Upgrade Advice

bennyx_o

Hello,

I have the urge to upgrade my current set up (below) with something high end that will last me for a good few years. PC is mainly used for gaming (GTA V, Flight Simulator X, Just Cause 3, Project Cars, iRacing & PUBG) & I'd like to be able to play them maxed in 1440p

Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake
Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Intel Z170
Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2400MHz
Inno3D GeForce GTX 1070
EVGA Supernova GS 550W '80 Plus Gold'

I'm considering upgrading the CPU & GFX (Maybe the PSU if required) to the below;

Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080Ti FTW3 GAMING ICX 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express

Is my current PSU sufficent for this or should I upgrade to the EVGA Supernova G2 750W? I'm still torn on upgrading the CPU but figure it's probably best.

I'm also looking to upgrade from my trusty Dell 2309W with a Dell S2716DG 27", although I'd love to stretch to an Ultrawide but don't think I could stretch that far.

Upgrade may not be huge, but I think it'll last me a good while, and I can recoup some of the outlay by selling my 1070 & CPU.

Any opinions on the above?

Thanks.

Skerries

I don't know why you want to upgrade as that is a good set up already
I'd just wait for the 11 series of Nvidia cards to come out later on in the year

K.O.Kiki

7700K is not an upgrade to 6600K; it's a downgrade due to thermal problems many of them exhibit.

Upgrade the GPU if you really can't get the performance you want.
Don't need a 1080 Ti; a 1070 Ti / 1080 is good enough for 1440p.

Xenoronin

A lot of those games are CPU bound though. An upgrade to an i7 6700K or 7700K couldn't be that bad if paired with a decent cooler. Upgrading the GPU seems like a waste to me personally, as going 1070 -> 1080 is around 12fps increase on average. The 1080Ti is more substantial an increase, but it is entering the "stupid money" territory (again, personal opinion).

(a few minutes pass looking at benchmarks)
Yeahhh... You ain't getting a hell of a lot more performance out of a CPU upgrade. I found it worth it (i5 3570K -> i7 3770K), but the benchmarks seem all over the place for 6700K. Multi-tasking, for sure a decent upgrade. Rocket League seems in love with the extra threads. Everything else is a little... meh. I'd overclock the i5 and see if that helps before considering an i7 upgrade.

Is my current PSU sufficent for this or should I upgrade to the EVGA Supernova G2 750W? I'm still torn on upgrading the CPU but figure it's probably best.

Your current PSU is more than sufficient. You would only need more power if using an SLI (dual gpu) setup.

I'm also looking to upgrade from my trusty Dell 2309W with a Dell S2716DG 27", although I'd love to stretch to an Ultrawide but don't think I could stretch that far.

1440p 144Hz GSync is the bomb. Note that having GSync removes the issues of variable framerates (screen tearing), so not hitting max fps is much less of an issue. Ultrawide is better for productivity honestly. A 27" means you don't have to scan the screen in fps games. You do seem to play a lot of racing games though, where widescreen is better for immersion... Either way, I don't think you'd be disappointed with the dell.

TerrorFirmer

From the games you have listed the only upgrade that would realistically benefit you is a GTX1080Ti. Everything else is just something of a sideways move at considerable expense.

In some games, a 6700K would show a huge bump over a 6600K, but not in the games you've listed really, or most games. A GTX1080 is not worth upgrading to, from a GTX1070.

How are you even having problems in games with the 1070? PUBG, maybe, as it's a piece of crap optimisation wise.

At this point I would just wait for the new cards in a few months.

Agree with TerrorFirmer there. I have a similar spec but with an i5-8600k and get about 100fps in most modern AAA games on a 1440p display.
You won't even see a difference if you get 144fps.

bennyx_o

Thanks for the replies - definitely some food for thought! I may just get an Ultrawide or go VR for the Racing Sims

It's probably just the aul upgrade itch we all get. I'm the same sure. Saving to get an Ultrawide when i have a savage 27" already.

bennyx_o

That's definitely part of it, I'm due an upgrade, have my current monitor for well over 10 years now

Blazer

I upgraded from a 1080 to the 1080ti.
Complete waste of time in PUBG at 1440p as barely any increase noticed due to crap optimisation.
The Witcher 3 on the other hand......big big difference.

the_syco

bennyx_o wrote: »

Flight Simulator X, iRacing

VR for the above, tbh. Maybe also Project Cars.

But test it before you get it, as I've heard of people get motion sickness from VR as the body is expecting to feel movement.

K.O.Kiki

bennyx_o wrote: »

That's definitely part of it, I'm due an upgrade, have my current monitor for well over 10 years now

Ah yeah, that's definitely allowed an upgrade!

Skerries

definitely go ultrawide 34" or 49"

May aswell just go for the new ASUS 4K HDR monitor. Two and a half grand. :pac:

XVII

Deleted User wrote: »

Agree with TerrorFirmer there. I have a similar spec but with an i5-8600k and get about 100fps in most modern AAA games on a 1440p display.

on which settings, medium? I'm on i5-8600k + gtx 1080, and things like AC: Origins give me about 100 fps on very high on 1080p. I presume 1440p should decrease the fps to 70-80 with the same settings and setup? p.s. cpu is not oc'ed though.

AC:Origins runs at 60/70fps most of the time for me. I usually always game with a mix of High/Medium settings. OC'd to 4.5ghz but have 3 profiles i switch between.

XVII

makes sense then, yeah. Need to oc my cpu soon, too.

bennyx_o

FInally received everything and think (well, know!) I went completely overboard. First I got the 1080Ti and Acer Predator X34P. The 1080Ti didn't get on well at all with my Phanteks Evolv ITX case and was peaking at 87c while playing games, so this prompted me to go a tad crazy. First, I bought an NZXT Manta Case(despite reviews saying it's quite a large Mini ITX case, it's not a whole lot bigger than the Phanteks Evolv ITX) and then went about my first custom watercooling loop to cool the 1080Ti and a newly purchased i7-7700k.

Pleased with the results, fans are set to Silent in the bios and GPU temps haven't been above 55c and CPU not been above that either. Don't think I did too bad!



Has 2 x 240mm Radiators, 1 front & 1 top with 2 EK Vardar fans on each. I'm aware the res is off horizontal, I need to put a washer on the bottom bolts of the holder, but they're not long enough with the washer on & I can't find any longer bolts so I'll live with it. Also could do with some lighting, so considering changing the case fan & top rad fans to NZXT Aer Hue ones, but, to fit them I'll probably need to take apart the loop. Also finding it difficult to remove the bubbles in the res due to how it's mounted, the fill port is a the top of the res so case needs to be on it's front to access it - I've read they go in time though

Dcully

Best tip, drop project cars and play some real sims but thats another subject altogether.

Lovely looking build.