[SOLVED] Please help me decide what should i upgrade first.

[max13]

I already have a PC . Its an old one.
And I don't want to spend more than 500$ at this moment.
So I'm thinking of getting a new CPU or GPU first.

My current pc spec
CPU - I7 3770
MB - Asus P8Z77 1155
GPU - Power Color RX 470 4gb
Ram - Kingston DDR3 4*4
PSU - Thermaltake 650w Smart Series bronze 80+

If I'm getting a new CPU what should it be with my current pc spec (new MB, new ram ddr4)?
If i'm getting a new GPU what should it be ? Is my current pc spec enough for them or it is good for a next time upgrade?

I'm so sorry if you get confused by my English.

 

[AngelTech]

GPU your CPU is still pretty decent the performance boost would be more from a GPU then getting a new CPU and if possible I'd get some 16GB (2 x 8) DDR3 RAM.

 

[max13]

GPU your CPU is still pretty decent the performance boost would be more from a GPU then getting a new CPU.

Thank you for answering my question.
But what should I get for a new GPU?

 

[AngelTech]

Thank you for answering my question.
But what should I get for a new GPU?

Can you name some games you play a lot or are looking forward to?

 

[max13]

Can you name some games you play a lot or are looking forward to?

I've played plenty. tho.. with 1980x1080 monitor
But the most recent game that I've played are
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Witcher 3
Mordhau
Total War Three kingdoms
Something like that.

 

[AngelTech]

I've played plenty. tho.. with 1980x1080 monitor

Do you have adaptive sync in your monitor? if so can you name which one? (freesync gsync or none) this will affect your GPU choices.

 

[max13]

Do you have adaptive sync in your monitor? if so can you name which one? (freesync gsync or none) this will affect your GPU choices.

I don't think it have any. Its LG IPS Flatron IPS235. Really old now.

 

[geofelt]

If you are looking to improve your gaming, here is my canned approach"

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.
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.

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------

My guess is that a graphics card upgrade would help most and be the easiest to do.

Your 650w psu will let you install any upgrade you want.
Make it a big enough jump or you may be disappointed.
Perhaps a GTX1660ti. You might be able to even find a RTX2070 super for your $500 budget.

If you come out thinking you need a cpu upgrade, you are looking at not only a cpu change, but also a motherboard and ddr4 ram change.
$500 should be able to buy you a new motherboard, 16gb of ddr4 ram and a modern ryzen 3000 series or intel 9th gen K processor.
Favor ryzen if you are a heavy multitasker or play multiplayer games with many participants.
If you favor cpu centric gales like mmo, sims, or strategy games, I like the higher clocks of the intel K suffix processors.
At the $500 combined price point, you really can't go wrong.

 

[max13]

If you are looking to improve your gaming, here is my canned approach"

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.
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.

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------

My guess is that a graphics card upgrade would help most and be the easiest to do.

Your 650w psu will let you install any upgrade you want.
Make it a big enough jump or you may be disappointed.
Perhaps a GTX1660ti. You might be able to even find a RTX2070 super for your $500 budget.

If you come out thinking you need a cpu upgrade, you are looking at not only a cpu change, but also a motherboard and ddr4 ram change.
$500 should be able to buy you a new motherboard, 16gb of ddr4 ram and a modern ryzen 3000 series or intel 9th gen K processor.
Favor ryzen if you are a heavy multitasker or play multiplayer games with many participants.
If you favor cpu centric gales like mmo, sims, or strategy games, I like the higher clocks of the intel K suffix processors.
At the $500 combined price point, you really can't go wrong.

Thank you so much. I have tested a) out as you suggested.

Yes lower solution does improve my FPS.
I monitored it with MSI after burner.
I tried it with Mordhau the result was GPU usage percent was 100 or 80 %
CPU was 60% or 70%
and then I did some research and found this video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPsJ4sA12YQ

i7 3770 with rtx 2070 not an S one. and I7 3770 with rtx 2060 not an S one.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOKZ7RhZ7jo&t=1297s


What do you think about this?



I have not tried b) yet

 

[geofelt]

There is always a limiting factor(usually cpu or gpu)
Your test tells me that your cpu is capable of increasing fps if you upgrade your graphics card,

b) is a sort of back handed way of checking on the cpu.
It is an indicator as to if a higher clock rate is more important.

The last experiment is to try to determine how effective your current thread count is.
Figuring out which apps or games can effectively use multi cores can be difficult.
Just because you see activity on all cores does not mean that a app is multithreaded.
It may just be Windows spreading out the activity over all available threads.
In fact if the activity is the same, it is a strong indication of a single thread app.
One way to tell would be to experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.
As a rule, sims, mmo and strategy games use mainly a single fast core.
Here is one of the few articles researching that.
Skip the ad to get to the report:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com

 

[max13]

There is always a limiting factor(usually cpu or gpu)
Your test tells me that your cpu is capable of increasing fps if you upgrade your graphics card,

b) is a sort of back handed way of checking on the cpu.
It is an indicator as to if a higher clock rate is more important.

The last experiment is to try to determine how effective your current thread count is.
Figuring out which apps or games can effectively use multi cores can be difficult.
Just because you see activity on all cores does not mean that a app is multithreaded.
It may just be Windows spreading out the activity over all available threads.
In fact if the activity is the same, it is a strong indication of a single thread app.
One way to tell would be to experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.
As a rule, sims, mmo and strategy games use mainly a single fast core.
Here is one of the few articles researching that.
Skip the ad to get to the report:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com

Thank you so much! I have tried b)

Reduce one of logical processors to 7 cores

I can feel a little bit different while gaming the FPS drop around 2-3 FPS
and CPU usage percent is increasing but it took longer to load the map and when start up the windows.

And then I go further more reduce two logical processors to 6 cores.
The result are the same but game is starting to lag (noticeable) a little bit.

and then I tried 1 core, its the worst! 20-30 FPS and super lag and the the game crash!

These result show something?
Another question should I get Galax RTX 2070 mini 8gb DDR6 or else?

 

[geofelt]

Very interesting.
Thank you for performing the experiment.

You have 4 cores, but 8 threads.
Some games actually require 4 threads to run.
I am not aware of any REQUIRING more than 4.
I think your experiment shows that your games are not particularly sensitive to thread count past 6. I do not consider a few extra fps as being all that important.
To the professional gamer perhaps.

A previous experiment showed similar results:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com

This is useful information to you if you are contemplating a future cpu upgrade.
Once you have 6 threads, increasing performance mostly comes from faster core speeds.


As of now, I think a faster graphics card will give you a better performance improvement than a faster processor.

 

[max13]

Very interesting.
Thank you for performing the experiment.

You have 4 cores, but 8 threads.
Some games actually require 4 threads to run.
I am not aware of any REQUIRING more than 4.
I think your experiment shows that your games are not particularly sensitive to thread count past 6. I do not consider a few extra fps as being all that important.
To the professional gamer perhaps.

A previous experiment showed similar results:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com

This is useful information to you if you are contemplating a future cpu upgrade.
Once you have 6 threads, increasing performance mostly comes from faster core speeds.


As of now, I think a faster graphics card will give you a better performance improvement than a faster processor.

Thank you so much for all the help.
I appreciate it.
Thank you!
Oh one last question. Is Rtx Galax 2070 mini good or i should look for something like RX 5700?