[SOLVED] Advice on Upgrade

Feb 25, 2020
19
1
15
This is my current configuration
Processor - Intel i3-8100 3.60GHz
RAM - 8GB GSkill Ripjaws DDR4 + 8GB GSkill Tridentz RGB
Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB GDDR5
Motherboard - MSI B360M PRO-VD

I have saved up some money so I was thinking about upgrading my system a bit so well, considering I only have enough money to upgrade my CPU to an Intel i5 9600KF (Upper limit)
OR
Upgrade my current GPU to an Nvidia 1660, possible an MSI GTX 1660 GAMING 6GB or the ZeForce GAMING AMP version of the same.
I like to play games, recently I've played titles like AC Odyssey, Hitman 2, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and so on and I would surely like to play upcoming titles of AC, Hitman and whatever gets released haha! So please suggest me which route is best for me?
 
Solution
This is my current configuration
Processor - Intel i3-8100 3.60GHz
RAM - 8GB GSkill Ripjaws DDR4 + 8GB GSkill Tridentz RGB
Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB GDDR5
Motherboard - MSI B360M PRO-VD

I have saved up some money so I was thinking about upgrading my system a bit so well, considering I only have enough money to upgrade my CPU to an Intel i5 9600KF (Upper limit)
OR
Upgrade my current GPU to an Nvidia 1660, possible an MSI GTX 1660 GAMING 6GB or the ZeForce GAMING AMP version of the same.
I like to play games, recently I've played titles like AC Odyssey, Hitman 2, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and so on and I would surely like to play upcoming titles of AC, Hitman and whatever gets released haha! So please suggest...
This is my current configuration
Processor - Intel i3-8100 3.60GHz
RAM - 8GB GSkill Ripjaws DDR4 + 8GB GSkill Tridentz RGB
Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB GDDR5
Motherboard - MSI B360M PRO-VD

I have saved up some money so I was thinking about upgrading my system a bit so well, considering I only have enough money to upgrade my CPU to an Intel i5 9600KF (Upper limit)
OR
Upgrade my current GPU to an Nvidia 1660, possible an MSI GTX 1660 GAMING 6GB or the ZeForce GAMING AMP version of the same.
I like to play games, recently I've played titles like AC Odyssey, Hitman 2, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and so on and I would surely like to play upcoming titles of AC, Hitman and whatever gets released haha! So please suggest me which route is best for me?

That is a tricky one.... your current build is pretty well balanced, however whichever upgrade you go for the other component will be a bottleneck (in some scenarios at least).

That said you can always upgrade one now and then the other later... Thinking about it, currently there are a few new graphics cards due out (including some lower end models from nVidia in the 3000 range and a load of new cards from AMD). On that basis, I would probably look at the cpu upgrade now, and save up for a bit to get a new gpu as I think you may have more options to choose from by the end of the year whereas your cpu choices are fixed if you want to keep the rest of the machine.

It's also much easier to compensate for a slower graphics card by tweaking graphics settings (and even modding graphics a bit) to get the latest games to run well so long as your CPU can keep up, whereas if you are cpu limited there's little you can do to resolve that. The 1050ti is still fast enough to run modern titles at 1080p medium settings (or probably a mix of medium to high).
 
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Solution
Feb 25, 2020
19
1
15
That is a tricky one.... your current build is pretty well balanced, however whichever upgrade you go for the other component will be a bottleneck (in some scenarios at least).

That said you can always upgrade one now and then the other later... Thinking about it, currently there are a few new graphics cards due out (including some lower end models from nVidia in the 3000 range and a load of new cards from AMD). On that basis, I would probably look at the cpu upgrade now, and save up for a bit to get a new gpu as I think you may have more options to choose from by the end of the year whereas your cpu choices are fixed if you want to keep the rest of the machine.

It's also much easier to compensate for a slower graphics card by tweaking graphics settings (and even modding graphics a bit) to get the latest games to run well so long as your CPU can keep up, whereas if you are cpu limited there's little you can do to resolve that. The 1050ti is still fast enough to run modern titles at 1080p medium settings (or probably a mix of medium to high).

Oh I see, so you're saying that if I get a 1660 card, my i3 processor would bottleneck it? Also, it is not compulsory to upgrade, I can always wait but is my current system enough to run the upcoming games at low/mid settings?
 
Oh I see, so you're saying that if I get a 1660 card, my i3 processor would bottleneck it? Also, it is not compulsory to upgrade, I can always wait but is my current system enough to run the upcoming games at low/mid settings?

Yeah I think the i3 will hold a 1660 class card back quite a bit... that does depend on the game somewhat and what settings you want to game at. Jumping to a 6 core cpu using the same board isn't a bad idea - 6 cores is enough for games currently, although with the 9000 series you are limited to just 6 cores / 6 threads so I'm not sure how long that will hold up vs newer alternatives which are 6 cores 12 threads (e.g. Ryzen 5 or Intel 10th Gen i5 etc).

If you can manage with your current hardware then it's probably a good time to wait a little and save up - lots of really exciting new tech coming out so chances are you will get more for you money in a few months time. I don't know of any current titles that won't run on an 8100 + 1050ti, if you don't mind reducing settings a bit. If it were me, I'd probably try and wait until you can get afford a ray tracing capable card for your budget - with AMD joining the ray tracing party very soon with RDNA 2.0 cards it does appear to be where the tech is moving.
 
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Feb 25, 2020
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Yeah I think the i3 will hold a 1660 class card back quite a bit... that does depend on the game somewhat and what settings you want to game at. Jumping to a 6 core cpu using the same board isn't a bad idea - 6 cores is enough for games currently, although with the 9000 series you are limited to just 6 cores / 6 threads so I'm not sure how long that will hold up vs newer alternatives which are 6 cores 12 threads (e.g. Ryzen 5 or Intel 10th Gen i5 etc).

If you can manage with your current hardware then it's probably a good time to wait a little and save up - lots of really exciting new tech coming out so chances are you will get more for you money in a few months time. I don't know of any current titles that won't run on an 8100 + 1050ti, if you don't mind reducing settings a bit. If it were me, I'd probably try and wait until you can get afford a ray tracing capable card for your budget - with AMD joining the ray tracing party very soon with RDNA 2.0 cards it does appear to be where the tech is moving.

Okay I get it! I think it is best if I wait and then upgrade in the future, probably will go for a 10th Gen then
 

javi.sau.96

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Dec 30, 2018
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Okay I get it! I think it is best if I wait and then upgrade in the future, probably will go for a 10th Gen then
That's it. Your system is quite well balanced. If you are not hurry and you can play dropping some settings i would save some money and upgrade later. Hopefully your system holds on until ddr5 comes out
 
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Also look at AMD ryzen. They are releasing new chips soon also. For example, you can get a ryzen 5 3600 and board for just under 300, but have comparable performance to an i7 8700. That is just their middle of the road offering. But if you are going to save up and look at a new setup anyway, I'd consider a b550 board and see what the new ryzen 4000 series chips look like, or get a 3000 series penalty at a lower price when the 4000 series release.
 
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Feb 25, 2020
19
1
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Also look at AMD ryzen. They are releasing new chips soon also. For example, you can get a ryzen 5 3600 and board for just under 300, but have comparable performance to an i7 8700. That is just their middle of the road offering. But if you are going to save up and look at a new setup anyway, I'd consider a b550 board and see what the new ryzen 4000 series chips look like, or get a 3000 series penalty at a lower price when the 4000 series release.
Ok thanks, I'll keep that in mind! I'll come here anyway to ask around what would be the best option for me then