Upgrading time. Opinions?

[Alex86el]

So my pc currently is this:

MSI H170 Gaming M3
i7 6700
16GB RAM
Radeon R9 390 Sapphire
DELL U2311H

Do you think i can get away with upgrading only my monitor and GPU?
Would it be helpful if i got a second R9 390 in Crossfire for just 1080p? or is it pointless?
Budget is no problem, but i want to be reasonable and not spend a lot unless i have to.

The CPU i don't think needs upgrading.
And the motherboard is fine.
Right?

As for the RAM, it is adequate for now, but i'm tempted to go for 32/64.

And i need a good monitor.
Was thinking of getting the Alienware 34 QD-OLED AW3423DWF.
I've heard it's the best you can get for 1440p.

I'm not so sure about the GPU.
Haven't been keeping up to date.
Would be nice if you could recommend a few.

[rogoth]

in order to give a reasonable recommendation you need to give an example of what the PC will be used for, are you looking to just play WoW and nothing else, are you looking to play the most modern games possible?, are you looking to do some generic gaming with a little workstation on the side?, what sort of things do you want from the PC?

[Alex86el]

in order to give a reasonable recommendation you need to give an example of what the PC will be used for, are you looking to just play WoW and nothing else, are you looking to play the most modern games possible?, are you looking to do some generic gaming with a little workstation on the side?, what sort of things do you want from the PC?

So i'll be playing and streaming (for hobby, not pro) MMOs, survival co-op games, dark and darker, Baldur's Gate 3, Diablo4, EU4, OW2.
Some of the future MMOs that i'll be playing look a bit demanding.
I might be doing some video editing and photoshop, but not too much.

[Pann]

Getting another R9 390x would in my opinion be a complete waste of money as it is eight years old so I doubt it is even available outside of the 2nd hand market, AMD moved it to legacy driver support last year and Crossfire is pretty much dead.

If you have your heart set on a high refresh rate, ultrawide 1440p monitor you will need something considerably more powerful than a R9 390x, at minimum I would be looking at an RTX 3080 or RX 6800XT but you may find that, depending on the game, your CPU bottlenecks a modern GPU and the more powerful card you buy the more of an issue this will become.

It is also worth noting that Microsoft will be ending support for Win 10 in 2025 and your CPU is not supported by Win 11.

[rogoth]

So i'll be playing and streaming (for hobby, not pro) MMOs, survival co-op games, dark and darker, Baldur's Gate 3, Diablo4, EU4, OW2.
Some of the future MMOs that i'll be playing look a bit demanding.
I might be doing some video editing and photoshop, but not too much.

ok, with that criteria in mind i hope you're willing and able to spend a decent chunk of cash because you're going to need a complete overhaul of your system with a totally new rig and likely keeping very little of your current setup, because based on the tasks you want to accomplish your current setup is not gonna work.

for simul streaming and gaming at 1440p you would be best off going with an new AMD based build, the overall better performance for both of those tasks running side by side is better than the current Intel offerings, that means you will need to invest in an entirely new platform, new case, new RAM and definitely a new GPU.

taking your desired monitor into consideration this is a list i would suggest as a 'best case scenario' for all your needs right now:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/3jfNMb


the only change you would need to make top this kind of system in the future is replace the AM4 motherboard, the CPU and a RAM kit for an AM5 socket motherboard, DDR5 RAM and whatever new Ryzen CPU you feel is an upgrade a few years from now, or if Intel manages to actually pull a miracle out of their ass, get an Intel motherboard, DD5 and whatever Intel CPU you deem is an upgrade a few years from now.

[Pann]

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/3jfNMb

That's a decent build but the OP should be aware that the MB will probably need a BIOS update before it can be used with a 5800x3d and they will have to download a copy of an up to date BIOS to a USB stick in order to flash the board.

Also I am not sure if two 2TB HDDs are needed for the OP's use case. Depending on the OP's storage needs I'd suggest dropping at least one of the HDDs and go for a 2TB M.2 SDD.

Personally if I was going for a new build I would avoid AM4 and go AM5 or maybe Intel. I would probably hold off on Intel though as new chips are rumoured for Q2 or Q3 this year.

And on a side note, if the OP is located in the UK, the ALIENWARE 34 CURVED QD-OLED GAMING MONITOR - AW3423DWF is available direct from Dell for £883.01 - https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/alie...or-accessories

[rogoth]

That's a decent build but the OP should be aware that the MB will probably need a BIOS update before it can be used with a 5800x3d and they will have to download a copy of an up to date BIOS to a USB stick in order to flash the board.

Also I am not sure if two 2TB HDDs are needed for the OP's use case. Depending on the OP's storage needs I'd suggest dropping at least one of the HDDs and go for a 2TB M.2 SDD.

Personally if I was going for a new build I would avoid AM4 and go AM5 or maybe Intel. I would probably hold off on Intel though as new chips are rumoured for Q2 or Q3 this year.

And on a side note, if the OP is located in the UK, the ALIENWARE 34 CURVED QD-OLED GAMING MONITOR - AW3423DWF is available direct from Dell for £883.01 - https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/alie...or-accessories

all AM4 boards (B550/X570) bought brand new are made with the most up to date bios meaning the bios issue isn't there, can just drop and play with the CPU, it's a legacy feature on PCPP back when this wasn't standard practice by board manufacturers.

reason i suggested 2x2TB HDD is because OP said they wanted to stream, if they plan to have any sort of VOD system in place they will need a lot of personal storage on their PC, also it's good for redundancy purposes to have a 'hard copy' of all your stuff to backup, also a 2TB HDD is like 1/3rd of the price of a same capacity M.2 or sata SSD, obviously it's up to the OP what they wanna do in regards to overall storage but that was just my recommendation, could go full SSD if they wanted to, just need to be aware of the increased cost.

reason i suggested B550 (one of the best available versions i might add), and a 5800x3d is because OP will not find a better CPU for gaming and streaming until (assuming the simulated benchmarks play out in reality) the 7800x3d launches in a few weeks, and while the OP did say they had a decent budget, i was trying to also factor in the ridiculous cost of the monitor and a full AM5 platform upgrade in the UK right now would push this build (not using a current gen GPU btw) to almost £5000, obviously i wasn't aware of the ~£300 discount currently available in the UK based on your link, that's awesome but even so, using GBP pricing for a full AM5 upgrade would likely take this build into ridiculous territory at which point OP might as well just go balls deep and go full new kit on everything and break the bank.

[Pann]

all AM4 boards (B550/X570) bought brand new are made with the most up to date bios meaning the bios issue isn't there, can just drop and play with the CPU, it's a legacy feature on PCPP back when this wasn't standard practice by board manufacturers.

reason i suggested 2x2TB HDD is because OP said they wanted to stream, if they plan to have any sort of VOD system in place they will need a lot of personal storage on their PC, also it's good for redundancy purposes to have a 'hard copy' of all your stuff to backup, also a 2TB HDD is like 1/3rd of the price of a same capacity M.2 or sata SSD, obviously it's up to the OP what they wanna do in regards to overall storage but that was just my recommendation, could go full SSD if they wanted to, just need to be aware of the increased cost.

reason i suggested B550 (one of the best available versions i might add), and a 5800x3d is because OP will not find a better CPU for gaming and streaming until (assuming the simulated benchmarks play out in reality) the 7800x3d launches in a few weeks, and while the OP did say they had a decent budget, i was trying to also factor in the ridiculous cost of the monitor and a full AM5 platform upgrade in the UK right now would push this build (not using a current gen GPU btw) to almost £5000, obviously i wasn't aware of the ~£300 discount currently available in the UK based on your link, that's awesome but even so, using GBP pricing for a full AM5 upgrade would likely take this build into ridiculous territory at which point OP might as well just go balls deep and go full new kit on everything and break the bank.

When ordering you have no idea how long a MB has been sat on the shelf or in the warehouse so it is an issue that OP should be aware of but given the board supports EZ Flash 3 it is not a massive problem.

The OP said that streaming is a hobby so it is difficult to tell what their storage needs are however if they do need 4TB you can buy a 4TB HDD for less than two 2TB HDDs and you can upgrade to 2TB M.2 and get a 4TB HDD for roughly the same price.

I would also take into account the monitor OP mentioned as that those resolutions it will be GPU rather CPU performance that matters more and they might well find that the performance difference between a regular 5700x/5800x, 7700x (or 7700) and their X3d counterparts is not worth the price premium.

As I said I think the build you linked is decent although the storage choices aren't what I would suggest and I think the case is somewhat overkill, so there are potential savings to be made there.

But what has happened to PSU prices?!? £160 for a RM850x! I paid just over £100 for one last year.

AM4 is still a very good platform but if I was to build a new system tomorrow it would be on AM5 just to give a degree of future proofing and if it wasn't urgent I would wait to see what 14th Gen offers and how it effects prices.

[rogoth]

When ordering you have no idea how long a MB has been sat on the shelf or in the warehouse so it is an issue that OP should be aware of but given the board supports EZ Flash 3 it is not a massive problem.

The OP said that streaming is a hobby so it is difficult to tell what their storage needs are however if they do need 4TB you can buy a 4TB HDD for less than two 2TB HDDs and you can upgrade to 2TB M.2 and get a 4TB HDD for roughly the same price.

I would also take into account the monitor OP mentioned as that those resolutions it will be GPU rather CPU performance that matters more and they might well find that the performance difference between a regular 5700x/5800x, 7700x (or 7700) and their X3d counterparts is not worth the price premium.

As I said I think the build you linked is decent although the storage choices aren't what I would suggest and I think the case is somewhat overkill, so there are potential savings to be made there.

But what has happened to PSU prices?!? £160 for a RM850x! I paid just over £100 for one last year.

AM4 is still a very good platform but if I was to build a new system tomorrow it would be on AM5 just to give a degree of future proofing and if it wasn't urgent I would wait to see what 14th Gen offers and how it effects prices.

you can thank 3 things for that:

general cost of raw materials skyrocketing up thanks to covid, the ridiculous nature of power draw now on most PC hardware (especially Intel and Nvidia), and companies trying to price gouge to cover the costs of the aforementioned raw materials increases while maintaining or increasing overall profit margin on the same product, i have a RM750x which i bought ~18 months back for a little over ~£60 at the time, so yeah, do the maths on that one,