A fair amount of advice needed: When to upgrade

[ManiacZA]

Hi, hello. I've been wanting to upgrade for a little while, and I've been seeing some really attractive prices on the RTX 3060 Ti recently... So I've used Wootware's PC Builder tool to put together my idea of a good upgrade, and the thing is 30k - which is an amount I can't take lightly. To lessen the blow, I thought that I could sell my current PC. Since I'm still learning and very much detached from the tech world, I have a few questions I was hoping those more experienced than I could offer opinions on.

- Selling the current machine [parts below]. I did a few searches on how much the parts go for second-hand, putting them all together I get a value of around 15k. Is this a fair amount? Would waiting, say, 6 months drastically decrease the value?

Intel Core i5-8600 3.1GHz (4.3GHz Turbo) Hex Core 14nm Coffee Lake Socket LGA1151 Desktop CPU

Cooler Master RR-212TK-16PR-R1 Hyper 212 LED Turbo 120mm Red LED Fan Black Top Cover CPU Cooler

Asus Prime H370-Plus LGA1151 Intel H370 ATX Desktop Motherboard

Palit GeForce GTX 1080 JetStream NEB1080015P2-1040J 8GB GDDR5X 256-bit PCI-E 3.0 Desktop Graphics Card

G.Skill F4-3200C16D-16GVKB Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16 1.35V Black Desktop Memory

Mushkin MKNSSDSR500GB Source 500GB 3D TLC SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive

Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM006 2TB 7200RPM SATA III 64MB Cache 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Super Flower SF-650F14EG(BK) Leadex II 650W 80 Plus Gold Certified Fully Modular Desktop Power Supply

Phanteks PH-EC350PTG_DBK Eclipse P350X Tempered Glass Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Desktop Chassis

- Buying: Piece by piece OR all at once: I thought of perhaps JUST getting the GPU for now, as it's on special. And then keeping a watchful eye over all those other parts, especially over Black Friday/Cyber Monday. This may result in an increased urge to build the thing myself, which I may be feeling overconfident about as I've never placed or reseated a CPU in my damn life (I take mine apart for cleaning and I redo the thermal p once a year - but I've never actually taken the CPU out). If I buy everything all at once - it'd be a lot easier to just have it built at Wootware (loyal customer) BUT my bank account gets punched in the face. Another worry I have with buying things piece by piece is that I won't really be able to test the GPU as it's PCIe 4 and my current MB has PCIe 3 and what if the thing is DOA and I only find out a few months after purchase?

- Timing. I am vaguely, vaguely aware that some stuff has been going down with Nvidia. Prices have been through the roof yet they SEEM to have come down a bit recently. Is now the right time to be doing this or should I be waiting? I am not clued on the tech world and any price-affecting events that may be upcoming.

[Some context below, should you need it:]

What do I need to do with the machine? It will mostly be used for work - which is graphic design, digital illustration, video editing etc. Needs to run the Adobe Suite and things like Blender. Bonus if it could allow me to mess around with Unity. When Ark 2 comes out, I want to be able to play it. Apex runs smoothly on my current build so not very worried on that front.
Why did I choose Intel / Nvidia / Asus: Brand loyalty mostly. These brands are in my current build and they all work smoothly. I am NO expert, I am still learning.
Do I have the monitor to warrant the upgrade? No, no I do not. Another price I need to factor in.

I apologise for the essay and value any input

 

[Areola Grande]

Not a bad build overall.

Change the 12700K to a 13600K, it's faster.

Then upgrade the GPU to a 3070. You've got a faster PC and saved R1,340.

Add an exhaust fan for the back of the case.

 

[Areola Grande]

PC Builder - Wootware

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www.wootware.co.za

 

[el3venth]

Some general tips:
1. CPUs are so fast nowadays, you don't need the fastest nor the best to be relevant for a loooong time.
2. Unless you are overclocking, a K-series CPU is a waste.
3. You could probably get by using a 650W PSU (Ref: GeForce RTX 3070 Founder edition review)
4. RAM speed vs price makes little difference overall. (Don't waste money chasing RAM speed for gaming on AMD or Intel)

In terms of timing:
Black Friday is coming up, but traditionally BF is about getting rid of old stock to make room to the new. So might not be great pricing on what you want.

 

[BearZA]

I would go for something even more powerful than the 3060ti... You are dropping a ton of money and that 1080 still performs relatively well.
It might also help to know what resolution and frame rates you are targeting.
For gaming, obviously in general you'd want higher frame rates for shooters, but let's say you play non-shooters and your monitor is 1080p 60Hz, then your 1080ti is probably fine... BLENDER, get the best GPU you can get! Cycles will see a much better improvement the higher end your GPU is.

 

[goldfritter]

- Selling the current machine [parts below]. I did a few searches on how much the parts go for second-hand, putting them all together I get a value of around 15k. Is this a fair amount? Would waiting, say, 6 months drastically decrease the value?

I haven't done a detailed search on your parts but 15k seems a taaad optimistic.

I thought of perhaps JUST getting the GPU for now, as it's on special.

Do this. It will instantly improve everything you do, except tasks that run on only the CPU, which you should be able to limit to only a few things (look up how to enable GPU rendering on Adobe suite if you haven't already). The CPU won't limit you enormously in gaming unless you are targeting very high FPS at 1080p.

The rest of your PC is absolutely fine for now. Arguably more RAM could help too for Adobe tasks. DDR4 RAM is dirt cheap nowadays. If you want you can get another kit of your same RAM to run 4 x 8GB. Or sell that kit and get a 32GB kit.

Another worry I have with buying things piece by piece is that I won't really be able to test the GPU as it's PCIe 4 and my current MB has PCIe 3 and what if the thing is DOA and I only find out a few months after purchase?

Doesn't matter, if you plug it into your current motherboard it will just run at PCIe gen 3, which shouldn't affect the performance one bit. To be clear: you can plug and play the 3060Ti into your current rig with no issues.

- Timing. I am vaguely, vaguely aware that some stuff has been going down with Nvidia. Prices have been through the roof yet they SEEM to have come down a bit recently. Is now the right time to be doing this or should I be waiting? I am not clued on the tech world and any price-affecting events that may be upcoming.

Prices are still dropping, especially second hand... But it's difficult to judge how close we are to the floor.

Do I have the monitor to warrant the upgrade? No, no I do not. Another price I need to factor in.

I almost want to recommend doing this second, after the GPU but before the other stuff. But, if you are currently acutely feeling the age of that CPU, then sure, prioritise that.

 

[moedeez]

Another worry I have with buying things piece by piece is that I won't really be able to test the GPU as it's PCIe 4 and my current MB has PCIe 3 and what if the thing is DOA and I only find out a few months after purchase?

YOu can still use it in a PCI-E 3 board it will still work just marginal performance hit.

 

[CarboVan]

Personally I would stretch the legs of what you have already.
Hunt carb for a 8700/9600/9700/9900.

And defo add gpu first as goldfritter suggested. Just watch your psu though. If you go for like a 3080, some suggest a 750w minimum.

 

[Areola Grande]

Another thing to consider is the RDNA 3 (Radeon 7000) GPUs will be launching soon. If they're good, they may affect the market price for RTX 3000 series cards.

 

[ManiacZA]

Doesn't matter, if you plug it into your current motherboard it will just run at PCIe gen 3, which shouldn't affect the performance one bit. To be clear: you can plug and play the 3060Ti into your current rig with no issues.

Ohmygoodness this changes everything, lol. I am so glad I posted here. Thank you all so much for the advice. Having read over everything, I am definitely leaning more towards working on my existing build (starting with a new GPU and RAM).

1. CPUs are so fast nowadays, you don't need the fastest nor the best to be relevant for a loooong time.
2. Unless you are overclocking, a K-series CPU is a waste.

Thank you! This is great news for my wallet

 

[JollyJamma]

Could you justify getting a 13700F?

I know it's overkill and I agree that you don't need a better than a 12600K CPU but it's not that much different in price.

 

[Ninja Sandwich]

In terms of timing:
Black Friday is coming up, but traditionally BF is about getting rid of old stock to make room to the new. So might not be great pricing on what you want.

+1 for Black Friday.

 

[Logan_]

Your best friend is second-hand, especially for the GPU, the price you are paying for a new 3060ti can get you quite a large boost in the second-hand market.