Consider suggestions for improving your CPU performance.
Consider suggestions for improving your CPU performance.
It's finally time to make some changes to my setup as it's beginning to fall short of the frame rates I need in the latest games or even fails to run them properly. The part I'm focusing on swapping is my i7 8700k, which means I'll also need to replace the motherboard, along with the AIO/cooler and possibly the power supply. I'm aiming to stick with DDR4 to keep expenses manageable while using what I have. My budget for the CPU and motherboard ranges from £250 to £300, but if a major upgrade exceeds that, I can stretch it a bit.
I don’t plan on 4K gaming, but I want to maintain around 100fps at 3440x1440 resolution in games. Occasionally I do light video editing for YouTube using captured game footage, which gives a sense of the overall workload my system handles.
Thanks for your guidance ahead of time!
Relevant PC specifications:
i7 8700k @ 4.7Ghz
ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-H
2 x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro @ 3600Mhz & 2x RGB Pro Light Enhancement Kit
ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity 10GB
Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Corsair 750M Gold Edition PSU
2 x 1 tb Samsung 980 Pro NVMe + 1tb T7 + 500gb 860 EVO, 2 x 240gb Kingston SSD
2TB WD Caviar Green HDD, 1TB External WD Elements HDD
Corsair iCUE H150i RGB PRO XT
6 x Corsair LL120 RGB fans
Lan Li O11 Dynamic XL (ROG Certified) - White
You could simply install an i9-9900K while keeping everything unchanged. It would cost more than £300 if you want to keep the RAM, or over £300 if you opt for AM5 motherboard and RAM, but this covers only the CPU, processor, and RAM setups—excluding the power supply.
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 (£154.22 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Pro Overclocking 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 (£87.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £398.21
Shipping, taxes, and available discounts are included.
Generated by PCPartPicker
2025-09-30 19:50 BST+0100
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM (£29.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 (£154.22 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Pro Overclocking 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 (£87.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Montech CENTURY II 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX (£85.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £513.67
Includes shipping, taxes, and available discounts.
Additional options you might consider:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...ll...y-ii-1050w
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/ds8P...y-ii-1200w
It seems I really underestimated my budget earlier. I intended to wait until the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales before making any purchases, but I should have mentioned that in my original post. It would have been smarter to time my update when sales are more favorable.
I considered going for the i9 processor, though I didn’t think it’d be a significant upgrade given its price and age. Considering its condition, I’ll compare benchmarks to see what’s realistic.
My current PSU is a Corsair CS750M Gold, which I purchased alongside most of my equipment—so it’s been over seven years now. I haven’t experienced any power problems, though I do notice occasional lag spikes in more demanding games like Space Marine 2. These might be unrelated to the PSU. If I need a much more powerful PSU to better support a newer CPU and GPU, I’ll invest in one. It would make more sense to spend over £100 on a better PSU than over £300 on a new GPU.
If I have to cut costs further, I’ll upgrade to DDR5 memory to improve performance. Thanks for the build suggestions—hopefully this helps clarify what to focus on!
I considered the i9 path but thought it wouldn't offer much value compared to its cost (though I do save on other purchases) and because of its age.
I mentioned this earlier in case someone else agrees, but you understood it. Your upgrade would be more horizontal rather than vertical.
My PSU is a Corsair CS750M Gold
This unit:
[link]
Yeah that's the one, it's worked well so far lol. I'll consider swapping it in, replacing them after about two to three years when their warranty ends. Some say they last ten years or more as long as they're from a good brand, but others just shrug.
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU:
*
Intel Core i7-12700KF 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor
(£189.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard:
*
Asus TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS D4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
(£164.99 @ MoreCoCo)
Total:
£353.99
Costs cover shipping, taxes, and applicable discounts
*Selected components based on predefined parameters
Created by
PCPartPicker
2025-10-01 08:14 BST+0100