UK-Based Upgrade Advice
Hello! I'm looking for some advice as I'd like to upgrade my current build. I was hoping to wait for the current Memory Shortage hikes to subside but alas it doesn't seem the problem is going to get any better so may as well bite the bullet now before it gets…
Hello! I'm looking for some advice as I'd like to upgrade my current build. I was hoping to wait for the current Memory Shortage hikes to subside but alas it doesn't seem the problem is going to get any better so may as well bite the bullet now before it gets even more expensive. My current specs are: Ryzen 7 3700X Gigabyte B450 AORUS Elite Nvidia RTX2070Super 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4@3200Mhz Corsair 550W PSU I'm currently not sure whether it's worth upgrading my current build or potentially just building an entirely new pc instead, given the age of my current parts. Also I'd like to probably upgrade to AIO Water-cooling, which I'm inexperienced and not entirely confident in installing so I was curious about the consensus surrounding UK-Based Custom Builders such as Pcspecialist? (Or any others that users might recommend!) I'm aiming for 60FPS @ 1440p in most newer titles. I don't have many preferences for specific parts to upgrade to, just whatever is cost effective and good value for money, in this expensive market. I'd heard that DDR4 is currently sitting cheaper and more widely available than DDR5? Ideally I'd like to up my memory count for both RAM and VRAM because both aren't really cutting it respectively now. For an entirely new pc I'd have a budget for about £2000 or as close as you could get! Thanks in advance for any advice, can't wait to hear what you guys come up with!
Collected discussion
i built my first gaming PC last year with an AIO (in the UK). honestly it's nothing too difficult. The only annoying thing is to know how to tighten it properly. i have the same popular AIO most people use and there'a s trick to tightening the screws that make it a lot easier. I would encourage you to rethink rebuilding the PC on a sort of educational level. You'd know more about your parts, the in and out, than you would if just buy premade. Of course if you don't have the time/energy/ability to learn how, then buying premade is 100% sensible. 2K quid raw parts (not including monitor and accessories) can get you a pretty decent PC.
I completely agree that from a learning standpoint doing it myself would be 100 times better, I'm just acutely aware that water and PC Components don't mix and I don't have the spare income to buy 2 sets of parts if I'm a tit and mess it up somehow. Ideally in future, potentially over a long period to negate the cost, I'd like to build a form of testbed PC that I don't have to worry about messing up so much, that I could then utilise for setting up servers or such. But that's a pipe dream at the moment!
Yeah I understand. It seems scary doesn’t it lol But have you watched videos of what AIO cooler looks like? they are completely closed and unless you majorly bungle it, there's little risk of any liquid leaking. The good brands' AIO tubes and components are pretty robust and don't break easily.
Would selling them even be worth it? I've never looked at used parts for fear of lingering issues, but they're 7 year old parts, even at new they'd barely be worth it now right? And ideally I would like it to be future proofed lol so I don't have to worry about upgrades for a while haha!
If those are currently working parts you sell them in good faith as-is used parts. Just check f.e. eBay to see if there is demand. If there's none you will have your answer. There's always something like CeX. Considering how expensive some parts can be you never know what others might need. Worth to try. Remember that going for overkill setup might be simply not worth it. I personally have R5700x, RTX4060 and DDR4 32GB 3200. I know GPU is big bottleneck here, but I don't mind. And this setup is enough for me as it runs everything I want to play at 1080/60 which is fine with me.
I think £2k for a build for 60@1440p will be overkill or futureproof for years. Or you could sell your CPU, GPU, replace it for R5700x+, much newer GPU like 5060 or 5070 or AMD equivalent, and perhaps extra 16GB ram, but 16G Ram is IMO enough. But that's me and those are your money.
PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor £164.99 @ AWD-IT CPU Cooler Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler £29.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk (OOS) Motherboard MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard £144.97 @ Amazon UK Memory *Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory £328.97 @ Silicon Power Storage Western Digital WD_BLACK SN7100 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive £249.98 @ Scan Video Card *Gigabyte GAMING OC Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card £615.00 @ Amazon UK Case Montech XR ATX Mid Tower Case £49.99 @ Scan Power Supply Montech CENTURY II 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply £79.98 @ Amazon UK Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total £1663.87 *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria Generated by PCPartPicker 2026-08-03 17:25 BST+0100