Christmas Upgrade Priority?

[Virtued]

As Christmas approaches I'm going to begin looking to further upgrade my computer.

Currently, I have 8gb of DDR31866mHz RAM, an i5 4590 3.3ghz CPU and a GTX 1050ti.
Recently, I've been playing games such as battlefield 1 and The Witcher 3. However, they're not performing like I hope they would especially Battlefield 1 with it being such a demanding game.

I'm looking to first buy an SSD and then upgrade my RAM to 16GB and later down the line my CPU. However, problems have arisen with the huge soar in price of RAM and the fact that my current CPU runs on the LGA1150 socket meaning that I can only buy more DDR3 RAM. Another problem being that when I go to upgrade my CPU I practically have no choice but to go to 1151 or I won't see much improvement in performance for the price. Upgrading to LGA1151 will also mean that I will have to buy a new motherboard.

I guess my question is that do I buy 8 more G's of DDR3 RAM and "waste money" in the long term but suck it up for the better performance in BF1 and what not, or do I wait till I have enough to buy both the 1151 motherboard, CPU and 16GB's of RAM. Also, are there any other alternatives I could take?

Enough said, happy holidays everyone!

 

[velocityg4]

What motherboard do you have right now?
Are you willing to buy a used CPU and sell your current one? That will reduce some of the upgrade costs.

I'm just asking to see if overclocking is an option. An overclocked i7-4790K would be a pretty big upgrade over the i5-4590. Not too far off from an i5-8600K in gaming performance in most games.

Unless you can toss in an i7 and overclock it for a total cost of $150 after selling the i5. I can't see it being worth the expense to add another 8GB RAM to that gaming computer.

 

[Virtued]

True, I didn’t even think about the 4790k, also do you not think I should look at making the move to ddr4 or potentially 1151 for future upgrades or do you reckon the 4790k will last long enough to make it worthwhile? The motherboard I have currently is the gigabyte z970d3, but it’s discontinued.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'm looking to first buy an SSD and then upgrade my RAM to 16GB and later down the line my CPU. I guess my question is that do I buy 8 more G's of DDR3 RAM and "waste money" in the long term. Also, are there any other alternatives I could take?

The weak part in your system actually is your GPU. Think of upgrading that one first.
Then ram and only then SSD.

 

[velocityg4]

True, I didn’t even think about the 4790k, also do you not think I should look at making the move to ddr4 or potentially 1151 for future upgrades or do you reckon the 4790k will last long enough to make it worthwhile? The motherboard I have currently is the gigabyte z970d3, but it’s discontinued.

Do you mean a Z97-D3?

Well you can't move to DDR4 without a new motherboard and CPU. I think an i7-4790K which is overclocked has got a few years of life to it. At 4.3 - /4.5Ghz it isn't too far off from an overclocked i7-6700K/7700K. Which are still excellent for gaming.

Now as far as the two games you mention are concerned. It is true that a new CPU won't help much. Based on benchmarks. Your GPU is holding you back. Witcher 3 is quite light on CPU usage. Even though Battlefield 1 is more CPU demanding and less GPU demanding. A GTX 1050 Ti can't produce the FPS at max settings at 1920x1080 to overwhelm your current CPU in BF1 let alone Witcher 3.

In BF1 using DX12 you should average around 50FPS in BF1 with drops to under 10. Using DX11 around 60FPS with drops to around 50 FPS. Using a GTX 1050 Ti. While your CPU can hit around 120FPS in DX11/12 with drops to 30 FPS in DX12 and 70 FPS in DX11. So, your GPU is what is likely holding you back.

BF1 also shows marked benefits with 16GB RAM.

I think that motherboard is still a viable platform. The GPU is the weakest part. As most games do fine with 8GB RAM. I'd go GPU > CPU > RAM. Personally, I prefer big upgrades. I'd save up and do all at once and add an SSD. Since it is Christmas. I suppose ask for a GPU. As that is the most expensive and important component to upgrade. If you just have a 1080p monitor it wouldn't make much sense to go beyond a GTX 1070.

If you then sell the GTX 1050 Ti. Buy a used i7-4790k. Then sell your i5-4590. You should just about break even on the i7 upgrade.

 

[Virtued]

I'm looking to first buy an SSD and then upgrade my RAM to 16GB and later down the line my CPU. I guess my question is that do I buy 8 more G's of DDR3 RAM and "waste money" in the long term. Also, are there any other alternatives I could take?

The weak part in your system actually is your GPU. Think of upgrading that one first.
Then ram and only then SSD.

GPU is rarely hitting 100% usage in both games, CPU is.

 

[Virtued]

True, I didn’t even think about the 4790k, also do you not think I should look at making the move to ddr4 or potentially 1151 for future upgrades or do you reckon the 4790k will last long enough to make it worthwhile? The motherboard I have currently is the gigabyte z970d3, but it’s discontinued.

Do you mean a Z97-D3?

Well you can't move to DDR4 without a new motherboard and CPU. I think an i7-4790K which is overclocked has got a few years of life to it. At 4.3 - /4.5Ghz it isn't too far off from an overclocked i7-6700K/7700K. Which are still excellent for gaming.

Now as far as the two games you mention are concerned. It is true that a new CPU won't help much. Based on benchmarks. Your GPU is holding you back. Witcher 3 is quite light on CPU usage. Even though Battlefield 1 is more CPU demanding and less GPU demanding. A GTX 1050 Ti can't produce the FPS at max settings at 1920x1080 to overwhelm your current CPU in BF1 let alone Witcher 3.

In BF1 using DX12 you should average around 50FPS in BF1 with drops to under 10. Using DX11 around 60FPS with drops to around 50 FPS. Using a GTX 1050 Ti. While your CPU can hit around 120FPS in DX11/12 with drops to 30 FPS in DX12 and 70 FPS in DX11. So, your GPU is what is likely holding you back.

BF1 also shows marked benefits with 16GB RAM.

I think that motherboard is still a viable platform. The GPU is the weakest part. As most games do fine with 8GB RAM. I'd go GPU > CPU > RAM. Personally, I prefer big upgrades. I'd save up and do all at once and add an SSD. Since it is Christmas. I suppose ask for a GPU. As that is the most expensive and important component to upgrade. If you just have a 1080p monitor it wouldn't make much sense to go beyond a GTX 1070.

If you then sell the GTX 1050 Ti. Buy a used i7-4790k. Then sell your i5-4590. You should just about break even on the i7 upgrade.

Thanks for the response, thing is GPU's are really expensive at the time and I could probably get a CPU, motherboard and RAM for the price of it. Thanks for the advise, I'll probably follow it.