Should I upgrade my entire rig?

[suzukioda432]

Would like some advice on whether or not I should upgrade my entire rig or just my graphics card if I want to play the latest games on the highest settings with 4k or ultrawide resolution.

I'm planning on getting a 1080ti or 2080 and mostly would like to know if there is anything else in my rig, like the CPU, that might bottleneck my performance other than my graphics card. If so I might just get a new prebuilt desktop since I've been seeing a bunch of sale.

Specs:
Graphics Card: XFX Radeon 290x
CPU: i5-4690K
Mobo: GA-Z97X-UD7 TH
Ram : 16GB DDR3 1333 mhz
Case: ENERMAX ECA3291A-B <--ugly


Thanks in advance,

 

[Kashimi]

You're going to run into bottleneck if you plan on gaming in 4K or 1440 @ 144Hz or higher with an older i5 model.

 

[mr.max.perez]

If you have the money, go for it.

I think u have a pretty good build right now, i wouldn't in my perspective.....

Ps- i like ur case i don't think it's ugly

 

[Doctor Rob]

you should be OK.. though it may help for to go faster.. and get another 10% or so in FPS. maybe.. at least from what I have read.

 

[atomicWAR]

at 4K you should be ok as far as bottlenecks go for your CPU...though well threaded games will not do as well with a 4C/4T CPU. So you could drop in a 4C/8T CPU for a quick fix but I recommend you wait until you can afford a full CPU platform upgrade and can get 6-8C/6-16T CPU. Generally speaking though you should be good for 4K minus the threading issues I mentioned in some games.

 

[suzukioda432]

You're going to run into bottleneck if you plan on gaming in 4K or 1440 @ 144Hz or higher with an older i5 model.

Thanks for answering! Do you know how big of a bottleneck it would be? Like a 10-20% drop in frames? Would it be something that's noticeable?

 

[Kashimi]

You're going to find that playing anything like CoD, BF, Witcher, Tomb Raider, GTAV, or any of the other big graphical games will be difficult to run in 4K, unless you turn them down to potato.

Games like overwatch, pubg, LoL, CS;GO will be fine.

If you're trying to game in 4K with ultra settings you're going to need to bump up to at least an i7 4770K which you can get and then not worry about having to upgrade your mobo/ram. It'll run you about $200 then you include the price of whatever GPU you pick (for 4K gaming you're looking at a 1070Ti minimum for higher settings) So give or take (minus any black friday/cyber monday specials that pop up) You're looking at a minimum of about $380 for a GPU if you buy new.

 

[huntlong]

Even the 1080ti or 2080 will be stressed at 4K. Your current CPU shouldn’t hold you back in many games at all at 4K. The 4770k would be a decent upgrade if you can find for a decent price but I’d get the GPU for now and save for a time until you can upgrade your whole platform.

 

[Kashimi]

I guess I underestimate the 4690K, because it looks like on higher settings in some larger games you can expect 40-55fps with a 1080ti as the gpu choice.

I'm actually quite surprised how capable that i5 still is. Then again I guess it could also be a testament to how little of an increase in demand games have in recent years.

Time to eat crow though. I change my recommendation to just going with a 1080ti if you can swing for it. But my original statement of not going below a 1070ti still holds up.

 

[suzukioda432]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll just go with a 1080 ti or 2080 for now then.