PC upgrade questions!!

[samthelam]

Hey guys! So, I love my PC that I have right now, but there are definitely some things I want to upgrade when I get some money. Some main issues right now, are storage and it not being able to stream COD and handle multiple applications opened. My specs right now are:
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 3470S @ 2.90GHz 42 °C
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
Intel Corporation DH61CR (CPU 1) 36 °C
Graphics
Sceptre E22 (1920x1080@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Gigabyte) 43 °C
Storage
476GB 512GB QLC SATA SSD (SATA (SSD)) 39 °C
Optical Drives
No optical disk drives detected
Audio
High Definition Audio Device
I already ordered Crucial 1TB SSD and a new case. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MDFYW3N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have a list of stuff that I want to eventually upgrade to and was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to if it seems like a decent build. I am new to PC building so I would like a second opinon. I won't be upgrading anything major soon but I like to be prepared and have everything set up if that makes sense! I am also confused as to if I can have both my 500 GB and 1TB SSD in at the same time or how I would transfer data. I will most likely be watching a lot of youtube videos when my case comes in. I appreciate any constructive criticism and any advice! This is the list I have on PCpartpicker of stuff I want to eventually upgrade to.

Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor

Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition 57.3 CFM CPU Cooler

Asus PRIME Z390-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory

Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (bought)

MUSETEX Phantom ATX Mid Tower Case (bought)

Cooler Master MWE Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

 

[Brian Boru]

Hey Sam, congrats on your first builds! I've built ~12 PCs, but the last was 2014 so I'm not familiar with the detail of current hardware. So, just general observations until an expert stops by:

32 GB RAM is overkill, 16 will be fine for next years.
i7 seems a small upgrade to me, consider a 'stronger' CPU—especially if COD loads CPU more than GPU, which seems likely as your current GPU is well capable.

Your GPU is the most 'advanced' part of your system, so last to upgrade. However, if you want one of the new impressive GPUs launching over the next months, make sure your mobo will support it and it'll fit in your case.

if I can have both my 500 GB and 1TB SSD in at the same time or how I would transfer data

Yes, you can have 3 x 3.5" Drives and 3 x 2.5" Drives in that case. If you have a lot of data, you may also want a HD in the future—they're cheap storage.

Transferring data is simple. Launch File Manager and simply copy the data from one drive to the other, then delete it in the old location once you're sure it copied okay. If all your data is in sub-folders of My Documents, then you only have to copy the My Docs folder and it'll bring all the data under it.

I suggest keep Windows, programs, and main games in the 500 GB, and data in the 1TB + secondary games if necessary. You don't mention an external backup drive, you should definitely invest in a large one.

 

[Oussebon]

Glad you got the 1650 working

i7 seems a small upgrade to me, consider a 'stronger' CPU—especially if COD loads CPU more than GPU, which seems likely as your current GPU is well capable.

Not sure I follow? The upgrade is from an i5 3470S to a 9700k. That's an absolutely massive CPU upgrade.

However, it may not be the best choice. AMD are unveiling their Zen 3 CPUs on 8th Oct so worth waiting for that before dropping the better part of $500 on a new CPU + mobo.

There's not too much point planning an upgrade this far in advance, because by the time you come to buy, new stuff will be on sale that supersedes the old stuff. Intel have already superseded the 9700k with their own new lineup, and AMD are about to launch new stuff as above.

I already ordered Crucial 1TB SSD and a new case.

Cancel the order on the case, I think.

Your old system won't be compatible with the case if this is still your Dell XPS 8300. The case will just sit there, wearing out its warranty while doing nothing for you. Also, the airflow doesn't look great.

Can you cancel the case?

When do you expect to be doing the major upgrades?

 

[Zoid]

Hey Sam! You say your main issues are not performance while multitasking and streaming, and storage. It sounds like you're already addressing the storage concern with a new SSD.

Like @Brian Boru said, you can easily have multiple drives operating at the same time. Your existing SSD will continue to operate as your boot drive for Windows, and your second drive will show up as an additional storage location. It's kind of like when you plug in a USB drive, only this one will be permanently connected. I currently have two SSDs in my computer and it works just fine!

As for the rest of your system, as @Oussebon says, it's not generally useful to plan upgrade purchases too far ahead because new products are always coming out.

The i7-9700K is a good CPU, but depending on price, I'm not sure it would be best for you. Intel released their 10th generation CPUs not long ago, and the i5-10600K offers equivalent performance to the 9700K in most scenarios and is on a newer platform. Also, if multitasking is something you do a lot of, the Ryzen 7 3700X is also around the same price and offers generally superior multi-application performance. But of course I'd suggest waiting to see what the new generation Ryzen CPUs look like when they release next month.

Can you post a direct link to your full list on PCPartpicker? That way we can work with it and try out different options. It would also be helpful to know your budget and what specific games and programs you want to play / use.

 

[Brian Boru]

Not sure I follow? … That's an absolutely massive CPU upgrade

You don't follow cos you're one of the experts I mentioned, and I'm not

I knew there are new Ryzen coming soon, and thought I heard about i9, so i7 looks like it should be weak by the time Sam gets to upgrade.

10th generation CPUs not long ago, and the i5-10600K offers equivalent performance to the 9700K

So to understand the product numbers:
This looks like Nvidia's usage—the '10' is the gen & '600' the model—where the GTX 1060 is very similar to the 970. Is that it?

budget and what specific games and programs you want to play / use.

Yeah Sam, when you return from on the lam, those would be helpful for the experts to know.

 

[Zoid]

I knew there are new Ryzen coming soon, and thought I heard about i9, so i7 looks like it should be weak by the time Sam gets to upgrade.

The i7-9700K wouldn't be weak by the time of upgrade, just a little outdated in the relentless onward march of technology. It's still near the top of the pile for gaming. The "weak" point of the i7-9700K at its price point is that it has 8 physical cores with no hyperthreading compared to the Ryzen 7 3700X which has 8 cores and 16 threads. The i7 still has stronger single-core performance, but it's not enough to make up for the thread deficit in multi-threaded workloads.

The i9 line is a step above the i7 line of course, but it's another tier above in terms of price. Intel's 10th generation processors are looking to take the fight to AMD with more cores and more threads, so the i5-10600K is now a 6 core, 12 thread CPU. That makes for a weird scenario where the new i5 actually has more processing threads than the previous generation i7. In most tests so far, the i5-10600K performs just as well as the i7-9700K, in both games and productivity work. Of course, 4th gen Ryzen is dropping next month and worth taking a look at before pulling the trigger on a new i5.

So to understand the product numbers:
This looks like Nvidia's usage—the '10' is the gen & '600' the model—where the GTX 1060 is very similar to the 970. Is that it?

Yep, that's exactly right. So for an i5-10600K, the "i5" is the brand family, the "10" is the generation, the "600" is the SKU, and the "K" is the suffix modifier indicating that this is an unlocked / performance focused CPU. You'll also see other suffixes like "U" for ultra-low power consumption laptop CPUs.

For AMD's Ryzen naming convention it's much the same. For a Ryzen 7 3700X, the "Ryzen 7" is the brand family, the "3" is the generation, the "700" is the SKU, and the "X" is the suffix (in this case "X" meaning a couple hundred megahertz clock speed bump over the non-X variants).

 

[Oussebon]

I knew there are new Ryzen coming soon, and thought I heard about i9, so i7 looks like it should be weak by the time Sam gets to upgrade.

i5, i7, i9, are marketing terms and on their own don't mean anything. I think i9 came about as a term shortly after AMD released Ryzen in 2017 and Intel wanted to be seen to respond especially in the 'HEDT' space.

HEDT stands for High End Desktop, which means 'workstation' type PCs i.e. Intel's -X series CPUs and X99, X299 etc motherboards, and AMD's Threadripper CPUs and TR4 motherboards. Hardware intended for specific professional uses, not just a powerful PC as you or I might talk about conversationally. To distinguish the 'normal' PC CPUs and motherboards that are intended for gaming and the huge majority of personal users from HEDT, e.g. i7 9700k, i9 10900k, AMD R7 3700x, etc, these generally get called called things like 'consumer' or 'mainstream'. HEDT motherboards are typically more expensive than consumer ones, as are the CPUs.

So, Intel had the 8-core, 16-thread i7 6900k ("Broadwell-E" family) on the HEDT platform (back then, HEDT CPUs still usually had -k rather than -X at the end of the name). That CPU was worth about ~$1000 and needed an HEDT motherboard. And then AMD launched the Ryzen 7 1800x (8C/16T) at $500 on the consumer platform.

Intel rushed out Skylake-X HEDT CPUs, and coined the term i9. The Skylake-X i9-7900X had 10 cores and 20 threads. However, the previous gen Broadwell-E part i7-6950X also had 10-cores and 20 threads and was called an i7.

i9 didn't exist in the consumer CPU sphere until late 2018 when the i9 9900k emerged, being just 1 step up from the 9700k. The 9700k is an 8-core CPU. The 9900k is also 8-cores, but with hyperthreading i.e. 16 threads. And with Intel's 10000 series, the i7 10700k is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU essentially giving you the same as the 9900k. The current consumer i9 is the 10C/20T 10900k,. i9 creeping up the stack to 10-cores is arguably partly because i9 mean "our most expensive one" and partly because if AMD are offering 12+16 cores under their 'R9' branding, it looks weak to offer only 8 cores under your '9'.

The invention of 'i9' branding and its creep down from HEDT 10-cores (which were themselves known as i7 before) to Consumer 8-cores (and now back up to 10-cores) is a refection of Ryzen's success and Intel's need to be seen to deliver responses to it.

TL: DR - you need to look at the specific CPU's position in terms of price and performance, not the branding sticker slapped on it.

 

[samthelam]

Your old system won't be compatible with the case if this is still your Dell XPS 8300. The case will just sit there, wearing out its warranty while doing nothing for you. Also, the airflow doesn't look great.

So, I already got the case and switched it teehee, I got too excited. It is not the dell xps 8300, what I listed in the beginning is my current pc parts I had it custom built by a guy. The new case can hold regular sized mobo's which I plan on upgrading later. It still fits my mini-ATX but right now it looks like my PC is throwing up because the 4-pin connector to the mobo wouldn't reach so right now the PSU is sitting outside of the case (I know its not ideal) but I ordered a 4-pin cable extension so I can fit everything inside of the case. I also got another SATA cable so I can have both SSD's. The only other issue I'm having with the case is that despite looking at countless videos and researching, I cant figure out how to connect the RGB fans to the motherboard. I can post pics if you guys think you could help because I feel defeated with it rn. I appreciate you guys!

 

[samthelam]

Yeah Sam, when you return from on the lam, those would be helpful for the experts to know.

Lol, I see what you did there. But tbh after reading everyone's post I guess it doesn't make sense to plan upgrades right now since I prob wont be able to make major upgrades for at least 6-12 months. Budget kind of depends on the part I guess like I know a decent CPU and GPU are gonna be ~$400+ each. I plan on continuing to play COD MW, Fortnite, and Valorant which is whats installed right now. After I set up my new SSD I am downloading Minecraft, Skyrim, and other games like that. I want to stream eventually too.

 

[Zoid]

I cant figure out how to connect the RGB fans to the motherboard. I can post pics if you guys think you could help because I feel defeated with it rn. I appreciate you guys!

If this is the correct documentation for your motherboard then it looks like your motherboard supports 1 CPU fan (taken up by your CPU cooler), and 2 chassis fans, nominally 1 front and 1 rear. With no RGB headers on the mobo you won't be able to plug lights directly into it. Do these fans have separate LED connectors to plug in I'm assuming? If so there may be an internal hub you could get that would plug into a USB header. As for getting power to more than two fans, you could get a fan splitter, internal fan hub, or adapter cable to power them directly from the PSU (but that will run them at 100%).

 

[Brian Boru]

@Zoid @Oussebon Thank you both, very informative and very headache-inducing! I'm bookmarking your posts, cos there's no way all that convolution will stick first time—I've done some marketing in a previous life, but that whole CPU dancology is ridiculous.

I guess it doesn't make sense to plan upgrades right now since I prob wont be able to make major upgrades for at least 6-12 months

I agree, this tech changes quickly, as do its prices.

ETA: I seem to have won the free bold font draw this morning, ta very much

 

[Oussebon]

I know a decent CPU and GPU are gonna be ~$400+ each.

A decent CPU would be an R5 3600 which can be had for ~$200, and a very good CPU would be a 3700x at ~$300 - there's little difference between them in gaming performance, the R7's extra cores would be more of an asset for streaming.

As for the GPU, a $400 GPU would be way overpowered for your monitor and to be honest for 1080p gaming even if you got a 144hz monitor. Do you also plan to upgrade the monitor?

 

[samthelam]

A decent CPU would be an R5 3600 which can be had for ~$200, and a very good CPU would be a 3700x at ~$300 - there's little difference between them in gaming performance, the R7's extra cores would be more of an asset for streaming.

As for the GPU, a $400 GPU would be way overpowered for your monitor and to be honest for 1080p gaming even if you got a 144hz monitor. Do you also plan to upgrade the monitor?

Sorry i've been gone again for a while I don't check on here a lot, but now I have a whole other issue right now. I was having issues with the PC and it wouldn't turn on for a while, finally got it to turn on fully but now it beeps once when started. It won't connect to the monitor and I know the cables are working. The guy who built it put it back in the old case and can't figure out whats wrong with it and basically told me to get a second opinion. At this point it's been such a headache and i'm wanting to try to sell it for as much as I can and get a new build. TBH I think it's because he gave me an outdated motherboard. I don't have the money to buy a new build but if I have to, i'll honestly put it on my credit card lol cause I am so over this. If I end up buying a new build I will most likely try to do it myself, I think I have a fairly good understanding of everything I just dont want to mess anything up.

 

[Isti]

My HW was around 300 dollars back then in 2017, all games are running smootly. Radeon rx460 2 GB, 8 GB ram. I agree with overkill, new games are voluntarily cranced up specs, while no real visual develepment.

For example Destiny 2 run smootly on a very old 1 TB HDD.