Question Should I switch to i7-4790k or would it be better to buy a new computer ?

[Vikko151]

Hello @Everyone,

My name is @Vikko151, a very new Tom's Hardware Forum member, but I already participated to some forums, so I know a little bit how it works.

I've got the following PC build :
Motherboard: ASUS H97-PLUS (able to overclock)
OS: Windows 10
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060
RAM : G-SKILL 4x4 GB 1600MHz with XMP (The best I can have)
Alimentation : 500 MW

Spoiler

SSDs: A Sandisk SN8SNAT 128 GB as the main SDD and a Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB where I put my games (I will soon install Windows on this one)
HDD: Only one, where I installed Garuda Linux.

I get a high CPU bottleneck in many games with my actual processor, and I wish to switch to an Intel® Core™ i7-4790, of course to be able to overclock, to have less bottleneck or, in the best case, no bottleneck. I don't really think it would be my RAM's fault since 16 GB RAM is more than enough for gaming, but I don't think the speed will be very impacting performances, but you can say I'm wrong, of course.

I use my computer for gaming, media editing, audio recording navigating in the internet.

Should I buy an Intel® Core™ i7-4790k? Should I better switch another component? Would it be better to change to a new computer (If it would be useless to do one of the two questions before)? Thanks for your reply !

@Vikko151

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I would read through this thread;

Overclocking on asus h97-plus

Alright, to my understanding Asus has allowed overclocking on the h97 plus motherboard. The auto overclock works fine and boosts me up to 4.5 ghz showing a core voltage of 1.276 in cpu-z. When I attempt to manually overclock my system either won't boot up or BSOD's. Im hoping to get a...

forums.tomshardware.com

I would also probably retire the platform and instead invest in a new platform entirely, something that's concurrent.

 

[Vikko151]

Hello @Lutfij,

Thanks for your reply. So you advise me to change my platform and invest in another one. Thankfully, one of my friend has got a computer with the same CPU, but revolving on platforms and overclocking, I think I could go giving my computer to him and taking it's computer since it has a Z97-PRO GAMER. He has CPU bottleneck too, so I can invest for an overclockable CPU with a good motherboard.

Oh, and I forgot to say : I don't want to spend too much money on a computer, so you are concious about the fact I want to spend a minumum of money.

What do you think about it? Would it be okay to switch to a Z97 PRO GAMER for changing the components or should I go with a new computer?

Sincerely,

@Vikko151

 

[Lutfij]

We're on the 13th Generation of processors from Intel, for 2023, you'd be better off just holding onto your money and buying a brand new platform, not a second hand platform that is refurbished and sold as new.

Oh, and I forgot to say : I don't want to spend too much money on a computer, so you are concious about the fact I want to spend a minumum of money.
Which is how much?

 

[DSzymborski]

I guess the question is what your *current* CPU is. Whether finding a cheap 4790/4790K has any merit whatsoever will likely depend on what you have now.

The lack of a specific PSU reference is also worrisome. There are practically no decent quality PSUs at precisely 500W, you haven't identified it, and you have an RTX 2060. If there's worthwhile money to be put into this old PC, it may be simply by getting a PSU that can protect what you have and be brought to your next PC when you're ready. But I have no idea if you actually have something decent in there or something as poor quality as I fear.

 

[thestryker]

Moving up to a higher clockspeed CPU in the same generation is not going to net you a meaningful improvement. I've kept all of my usable older equipment around, but once you start running into bottlenecks moving on is the only real option. AMD during the AM4 lifetime offered the most meaningful performance upgrades any platform has ever seen, but I doubt we'll see anything like that again.

What I'd suggest is figuring out what you're really looking to gain and how much you're willing to spend. If the latter won't net you enough performance just keep your money and live with what you've got.

 

[lordmogul]

The 400 MHz more won't make that much of a difference. You already have the 2nd fastest CPU for the platform and upgrading to the fastest one won't be worth the price. And the top chips always see a premium. Same with good motherboards. I'm in a similar situation with an i5-3570K, but getting a 3770K will give a minuscule difference in performance at best.

Better save that money and invest into an upgrade with noticeable improvement. For the price of a 4790K and a Z97 board you can easily get into a smaller, more recent system that will perform better and have upgrade headroom.

Until then, see how much you can get from your current system. H97 overclocking is a thing, that should put you very close to the speeds you'd get from a 4790K.
You could also see how high you can get your RAM. In some CPU limited scenarios more memory bandwith helps. I've got DDR3-1600 as well and got it stable on 2133

 

[Misgar]

I upgraded an old i5-3570K (running a 4.3GHz all core overclock) and was considering an i7-4790K, but when I discovered the going rate was $60+, I bought a slower i7-4770K (with the dodgy TIM) for $25 instead. It's not as fast as the 4.4GHz 4790K, but it turbos up to 4.3GHz with no manual voltage increase.

I agree with other people here you should consider a new mobo/CPU/RAM combination, whilst keeping the RTX 2060. Ideally you'd change the PSU too. I have no idea of your budget, but would suggest something using DDR4 RAM, to keep costs down.

It's up to you whether you look for a second-hand mobo package including CPU and RAM on eBay or a similar web sites. A brand new package would be a safer bet, but I haven't been disappointed with most of the second hand parts I get from eBay.

If you can give us some idea of your budget and location, we can plan a potential upgrade for consideration.

 

[geofelt]

You would get no measurable increase in cpu capability by changing to a i7-4790K.
Even with overclocking a 4790k which normally requires a z motherboard.
Do you have a budget?
It seems that a new platform is in order.
A simple $120 i3-12100 would be a fair boost,
A lga1700 motherboard could be <$100, and a 2 x 8gb ddr4 ram kit might be $35.
It can go up from there.

 

[kira-faye]

Spending anything on that platform (or anything of similar age) doesn't make sense unless you have no other options.

 

[stonecarver]

Ya your pretty much have your system topped out so don't throw any money toward it.
Honestly if any upgrade could be to 32 Gb's but only if you found for 20 buck.

May-be the best bang for 0$ is to optimize and lean out windows.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmbsLnp3iIA

 

[Vikko151]

Hello @Everyone,

Thanks for your answers! I didn't expected that you would be much helping me for this post.

I have to thank @Lutfij, @DSzymborski, @Misgar, @geofelt, @kira-faye, @thestryker and principally @stonecarver for it's optimisation guide that I will keep.

Anyways, you were many to tell me to go on a totally new and fresh platform. I... how to say, assume not having a balanced computer. But, as a last question for being sure to go on another build, I planned with my friend for the computer trade (with some changes like the CPU) and I can go with better. Those are the components of my new computer :

OS: Windows 10
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-PRO GAMER (Nice for overclocking)
PSU : 650 MW Power supply
RAM : G-SKILL F3-14900CL9D 4GBXL 1600MHz (I saw that it can be overclocked to 2133 MHz with a Z97-PRO GAMER motherboard)

Here, if I go on buying an Intel® Core™ i7-4790k, that I'll overclock to 4.6 GHz all-cores, is this a good idea, or should I still go on a new platform like you told me? Thanks for answering!

Best regards,

@Vikko151

 

[Mindstab Thrull]

I would go for a newer system. A 4770k build is about a decade old and still runs on DDR3 memory. It's possible to get a new Intel system for $500 US, assuming even replacing the case and power supply. However, you have a decent GPU, the drives are good enough for now, and the case, if it's not a prebuilt from the likes of someone like Dell, should be fine, meaning a barebones upgrade to 13th gen and a new PSU should be closer to 300-350 USD, and will run circles around your current system. (AMD would be a bit more but should still be around that range.)

If you're tighter on cash, I would still look at any Ryzen system you can put together or at least a 6th gen Intel build as either will support DDR4 - and even early Ryzen builds are still really good, allowing an upgrade to 5000 series if the BIOS supports it with a newer update. So maybe you can get like a Ryzen 2400G and eventually upgrade to a 5600.

Good luck!

 

[geofelt]

Hello @Everyone,

Thanks for your answers! I didn't expected that you would be much helping me for this post.

I have to thank @Lutfij, @DSzymborski, @Misgar, @geofelt, @kira-faye, @thestryker and principally @stonecarver for it's optimisation guide that I will keep.

Anyways, you were many to tell me to go on a totally new and fresh platform. I... how to say, assume not having a balanced computer. But, as a last question for being sure to go on another build, I planned with my friend for the computer trade (with some changes like the CPU) and I can go with better. Those are the components of my new computer :

OS: Windows 10
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2070
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-PRO GAMER (Nice for overclocking)
PSU : 650 MW Power supply
RAM : G-SKILL F3-14900CL9D 4GBXL 1600MHz (I saw that it can be overclocked to 2133 MHz with a Z97-PRO GAMER motherboard)

Here, if I go on buying an Intel® Core™ i7-4790k, that I'll overclock to 4.6 GHz all-cores, is this a good idea, or should I still go on a new platform like you told me? Thanks for answering!

Best regards,

@Vikko151

A I7-4790K overclocked represents about a 10% boost in cpu capability.
You will not likely be satisfied with that and will end up with a current gen build anyway.

 

[sonofjesse]

Sell this build and buy a new build.

Look at a 7700x or 13600k

 

[Vikko151]

Hello everyone,

Sorry for being late about the news. Actually, I indeed bought myself a new computer I built myself. Here are the components of it:

GPU: RTX 2060 200MHz Core OC and 900MHz Memory OC
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
MBD: MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS
SC: Sound Blaster Z
PSU: Corsair RM850X (One of the best PSUs on the market)

I optimzed my computer and I get now butter-smooth performances, and I am really happy of my new homemade build.

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Conclusion of the topic
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This topic allowed me to realize that a i7-4790k isn't powerful enough to hold a RTX 2060, and that upgrading would only be an useless money spend. It's not always a good idea to upgrade an old platform (I consider it old when they are older than 9 years), and sometimes, building a cheap build can even be more satifying than upgrading an old platform. Also, before deciding to change, do not forget to optimize your computer so you can see if this was the problem.

Thanks everyone for your answers, you were very helpful on my problem.

@Vikko151