Question Should I upgrade my CPU or GPU

[cyprus7858]

CPU: i7 10700
CPU cooler: Lian Li Galahad II Trinity 360MM
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z590 Gaming plus
Ram: 32 GB ddr4 3600 MHz cl18
SSD/HDD: Samsung 990 evo 1 TB, wd 500 GB both are a m.2 SSD
GPU: XFX Swift Radeon RX 6700XT 12GB
PSU: MSI MAG A850GL 850W
Chassis: Lian Li O11 dynamic evo RGB
OS: Windows 11 Home
Monitor: LG UltraGear 27 in 244hz

the power supply is about 8 or 9 months old. the BIOS version is E7D07IMS.A30

Approximate Purchase Date: in the next 3 or 4 months
Budget Range: (600 - 800) before rebates; before shipping
System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, school work, watching videos
Are you buying a monitor: no

Parts to Upgrade: (CPU, mobo, RAM) or GPU
Do you need to buy OS: no
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.com or Newegg.com
Location: Georgia, USA
Parts Preferences: I would like to upgrade to AMD
SLI or Crossfire: no
Your Monitor Resolution:1920x1080
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I would like to take advantage of my monitors refresh rate and I'm starting to notice performance in modern games go down

 

[Lutfij]

First;

Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

So we have a baseline to work off of.

Second;
Please follow the stylization of this thread to help us understand your predicament;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community can move forward accordingly.

 

[cyprus7858]

First;

Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

So we have a baseline to work off of.

Second;
Please follow the stylization of this thread to help us understand your predicament;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

and the community can move forward accordingly.

Ok I've done as asked

 

[geofelt]

What kinds of games do you play?
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.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
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.

 

[cyprus7858]

What kinds of games do you play?
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.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
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.

i tested out a few of my games but when turning down the graphics i only got a few more fps in most of the games know my cpu doesn't support pci 4.0 and my gpu does i dont know how much that would affect performance though

 

[geofelt]

Your tests suggest a cpu limitation.
Here is what processors your motherboard can support:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z590-GAMING-PLUS/support#cpu
The I7-10700 is a very decent processor.
It has 16 processing threads and a passmark rating of 17202. That is when all threads are fully occupied.
Most games do not make effective use of more than 8. Multiplayer is an exception.
The single thread rating is 2949. Single thread performance is what is most important.
Your strongest upgrade would be to a I9-11900K. 16 threads and a rating of 25594/3462.
Perhaps a 10% boost. They go for perhaps $200 on ebay.
Avoid the ES versions which are engineering samples and not legal to be sold.

To do significantly better would involve a motherboard change.

Do you have a budget?

 

[cyprus7858]

Your tests suggest a cpu limitation.
Here is what processors your motherboard can support:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z590-GAMING-PLUS/support#cpu
The I7-10700 is a very decent processor.
It has 16 processing threads and a passmark rating of 17202. That is when all threads are fully occupied.
Most games do not make effective use of more than 8. Multiplayer is an exception.
The single thread rating is 2949. Single thread performance is what is most important.
Your strongest upgrade would be to a I9-11900K. 16 threads and a rating of 25594/3462.
Perhaps a 10% boost. They go for perhaps $200 on ebay.
Avoid the ES versions which are engineering samples and not legal to be sold.

To do significantly better would involve a motherboard change.

Do you have a budget?

i have a budget of about 600 to 800

 

[geofelt]

You could buy a I7-13700K with 24 threads and a rating of 47027/4397 for $340 or so.
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i...-lga-1700-desktop-processor/p/N82E16819118414

A lga1700 B790 MATX DDR4 motherboard like this for $150:
https://www.newegg.com/msi-pro-b760m-a-wifi-ddr4-micro-atx-intel-b760-lga-1700/p/N82E16813144584

Keep your ram.

Neither your current 10700 nor the 13700K needs high end cooling.
If your aio has any age to it,(>4 years) you could replace it before it fails.
Lest you think you need exceptional cooling, read this:
https://www.tomshardware.com/features/intel-core-13900k-cooling-tested
Or, watch this video:

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


There are AMD comparable price/performance processors.
I find that those familiar with Intel do better with Intel.
Ryzen has a learning curve and ram compatibility is tricky.
Current gen amd is ddr5 only.

 

[cyprus7858]

You could buy a I7-13700K with 24 threads and a rating of 47027/4397 for $340 or so.
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i...-lga-1700-desktop-processor/p/N82E16819118414

A lga1700 B790 MATX DDR4 motherboard like this for $150:
https://www.newegg.com/msi-pro-b760m-a-wifi-ddr4-micro-atx-intel-b760-lga-1700/p/N82E16813144584

Keep your ram.

Neither your current 10700 nor the 13700K needs high end cooling.
If your aio has any age to it,(>4 years) you could replace it before it fails.
Lest you think you need exceptional cooling, read this:
https://www.tomshardware.com/features/intel-core-13900k-cooling-tested
Or, watch this video:

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


There are AMD comparable price/performance processors.
I find that those familiar with Intel do better with Intel.
Ryzen has a learning curve and ram compatibility is tricky.
Current gen amd is ddr5 only.

ok thank you for the help

 

[thestryker]

Honestly right now is a poor time to buy as we've just had AMD's first 9000 series CPUs launch and Intel's Arrow Lake by the end of the year not to mention 9000 X3D parts. We're also at the tail end of video card generations hopefully Intel will have some Battlemage based desktop cards along with nvidia and AMD launching new cards within the next 6 months.

That's not to say you shouldn't potentially jump on a great deal if you see it, but that we're close enough to new launches it's worth waiting as long as your existing hardware is working. At the very least waiting until fall sales would be rather advisable.

As for the question itself your system right now is fairly well balanced so whichever you would upgrade the one remaining would be the limitation on your performance.

 

[cyprus7858]

Honestly right now is a poor time to buy as we've just had AMD's first 9000 series CPUs launch and Intel's Arrow Lake by the end of the year not to mention 9000 X3D parts. We're also at the tail end of video card generations hopefully Intel will have some Battlemage based desktop cards along with nvidia and AMD launching new cards within the next 6 months.

That's not to say you shouldn't potentially jump on a great deal if you see it, but that we're close enough to new launches it's worth waiting as long as your existing hardware is working. At the very least waiting until fall sales would be rather advisable.

As for the question itself your system right now is fairly well balanced so whichever you would upgrade the one remaining would be the limitation on your performance.

ok thanks for the information ill probably wait for the new launches