Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

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Rug
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Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Rug » Sun, 21. May 23, 18:17

I've been thinking about upgrading for a while now, as my hardware is getting a bit long in the tooth, and I've got a 1440 monitor now, which the current PC struggles with sometimes.

Currently have:
i5 4670K 3.4GHz
GTX 10540Ti
16GB DDR 3 memory

I want something that I'll certainly notice the difference, but I don't want to spend money that I can't justify to myself, so ...

I'm assuming (or hoping?) that if I just replace Mobo, Processor, RAM, and GFX that I can plug in my old drives and won't need to buy new Windows - is this correct ? I'm also assuming that my current PSU will not need upgrading as I hope power efficiency is a thing these days ? Have a Corsair CX660. It's been rock steady for years with current PC.

Thinking of 6600 XT GFX card for around £300

Options of bundle (Mobo CPU RAM Cooler)for the rest:
12400 for £385
12500 for £410
12600 for £490

All figures are approximate.

Games I mostly play at the moment are Paradox (EU4, CK3 et al), with Skyrim, Death stranding etc being the more intensive that I tend to play in terms of CPU and GFX. I'm sure I'll dive into X4 again before too long as well.

So the options I am currently looking at range from around £680 to £760.

Will the lower end CPU be enough? Any other options that I should be thinking about ? Is the GFX card balanced with the processor options or just plain wrong ? Or have I got it reasonably balanced as is, and should go on the best of these options that I feel I can afford - which is likely the 12500 based one.

UK based, if that helps.

Thanks for your thoughts people.

Rug
I like to think everyone just wants to feel human.

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CBJ
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by CBJ » Sun, 21. May 23, 19:17

Rug wrote:
Sun, 21. May 23, 18:17
I'm assuming (or hoping?) that if I just replace Mobo, Processor, RAM, and GFX that I can plug in my old drives and won't need to buy new Windows - is this correct ?
The drives should be fine. For Windows, it depends on what kind of licence you bought previously. If it was OEM then it probably won't work; if you bought retail then it should be OK but you may need to contact MS support to confirm that you're changing systems. My last experience of doing the latter was quite a few years ago now, but it was painless, even in the early hours of the morning over the weekend!
Rug wrote:
Sun, 21. May 23, 18:17
I'm also assuming that my current PSU will not need upgrading as I hope power efficiency is a thing these days ? Have a Corsair CX660. It's been rock steady for years with current PC.
Again, it depends. You'll need to check the total power requirements for the new hardware, and also bear in mind that PSUs do wear with age and end up providing less than their original rated output.
Rug wrote:
Sun, 21. May 23, 18:17
Will the lower end CPU be enough? Any other options that I should be thinking about ? Is the GFX card balanced with the processor options or just plain wrong ? Or have I got it reasonably balanced as is, and should go on the best of these options that I feel I can afford - which is likely the 12500 based one.
The balance looks fine, but I'd always go with the CPU best option in your price range, especially if you plan to play X4 at all. :)

jlehtone
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 21. May 23, 21:06

CBJ wrote:
Sun, 21. May 23, 19:17
Rug wrote:
Sun, 21. May 23, 18:17
I'm also assuming that my current PSU will not need upgrading as I hope power efficiency is a thing these days ? Have a Corsair CX660. It's been rock steady for years with current PC.
Again, it depends. You'll need to check the total power requirements for the new hardware, and also bear in mind that PSUs do wear with age and end up providing less than their original rated output.
It is true that power efficiency has improved, but at least the high end of latest generation(s) of both CPU and GPU seem to be able to draw more. (More*more == even more.) For example, Wikipedia lists 241W for 12900K on "Turbo", while the 12[456]00 (except 12600K) draw only 117W on "Turbo". The Turbo is on supposedly only for short peaks, but that is not necessarily what old PSU is made for.

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Chips
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Chips » Mon, 22. May 23, 12:25

Open to AMD or Intel only?

Also, my windows was OEM - but when I replaced everything I had the dreaded "uh oh" - however, after a week or so it suddenly became verified without me doing anything as far as I'm aware. It may be the ol Windows account link helped? I've no idea, not even remotely familiar with the system - so what I'm saying is you can always try :) Other than that, fairly sure OEM can still be got for like 30 quid; so not necessarily the end of the world. Just make sure you've run update before you... update :)

Rug
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Rug » Mon, 22. May 23, 14:10

A quick look at AMD vs Intel suggests that processor-wise the cost/speed ratio is similar, but the motherboard costs are pushing me towards Intel. Happy to be corrected if this isn't the case. UserBenchmark site puts 12600k and 7600X processors within a couple of percentage points on performance - despite the AMDs faster clock speed. Is there something I'm missing ?

GFX is AMD though. I'm not fussed either way - just looking for as much bang as I can squeeze out of a small pile of money ! The 6650XT is cheaper and faster than the 3060 cards I've seen, so it's winning.

A quick sum (rounding up for safety) suggests probably about 400 watts, so I think the >50% spare capacity should be OK from the PSU I have now.

A little more thinking time before I commit, so any further comments welcome still.

Thanks to the three of you. All good well-trusted names, with good points :D

Rug
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Chips
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Chips » Mon, 22. May 23, 16:26

Well, since you have highlighted the AMD cpu i was thinking about, I don't think I can add anything :D

Regarding PSU - it's worth checking what voltages it outputs it's power at; if you're saying 400W max at 12v, a 600W PSU should be able to do that more than comfortably. But it's worth checking - it's usually data that is printed/provided on the sites, or in the case of an existing PSU in your box - printed on the side tbh. Think that's where mine has it.

My system is older CPU/GFX than you're looking at, and haven't had any issues with any Paradox titles whatsoever. X4 may be different, I've not tried stretching it with huge battles so far :) Think there's a post on the forum where people give their rig vs fps info?

Skeeter
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Skeeter » Fri, 9. Jun 23, 03:12

The 7600x single core performance in benchmarks show its just as good as the 7900x and can beat a 12900k. So i went with one of those. Almost finished building it so cant say how it is in x4 yet tho.
[ external image ]
7600x cpu 5.4ghz 32gb DDR5 5600mhz 6700XT 32" 1440p mon

Rug
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Rug » Sun, 30. Jul 23, 12:48

Finally built upgraded system, and now want to move system from HDD to new SSD. So I need to clone a drive basically.

I cant find any software that will let me do this without shelling out quite a large sum first, but I'm certain there must be a free utility out there ... Anybody used one that they can recommend ?

Thanks again !

Rug
I like to think everyone just wants to feel human.

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jlehtone
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 30. Jul 23, 13:41

The only one that I have used (apart from 'dd') is Clonezilla: https://clonezilla.org/

Rug
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by Rug » Sun, 30. Jul 23, 14:19

Thanks. Just found that Macrium Reflect works on a 30 day trial. Copying as I type ...

Was going to try clonezilla, but couldn't find a usb drive to boot it from ! I have a few lying about, but I'm so disorganised that I couldn't find one when I needed it.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Rug
I like to think everyone just wants to feel human.

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jlehtone
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 30. Jul 23, 17:14

The nice part of cloning is that you can copy, remove HDD, test booting with SDD, and
if that fails, then connect HDD and copy again (bit differently).

Rug wrote:
Sun, 30. Jul 23, 14:19
I have a few lying about, but I'm so disorganised that I couldn't find one when I needed it.
I'm ashamed that I do know that feeling way too well. :oops:

burger1
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Re: Time to upgrade PC, advice sought.

Post by burger1 » Tue, 1. Aug 23, 04:47

If one of the drives is samsung you can use samsung data migration software for free. Might be a bit hard to find on their site but it's there.

Macrium Reflect is probably still free.

Make sure you clone the entire drive.

Might need to use windows diskpart to resize partitions afterwards?

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