Upgrade advice welcome!

[Bellboy]

Hi all. I've been working with the last build I got from PC Specialist back in 2021, but it's coming to the point where I'm probably looking at upgrading a bit. I'm a bit lost on what to upgrade though; or indeed, whether upgrading my current build is even worth it and I should just bite the bullet and get an entirely new build.

My specifications are below;

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Promotional Item
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Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)

Change to: 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)

Change to: 2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Change to: CORSAIR 1000W RMi SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Monitor
CQ27G2U/BK Quad HD 27" Curved VA Gaming Monitor

Budget wise, if its for a meaningful upgrade that would improve performance I'd probably go up to €800/900. I'm not even sure which components would be best upgraded and which are fine as is, so I'll take any advice offered!

If upgrading would be a waste and a new build is recommended I'd probably go up to around the €2500 region. In this case I'm not in any actual rush; my current build is still working fine mostly, so I'd probably wait a few more months if I'm going this route.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[TonyCarter]

The two key elements would be CPU & GPU...but if your games are still on the 2TB SATA SSD, then an M2 SSD may help with launch and asset loading if it's a heavy graphics game.

The easiest option would be the GPU, and you can get similar performance from both the AMD RX9070XT 16gb or Nvidia 5070Ti 16gb within your budget (€800 for the AMD, €900 for the Nvidia).

The 3800X may be fine with that GPU upgrade at 1440p / QHD - but the only realistic step up on that platform (that's available new) for gaming would be the 5700X3D at about €300 (and if you did decide to go that route, ensure the motherboard BIOS is updated BEFORE you do the swap, as it may not work with the new CPU otherwise).

 

[sck451]

Totally agree: always upgrade the component that's currently your limiting factor. That will be the graphics card. You may at some point find out that your CPU is holding you back (basically if your GPU isn't at 100% use in gaming): that's when you upgrade that. No real point in doing it before it's needed.

 

[Bellboy]

So it sounds like for now a GPU upgrade would do me another few years maybe?

Great if so, I can see that the 5070ti is available from PCSpecialist for roughly similar price I'm seeing elsewhere so I'll think it over a few days and if nothing else jumps out at me I'll probably go for that.

Cheers!