Question i7-3770K with a 3060 Ti??

[Nexus180]

Hi - DISCLAIMER - I do not know a great deal about PC components, so please excuse my ignorance!

I have recently upgraded my GPU to a 3060 Ti (Zotac Twin Wedge OC 8GB) to enable me to increase my graphics settings in games (mostly RDR2, Cyberpunk, Metro Exodus and similar) - I play on a 4k projector (that I think has a v high refresh rate over 200, in case that is relevant). This seems to have done what I hoped in that I am getting FPS of around 60 with ultra settings in 2k (which is fine for me). 4k is also OK, although I gather for that I would probably need to upgrade my GPU again ideally (which I won't be doing for a while).

However, I have now stumbled across various articles/ posts that suggest that my CPU is ancient (I think I have had it since 2013) and might be significantly holding up the overall performance of my PC. Have I understood that correctly and if so, can people please recommend potential upgrades for my CPU (I would be looking to get a used CPU and unless its unrealistic/ not adviseable I would like to spend under £100). Alternatively, are there other components on my PC that I should be upgrading first/ in addition (RAM?) - my specs are:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU (8 CPUs), OC to ~4.6GHz

GPU: Ventus 3060 Ti Twin Edge OC (8GB) DDR4

Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 UDIMM 799,9 MHz Crucial 1GX64 (CT 102464BA 160B.M16FED)

Mobo: ASUS P8Z77-V (PCI-E 3.8)

PSU: Corsair CP-9020103 CX65M 650W

Many Thanks

 

[Lutfij]

Sadly any form of CPU upgrade is brought a halt due to the platform you're on. Soon after the 3rd Generation of Intel processor came the 4th Gen Intel processors that needed a new motherboard due to the socket revision. That lasted for two chipsets, Z87 and Z97(if you look at the Z series lineups). Then came the 6th Gen of processors, while the 5th Gen was mostly a silent sort of a release from Intel.

So yeah, if you're going to spend money on the platform, do it right, with concurrent hardware to take advantage of your newly purchased GPU.

PSU: Corsair CP-9020103 CX65M 650W
How old is this unit and what did it power prior to the RTX3060Ti?

 

[Nighthawk117]

mostly RDR2, Cyberpunk

I don't know what settings your playing at and whether you use ray tracing at all, but I've found both those games and particularly Cyberpunk with RT to be very punishing on the CPU. A more modern CPU would offer smoother and more consistent gameplay and I would say it's essential if you want to use ray tracing at 60 FPS. Unfortunately there are no options for upgrades on your platform, you already have the top end CPU. I would simply hold on to what you have and upgrade the rest of it at a later date when you can.

 

[Zerk2012]

This seems to have done what I hoped in that I am getting FPS of around 60 with ultra settings in 2k (which is fine for me)

So you were happy with your performance until you started reading some articles!

If your OK with the performance you have stop stressing just upgrade when you can afford to whenever that might be.

 

[Nexus180]

Thanks all for the quick replies! In answer to the questions/ comments:

- the PSU is about 5 years old. Prior to the 3060 it was just powering the motherboard, 2 case fans (I have now added another three), two hhd and two SSD.

- I am using an optoma 4K projector

- so it sounds like I would need to upgrade my motherboard in order to upgrade my CPU (which I presume might also enable me to upgrade my RAM) - any recommendations for a suitable upgraded motherboard that is not too expensive?

- and yes, it has occurred to me that if I am currently satisfied with the performance should I just leave things as they are for now. However, I presume I might be able to play with better FPS in 4K and with ray tracing if I do some further upgrading?

 

[logainofhades]

This would be a solid upgrade, that won't break the bank.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($23.40 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $382.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-01 07:47 EST-0500

 

[Nighthawk117]

Thanks all for the quick replies! In answer to the questions/ comments:

- the PSU is about 5 years old. Prior to the 3060 it was just powering the motherboard, 2 case fans (I have now added another three), two hhd and two SSD.

- I am using an optoma 4K projector

- so it sounds like I would need to upgrade my motherboard in order to upgrade my CPU (which I presume might also enable me to upgrade my RAM) - any recommendations for a suitable upgraded motherboard that is not too expensive?

- and yes, it has occurred to me that if I am currently satisfied with the performance should I just leave things as they are for now. However, I presume I might be able to play with better FPS in 4K and with ray tracing if I do some further upgrading?

Yes you would need to upgrade your motherboard and RAM to get a new CPU. It's going to be a lot more than £100 though. A quick look at the prices your looking at a minimum of £300. That would be for a Ryzen 5 5600, something which should be your bare minimum for an upgrade.

 

[Nighthawk117]

This would be a solid upgrade, that won't break the bank.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($23.40 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $382.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-01 07:47 EST-0500

I agree, 5700X would be what I'd go for but he's in the UK, I think it's going to cost more than that.

 

[logainofhades]

UK version

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor (£174.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£35.63 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£130.00 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£75.97 @ MoreCoCo)
Total: £415.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-01 12:58 GMT+0000

 

[Zerk2012]

Thanks all for the quick replies! In answer to the questions/ comments:

- the PSU is about 5 years old. Prior to the 3060 it was just powering the motherboard, 2 case fans (I have now added another three), two hhd and two SSD.

- I am using an optoma 4K projector

- so it sounds like I would need to upgrade my motherboard in order to upgrade my CPU (which I presume might also enable me to upgrade my RAM) - any recommendations for a suitable upgraded motherboard that is not too expensive?

- and yes, it has occurred to me that if I am currently satisfied with the performance should I just leave things as they are for now. However, I presume I might be able to play with better FPS in 4K and with ray tracing if I do some further upgrading?

Going from 2k to 4k the CPU will give about the same FPS until the video card can't keep up.
Adding ray tracing will make your CPU have to work harder so upgrading would probably be needed.

A 3060ti is not really a 4K gaming card for most modern games.

 

[Nexus180]

Thanks again- I will start saving! Silly question, but I presume I would notice a significant difference in performance (EG with 4k gaming and ray tracing) with this upgrade?

 

[Nighthawk117]

Thanks again- I will start saving! Silly question, but I presume I would notice a significant difference in performance (EG with 4k gaming and ray tracing) with this upgrade?

I've used Ray Tracing with a more powerful CPU than what your using and performance collapsed with it on. So yes you will definitely see a boost with Ray Tracing enabled in games that heavily use it like Cyberpunk. The 3060 Ti is not really the card to use for 4k. However again 4k at 60Hz will really pressure a 3770K in some titles so I would still expect some noticeable improvements like smoother gameplay. On a 4k display though, 1080p is able to divide evenly into 4k where it can't on a 1440p display.

 

[Nexus180]

Thanks again - I am so glad I asked about this! One last question - since this post I have been offered the following for £200 (used), which I believe is very similar to the components that have been recommended in this post - is this a good deal or would I be better off buying the new components recommended above?

Ryzen 5 5600x
Gigabyte B550m aorus pro-p
Artic freezer 360 aio

 

[logainofhades]

That's a pretty good deal, I believe.

 

[Karadjgne]

It's all about the IPC, instructions per clock cycle. The cpu generates all your fps, it does all the calculations, places objects in 3d space, dimensions, vector analysis, anything and everything that a frame needs, sticks it in a packet and ships it to the gpu to be processed and rendered into a picture.

IPC determines how long it takes for all that 'thinking' to happen. Ie. (made up numbers) if that 3770k at 3.9GHz can generate 60fps, a modern cpu at 3.9GHz can generate 120fps. Because it can process 2x the IPC per Hz. The entire benefit to overclocking was to increase the frequency, which raises the amount of instructions processed in a second.

In other words, for that 3770k to match fps with a modern cpu, it'd need to be overclocked to 7.8GHz. Roughly. Since that's not going to happen with consumer available cooling, only LN2, which is useless for gaming, an upgrade is warranted. It's a big generalization, but that's basically the idea.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Ryzen 5 5600x
Gigabyte B550m aorus pro-p
Artic freezer 360 aio

Cheapest prices from what I can see are:
Ryzen 5 5600X - £152
Gigabyte B550m aorus pro-p - £156
Artic freezer 360 aio - £119
That's £427 new, so on that basis seems like a good deal. If you were buying new I would get a different board and step up to the 5700X. However what you suggested seems a good deal and would still be a huge improvement in CPU power over what you currently have.

 

[Nexus180]

Thanks all- just need to check the arctic freezer360 will actually fit in my case (an old Corsair carbide 200r midi tower) as I gather they are rather large!

 

[Nighthawk117]

Thanks all- just need to check the arctic freezer360 will actually fit in my case (an old Corsair carbide 200r midi tower) as I gather they are rather large!

No it won't unfortunately, max is 240mm for that case. It will certainly keep the 5600X cool though.
https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Categ...mpact-ATX-Case/p/CC-9011023-WW#tab-tech-specs

 

[Nexus180]

Thanks - looks like I may go down the brand new route then

 

[Nighthawk117]

Fair enough, it's just going to cost more that's all. For me the minimum you should aim for is:

Ryzen 5 5600 - £129
https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/-10...gBG-DpZI9jSjcXYs58Gk_OpzZ-Ay5avBoC1r0QAvD_BwE

Gigabyte Aorus Elite - £133
https://www.awd-it.co.uk/components...9tyH38symYQBCFMv3gBQf_ks6PdBsHShoCQHAQAvD_BwE

16GB DDR4 3600 - £45
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-PC...t=&hvlocphy=9046212&hvtargid=pla-549299555714

Thermalright Assassin King 120 SE CPU Cooler - £20
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermalrig...-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Total £327

You could swap out the CPU for the 5700X (£190) to give you 8 cores instead of 6, that would bring you to £388. There are alternative Intel options that can be had for a similar figure should you prefer.

 

[Nexus180]

Thanks so much. Just one last question - you mention there are similar Intel CPUs for similar prices - what would they be (as from taking a look the Intel CPU described as of a similar spec to these Ryzen ones looked like they were significantly more expensive)?

 

[Nighthawk117]

Thanks so much. Just one last question - you mention there are similar Intel CPUs for similar prices - what would they be (as from taking a look the Intel CPU described as of a similar spec to these Ryzen ones looked like they were significantly more expensive)?

The i5 12400F at £160, it's actually around the same price as the 5600X. I gave the price for the 5600 above, that's a slightly lower clocked CPU than the 5600X but fundamentally the same thing. A more powerful Intel option is the 13400F for £203, similar to the 12400F but get's you 6 P cores and 4 E cores for a total of 10 cores. The 12400F has 6 P cores and no E cores. The 13400F is a little more powerful than the 5700X overall.

 

[Nexus180]

Brilliant! I think I will go for the Intel CPU just because I have always had Intel really

 

[Nighthawk117]

Brilliant! I think I will go for the Intel CPU just because I have always had Intel really

Should you not be aware the 'F' CPU's do not have an iGPU like the your 3770K. They are slightly cheaper because of it, the Ryzen chips suggested don't have iGPU's either. Not really a problem as you are using a 3060 Ti but just be aware the 12400 and 13400 would be the ones that have the iGPU should it be remotely important to you.

 

[NerdyVixen]

Even with that Intel I7-3770k you will bottleneck that GPU.