Newb upgrade

Sep 19, 2020
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Hello. I am looking to do some upgrades to my computer. Below is what I have and my question is what upgrades are recommended? I also have someone willing to sell me some parts listed below and want to know what a good price to grab them would be.

What I have:
Motherboard - Gigabyte Technology Model z77-DS3H
IntelCore I5 3470 @3.20 GHz- Code Name Ivy Bridge - Max TDP 77.0W
Memory - DDR3 16 GBytes (4GB each)
Graphics - Radeon RX480
Cool Master Hyper 212 Black edition RGB

Someone is offering me (no talk of price yet)
Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.00 GHz
Motherboard - Supermicro C7Z170-SQ - Codename Skylake -Max TDP 95.0
Memory - 2 Micron BALLISTIX DDR4 2400MHz 8g
Cooling Noctua NH-U9S with NF-A9 92mm fan

TIA
 
If this 'someone' is personally known to you, it's worth bearing in mind that buying things off friends / acquaintances can get awkward if there is a problem. E.g. the stuff he/she sells them for dies after 2 weeks.

Moving on to the actual hardware, it is unlikely to be worth buying.

This is because, looking at UK prices at least, the i7 6700k sells second hand for about as much as the Ryzen 3 3300x does brand new. Also the RAM is relatively slow and the cooler probably isn't meaningfully better than your current one - given that it's quite a bit smaller it may well not be as good despite the Noctua fan.

So I don't think this stuff is worth buying versus alternative shopping options.

There's also another angle as to whether this - or anything else - is "worth it" - which is what you actually want the upgrade to do for you.

What do you want your PC to do that it currently does not?
 
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Sep 19, 2020
4
0
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Visit site
If this 'someone' is personally known to you, it's worth bearing in mind that buying things off friends / acquaintances can get awkward if there is a problem. E.g. the stuff he/she sells them for dies after 2 weeks.

Moving on to the actual hardware, it is unlikely to be worth buying.

This is because, looking at UK prices at least, the i7 6700k sells second hand for about as much as the Ryzen 3 3300x does brand new. Also the RAM is relatively slow and the cooler probably isn't meaningfully better than your current one - given that it's quite a bit smaller it may well not be as good despite the Noctua fan.

So I don't think this stuff is worth buying versus alternative shopping options.

There's also another angle as to whether this - or anything else - is "worth it" - which is what you actually want the upgrade to do for you.

What do you want your PC to do that it currently does not?

I mostly play Rocket League but I am just looking to improve my PC in general. I do not need anything over the top but I am aware my setup is 4-5 years old. Any recommendations?
 
If you're not having performance problems, don't upgrade. You don't need new hardware just because what you have is old, you only need to buy new hardware once what you have doesn't do what you need it to.

No point buying before then, because all that means is that 1) you are paying for something you don't need and 2) by the time you do need it, new things will be available that give even more performance for the same price you paid.

If there are specific improvements you need or want, what are they? If there aren't, stick with what you have and only buy new stuff once it's needed :)
 
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Zoid

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If you're not having performance problems, don't upgrade. You don't need new hardware just because what you have is old, you only need to buy new hardware once what you have doesn't do what you need it to.

No point buying before then, because all that means is that 1) you are paying for something you don't need and 2) by the time you do need it, new things will be available that give even more performance for the same price you paid.

If there are specific improvements you need or want, what are they? If there aren't, stick with what you have and only buy new stuff once it's needed
I will second @Oussebon's sentiment. It doesn't make logical or financial sense to upgrade components unless they are falling short of the real world performance you want. So my official advice is not to upgrade until you identify an area where your current system falls measurably short.

That said, I know that building PCs is a hobby that doesn't have to be logical or financially responsible to make you smile, so if upgrading for the heck of it is what you want to do then that's valid enough.

THAT said, I wouldn't buy those components for their "market" price, i.e. what they sell for on Ebay. If the seller is your friend and wants to sell you these components at a deep discount as a friendly favor, then sure, it's a meaningful upgrade to your current specs and I'd say go for it. Otherwise I'd advise you to look at buying new.

A new motherboard with a Ryzen 3 3300X and 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 US. For my money, I wouldn't pay more than half that for the i7-6700K setup. Not because it's half the performance, but because it's older tech without a warranty.
 
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