Improving a 6-year-old's development
Improving a 6-year-old's development
I currently possess:
Gigabyte Z370P D3
Core i5 8400
GTX 1060 3GB
16GB DDR4 3000
EVO970 2TB
Silentwatt 500 PSU
I am thinking about replacing the graphics card and adding an additional 16GB of RAM to the existing setup.
The system is primarily used for gaming, with two monitors—one for a game and the other for browsing or office work.
I’ve seen mixed information online. Some say DDR5 is significantly faster than DDR4, while others claim the difference is minimal. Similarly, some sources mention newer CPUs being three times faster, while others suggest only a 20% improvement.
Now I realize it’s usually better to build a new PC with the best components available. However, this would be expensive and time-consuming, involving data backups and a full installation. My goal is a simple, affordable upgrade that keeps me gaming for several more years.
My questions remain:
- What is the real situation regarding CPU and RAM advancements? I’ve been using systems since the 80286 era, so a 20% improvement seems realistic, but Moore’s law has likely stopped for CPUs. For GPUs, it’s different.
- If I upgrade with a new graphics card, would a GTX 3080 or 4070 work well? Or would the CPU/RAM combination slow things down significantly?
- Would a more affordable 4060 or even a 3060 be nearly as effective?
- Should I split my budget—buying a 4060 and keeping the rest, or is a complete rebuild better?
- If I had this PC and a flexible budget of around 800 euros, what would you recommend?
PCPartPicker list includes the following items:
CPU: *Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (€144.00 at Amazon Netherlands)
CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Assassin X 120 V2 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (€19.89 at Amazon Netherlands)
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B760-P DDR4 II ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€134.00 at Amazon Netherlands)
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€63.75 at Amazon Netherlands)
Video Card: *MSI VENTUS 2X BLACK OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card (€330.95 at Megekko)
Power Supply: *Gigabyte UD750GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€78.85 at Megekko)
Overall cost: €771.44
Shipping, taxes, and available discounts are included
*Selected lowest prices based on criteria*
For more details, see the provided links.
Wait, are you not backing up your files now? That should be happening 24/7/365, under all circumstances, not just when you're building a new PC. And if you're not, that's a current problem that's *massively* more important and urgent than upgrading your current PC.
As for upgrades, would need more information on your PSU, the exact brand and model.
You might also consider a used i7 8700 or the i9 from the 9000 series. Then possibly an rx 6700xt or something similar like the rx 6800. I’ve got a 12600kf and a 6800xt with 32gb ddr4, and I’ve seen online that upgrading to ddr5 wouldn’t really help with gaming.
You might want to test the new GPU and PSU right away to understand how much your CPU is limiting you.
@Why_Me shared a strong recommendation for the 12th gen model.
The RX6750XT works well for 1080p video.
https://nl.pcpartpicker.com/product...ee...-675xyjfdp
https://nl.pcpartpicker.com/product...d-...cus-gx-750
Thanks guys, I've already picked up a bit more recently. I notice that the latest generation CPUs really do offer significantly better performance.
I'm planning to buy a used 1080 and it seems to fully utilize my CPU, giving me another year or two of use. (It can handle what I want now, but not yet).
Eventually, I hope to build an affordable 14600 with DDR5 and a 4070, which will let me upgrade the 4070 to models like the 4090, 5080 or 6070 in a few years.