[SOLVED] CPU/MOBO upgrade?

[ZeroDollarBudget]

As of late, I have been catching up on all the new tech, and boy oh boy have we got an interesting market. Both with the advancements in hardware and because of how bonkers pricing has become.
I'm more of a team blue than team red, but at this point I am willing to consider anything. Core count is the main motive to upgrade as I have begun coding and game development thus I think it beneficial to get something with more capability. Setting aside ram and other hardware, I'm after input as to what cpu/mobo would make the best budget switchover or best bang-for-buck?

I have a 4790k, and it's been pushed to near 5ghz but since then dialed back to a fair 4.7ghz. It's no slouch in modern titles, but I can't help but wonder what else is out there? There's only so many benchmarks and comparisons I can watch, but what I want to know is what do you all suggest as an upgrade from this? Budget wise I'd like to keep it under $400 (cad), but flexible depending on the parts and performance. I am going to be purchasing a new gpu soon, and have been flipping back and fourth about a 3060/3060ti or if they do become available a 3050/3050ti.

Would love to see what you all recommend!

-Z

 

[AlexTheFern]

10400f plus and a msi z490-a pro

 

[geofelt]

Good luck in finding any 3000 series card at all, let alone anywhere near MSRP.
What is your current graphics card? I would plan on using it for a while.

On the processor, I would wait a bit since intel will be releasing11th gen processors with an impressive 20% increase in IPC. March supposedly. 500 series chipset motherboards are already available.

As to processors, A $100 i3-10100 is now about the same performance as your i7-4790K.
With a strong 3000 series graphics card, I would be thinking in terms of a 11th gen version of the i5-10600K or i7-10700K.

I think thread count is a bit overblown as a factor once you get past 6 or 8 threads.
Single performance is likely to mean more. (and a fast ssd)

As an experiment, take away one of your 8 threads to see how much difference it makes with what you do.

You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
Change to 7 threads.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game/app does not need all the threads you have.

 

[ZeroDollarBudget]

Good luck in finding any 3000 series card at all, let alone anywhere near MSRP.
What is your current graphics card? I would plan on using it for a while.

On the processor, I would wait a bit since intel will be releasing11th gen processors with an impressive 20% increase in IPC. March supposedly. 500 series chipset motherboards are already available.

As to processors, A $100 i3-10100 is now about the same performance as your i7-4790K.
With a strong 3000 series graphics card, I would be thinking in terms of a 11th gen version of the i5-10600K or i7-10700K.

I think thread count is a bit overblown as a factor once you get past 6 or 8 threads.
Single performance is likely to mean more. (and a fast ssd)

As an experiment, take away one of your 8 threads to see how much difference it makes with what you do.

You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
Change to 7 threads.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game/app does not need all the threads you have.

Running a zotac 1050ti now that I maxed out clock wise. In terms of your suggestion, I have played around with it and under the usage I do it utilized all 8 threads, hence why I think moving to an 8 core cpu may be beneficial as it will allow me more head room... or even a 6 core. I find it crazy than a new i3 is on the same playing field as this old i7 hahaha! But will 100% look into gen 11 now that you mention it.

About the GPU's... yea well aware but fingers crossed availability will get better or these big name companies will start giving a <Mod Edit> and stop supplying miners.

 

[geofelt]

I3/5/7 no longer means what it used to.

cpu utilization is different from EFFECTIVE utilization.
Windows will spread out the activity of a few tasks over all available threads.
If your use of all 8 threads is at 100%, then, I would agree that your apps are thread limited.

It is the highest end graphics cards that seem to be most impacted by shortages and scalping.
Something in the GTX1660 class should be available and would be a nice boost.
If you buy a EVGA card, they have a 90 day free upgrade program in case you decided on something stronger.
I do not know if/how that could be honored in the current situation.