Looking for advice to rebuild my PC.

[AFdude06]

Good evening all,

I was hoping to get some advice and recommendations for upgrading/rebuilding my PC. I mostly want to replace the current CPU with a faster one, as there are games (Trainz included) that suffer performance-wise from CPU bottlenecking. My GPU has more power than I can use currently because the CPU is holding it back.
Specs (UserBenchmark scores from a recent test included):

UserBenchmarks: Gaming 196%, Desktop 100%, Work 201%

• CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K @3.6 GHz - 101.2%
• GPU: ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080Ti 12GB @ 1,815 MHz- 198.3%
• HDD: WD Green 240GB (2018) - 45.3%
• SSD: WD Black SN770 PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe 1TB - 371.8%
• SSD: WD Blue 1TB (2012) - 106%
• RAM: Corsair CMW16GX4M2C3200C16 4x8GB DIMM DDR4 @ 3,200 MHz - 101.9%
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Ultra

My boot drive is the WD Green, and my games are on the SN770. I use the WD Blue for non-gaming apps.
I am wondering what CPU and motherboard would be a good replacement to keep my 3080Ti, as well as what parts would be salvageable otherwise? I know I can keep my SSD's, but what about the RAM, boot drive, and cooling system?
Any knowledge would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[johnwhelan]

Usually the big problem with computers is getting data in and out of the CPU. In your case that i9 has some very good caches on it so that shouldn't be a problem.

The first step I'd do is add another NMVE m.2 SSD and make that the boot disk. Your operating system will be making lots of calls to the boot disk so I'd want that to be as fast as possible. You can drop in a PCIe adapter card to fit another NMVE drive in if need be.

Gut feel is you'll have to spend mega bucks to see any noticeable improvement other than that boot drive.

Cheerio John

 

[wilts747]

I agree with John, and if you do need to use data cables buy good quality cables and keep them as short as reasonably possible. Peter

 

[johnwhelan]

Things to consider: First is heat, second is moving data around.

An RTX 4080 would run cooler at 320 watts rather than 350 watts. Also 16 gigs of memory rather than 12 gigs means less traffic on the PCIe bus as it can cache a bit more. 3d score is 36,000 rather than 25,000.

PassMark Video Card (GPU) Benchmark Charts - Model List

Video Card Benchmarks - Over 200,000 Video Cards and 900 Models Benchmarked and compared in graph form - This page is an alphabetical listing of video card models we have obtained benchmark information for.

www.videocardbenchmark.net

Second DDR5 or DDR6 memory has higher bandwidth and runs cooler and faster, yours is DDR4. Translation you can get the data into and out of the CPU faster. It would nee a new motherboard.

RTX 4090 would give better performance but some have melted their power connectors because of excessive heat.

PCIe has different flavours, I suspect yours is PCIe 3, PCIe4 and PCIe5 are around and can move data faster. You need the right CPU to take advantage of it and the right NMVE SSDs. Again you need a new motherboard.

Intel has something called an optimising compiler which in the real world many companies use to get better performance. So although an AMD CPU may benchmark faster in the real world if the program code is optimised towards an intel processor an AMD CPU might not buy you very much performance wise. A bit like AMD GPU might benchmark faster but Trainz is almost certainly optimised to NVidia.

With more heat on the CPU etc some move to liquid cooling which is fine unless a tube comes loose or cracks in which case it isn't nice. Personally I'd stay away from liquid cooling.

Take a look at Dell alien ware and see how they configure their machines. They're fairly good at the cooling side.

I think what you have is fairly balanced apart from the boot drive and to improve you really need to move to PCIe 5, a very fast NMVE SSD and probably a new GPU. A new GPU might be a not that expensive option.

Have fun.

Cheerio John

 

[AFdude06]

Things to consider: First is heat, second is moving data around.

An RTX 4080 would run cooler at 320 watts rather than 350 watts. Also 16 gigs of memory rather than 12 gigs means less traffic on the PCIe bus as it can cache a bit more. 3d score is 36,000 rather than 25,000.

PassMark Video Card (GPU) Benchmark Charts - Model List

Video Card Benchmarks - Over 200,000 Video Cards and 900 Models Benchmarked and compared in graph form - This page is an alphabetical listing of video card models we have obtained benchmark information for.

www.videocardbenchmark.net

Second DDR5 or DDR6 memory has higher bandwidth and runs cooler and faster, yours is DDR4. Translation you can get the data into and out of the CPU faster. It would nee a new motherboard.

RTX 4090 would give better performance but some have melted their power connectors because of excessive heat.

PCIe has different flavours, I suspect yours is PCIe 3, PCIe4 and PCIe5 are around and can move data faster. You need the right CPU to take advantage of it and the right NMVE SSDs. Again you need a new motherboard.

Intel has something called an optimising compiler which in the real world many companies use to get better performance. So although an AMD CPU may benchmark faster in the real world if the program code is optimised towards an intel processor an AMD CPU might not buy you very much performance wise. A bit like AMD GPU might benchmark faster but Trainz is almost certainly optimised to NVidia.

With more heat on the CPU etc some move to liquid cooling which is fine unless a tube comes loose or cracks in which case it isn't nice. Personally I'd stay away from liquid cooling.

Take a look at Dell alien ware and see how they configure their machines. They're fairly good at the cooling side.

I think what you have is fairly balanced apart from the boot drive and to improve you really need to move to PCIe 5, a very fast NMVE SSD and probably a new GPU. A new GPU might be a not that expensive option.

Have fun.

Cheerio John

Thanks for the advice John and Peter.
From reading your posts, I understand that the GPU would be the first thing to go, along with the boot drive and PCIe? My rig is pretty well cooled, I have six case fans and I just put a new liquid cooler in it, and I’ve gotten very good performance. I prefer to use Corsair and ASUS hardware, so maybe a new motherboard, Dominator DDR5 memory along with a new SSD for the boot drive, and maybe a 4080 would be the ideal starting point?
I forgot to mention in my first post, but I am mostly seeking this advice to get an idea of what I could do eventually, as I’m not in the position to purchase new components anytime soon. I would most likely sell parts from my PC to buy their replacements but that’s still a long way away.

Thanks again

 

[johnwhelan]

Thanks for the advice John and Peter.
From reading your posts, I understand that the GPU would be the first thing to go, along with the boot drive and PCIe? My rig is pretty well cooled, I have six case fans and I just put a new liquid cooler in it, and I’ve gotten very good performance. I prefer to use Corsair and ASUS hardware, so maybe a new motherboard, Dominator DDR5 memory along with a new SSD for the boot drive, and maybe a 4080 would be the ideal starting point?
I forgot to mention in my first post, but I am mostly seeking this advice to get an idea of what I could do eventually, as I’m not in the position to purchase new components anytime soon. I would most likely sell parts from my PC to buy their replacements but that’s still a long way away.

Thanks again

DDR5 isn't mainstream at the moment so a bit expensive also it will almost certainly need a new motherboard as I don't think your current motherboard will support it. ASUS used to be very good but apparently the quality is not as high priority as once it was. PCIe 6 motherboards are expected sometime this year. I'd go with a new NMVE SSD boot drive for now and hold off until the dust settles on PCIe 6.

Cheerio John

 

[AFdude06]

Interesting. Is DDR5 more expensive than DDR6? If I replace the boot drive I would probably upgrade to Windows 11 since I don’t have a physical key for my current W10. Would you have any recommendations on a good brand for hardware?

Cheers

 

[johnwhelan]

Interesting. Is DDR5 more expensive than DDR6? If I replace the boot drive I would probably upgrade to Windows 11 since I don’t have a physical key for my current W10. Would you have any recommendations on a good brand for hardware?

Cheers

I'd probably look at newegg.com and see what has the best review. Corsair is a very reasonable brand. If your motherboard only supports PCIe 3 and I suspect it does then getting a PCIe 4 NMVE SSD might be bore expensive than one than just supports PCIe 3 which is all you can run anyway. 3D SSDs are coming real soon now but the data centers will probably grab them first.

Have fun

Cheerio John

 

[AFdude06]

Just a little spitballing:
PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LbLcdH

• CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K 3.2 GHz 16-Core Processor
• CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i RGB ELITE 65.57 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler Owned
• Motherboard: MSI PRO Z790-A MAX WIFI ATX LGA1700
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR5-6200 CL32 Memory
• Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
• Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive Owned
• Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
• Video Card: MSI VENTUS 3X OC GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB Video Card
• Case: Corsair 3500X ATX Mid Tower Case Owned
• Power Supply: Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro Retail - USB 64-bit
• Case Fan: Corsair iCUE QL120 41.8 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack Owned
• Monitor: Acer Predator XB241YU 23.8" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Monitor Owned

Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-14 17:51 EDT-0400

Cheers

 

[johnwhelan]

I might go a single 4 TB SSD, they do exist rather than 2 smaller ones and a Cyberpower UPS or another UPS keeping the voltage stable (brownouts are the problem) means fewer software errors.

Other that that it looks fine.

Cheerio John

 

[AFdude06]

I might go a single 4 TB SSD, they do exist rather than 2 smaller ones and a Cyberpower UPS or another UPS keeping the voltage stable (brownouts are the problem) means fewer software errors.

Other that that it looks fine.

Cheerio John

The reason I would add two SSD’s is the 1 TB is currently in my PC and I would reuse it. I don’t use enough storage to warrant a 4 TB, especially considering the price.

 

[johnwhelan]

Interesting. Is DDR5 more expensive than DDR6? If I replace the boot drive I would probably upgrade to Windows 11 since I don’t have a physical key for my current W10. Would you have any recommendations on a good brand for hardware?

Cheers

Win 11 might be a cheap upgrade if your machine is capable of it. It's free and the divers are better. Also I assume you're using gaming mode in windows? It stops windows running all sorts of odd things in the background.

Cheerio John

 

[AFdude06]

My current PC is not capable of running Windows 11, because it doesn’t have TPM2.0. Otherwise it meets the requirements. As far as gaming mode, I’m not sure whether I have it enabled. I know I’ve seen it somewhere in Settings but I haven’t checked lately. I think it might be off because I check Task Manager frequently and there is always a bunch of Windows processes running.

Cheers

 

[johnwhelan]

My current PC is not capable of running Windows 11, because it doesn’t have TPM2.0. Otherwise it meets the requirements. As far as gaming mode, I’m not sure whether I have it enabled. I know I’ve seen it somewhere in Settings but I haven’t checked lately. I think it might be off because I check Task Manager frequently and there is always a bunch of Windows processes running.

Cheers

Anything that is 8th gen or later should work. Have a look in the BIOS and see if there is a TPM 2.0 setting.

Cheerio John

 

[johnwhelan]

Check to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your motherboard.

Thanks John

 

[AFdude06]

Check to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your motherboard.

Thanks John

That might be what I’ve been missing. I have followed the instructions to check my BIOS and enable TPM2.0 before, but when I tried to activate it there was a message about a missing component or the like. I can’t remember off the top of my head but I can check later.

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[AFdude06]

I just managed to enable TPM2.0, so at some point I can upgrade to Windows 11. I guess ‘Intel Platform Trust Technology’ (PTT) was disabled so that was the only reason I couldn't activate it.

Cheers
EDIT: Would I have to worry about my files and games if I installed the free W11 upgrade? Or would it be better to wait until I replace my motherboard, CPU, and boot drive? The reason I say that is because I won't be doing any hardware replacing for quite a while and was wondering if it's worth it.

 

[sultan1966]

Just my opinion. Make sure every piece of software you care about is capable of running on Win 11. Update all of your hardware drivers, if you can before updating Windows. As for the Windows file structure nothing should change to where something won't work anymore. Win 11 has more security features and updates, they try anyway but with all the "zero days" out there one must make sure to update both Apps and OS on a regular basis. I'll leave it up to others to add their thoughts., but would update.

 

[johnwhelan]

I just managed to enable TPM2.0, so at some point I can upgrade to Windows 11. I guess ‘Intel Platform Trust Technology’ (PTT) was disabled so that was the only reason I couldn't activate it.

Cheers
EDIT: Would I have to worry about my files and games if I installed the free W11 upgrade? Or would it be better to wait until I replace my motherboard, CPU, and boot drive? The reason I say that is because I won't be doing any hardware replacing for quite a while and was wondering if it's worth it.

Do a back up first to an external hard drive, win 7 and create a restore disk. I usually do two. Then just go for it. Win 11 has a few annoying suggestions but they can all be turned off.

My personal favourite for a hard drive back up would be a Ugreen hard drive enclosure and a refurbished enterprise drive from Amazon of about 10 or 12 TB but there are other cheaper solutions.

Cheerio John

 

[AFdude06]

I will hold off then, as I have no backup drives to use. Thanks for the tips guys.