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You don't need to upgrade everything at once. Yes, modern high-end GPUs are ridiculously expensive. But my $200-5-years-ago RX480 is also still holding up just

You don't need to upgrade everything at once. Yes, modern high-end GPUs are ridiculously expensive. But my $200-5-years-ago RX480 is also still holding up just fine. It's still more expensive than it ought to be, but I can find it used for around $80 these days. And if you already have an older rig… just bring it over from that.

ohgodplsno 4y ago
If you haven't upgraded in a long time, the CPU+MB+RAM combo is a necessary upgrade. You also very likely need to upgrade your PSU, because the 550W of old will not be enough. And you most likely need to upgrade your GPU, unless you want to slap a 10 year old GTX970 to keep playing recent games in 720p with your 24 core CPU. You can bring in hard drives/NVMes, and eventually any additional PCIe cards. So, no, any upgrade not done in the last 5 years means pretty much a full rebuild now. New sockets + DDR5 means that your old build is going to hit a brick wall.
- Nullabillity 4y ago
  Yes, CPU+MB is usually a package deal (aside from AM4's relative stability, but even that did come with a lot of asterisks). RAM tends to last a bit longer, but yes, we are in the middle of an annoying transition period right now. Your old PSU might be insufficient for the new build, but it's not like 750W PSUs are a new thing (or particularly required if you're not doing a high-end build, even today). Power efficiency tends to yoyo around over the years. No, you absolutely do not "need" to upgrade your GPU, and certainly not immediately. Your old GPU will not be doing a worse job in the new computer than it was in the old one. And you can always replace it later on, should the need actually arise. I think a core part of the misunderstanding here is around expectations. The build plan for "a top-spec gaming computer" is going to look pretty different from "a top-spec dev computer that I can also game on". But, if anything, gaming has hit seriously diminishing returns in the last couple of years. It's quite hilarious and sad to see NVidia try to make real-time path tracing and 4K gaming into things, in a desperate bid to make GPU performance a relevant factor again.

ohgodplsno 4y ago

If you haven't upgraded in a long time, the CPU+MB+RAM combo is a necessary upgrade. You also very likely need to upgrade your PSU, because the 550W of old will not be enough. And you most likely need to upgrade your GPU, unless you want to slap a 10 year old GTX970 to keep playing recent games in 720p with your 24 core CPU. You can bring in hard drives/NVMes, and eventually any additional PCIe cards. So, no, any upgrade not done in the last 5 years means pretty much a full rebuild now. New sockets + DDR5 means that your old build is going to hit a brick wall.

Nullabillity 4y ago
Yes, CPU+MB is usually a package deal (aside from AM4's relative stability, but even that did come with a lot of asterisks). RAM tends to last a bit longer, but yes, we are in the middle of an annoying transition period right now. Your old PSU might be insufficient for the new build, but it's not like 750W PSUs are a new thing (or particularly required if you're not doing a high-end build, even today). Power efficiency tends to yoyo around over the years. No, you absolutely do not "need" to upgrade your GPU, and certainly not immediately. Your old GPU will not be doing a worse job in the new computer than it was in the old one. And you can always replace it later on, should the need actually arise. I think a core part of the misunderstanding here is around expectations. The build plan for "a top-spec gaming computer" is going to look pretty different from "a top-spec dev computer that I can also game on". But, if anything, gaming has hit seriously diminishing returns in the last couple of years. It's quite hilarious and sad to see NVidia try to make real-time path tracing and 4K gaming into things, in a desperate bid to make GPU performance a relevant factor again.