[SOLVED] New CPU or GPU?

[ToxicDuck]

Hello, currently I have a r5 1400 (3.8ghz oc), and a 1060 3gb.

I can afford an upgrade right now with a limit of 300$, but I'm not sure what to choose. My goal is 144fps, I do not mind playing games at their lowest settings and value frames much more over visuals.

If anyone could help me figure this out I'd greatly appreciate it. I know both my components need an upgrade but I'm not sure which would see the most significant increase in fps.

PC benchmark: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/15010697

edit: I should add I'm gaming at 1080p/144hz

 

[The prime mediocre]

What games are you running? Your system is well-balanced, so it really depends on whether the games you play most are GPU or CPU-bound.

A GTX 1660 Ti ($280) would be the cheapest significant GPU upgrade. A Ryzen 7 1700 ($170) is pretty cheap, and would double your core/thread count. If you don't have 16GB of DDR4, that would be a good use of the other $130.

 

[ToxicDuck]

What games are you running? Your system is well-balanced, so it really depends on whether the games you play most are GPU or CPU-bound.

A GTX 1660 Ti ($280) would be the cheapest significant GPU upgrade. A Ryzen 7 1700 ($170) is pretty cheap, and would double your core/thread count. If you don't have 16GB of DDR4, that would be a good use of the other $130.

Thanks for the reply. I'm primarily a competitive FPS player.

Current games:
Overwatch (I can run at 144fps for the most part)
Apex
(quake live too but of course I can run that easily haha)

Those are the games I'm playing at the moment, but I try most FPS games that come out. I think if I could run apex at a stable 144 that would be good enough for me. I do indeed have 16gb of ddr4, it's rated for 3000mhz but I could only get it stable as high as 2733mhz.

The two choices you mentioned was actually what I was considering too haha. As you said though, my system is indeed well balanced so I can't figure out what would have the biggest immediate impact.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

I would go new GPU. I say that because new ryzen CPUs should be released in a few months. Some of them are said to be close to 5ghz. So I think now, I'd go for the GPU, then that buys time until better CPUs are released.

 

[The prime mediocre]

Yeah, I don't think you're CPU bound. So a GPU upgrade makes more sense. It should put you over the top in Overwatch at least (144Hz on the "Ultra" quality setting is likely). Apex might be more demanding, but the GPU is still first priority. The upcoming Ryzen CPUs mentioned by the above poster are rumored to have eight cores at mid-range (~$200), better IPC, and higher clock speeds. So if you are held back by the CPU, you'll have a pretty great option later this year.

 

[ToxicDuck]

Alright boys I'm inclined to agree with you. I'll purchase the 1660ti.

On a side note, I'm seeing if I can push my ryzen 5 1400 a little bit more. It was stable at 1.35v 3.8ghz right away and I hadn't messed with it any more, so I was thinking maybe I got lucky in the silicone lottery and I can push it to 4ghz. So wish me luck .

I really appreciate the help in deciding on this, thank you both!

Edit: In case anyone wanted to know results so far, I'm not done stress testing but it seems the max I can do is 3.9ghz at 1.4v. I think 4ghz would be possible on this chip if I had a better cooler. It was almost stable at 1.42v 4ghz but my temps were getting higher than I'd like and I didn't want to go above that voltage. I've heard a lot of people say that above 3.8ghz voltage requirements start increasing drastically and I found this to be true as well.