Upgrade or buy new?

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whiskey29

Active member
So Im thinking about upgrading my PC that I bought from PC Specalist using their upgrade service, Im quite happy to do the installations myself, but wondered if I shouldnt just get a new PC altogether? Any advice gratefully received.

Use: Mainly gaming, and some VR. I usually watch a film on Netflix or Amazon at the same time on my second monitor. Im never likely to stream myself.

Current PC
Case: Coolermaster Stormtrooper
CPU: i7-4790k overclocked to 4.8ghz
MOBO: Maximus Hero VII
Cooler:NH-D14
GPU: Asus Strix GTX108TI 11Gb
RAM: 32GB (2444 DDR4)
Monitor 1: ASUS ROG Swift 279Q
Monitor 2: BEN Q XL2430T

Storage
SSD 1 Samsung 850 Evo (500GB)
SSD 2 Crucial MX500 (500GB)
HD WD Black 6TB

My questions:

1. Is it worth switching to a Liquid Cooler such as Corsair H115i? I worry about it leaking and destroying my MOBO/GPU (had it happen on a previous PC Specialist PC)
2. Is there anything worth changing in the storage? I hear good things about M.2, but dont think they work with my current MOBO

If i buy a new computer from PC Specialist, I would use most of my own drives and
3. Im thinking of upgrading, not because Ive noticed any performance issues, but mainly because I recently got a Maximus X Hero MOBO for £20 (lucky E-bay find) and am enticed by the newer chipsets and M.2, concious along with the CPU i would also need new RAM (3000mhz DDR4) and a new cooler as I dont think mine would fit?
4. Is 8gb sufficient for my uses, or should i push it to 16gb?
5. Is upgrading from my 4790k to 8700k actually going to produce a noticeable difference?

Budget- I can afford (just) the suggested new system, but if it isnt going to get me much improvement, id rather wait and see what the future brings? Any advice really appreciated, thanks :)
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
1) No, it's not worth buying a liquid cooler for your current system if you have a perfectly functional Noctua cooler.

And if your Noctua cooler isn't functioning properly, it either needs cleaning, repasting etc, or replacing if it's faulty. If it's faulty, although your PCS parts warranty may be over, Noctua offer their own warranty and the cooler may still be covered by that. It won't improve performance and it doesn't matter a whole lot if your CPU runs at 65 degrees instead of 70 degrees under heavy gaming load, or whatever. :)

2) Up to you, but probably not. I believe the M.2 slot on the Hero VII is limited to PCIe x2 which will bottleneck modern "M.2" SSDs (i.e. fast PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs).
However, you could get a PCIe add-in card and use a fast M.2 SSD at full speeds. But it won't improve gaming performance, and if you don't actually need more SSD storage it's arguably not worth the hassle or the expense of doing so. SSD prices are quite high at the moment.

Am in a similar position and I'm tempted by one myself, and tell myself it can always be carried over to the next system. But ultimately I don't need it and it's a lot of money.

3) If your current setup is okay, I'd stick with it. Get the most out of the large amount of cash you spent on your old system- and when you old system does start underperforming in the future you'll have saved up more cash and have newer, more powerful components with more features to choose from. Plus they'd have vulnerabilities like Spectre/Meltdown etc designed out. No point upgrading now if the performance is still fine.
 
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tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
i'd say keep your system as it is and dont change anything. In relation to question 5 i'd be doubtful that you would see much of a difference betwween your CPU and any modern CPU's. Sure you may see a difference, but is that difference worth the cost?

Maybe this video is worth a watch?

[video=youtube_share;9R64UcOew0A]https://youtu.be/9R64UcOew0A[/video]
 
W

whiskey29

Active member
Thanks for all the help, advice gratefully received and some of it willfully ignored (but considered)!!

I did upgrade in the end, my main reasoning being, with the new generation just round the corner, the value of my current items might plummet further, so whilst performance wise an upgrade might not make sense, financially it may have some merit. I followed this post up, not to brag, but maybe to generate some discussion or thoughts for others in the same situation, that whilst the black and white answer to the performance upgrade is no, financially it may be better to upgrade now. Others may have better luck on E-Bay/2nd hand shops, but I def struck gold with the MOBO!

Anyway some waiting and surfing on ebay I managed to buy the following parts;
Maximus X hero MOBO (£20),
i7-8700k (£220),
h115i cooler (£70),
16gb 3000mhz DDR4 RAM (£75),
M.2 Samsung 860 500gb (£120)
total cost £505


this was tempered against my selling of old parts;
i7-4790k (£195),
Maximus Hero VII (£135),
Noctua DH14 (£60)
so total recouped so far £390

still have 3 auctions for 32gb of 2400mhz DDR (expect between £160-£180, selling in modules of 8gb), and an old 24" 1080i BenQ monitor (expect £80-£100).

Cost so far of new system (my purchases-my sales) £115, if my RAM and monitor sell i will seem to be up between £125-165

However, in the sake of fairness, I did buy a Strix 1080ti a few months back for £770 from PCSpecialist so should factor that in as well. I sold my 2x 980s for £360, add to that the potential £125-165 profit from monitor & RAM and im looking at the upgrade having cost me all in all £285-£245, for what I think are fairly high spec GPU, CPU, MOBO, RAM, M.2 SSD and cooling :)

I think that for me anyway, whilst the upgrade may not offer that much improvement, I think it makes financial sense to upgrade, which will allow me to do the same in 2-3 years time without losing too much itself. System is all built, and had some burn in tests to ensure stability, with no issues, will start to OC the CPU and the GPU now to see how we do :)
 
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Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
If the uses are as per your first post, then there is no point to 32gb RAM. Gaming and those other uses will get literally 0 benefit from having more than 16gb RAM. 16gb RAM is already more than futureproof - there's very little difference between 8gb and 16gb for gaming, and by the time games can draw benefits from more than 16gb, it won't matter if you bought 32gb DDR4 because a) the rest of your system will be completely obsolete and the bottleneck instead of your RAM qty and b) new hardware will be on DDR5 by then anyway :)

I know you have the upgrade bug, but all you'll be doing is yourself out of ~£80 on the RAM front.
 
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whiskey29

Active member
Oussebon said:
If the uses are as per your first post, then there is no point to 32gb RAM. Gaming and those other uses will get literally 0 benefit from having more than 16gb RAM. 16gb RAM is already more than futureproof - there's very little difference between 8gb and 16gb for gaming, and by the time games can draw benefits from more than 16gb, it won't matter if you bought 32gb DDR4 because a) the rest of your system will be completely obsolete and the bottleneck instead of your RAM qty and b) new hardware will be on DDR5 by then anyway :)

I know you have the upgrade bug, but all you'll be doing is yourself out of ~£80 on the RAM front.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, i think you misread my post, the 32gb RAM for sale is the RAM im selling from my old system. Only bought 16gb for this one :D
 
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