Question CPU vs GPU upgrade

[psycher1]

Hello. A situation for your consideration.

My current system is all AMD: 3600 w/ 3000mhz RAM, and a 6600XT GPU. Allowed myself to splurge and got a 1440P Ultrawide 144hz monitor. I like the screen real estate for work, and would like to enjoy it for gaming as well, but you can see that my PC just isn't going to cut it. I also occasionally VR, which is also high FPS.

A GPU is the obvious upgrade, but I'm trying to feel out the best upgrade per dollar. An RTX 3070TI or an RX 6800 or better seems to be the minimum. These are pricey. Frames/dollar are very expensive, assuming I can sell my 6600XT for a good price, I'm still looking at anywhere from $13 - $18 per frame.

So let's consider a CPU upgrade. 3600 to 5600 should open up an astounding 30 more FPS in 1440p titles, and do so cheaply at $6-$9/Frame. But benchmarks that provide that info assume a system with a 3090TI.

It's hard to make a call, nobody benchmarks CPUs on a GPU limited system. This is, thus, my question to you all - given the very high frame rate of my monitor, can I expect to see value either way or is a new GPU the only way to go?

(For anybody wondering, it would seem that RAM may also help. I estimate exactly 1 FPS total. $80/frame on the cheap end. Not today.)

 

[Deleted member 362816]

a CPU upgrade is pointless with that GPU you really won't see any performance gains unless you move to something like a 6800xt/3070ti etc.

 

[Eximo]

Agreed. I can tell you that at 2650x1440 there are still games where I don't get 144 FPS with a water cooled RTX 3080 Ti. CPU performance hasn't mattered all that much for me.

Granted I am running PCIe 3.0, so I am loosing a little performance.

 

[psycher1]

Sure, but I note that a CPU upgrade likely would have SOME potential. How much is what I'm debating. +30 FPS in the ideal situation sans any GPU bottleneck, so maybe it'd only be like +10 in my case? +3? +25? That's the issue I'm trying to get to the heart of.

 

[logainofhades]

1440p, you want a better GPU.

 

[psycher1]

I'm clearly not talking to any engineers haha. I fault myself for my numbers obsession but now that I'm on the hunt I must dig. Unless the opinion is: hard bottleneck, exactly +0 FPS possible. However, again, I don't believe that to be the case.

 

[USAFRet]

Which do you want....more FPS or more eyecandy?

That will determine which part you buy.

 

[geofelt]

My stock approach to this perennial question:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 80%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 20% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
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 does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

 

[KyaraM]

I'm clearly not talking to any engineers haha. I fault myself for my numbers obsession but now that I'm on the hunt I must dig. Unless the opinion is: hard bottleneck, exactly +0 FPS possible. However, again, I don't believe that to be the case.

Well. Let me tell you a little story, maybe that illustrates what people want to tell you here. I play in 1440p regular screen width. When I upgraded from my old i5-7600K to my new i7-12700K back in February, the biggest FPS difference I had was in the lows. As in, it didn't drop as hard in certain situations as before. Maybe I had 2-3FPS more on average in some games, I don't know, not that I noticed, it's basically the same anyways. But when I switched from my old 1070 to my new 3070Ti later that month, my FPS more than doubled. My lows now are what my former highs were.

Or in other words, the better CPU gave me tiny improvements despite being a far bigger jump than what you would get, while the new GPU literally doubled my frame rate and, at the same time, more than halved my frame time. And that's basically in all games I play. Go figure what the bigger difference was...

 

[psycher1]

Props to @geofelt for seemingly being the only person that understood the request. And, for Hardware Unboxed for uploading a scientific breakdown of this exact situation earlier today, even examining the effects with high settings on 1440P with a GPU bottleneck.

For those that may find this thread later, here's my data (on my current personal situation, so note trends more than specifics):

Selling my GPU and buying a new GPU can achieve about ~$9.40+ dollars a frame (AMD, 6800XT). Nvidia is significantly more expensive, exceeding $10, occasionally $14+/frame. More mature RT cores and software likely the reasons.

CPU, on the other hand: ...$48.00 a frame. Just because I'm having fun, 1600 to 5600x = $27/frame. Ryzen optimized RAM averages exactly 1 FPS more, so about $100/frame. To clarify, that's calculated on average frames, not just lows.

So, yes - a new GPU equals significantly more frames, but that was never the question. GPUs are expensive, so if you have a smaller amount of spare cash today, is a CPU upgrade worthwhile for now? Here's some data so you can judge for yourself.

 

[logainofhades]

HUB also has this video, that shows GPU scaling from R5 1600x to 5600x. It may prove useful to you, making a decision, also.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlfwXqODqp4&t=676s