[SOLVED] PC upgrade

[ant1greeny2]

I'm looking to upgrade my PC so I can run new AAA games at 4k on max settings.
At the moment if I use these settings I'm only getting about 20fps (30 at most).
If I turn the resolution down to 1080p, I then get over 60fps, but I'm looking to get this result at 4k.

Here is my current build:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/tPfQtp

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[punkncat]

As a start, and sure you know already, that you will need a 2080ti and a new high quality power supply.

You could check the CPU compat list and see what better CPU you could use with that motherboard. Given that it's both a "locked" board and a budget choice you will likely have better results with a new mobo to support a higher TDP CPU. If you choose to go 3xxx you will likely want faster RAM as well.

 

[cryoburner]

You could check the CPU compat list and see what better CPU you could use with that motherboard. Given that it's both a "locked" board and a budget choice you will likely have better results with a new mobo to support a higher TDP CPU. If you choose to go 3xxx you will likely want faster RAM as well.

It's probably not worth touching the CPU. At 4K, games will be almost entirely limited by graphics performance, and a faster CPU would do almost nothing for frame rates. A Ryzen 1600 should be pretty good for pushing 60fps in today's games, and higher resolutions are generally not going to increase demand on the CPU.

For 4K resolution, it's all about getting as much graphics performance as you possibly can. A GTX 1660 is a fine card for 1080p, but 4K works out to four times as many pixels that the graphics card needs to render, making it completely inadequate for running demanding titles at that resolution.

Unfortunately, as was pointed out, you currently need to spend a lot to get decent performance at 4K. The 2080 Ti, for example, would cost more than the rest of the components in this system combined. That card is also discontinued though, and Nvidia is expected to announce a new generation of high-end cards in the coming days. It's likely that level of performance will be coming to a somewhat lower price range, but I still wouldn't expect any of the new cards priced under $600 to handle 4K at max settings particularly well.

In my opinion, native 4K arguably still isn't worth aiming for at this time. The current "4K consoles" like the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X are not actually rendering most games at 4K, but rather upscaling them from lower resolutions, and typically running them at 30fps with the equivalent of medium-low graphics settings. We may see some games running at native 4K60 on the upcoming consoles, but upscaling and lower frame rates will likely continue to be common on those as well. And on the PC side of things, prices of the highest-end graphics cards tend to grow disproportionately to the amount of additional performance they provide, so the top-end models are not really practical for anyone who doesn't have money to burn. You're probably better off rendering games at a resolution like 1440p, and upscaling to 4K if desired.

 

[punkncat]

It's probably not worth touching the CPU. At 4K, games will be almost entirely limited by graphics performance, and a faster CPU would do almost nothing for frame rates. A Ryzen 1600 should be pretty good for pushing 60fps in today's games, and higher resolutions are generally not going to increase demand on the CPU.

I agree with what you are saying to some degree...however a 1600 is going to bottleneck a GPU of that caliber and there are QUITE a few benchmark results to back it. It's actually rare to see anyone doing 4K comparative tests with anything south of a 3600-level (or better) AMD any more. I am not going to far as to say it can't do it, but locked at base clock on that board along with is going to kneecap performance some in spite.

A part of what was said above I absolutely do concur with. 4K gaming performance is still just around the bend. According to your distance from monitor, it may not matter anyway. With today's gaming platforms I would personally far more focus on high frame lower res builds.

 

[cryoburner]

It's actually rare to see anyone doing 4K comparative tests with anything south of a 3600-level (or better) AMD any more.

You can find that in some CPU reviews that test at multiple resolutions. For example, TechPowerup includes 4K testing for their CPUs (though they only list average frame rates, so there could potentially be some dips in terms of minimums not represented there). In their recent i9-10900K review, the stock Ryzen 1600 only averages 3.1% lower frame rates than the 10900K at 4K when paired with a 2080 Ti. With a less powerful card than that, the differences would be even smaller at that resolution...

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i9-10900k/17.html

So, if one is looking to get the most 4K performance for their money out of an upgrade, it should all be put toward graphics hardware, provided they already have enough cores and threads to go around. On a 1440p or lower high-refresh screen the CPU can make more of a difference, though the same could apply their as well when paired with more "mid-range" cards. I do have some doubts that they would consider a $1000+ graphics card as a reasonable upgrade option though, as most would not, let alone additional upgrades on top of that.