PC issue for future gaming performance

[markgallaher]

Hey folks.

I have a 3-year-old gaming PC which runs on i5-6500 and GTX960. 

I want to upgrade it to have a smooth gaming performance on the 1440p widescreen monitor for the nearest 2-3 years.

1) Is it better to stay on Intel CPUs and go with i7-8700K or 9700K? Or it's better to change the whole platform to AMD and buy 2700X on X470 motherboard.

2) The GPU issue. Since I have pretty old GPU, I want to upgrade it too.

I am thinking about 1080ti or RTX 2080. I am not a huge fan of ray tracing performance on the RTX 2xxx generation cards, so most of the time it will be turned off. I need high performance in general.

Other PC parts like PSU, SSD and other will be taken from old PC. They are okay for the next 5-7 years.

So any suggestions?

[ivrognard · Accepted solution]

@markgallaher Stay with Intel if you can afford to do that. You will need not only a new CPU, but a new motherboard, as your current motherboard doesn't support the 8xxx and 9xxx series. Best chipset for the mentioned CPU's is for now Z390

Nvidia RTX series have a lot of problems for now. I think that a new revision might be released seeing how many complaints were lodged by the early adopters. So if you want one of those, wait until they will fix them.For 1440p gaming, the 1080Ti is enough. 

The PSU might need a change. 850W for a gaming PC is a must, especially if you have a lot of things in it. If you don't, than a 750W. But make sure they are at least gold certified. 

I know that most people love Asus, but i prefer meself a Gigabyte motherboard for a few reasons: backup Bios (in case that your BIOS gets corrupted during an update, the backup BIOS kicks in), easier to connect things on it and pretty intuitive. The Z390 boards usually offer quite a few options, too (varies from model to model, but the offers are over most of what the competition has). For graphic cards: EVGA, Asus, Gigabyte. Asus is great here, but probably the most expensive. Gigabyte graphic card on a Gigabyte mobo it's a perfect match, of course. I'd still take that Asus

If you are looking for specific models, sure. I could probably make some more recommendations.

P.S.: an RTX2070 might be a better choice if you do not plan to take advantage of the raytracing tech.

[ivrognard · Accepted solution]

@markgallaher Stay with Intel if you can afford to do that. You will need not only a new CPU, but a new motherboard, as your current motherboard doesn't support the 8xxx and 9xxx series. Best chipset for the mentioned CPU's is for now Z390

Nvidia RTX series have a lot of problems for now. I think that a new revision might be released seeing how many complaints were lodged by the early adopters. So if you want one of those, wait until they will fix them.For 1440p gaming, the 1080Ti is enough. 

The PSU might need a change. 850W for a gaming PC is a must, especially if you have a lot of things in it. If you don't, than a 750W. But make sure they are at least gold certified. 

I know that most people love Asus, but i prefer meself a Gigabyte motherboard for a few reasons: backup Bios (in case that your BIOS gets corrupted during an update, the backup BIOS kicks in), easier to connect things on it and pretty intuitive. The Z390 boards usually offer quite a few options, too (varies from model to model, but the offers are over most of what the competition has). For graphic cards: EVGA, Asus, Gigabyte. Asus is great here, but probably the most expensive. Gigabyte graphic card on a Gigabyte mobo it's a perfect match, of course. I'd still take that Asus

If you are looking for specific models, sure. I could probably make some more recommendations.

P.S.: an RTX2070 might be a better choice if you do not plan to take advantage of the raytracing tech.

[markgallaher]

Thanks a lot for your answer.

As I said PSU I will not change since it is Seasonic Prime Ultra 80 Plus Titanium 750W. It is quite enough for another couple of years. 

I bought it because I think that a good PSU is a must for any PC. And, it's better to lose PSU than to lose a whole PC in case of some extraordinary situation with electricity.

[ivrognard]

@markgallaher Indeed you have a good PSU there. Great protections on it, too. I love when people pay attention to the PSU and get a good one. 

I hope that you will have your new rig soon. Happy gaming and some really nice holidays.

[markgallaher]

Yeah, good protection really matters.
I've already ordered 8700k with NZXT Kraken x62. A motherboard will be ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-E. And I stopped on Aorus GTX 1080ti.

[ivrognard]

@markgallaher Nice choices there. Should last you for a good few years.