Recomend MB,Ram,CPU upgrades

[cswann821]

Hello All,

Its been several years since I've done a major upgrade to my current build. I was hoping to ask those that stay in the know of "what's current" , to recommend : tell me what is up to date/current brands, gens, series of Motherboard, CPU and Ram. Im looking for Quality. As you can see the hardware I currently use has lasted me some time without any issues. Due to the chip shortages, I will not be upgrading my GPU at the moment..but want to make sure the motherboard will be able to accept an Nvidia 3xxx or newer. Would also like to not have to replace my water cooling block if I can avoid it...but will if I need to.

Would like to keep the CPU/MB/Ram upgrades under 1K.

Here is my current build.

MOUNTAIN MOD UFO CASE
3 Fan XSPC Radiator
Swiftech Apogee HD LGA2011 Block for CPU cooling
Intel I5 Devils Canyon 4960K
MB=ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VII HERO LGA 1150 Intel Z97
Ram=G-skill Sniper 1866. 9-10-9-28. 2 x 8GB
GPU = ASUS ROG GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0


Thanks for any recommendaiton on what to buy!

 

[freakdiablo]

Well, it all comes down to what you want to do.

One idea, since you already have an i5 with 16GB of RAM is just a straight upgrade to the newer tech -

i5 12600k - $300
MSI Z690 Tomahawk DDR4 - $300
G.Skill TridentZ 3600MHz 2x8GB kit - $110

For a little extra kick, you can get an i7 12700k for ~$370ish and/or G.Skill TridentZ 4000MHz 2x16GB Kit for $160.

As for the Apogee waterblock - someone more familiar with watercooling will have to chime in but you'll most likely need a new one, or at least an adapter, whether you go with Intel or AMD.

Most setups will accept a RTX 3xxx card.

Edit: About the 3xxx card, what power supply are you using? I can confirm the 12700Ks get thirsty when overclocked, and sounds like the high end 3xxx cards do as well.

 

[cswann821]

Pretty sure my current MB doesn't support DDR4/5 or the current Gen 11/12 ? Processor socket. Any current tried and true Motherboards recommendations for gaming ? Would like to have Bluetooth on it if possible.

 

[freakdiablo]

Any motherboard that supports a new CPU will support at minimum DDR4. The Z690 Tomahawk will support 12th gen i-Series Intels.

There really aren't "gaming" motherboards - it's like "gaming" networking gear, it's a marketing term. There are bad motherboards and good motherboards. The Tomahawk is a good motherboard that has BT.

 

[cswann821]

Z690 Tomahawk ... i like. Thank you.

 

[beenali]

it just depends on your budget just cuz now a days getting a cheap gpu is not easy so i will highly recommend checking out some youtube videos just cuz they post more often then us checking out websites to buy stuff and you can scale your budget as by watching those videos hope you get you want

 

[JLK03F150]

Z690 Tomahawk ... i like. Thank you.

Be aware, there is the Z690 Tomahawk WIFI (which uses DDR5 RAM) and the Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4. It's a transition time right now & many new mobo's are available in two versions, DDR4 or DDR5.
DDR5 is super expensive compared to DDR4 right now, which is why freakdiablo recommended the DDR4 version.