I built this gaming PC in 2020, and it has continued to work well. I would like to move from Windows 10 Home to Windows 11, but my Intel Core i7-7700K and MSI Z270 Gaming M7 do not officially meet Windows 11's CPU requirements.
The current system includes an MSI Z270 Gaming M7 motherboard, Intel Core i7-7700K, Deepcool GAMMAXX GT cooler, 16GB of DDR4-3600 memory, an RTX 2070 Super, a 1TB Samsung 860 Evo SSD, a 250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD, a Seasonic Focus 650W Gold power supply, and a Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact case. I mainly play games at 1080p and occasionally 1440p.
I have built two PCs from scratch but have never upgraded one component at a time. I am not experiencing major gaming problems and do not play as often as I used to, so I am unsure whether a full rebuild is worthwhile. My main goal is getting onto a properly supported operating system, but I would also like to know what upgrade would make the biggest practical difference.
Would you keep this system and work around the Windows 11 compatibility check, or replace the motherboard and CPU? If upgrading, what motherboard and processor pairing would make sense while reusing the case, power supply, storage, memory, and graphics card?
3 Answers
Since the computer is still meeting your gaming needs, I would not replace the whole system just to install Windows 11. You can create a Windows 11 installation USB with a tool such as Rufus and configure it to bypass the unsupported-CPU and hardware checks. That is the least expensive route, although you should understand that the system would be outside Microsoft's officially supported hardware list and should keep good backups.
Your own description is the strongest argument for waiting: if you are not noticing performance limitations, buying a complete new PC is difficult to justify. The RTX 2070 Super is still usable for 1080p and some 1440p gaming, while the older CPU would become a limitation before a newer graphics card could be used to its full potential in some games. I would make a clean Windows installation, continue using the current hardware, and upgrade later when you actually need more performance. At that point, replace the CPU and motherboard together and choose a current memory platform rather than investing in this older socket.
There is not much of an upgrade path left for that motherboard. The 7700K is already near the top of what the Z270 platform supports, so replacing it with another compatible processor would not be a worthwhile improvement. You could move to a newer motherboard and CPU while reusing the RTX 2070 Super, case, power supply, and SSDs, but replacing only the motherboard and processor may leave you with an older DDR4-based platform. If you are going to spend significantly, a modern CPU, motherboard, and 32GB of memory would be a more sensible long-term upgrade.
That is the main reason I was considering a larger rebuild. I would prefer not to spend money on a platform that is already at the end of its upgrade path, especially since I am not currently running into performance problems.
That sounds considerably cheaper than rebuilding. I have not used Rufus before, but I would probably try that before replacing otherwise functional hardware.