Can it be justified?

[Dannar26]

I want to build something for around $1300, but I'm not sure this is the best time.I know the answer here will be overwhelmingly "yes" given that this is an enthusiast board. But I'm asking you to look within and pull out your inner cheapskate.

Frankly, prices seem to suck on a lot of critical components. CPUs have been brought back in line by AMD having a horse in the race again, but I feel like the solo-intel prices were never as bad as what Nvidia and RAM manufacturers are demanding.

Yes, this thread is equal parts solicitation for advice and political grandstanding about about how we're being gouged by monopolies/oligarchies/comon AMD make some new cards already.

Currently:
i5-4690K (not OC'd. I have a nice aftermarket HSF in case I had wanted to)
z97 AsRock Extreme 4 (I think, or something very similar)
32GB DDR3 RAM
MSI OC'd R9-290
Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD + 1TB WD Blue HDD

I was hoping that prices were going to come down for video cards. I wanted to get anywhere from a 1070ti-1080ti cheap. It looks like this wont be the case, however.

There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I would touch intel for CPUs at this time. I think you guys are nuts for backing that company for 1 or 2 FPS in some games. It's almost like nobody remembers what its like to have only one viable option for a critical part. Is there a good reason to get Ryzen 7 vs 5 for a rig mostly used for gaming? Would I see a difference with VMs?

On the other hand, nVidia is way worse, but there doesn't seem to be any real competition there. Maybe Vega 64? For the most part it seems like lolRTX vs cheap(er) secondhand 1080's from some miner's basement. Coming from a OC'd R9-290 I bought for slightly north of $200 in 2014, the state of video cards is an absolute dumpsterfire. The 290 was towards the top of the heap, and I got it for under $300. Now you can't even get a 1070 for that? I think this is some BS. Did I get lucky at the time or something?

Let's be real. For gaming at 1080p @ 144hz or 1440 @ 75hz is there a real imperative for me to upgrade? Is devil's canyon handily beaten by something like an Ryzen 5 2600?

 

[Cozarkian]

I have also been struggling with the itch to upgrade and I have the same processor, only 16 GB RAM and a GTX 780.

I finally decided to side with my inner cheapskate and focus on the backlog of steam sale games I have that aren't demanding, then to overclock to push max performance for the newer games. By the time I catch up, AMD and Intel should have new options on the market.

I propose you do the same - just overclock.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

It can only be justified if you really, really want a new system and don't feel a need to actually justify it. But if your budget is only $1300, I don't think you fall into that category.

Check out Black Friday sales. In 2019.

If you've been happy this long without overclocking, I doubt it's worth your time. If you have a few hours to kill, go take a walk or read a book or something.

 

[UsandThem]

I want to build something for around $1300, but I'm not sure this is the best time.I know the answer here will be overwhelmingly "yes" given that this is an enthusiast board. But I'm asking you to look within and pull out your inner cheapskate.

I echo what dave said. If your computer is doing what you need it to do (which it sounds like it is), then save your money and look at upgrading after AMD's next CPUs hit in the spring (provided it's a good jump in performance), and then decide if the time's right. But if you've made this (very long) post in the first place, it seems like you have a case of the "upgrade itch". It's your money, so the decision is yours and not ours.

I've seen quite a few people selling their 1080ti cards under $500, and GTX 1080 under $400, so you should be able to easily find a GPU that fits your needs.

 

[whm1974]

Have you thought about getting a larger SSD? 256GB is a bit small now days...

 

[fire400]

I'd shell out for the high-end graphics and run any SSD upgrades on PCI-express add-on on NVME SSD slots.

And when you're ready to get a new mobo/CPU/RAM, move everything over (high-end graphics/NVME SSD), and even keep your chassis/PSU if all else.

Massively raw performance isn't going to realistically change much with that existing processor as much as you'd think unless you're running 4K rendering content in a game or need serious data crunching.

In terms of VM, your VM configurations will vary, widely.
There's CPU/GPU integration and cloud VM integration.
Hardware assisted versus emulated can be different, and then there's the programming involved to make sure the execution paths are properly taking advantage of vendor authorized hardware/software configurations for projects, kind of like choosing crypto-mining hardware setups with interlinked graphics cards and its controllers.

If you're even considering VM at all, I wouldn't opt for middle-level processors, but you don't have to get a $1,000 CPU either.
If the VM's are serious and need to run constantly, build a separate system with a dual-socket Xeon and level it with the amount of RAM necessary, or just cloud-source it and save money up front.

 

[Dannar26]

So I had a donation from a friend who had some spare unused parts lying around. A 500 GB Evo 850, and a beefy HDD. In conjuction with the fact that it may be possible to pick up a cheap nVidia 10 series card soon (fingers crossed), it suddenly looks like I've got a lot of new parts to put into an old machine.

So naturally, I think of how nice it would be to place all of that into a *new* machine. I can't help my brain...it's a sickness. I get parts, and I want to make them into a new system. A sale at microcenter and a few spare parts gave birth to my HTPC...

I get that a Ryzen 2600 wouldn't be incredibly faster than my 4690k...and that I could easily jam all these new parts into my current rig and go on my merry way, but....

 

[UsandThem]

So I had a donation from a friend who had some spare unused parts lying around. A 500 GB Evo 850, and a beefy HDD. In conjuction with the fact that it may be possible to pick up a cheap nVidia 10 series card soon (fingers crossed), it suddenly looks like I've got a lot of new parts to put into an old machine.

So naturally, I think of how nice it would be to place all of that into a *new* machine. I can't help my brain...it's a sickness. I get parts, and I want to make them into a new system. A sale at microcenter and a few spare parts gave birth to my HTPC...

I get that a Ryzen 2600 wouldn't be incredibly faster than my 4690k...and that I could easily jam all these new parts into my current rig and go on my merry way, but....

Then buy the parts you seem to want?

You seemed to think everyone here would tell you to buy them when you first started, and when we didn't, you still seem like you want to. The only thing I can think of is you want users to validate your decision?

 

[capsulej]

I would say hold off for a while still. I just built a new Coffee Lake rig and I am already regretting spending so much.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I mean, i5-4690K isn't a slouch, as far as CPUs go. Sure, Ryzen 2600X is faster, mostly in MT, I don't know about ST, or gaming. I have my doubts that it would improve gaming significantly, unless all you're playing are 2018 AAA titles, that can use more than 4 cores/threads effectively.

I'm all for another Ryzen CPU upgrade, but ... what you have, is still a pretty decent rig.

 

[Flayed]

From the couple of benchies I saw a 2600X is roughly x2 the performance of your 4690k in compression and encoding software and 1.1x the performance in gaming at 1080p with a gtx 1080.

 

[Dannar26]

I guess this is a testament to how long hardware is remaining relevant these days.

Thanks for the honest feedback. Though I'm eager to show my support for a competitive AMD, mayhap it would be best to wait until Zen2 debuts to do this?

 

[whm1974]

I guess this is a testament to how long hardware is remaining relevant these days.

Thanks for the honest feedback. Though I'm eager to show my support for a competitive AMD, mayhap it would be best to wait until Zen2 debuts to do this?

Or even waiting for Zen 3. I would like to build a new rig myself, but don't need at all, and will in fact be pointless at this time. DDR5 will be out for a while before I put together a another system.