Question build new or upgrade?

[pontifex]

My current PC is getting long in the tooth - about 7 or 8 years old now.

Lately I've been thinking about building a new PC but not I should do that or upgrade this one?

Current PC:
i5-2500k (Sandy Bridge) OCed to 4.2 Ghz
ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
2x 4GB Mushkin DDR3 PC3-10700 RAM
Radeon R9 390 GPU
2 SSDs
2 7200 RPM HDs
Corsair 650w PSU
1080 p monitor

It plays pretty much everything I play now, however some newer games I have to play on lower settings or start to see some issues.

On 1 hand, I want to get better performance but on the other hand, I really haven't been playing much lately. Mostly Rust or Ghost Recon: Wildlands co-op with a friend.

I've specced out parts for a new PC that re-uses some of my existing parts and it's about $1000-1100 If I re-use my PSU and GPU, and hard drives.
Eventually I would replace the GPU with a newer one too, but this is just to get me up and running on something better.

This is my new PC part list from pcpartpicker.com
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xRfKgw

I've got my R9 390 and PSU listed in there and there's no compatibility issues.

$1000 is a lot of money right now. I've got about $350 at the moment that is disposable.

I'm not sure if it's worth spending the $1000 for the new hardware? But if I did, then I'd have a PC that would last me much longer.

If I upgrade the current PC, what would be the best option and what kind of cost am I looking at?

I know I'd at least want to add another 8 GB to make 16 GB total. Would upgrading the CPU make any sense?
What about upgrading the GPU or maybe get another R9 390 and crossfire it?

 

[UsandThem]

On 1 hand, I want to get better performance but on the other hand, I really haven't been playing much lately. Mostly Rust or Ghost Recon: Wildlands co-op with a friend.

$1000 is a lot of money right now. I've got about $350 at the moment that is disposable.

I know I'd at least want to add another 8 GB to make 16 GB total. Would upgrading the CPU make any sense?
What about upgrading the GPU or maybe get another R9 390 and crossfire it?

I'd personally just add another 8GB of RAM, and call it day for now. Otherwise, you could get a GPU like the GTX 1070ti if you really wanted, but with the new Nvidia "entry level" GPU expected to launch in springtime, I'm not sure I would pay that much for a GTX 1070ti now.

You could upgrade the CPU to one like the i7-2700k or so, but I also wouldn't spend that much doing that either. My vote would be to buy the extra RAM, and take a look at replacing the who shebang next year if your gaming requirements increase (AMD Zen 2 also coming mid-2019).

 

[whm1974]

I wouldn't use your old PSU in a new build due to it's age. What size are your SSDs?

 

[pontifex]

I wouldn't use your old PSU in a new build due to it's age. What size are your SSDs?

One is 500 gb and other is 240 I think

I was thinking that about the PSU too.

 

[whm1974]

One is 500 gb and other is 240 I think

I was thinking that about the PSU too.

Well for a new build, I would just reuse the SSDs and video card, skip the AIO cooler and replace everything else. That should save you a few hundred bucks at least.

 

[pontifex]

Well for a new build, I would just reuse the SSDs and video card, skip the AIO cooler and replace everything else. That should save you a few hundred bucks at least.

use the stock cooler that comes with the CPU?

edit: actually, looks like the 8700k doesn't come with a fan.

 

[whm1974]

use the stock cooler that comes with the CPU?

edit: actually, looks like the 8700k doesn't come with a fan.

Well you could get the 8700 instead which does come with the HSF. That is what I would do