New (old) build

[Mr. Smith]

Hello OC3D, it’s been a while.
I realise this is not an exciting thread/build but I’m in need of some advice so hopefully someone will chime in.
Around 4/5 years ago I bought some parts for a build that have sat gathering dust in a wardrobe. At the time they were decent but they are surely crap now…
- R9 290
- i7 (can’t remember which, whatever was good at the time)
- Asus gene v matx
- Watercooling – EK cpu/gpu etc.
- Corsair 640w PSU (I think)
- Silverstone FT03
- Usual other bits like RAM/SSDs/HDDs
- I use my TV as a monitor and it’s only 1080p, I probably/might get a 4K panel in the future if that is a factor.

Budget:
Gone are the days of waste and disposable income. This is strictly low budget and hoping to reuse as many of the old parts as possible if they will do the job.
What I’d like:
To play some new(ish) games at max settings 1080p, not sure what will happen if I get a 4k TV?
I could build it as-is and hope for the best or perhaps buy a better used GPU?

Any advice appreciated , thanks.

 

[Wraith]

Honestly I'd build it first, then run some benches and games then see how it holds up. Depending on the i7 I'd say the only thing to really look at would be the GPU.

 

[AlienALX]

You can run games at whatever resolution you wish on a 4K TV. Just because your desktop is going to be 4k (like the Windows desktop) it doesn't mean you can't run games at lower resolutions. Any I7 from the past decade is good enough to game on. Sounds like you have a 2600k or a 3770k from the board, both are ample. CPUs really just have not moved on all that much thanks to Intel dragging their heels.

If you are able to afford a new GPU it would be nice. Something like a RX 580 8gb which can be had for a song right now would be good. Just make sure you don't buy a 30hz 4k TV. Yes you can disable Vsync or use some other sort of sync but the fact is the screen cannot refresh any faster than 30hz and the rest of the frames will be wasted. I would make sure it is at least 60hz, or, connect up to one of the 1080p HDMI ports that should be as much as 120hz on a modern set.

That or just buy a 24" monitor with a half decent refresh rate, that shouldn't bankrupt you.

 

[looz]

I mean a RX 580 is only 10% faster than the 290, the setup is fine for 1080p high (probably not max, but aiming for ultra is a game of diminishing returns) though quite power hungry compared to a modern equivalent.


And in terms of CPUs, an overclocked Ivy or Haswell i7 can go head to head against Ryzen in most titles.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Cheers guys, I agree the rx580 doesn't seem worth it. I'll keep a lookout for a great deal on something like a Vega 56 or 1070 or better.