Advice for Upgrading System for VR

skeptic_04

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
15
0
10,510
I've recently been gifted an Oculus Rift and am looking to upgrade my system to best take advantage of the VR system. I could build a new system from scratch, but I'd rather see if most of my existing rig could be salvaged. I originally built this machine in 2010 and have only upgraded the GPU since.

So, based on the components below, would it be just as easy as replacing the GPU with a more power card (GTX 1070 TI or 1080?) or am I missing something? Motherboard is a bit at its limits, but it looks like it should work...

Motherboard: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R (2x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0)
Processor: i7-950 3.07 GHZ 8MB cache
GPU: GTX670
HD: 500GB Samsung SSD
RAM: 20GB - Corsair Vengance
Power Supply: 650W
One fan

 
Solution
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($347.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler ($67.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($155.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($469.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1190.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-08 19:16 EDT-0400

I see you like Gigabyte. I have literally used every...

freercurse

Distinguished
Dec 16, 2016
256
17
18,865
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the CPU would bottleneck the system. Now that is just an educated guess, so it might not be that bad but, from expeirence the age of the CPU will be a definite problem, now if you are willing to wait you could buy and replace the GPU if it works great, if not then you can replace the rest of the system. It's up to you, but i dont think a 1st i7 will perform well enough
 

skeptic_04

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
15
0
10,510


I'm okay with bad news if it means getting a realistic answer, so no worries.

My ignorance is going to start to become pretty apparent, but would upgrading the CPU also require an updated motherboard? That board supports a "Core i7 (LGA 1366)"


 

Dugimodo

Distinguished
Steam has a VR ready test you can download and run which will assess your hardware, I'd suggest giving that a try.
I started using my Rift with a GTX 980 which worked very well and have recently upgraded to a 1070 which is better but not that noticeable mostly.
The 1060 is the recommended starting card but a 1070 would probably be a better choice.
 

ikaz

Distinguished
Yes I agree that you should think about upgrading not only your CPU but your GPU as well, so with that in mind you may want to look into picking up a GTX 1060, and see how it performs. The 1060 6GB (not the 3GB) is much better than your 670 and if the performance doesn't improve as much as you would like then you know sure sure to save up to build a new system. Then you can use the 1060 in that system once you build/buy it.
 

skeptic_04

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
15
0
10,510


If I'm going to get a new GPU, I'll go ahead and pay the incremental cost for a 1070/1080. I guess it boils down to whether the CPU will be a bottleneck, which seems likely.

Pricing out a more complete build now. :) Don't tell the wifey...

 

skeptic_04

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
15
0
10,510


If I went the route of upgrading GPU and seeing how that worked out, what would be a tell-tale sign that the CPU is holding back getting the most out of the graphics card?

 

Dugimodo

Distinguished
If you adjust your graphics settings up and down and get the same frame rate then the CPU is holding you back (making sure Vsync is off)
Using either a games built in benchmark or a gaming benchmark tool.

So if you get say 50 fps at 1080P ultra setting in a game, then dial it back to 1080P low quality and still get 50 fps it's almost certainly the CPU that's limiting you

If you got say 50 fps at ultra, 70fps at medium, and 70 fps at low (making these numbers up just so you know) you would know the CPU is limiting you to 70 fps and the GPU is limiting you below that at higher settings.

To really find the bottleneck you can drop the resolution as low as it will let you and set everything as low as possible to try and remove any graphics bottleneck and see how fast the CPU will let you go, then keep upping the quality and resolution settings until the frame rate starts to drop significantly. If it never does it's because the Graphics card is always being choked by the CPU.
 

skeptic_04

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
15
0
10,510


Makes sense. Pretty straightforward method. Thanks.
 

skeptic_04

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
15
0
10,510
Based on the feedback received, I'm planning on swapping out most of my platform. Any feedback on the following setup is greatly appreciated before I submit my order!

New components:
CPU: i7-8700k 4.7GHz 300 Series

MBD: Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 5

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1080 G1 Gaming 8G

Memory: 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000


 

Dugimodo

Distinguished
Looks good to me, don't forget to add a cooler for the CPU as it doesn't come with one.
I have a rift and it works very well with my 6700K & 1070 so you'll be easily able to run anything with that rig.

I'm upgrading soon myself, but I decided to go the Ryzen 2700X way. First AMD system I've built in a very long time so fingers crossed :)
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($347.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler ($67.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($155.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($469.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1190.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-08 19:16 EDT-0400

I see you like Gigabyte. I have literally used every motherboard manufacturer and they are all pretty even IMO. I use a Gigabyte 1080ti and love it. I would recommend this Asrock motherboard as it is well reviewed and IMO a better value.
 
Solution