My gaming PC is about 11 years old, and I'm trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading individual components or if I should build an entirely new system. My current hardware is an Intel Core i7-4790K on an ASUS Maximus VII Hero motherboard, an EVGA GTX 970, 16GB of DDR3 memory, a Corsair RM750e 750W power supply, and a Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SATA SSD.
My budget is around $1,000 USD, and I'm located in the United States. My main goal is gaming at high or ultra settings with good FPS in games such as Marvel Rivals, Crimson Desert, Battlefield 6, and other modern or upcoming AAA titles. I'm especially interested in advice about the CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, and whether the 750W power supply can safely be reused.
Would it make sense to keep any parts from this system, or should I start over with a new platform?
5 Answers
With a $1,000 budget, a good prebuilt could be worth considering, especially if you find one with a recent Core i5 or Ryzen 5, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and an RTX 5060-class GPU. Try to prioritize 32GB of memory instead of 16GB so you don’t immediately need another upgrade. Building yourself can offer better parts for the money, but compare complete systems carefully before deciding.
The power supply is the part I’d evaluate most carefully before reusing it. A quality 750W unit may still be adequate if it’s in good condition and has modern connectors, but age, warranty status, and actual model revision matter more than a simple percentage-based degradation estimate. The 500GB SATA SSD can also be reused as secondary storage, though a new 1TB NVMe drive would be a worthwhile improvement for a fresh build.
You’ll get much better results from a completely new build rather than trying to modernize the old platform. A reasonably priced system built around a current, upgradeable platform and a midrange graphics card should handle your current games well and leave room for future CPU or GPU upgrades. Look for balanced $800–$1,000 build guides rather than spending most of the budget on one component.
The simplest upgrade you can make right now is installing a stronger graphics card. Even an older system like yours can see a major gaming improvement from something around an RTX 3060 12GB, depending on the game and resolution. However, the 4790K will eventually hold back newer GPUs, so treat that as a temporary step while saving for a new motherboard, CPU, and memory.
A new platform is the sensible route. There really isn’t a worthwhile CPU upgrade available for LGA1150, and DDR3 parts are outdated and poor value. You could potentially reuse the power supply and SSD, then put the budget toward a modern CPU, motherboard, DDR5 memory, and graphics card. If there’s a nearby Micro Center, check its CPU/motherboard/RAM bundles because they can make a new platform much more affordable.
Thanks for pointing me toward those options. I’m not very familiar with comparing components, so that helps a lot. Would an RTX 5060 be a good fit for the games I want to play?