Looking to upgrade CPU

[louietien]

Hi, I currently game with an i7-4790 CPU and I am wanting an upgrade. I was thinking about upgrading to the i7-4790k, but that would just be a waste of money, since there is not much of a difference. So I was wondering which CPU I should go with. Not too cheap, not too expensive.

Kindest Regards,
Louie

My setup:
ASUS Strix GTX 970
i7-4790
16 GB DDR3
Windows 10
64-bit operating system

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

No reason to upgrade from a 4790.

 

[sizzling]

No other CPU will give you a noticeable boost. Although it's a great gpu the 970 is going to be the limiting factor in games, not your cpu

 

[louietien]

No other CPU will give you a noticeable boost. Although it's a great gpu the 970 is going to be the limiting factor in games, not your cpu

What GPU would be worth upgrading to then?

 

[sizzling]

Depends what resolution and Hz you are gaming at? If 1080p 60Hz the 970 is so good it's not worth upgrading in my opinion, it can run all games at very high to ultra settings at decent fps.

However you CPU I would expect to be able to keep up with a high end dual card setup if your resolution and/or Hz required

 

[geofelt]

First of all, determine what is limiting your games.
Usually, it is either cpu or gpu.
Which is often determined by the type of games you play.
Games such as sims, mmo and strategy are usually limited by individual core speeds.
Fast action shooters are usually limited by your graphics card.

How to tell?
Here are some tests you can make:
a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
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 70%.
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 30% improvement in core speed might do.

If you need individual core speed, yes, a I7-4790K can help.
It has a higher 4.0 stock speed vs. the 3.6 of your i7-4790.
If your motherboard is a Z97 chipset, you can get perhaps another 10% by overclocking.
Past that there really is nothing faster. A I7-6700K is marginally faster but requires a motherboard and ram change.
Likely not worth it.

If you need better graphics, there are lots of options.
Your GTX970 should give you very good performance at 1080P resolution.
If you are looking at 1440P or 4k resolutions, the upcoming GTX1070 and GTX1080 are significant improvements.

One other thing, If you do not already use a ssd, an upgrade to a ssd will be one of the most satisfying upgrades you can make.
Look to Samsung evo. Their ssd migration aid makes the transition easy.

 

[louietien]

Depends what resolution and Hz you are gaming at? If 1080p 60Hz the 970 is so good it's not worth upgrading in my opinion, it can run all games at very high to ultra settings at decent fps.

However you CPU I would expect to be able to keep up with a high end dual card setup if your resolution and/or Hz required

I play 1080p 144hz