[SOLVED] Choosing between upgrading CPU or GPU

[f4ded4k]

I think it's time for some upgrades to my computer. The full specs are [i5-6600,Z170 pro gaming,16GB ddr4,gtx 1060 3GB]. I've started noticing below 60fps and frame drops in recent games. Some games like COD: MW has very high load on CPU and on the other hand some require better GPU for maximum settings. So here are my options for upgrades:

1. Upgrade GPU to gtx 2060 6GB [1660 may be an option too but I wanted to see how ray tracing works. Also some games require more than 3GB VRAM these days for ultra]

2. Upgrade CPU to i7-7700 [Asus motherboard support page says it only supports 6th & 7th gen cpu so 8th gen is not an option]

3. Upgrade motherboard and CPU. Here I am not sure if I should stick to intel or try AMD cpus instead. So I would require details on that.

My budget is around 30k-40k max. Which of the options should I go for, for mainly gaming & occasional rendering/encoding.

 

[falcon291]

With ray-tracing you will have to sacrifice so many fps, if you have a HD monitor, it is yet manageable but for QHD and 4K, it is not acceptable for a FPS gamer. So if you are planning to upgrade your GPU at least move to GTX 2070, I believe your problems are more related with your CPU.

It all depends on your money, but the easiest solution for you is to upgrade 7700. If you are satisfied then it is OK. If not you can choose to upgrade AMD or Intel. I have never bought any AMD CPU, but right now if I am to buy, I would buy a good AMD mainboard, and best available AMD CPU. As AMD provides more cores for the same money, they are better, and also they don't change their slots often as Intel, so you can keep the same mainboard for further upgrades in the future.

 

[sizzling]

If your main complaint is low FPS caused by your quad core cpu then you want a cpu upgrade. A gpu upgrade is not going to help FPS if you are cpu limited but you will have to sacrifice game settings unless you also upgrade the gpu.

How much is a 7700 versus a Ryzen 3600 and compatible motherboard? What is your RAM setup?

 

[f4ded4k]

With ray-tracing you will have to sacrifice so many fps, if you have a HD monitor, it is yet manageable but for QHD and 4K, it is not acceptable for a FPS gamer. So if you are planning to upgrade your GPU at least move to GTX 2070, I believe your problems are more related with your CPU.

It all depends on your money, but the easiest solution for you is to upgrade 7700. If you are satisfied then it is OK. If not you can choose to upgrade AMD or Intel. I have never bought any AMD CPU, but right now if I am to buy, I would buy a good AMD mainboard, and best available AMD CPU. As AMD provides more cores for the same money, they are better, and also they don't change their slots often as Intel, so you can keep the same mainboard for further upgrades in the future.

Thank you for your reply. I also think 2060 is not enough even for my HD monitor. What do you think about 1660 then?

 

[f4ded4k]

If your main complaint is low FPS caused by your quad core cpu then you want a cpu upgrade. A gpu upgrade is not going to help FPS if you are cpu limited but you will have to sacrifice game settings unless you also upgrade the gpu.

How much is a 7700 versus a Ryzen 3600 and compatible motherboard? What is your RAM setup?

i7 7700 is about Rs 30k and ryzen 3600 & ASUS ROG Strix B450-E is 31k(18k+13k). I'm using 2x8GB ram. The thing is I really feel bad changing my motherboard. But again I feel even worse about using 30k just to upgrade to an already old 7th gen intel CPU. How long do you think an i7 7700 upgrade will last?

 

[falcon291]

Thank you for your reply. I also think 2060 is not enough even for my HD monitor. What do you think about 1660 then?

1060 to 1660 is not an upgrade that would resolve your problems. I think you first need to upgrade your CPU and then decide.

 

[Ketchup79]

What resolution are you running? The biggest pain I see for you right now is running a 3 GB video card. That is going to kill your ability to run special effects (Ultra settings). If the special effects are the main things you are concerned about (AA, AF, etc) get a good 6 GB video card first, then see if you need the rest. Generally the more you turn up the special effects, the less dependent the game becomes on your CPU.

 

[sizzling]

i7 7700 is about Rs 30k and ryzen 3600 & ASUS ROG Strix B450-E is 31k(18k+13k). I'm using 2x8GB ram. The thing is I really feel bad changing my motherboard. But again I feel even worse about using 30k just to upgrade to an already old 7th gen intel CPU. How long do you think an i7 7700 upgrade will last?

The 7700 is not enough of an upgrade in my opinion. The 3600 is a much better upgrade however what is your RAM speed?

 

[cryoburner]

Thank you for your reply. I also think 2060 is not enough even for my HD monitor. What do you think about 1660 then?

While the 2060 is not going to have particularly good raytracing performance (arguably none of the current RTX cards do considering their price levels), it's also going to be a decent amount faster than a 1660 in the majority of games without raytraced lighting effects. At least in situations where its not CPU-limited, it can be around 40% faster than a 1660. There's also a couple other cards to consider in-between those two, the 1660 SUPER and 1660 Ti, which tend to perform roughly in the middle, around 15-20% faster than a 1660. The 1660 Ti is a little faster than the 1660 SUPER, but the SUPER is likely to be priced much closer to the standard 1660, arguably making it a better deal than the Ti, unless pricing is different where you are. Like the rest of the 16-series lineup, those cards don't feature hardware raytracing support though.

Compared to a 1060 3GB, a standard 1660 should offer around 35-40% more performance, while a 2060 might offer around 80-90% more performance than a 1060 3GB, again, in situations where the CPU isn't limiting performance. In games where the CPU is holding performance back, there is likely to be significantly less of a performance difference between them.

But again I feel even worse about using 30k just to upgrade to an already old 7th gen intel CPU. How long do you think an i7 7700 upgrade will last?

I'm not sure how prices compare where you are, but at least here, the i7-7700 is not priced attractively at all. It's still over $300 when buying new, while a current-generation i5-9400F costs less than half as much while being a bit faster. For the price difference, one can get a new motherboard for the newer processor while still paying less overall. Or, for not much more, there's the Ryzen 3600 that has 6-cores with 12-threads, which give it notably better performance in heavily multithreaded applications, which will probably keep it relevant longer in future games. I would only consider an i7-7700 for your existing motherboard if you can find one on the used market for less than what an i5-9400F with a new compatible motherboard would cost.

 

[f4ded4k]

The 7700 is not enough of an upgrade in my opinion. The 3600 is a much better upgrade however what is your RAM speed?

It's 2400MHz boosted to 2405.7MHz by asus optimizer. Yes, it's not worth wasting so much money on a 3gen old CPU I guess.