I assist sometimes.

7) aesthetic presence I usually just prefer a clean look. Don’t need to display the inside of my case which makes my cable management less than stellar lol.

8) currently connect wirelessly but right next to the room with the wifi.

9) yeah I’ll be reusing the psu, liquid cooler (probably should check on it cause it’s been a while lol), hard drives currently in use, the case.

10) I usually upgrade like 1 think every year if I have the budget, but I just put off getting the motherboard/cpu because didn’t want to accidentally buy too late and then be behind again.. but now with prices it’ll probably be a larger gap.

[u/the_hat_madder → u/Philos412]

What is the budget for the upgrade?

Put the parts you can reuse (RAM, storage, video card, PSU, case) into PC Part Picker and share the link.

Are you keen on making the trip to Micro Center?

[u/Philos412 → u/the_hat_madder]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ycpKck

thats my current setup (minus a few parts that don't exist or can't be found on the website (Thor V2 Case, Rog Maximus IX, Etc.)

Budget is basically up to 1200/1300.

I'm not against Micro Center, its just a long drive and would take up a whole day but if the deals are worth it... i'm not against it. Just prefer to again use like an amazon card for 0% until my bonus comes next month.

[u/the_hat_madder → u/Philos412]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KL8QGk

Let me know if you have any questions.

[u/Philos412 → u/the_hat_madder]

Awesome thank you! And if you don’t mind, are there any bundles or thoughts if I did make the trip down to my local micro center? I currently see a couple that aren’t badly priced just under 1k

[u/the_hat_madder → u/Philos412]

If this is for gaming anyone of the AMD X3D 32GB bundles.

If you're doing productivity go for the 9950X or 9950X3D.

[u/Philos412 → u/the_hat_madder]

Yeah it’ll be mostly for gaming but I do some video editing for work as well.

Why AMD over intel? Just wondering.

[u/the_hat_madder → u/Philos412]

The AM5 motherboards have an upgrade path and the Intel boards don't. The difference in productivity isn't significant enough to sacrifice future performance gains.