Two systems upgrade?

MayoForSam

Myself and my son have 2 PC's, however they are beginning to creak around the edges, especially when my son wants to play PUBG on his system.

1. What is your budget? €400-500 plus whatever I'll get for selling on 2nd hand parts.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Mainly gaming (PUBG, Battlefield 1, CS:GO, Civ 5, TF2, RS2:Vietnam), some graphical work/photo editing.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No, I can get W10 handy enough for both systems.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes, I want to recycle as much as possible from our 2 current set-ups, sell the rest.

System 1:
i5 4440
ASRock B85 Pro4
2 x 8GB DDR3-1600 / PC3-12800 RAM
256 GB Crucial M4 SSD
1 GB Samsung HD
MSI GTX 970
XFX PRO 550W PSU

System 2:
i3 4160
MSI H81M-P33
2 x 4GB DDR3-1600 / PC3-12800 RAM
120 GB Samsung HD502HJ SSD
1 GB Samsung HD
ATI Radeon HD 7870 (Tahiti LE)
Thermaltake 530W Bronze PSU

5. Do you need a monitor? No, I have a Dell 27" 1440p 60Hz, my son has a 24" 1080p 60Hz.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No peripherals needed, we have 2 tower cases and decent power supplies.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes, absolutely.

8. How can you pay? Any way - credit card, Paypal, cash.

9. When are you purchasing? In the next couple of weeks.

I was thinking of putting together a new Ryzen 5 1600 build for myself and holding onto the 970, but giving my son the i5 4440 with a new video card (maybe a GTX 1050Ti?).

I put together this list:
AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor £187.14
ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard £61.19
G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory £73.39
Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card £135.88
Total 457.60 (approx. €503) plus shipping

I can then sell the i3 4160+mb, 8 or 16 GB of Ram and the 7870 graphics card for around €100-120, net spend just over €400.

I might be wiling to spend another €100 or so - where should it go? Better video card for my son?

Is it definitely worth my while moving to DDR4 RAM with the Ryzen build?

Lu Tze

You would likely get €80 anyways for the 2 x 8GB sticks on their own, so you may be looking closer to getting €200 for all the second hand parts. Along with the extra €100, it might make a new graphics card for yourself such as a gtx 1060 almost viable, while your son could keep the 970.

TerrorFirmer

I would just transfer the i5-4440 into your sons machine and give him the GTX970 as well.

Then get yourself a 2nd hand i7-4770/4790 for about €200 (they appear on adverts semi regularly for that price) and get a GTX1070 or Vega 56 for €400-450 - these are the only meaningful upgrades on a GTX970 unless you get a 2nd hand GTX980Ti. GTX1060 6GB is largely a sideways move, it sits in between the GTX970 and 980.

In both those machines, the GPU is actually the major bottleneck when it comes to Battlegrounds, not the CPUs. It's a horribly badly optimised game, not heavy on CPUs but a real GPU killer.

Obviously though the i3 in your sons machine would be weak in something like Battlefield 1 online, but the i5-4440 is still a pretty good CPU for 60hz gaming.

It's not the CPU's in either machine holding you back in Battlegrounds though. You're not going to see any performance increases on either machine without upgrading both graphics cards (your son can take your GTX970 though, that is a big upgrade from a 7870)

Buying a new Ryzen system and hanging onto your GTX970 will give you 0% increase unfortunately

MayoForSam

Thanks TF.

Would an i7-4770 (non k version) be a decent upgrade compared to the i5-4440? Any point going for better RAM (probably not)?

I might just get another GTX 970 second-hand as well and pair it with the 4770. Still probably the best bang-for-buck out there.

Is the B85 Pro4 motherboard OK for the 4770 or should I get one that provides better overclocking - may be pointless with a non-k version anyway?

TerrorFirmer

Can't overclock, but don't need to. It is a significant upgrade on the i5 in games that use the extra threads - like Battlefield 1 - zero upgrade in those that don't - like Battlegrounds. Is much better in editing/rendering tasks and similar though.

Broadly speaking at 1440p60hz, I would much rather an i5-4400 + GTX1070, than an i7-4770 and an GTX970.

Another scenario - both of you keep your current CPUs and son gets your old GTX970, you get a GTX1070.

Your son will get a huge boost in Battlegrounds though BF1 wouldn't be great online with the i3, still.

Or else just get your son another 2nd hand i5-4440/4460/etc, these days they sell for about €100 and give him your GTX970.

So very much depends on what you're willing to spend, but you personally will hands down see the biggest benefit from a new card, not a new CPU.

Your top priority is a new GPU, your son's is a new GPU and CPU if he's also playing the likes of Battlefield 1.

Total cost: GTX1070 for you and i5-4440/similar for your son, around €550, sell the HD7870 for €70 and the i3-4150 for €50, total cost is closer to €400.

Up to you then if you want to shell out the extra €100 for an i7 on yourself and give the son your current CPU

Xenoronin

The i7 basically adds 4 additional cores (via SMT) so it's a decent upgrade. Not going to blow your socks off, but neither would the Ryzen build. I've found that it helps mostly with multi-tasking and some CPU heavy games. Raises the minimum framerate.
No need to upgrade the RAM, 16GB is plenty.
Yup, the GTX 970 is still damn good price/performance.
Can't overclock on the B85 motherboard (need a Z87 for overclocking features) or a non-K 4770 (The K indicates an unlocked multiplier).

MayoForSam

I wonder should I wait for the RX Vega 56 to be released or is there anywhere it can be got now for around €400, meant to be a 1070 killer?

wotzgoingon

MayoForSam wrote: »

I wonder should I wait for the RX Vega 56 to be released or is there anywhere it can be got now for around €400, meant to be a 1070 killer?

It's released already well the reference model is. The board partners haven't any custom cards yet.

TerrorFirmer

MayoForSam wrote: »

I wonder should I wait for the RX Vega 56 to be released or is there anywhere it can be got now for around €400, meant to be a 1070 killer?

It's more expensive than the GTX1070 at the moment and also uses a lot more power.

Best results gotten from undervolting/overclocking - makes it an excellent card.

At the moment though it's around €450 for a reference model - for the same price you can get a better 3rd party GTX1070.

MayoForSam

Thanks for the advice, I went and bought an Asus 1070 from Amazon for just under €420 including delivery. Apparently prices are meant to go up shortly for Nvidia cards due to memory shortages. There's a few on Adverts for similar money or a bit less, then again buying second hand you never know if these cards may have been overclocked or used for mining. My 970 was never really able for 1440p gaming in the first place.

I'll leave the CPU's as they are for now, with a view to getting myself a 4770 or similar in the medium term, then the young lad can have my i5. He should be happy enough going from a 7870 to a 970 (especially for 1080p gaming).