Upgrade or rebuild?

I've had my current system for about 5.5yrs and am trying to decide between building ($1800-2000) or investing ~$500-700 into my current build. Any input on where I'm going to get my best value?



Operating System

  •    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

CPU

  •    Intel Core i5 6600K @ 3.50GHz   37 °C
  •    Skylake 14nm Technology

RAM

  •    16.0GB Single-Channel Unknown @ 1069MHz (15-15-15-36)

Motherboard

  •    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z170-A (LGA1151)   30 °C

Graphics

  •    VX2770 SERIESU (1920x1080@60Hz)
  •    LG ULTRAWIDE (2560x1080@75Hz)
  •    4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (ASUStek Computer Inc)   40 °C

Storage

  •    465GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500G SCSI Disk Device (SATA (SSD))   31 °C
  •    465GB Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500G SCSI Disk Device (SATA (SSD))   25 °C

Optical Drives

  •    ASUS DRW-24B1ST g SCSI CdRom Device

Audio

  •    Realtek High Definition Audio

Best Answer

  • Ian
    Ian ✭✭✭✭✭
    Eighth Anniversary 5000 Comments 250 Answers 500 Likes
    edited February 2022 Answer ✓

    Greetings. I would say just look into a new build.

    Here's why:

    Upgrade motherboard - would have to change the processor to something currently sold, or vice versa for upgrading the processor. Might have to change RAM as well, and most likely would need a copy of Windows.

    Upgrade video card - any newer/high end cards will bottleneck with the processor you have, so you wouldn't get the actual performance of the card.

    Monitors and storage can come over to the new build no problem.

Answers

  • magarity
    magarity ✭✭✭✭
    500 Comments Third Anniversary 25 Answers 25 Up Votes
    So the Pro's for your current system are:
    1: This is a DDR4 board, so the memory is still current. You say single channel, meaning you have only one module? You would see a boost from getting a second of the same capacity and speed
    2: That socket 1151 was good for both 6th and 7th gen Intel CPUs. Asus's website shows the motherboard takes up to an i7 7700K, which is about 150% the performance of a 6600K.
    3: The 1070 was a popular and pretty strong graphics card when new and Steam hardware survey shows a lot of them still in use. New games will still run OK with it because developers can't afford to ignore its large installation base.

    Cons are:
    1: Even 7th gen CPUs are 6 generations behind the latest which is 13th gen. This is a non trivial gap.
    2: A brand new video card (nVidia 4000 or even 3000 series) would drag waiting even on a 7700K.
    3: Even with upgrades such as a 7700K, memory, and a 2060 GPU, it will have less than the 5 years behind it still ahead. However, it can still be sold as-is to someone on a budget without conning them in any way.

    So, honestly, I think on balance the best move is to sell the current system and buy a new one.
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