[SOLVED] Son's Gaming PC, wants more speed, more frames, less stutter

[jordanzs]

I built this gaming PC for my son 3 years ago. He's turning 13 this months and wants a little more out of it.

He's describing it to me that he wants "more speed, more frames per second, less stutter when gaming". I'm trying to get more descriptions out of him but it's like pulling teeth.

Below is the current setup.

Case: ZALMAN Z11 NEO Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CPU: Intel I5 4690k 3.5GHZ

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z-97X Gaming 3

RAM: G.SKILL TidentX 16GB(2x8GB) 2133MHZ DDR3

Video Card(Graphics Card): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960

Memory: 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD 2: Samsung 850 EVO 120GB SSD. 3: WD 1TB Hard Drive

Power Supply: Corsair RM 750

Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 24" 1920x1080; 1ms; 144hz; DCR 12,000,000:1(1000:1)

Keyboard: Razer Black Widow Tournament Edition Chroma

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Chroma

Headset: HyperX Cloud Gaming

Mic: Blue Yeti Blackout

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

 

[kidprodigy]

How much are you willing to spend to upgrade? I'm not an expert on the matter, but I would upgrade the CPU to maybe an 8600k (which I think would unfortunately require a new motherboard) or the GPU to the 1000 series depending on budget. I used to have a 4690k but upgraded to the 8600k and upgraded my GTX 960 to a 1070ti. There's a test you can do to see if the CPU or the GPU that's causing the bottleneck but I'll have to look for that later. I can't remember with the 4690k + 960 if the CPU was bottlenecking me, but it for sure was the bottleneck when I had the 1070Ti. I upgraded all of it in a pretty close time frame.

 

[jordanzs]

Budget wise, I'd say under $800, the less the better. I really don't want to change the motherboard. He showed me an I7-8700k that isn't compatible with his mother board or RAM. He also showed me the NVidia 1080ti, RTX 2080, 1080, 1070, 1070ti, and 1060 6gb as possible graphics cards he wants. I think the 1080ti and RTX 2080 are out of range unless it was the only thing to buy.

I originally built this PC thinking we could overclock down the road and just change his graphics card. And since his case is designed to add a few more fans and a liquid cooling system, I'm starting to lean towards that.

I'm reading and reading.... How about adding a cooling system and overclock it, and get a much better graphics card?

I'm also searching and searching, trying to see what cooling systems people have put in this case.

Should I add a cooling system, overclock it, and upgrade the graphics card?

Or replace 3 or possibly 4 components?

 

[originalletmepicyou]

There was a time when overclocking was actually meaningful. Nowadays, a 5% overclock gets you 8-10 fps more, but you were already getting 130fps, so...?

The great thing about computers is their modular construction. So why not make a new video card his Christmas present, and a new cpu/motherboard/ram his birthday present?

The 1080, 1080 Ti, 2070, 2070Ti, and 2080 are all great choices. Which you choose should depend on what resolution he games at. If it's 1080p, then the 1080 or 2070 are plenty powerful enough. If gaming at 1440, 2k or 4k, I recommend the more powerful 1080 Ti, 2080, and 2080 ti.

When CPU time comes around I have to vouch for the 9700K over the previous gen 8700/8700K. It's a monster and I love it.

As far as cooling goes...I ALWAYS recommend a top quality cooling solution, even without overclocking. Keeping components cool is paramount for stability and longevity. As far as making a recommendation, there are lots of great solutions, but I like the Corsair AIW water coolers. I use the H110i on my 9700K, but am kicking around getting the H150i Platinum to replace it.

 

[jordanzs]

I'm sorry, I meant just overclocking the CPU and upgrading the graphics card. Good idea, bad idea?

And about the cooling, do you still think upgrading the cooling system is necessary if I upgrade CPU, motherboard, RAM, and graphics card? The case has 5 built in fans already. I thought it was designed above average for standard cooling. But trust me, I'm not an expert on this stuff. I thought I should only need to add a water cooling setup for overclocking the CPU.

And if I replace those 4 components all at once, I'm not going to stay under $800-$1000. That would be out of budget,

 

[J_E_D_70]

I’d say a GTX 1070 plus a Cryorig H5 and overclock all the cores on the 4690k to 4.3 or higher.

That setup will be solid for 1080p/144hz and you can do the cpu/mobo/ram upgrade in a year or two. The drives, cooler, gpu, psu will all be good still.

 

[adam19255]

Take this CPU cooler https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-D15-heatpipe-NF-A15-140mm/dp/B00L7UZMAK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1544839787&sr=1-7&keywords=cpu+cooler&linkCode=ll1&tag=xm3a-20&linkId=7f4b7b0ea74b45dd75b78eb70945d93e&language=en_US overclock the CPU to something like 4.5GHz or more if you can.
Buy this GPU https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-580-8G-OC/dp/B06XZQMMHJ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1544839919&sr=1-2&keywords=rx+580&linkCode=ll1&tag=xm3a-20&linkId=7c76bd397c6f96a14715619ce997b8f8&language=en_US
This GPU is better than the 1060 6gb and it costs less so ya...
and you got yourself a perfect upgrade for the next couple of years

 

[jordanzs]

I'm leaning toward the Nvidia GTX 1080 out of all of GPU's. Would overclocking this CPU be able to handle it? And what about @240hz(just curious)?

And I kind of like the overclocking the CPU idea because we can do it together, and he can learn it with me.

 

[jordanzs]

Also, thank you for the fan suggestions. I just searched them. Neither are water cooled, correct?

I don't think the Noctua NH-D15 will fit in his case. I believe 2 120mm fans can sit side by side, not 2 140mm fans.

And would the Cryorig H5 be plenty suffeciant to safely overclock his CPU to around 4.3GHZ or 4.5GHZ or more? We will torture test it to find out what we can safely remain at.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Yes - it takes my much hotter hex core to 4.7ghz comfortably.

 

[adam19255]

Yes the Cryorig H5 will be good I am sure, but for the 1080 I won't recommend it, your CPU will bottleneck the 1080, the RX580 is the best GPU you should get with this CPU

 

[J_E_D_70]

The 580 is very solid but I would shoot for the most powrful gpu you can afford at the moment, then when you do the inevitable platform upgrade it will turn the gpu loose. You’re rarely going to have a “matched” system unless you upgrade the entire thing at once. I prefer to keep the major components on different upgrade cycles to spread out the monetary pain.

240fps is only possible in games like CSGO where folks play on low settings to get max frames. 144fps is also rarely achievable on AAA titles.

I’d recommend OCCT (free) for testing the overclock. Use the medium and large datasets. The small sets will push the cpu to temps you’d never see in gaming (you can try it for giggles as the tests will shut off if it gets too hot).