Specs:
i7-9700
1tb m.2, 1tb hdd
16gb 3200 rams
Msi rtx 2080 suger 8gb
What whould and when would you upgrade? Really just playing games 1440p 145hz freesync.
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What’s the problem with this setup now that you want to upgrade?
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If you upgrade anything I’d say GPU to a 3080 to get improved game performance in modern titles.
Anything beyond that is a full refresh with new board ram and cpu to be worth it.
I.e. sell off system and replace if you’re planning anything beyond the GPU.
Storage aside : as far as storage goes buy what you need to store as much stuff as desired.
All that said; I’d wait until 2023-2024 at the earliest before doing that. Right now that spec is still solid for gaming.
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Welcome to the forums!
Still a pretty solid system for gaming at 1440p
BUT one thing if you’re going to replace anything in that system: GPU
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That’s fine^
Maybe not so much
That combo is fine for 1440 but 144hz, the 9700 might be able to but the 2080 super maybe not
It really depends on the games you’re wanting to play
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Yeah agreed.
Issue is though to upgrade CPU, you’re looking at new board, RAM, and processor… may as well hold off and make use of what you have until you’re ready to do a full system replacement.
A 3080 would at least help give you 144hz with improved details in newer titles vs. a 2080 though.
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He’s got 3200mhz ram which should be fine if he switches platforms to am4 or 10/11/12th gen but yeah
If he could uptrade to a 9700K cheaply and do a quick and dirty OC or MCE that’ll help
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Yeah, upgrading to AM4 would be a bit of a side-grade though (and still a board swap even with DDR4). I’d go AM5 on AMD given imminent release.
IMHO if you were to do the socket+CPU change in intel land, you’d be better off selling the entire current box as a working system and then go DDR5 board/socket/cpu.
But again… probably premature right now, its still a pretty strong system.
Wait for AM5 to mature, wait for DDR5 cost to come down, and upgrade in a year or two for much better bang for buck; sell current box as complete working system at that point.
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If you have the budget for it, a B550 motherboard + 5900X for ~$500 would be a big uplift.
GPU, I see no point in upgrading right now. A Radeon 6700 XT would give you enough horsepower for decent 144Hz @ 1440p in all but the most demanding of titles, everything above that just feels like overspending because you can overspend. The 6700 XT is $400, anything more than that… No. Just wait for the next gen in that case, unless you can snag a 3080 for less than $500 somewhere.
If waiting, I would look to sometime mars next year to jump aboard the 7000 series, with 7900X being quite nice especially as you can jump to Zen 6 by 2026. I’d wait for a Radeon 7700 XT or GeForce RTX 4070, we’ll have a massive RX 6000 and especially RTX 3000 GPU glut for the next 18 months.
Me personally I’m saving for a 6700X with DDR5 and AM5 motherboard for Black Friday next year. 
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Switching to AMD could be an option.
However the 5900X is not really a great cpu for gaming to begin with.
The 5900X is a great cpu for multi threaded workloads but that is about it.
For gaming it basically does not really have much benefits for most games,
over something like a 5800X for example.
In that regards the 5800X3D would be a better choice because that cpu with it´s,
additional cache does improve gaming performance a bit in certain titles,
depending on the gpu and resolution.
However i agree with @thro at this point.
The new stuff will be released soon and i would also advice to just stick,
to the current system and just upgrade at a later time.
Both AMD and Intel will release new stuff soon.
Another option would be upgrading the gpu.
However the same story goes that new gpu´s might be released ¨maybe¨ next year or 2024.
So i would then still stick to what you currently have really.
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Mildest component change → CPU [i7K/i9K]
Next mildest change → GPU [RX6700+/ RX3070+]
Extreme change → Changing out guts outright
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Here is a wild idea, downgrade your monitor to 1080p and you are still good to play AAA games with ultra setting on high refresh rate for a few more years…
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With the setup you have, I wouldn’t upgrade until nvidia 4xxx comes out. On the cpu side, I think you’ll be find for a while.
It is, however, a good time to get 3090 ti, as it is on a super heavy discount right now. I believe I saw it going for ~1k USD with triple fans, which is an absolute steal.
[edit]
$1149 .99
You would probably also want a 1kilowatt PSU upgrade if you haven’t yet.
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Thank you all for the top tier responces! I think an am5 upgrade with new gpu is my goal, maybe around black friday 2023.
I was wondering about just that. Would the i7-9700 hold a 3090ti back at all? And would it give a massive boost to frames?
I don’t think id do that, but not the worst idea ever. Lol.
I like the 6700x system idea.
Deciding when to upgrade is a fairly simple process.
If your current computer is doing everything you want it to do - then do not upgrade.
If your current computer is not doing everything you want it to do - then consider an upgrade.
So - Is your current computer doing everything you want it to do?
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or wait for 4000 series. the thing is most people wait more than one generation before upgrading. the cpu is multiple generations, the 2080 is still a competent gpu. Prices for a 3080 level of performance might come down with 4000 series. Like a 3070 being as powerful as a 3080.
I would say if games are stuttering or if not getting the fps one wants. would be ideal.
The cpu could last a little while longer. Also if when you do upgrade cpu you will likely need to add all new motherboard and ram to the equation.
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