[SOLVED] Upgrade Advice for Cyberpunk 2077?

Sep 29, 2020
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Hello,

Been a while since I was last around here, but always appreciated the advice.

Given my current setup, what do you think would be the best upgrade for playing Cyberpunk 2077 which is due for release Nov 17th? This is probably the only game I’ve bought on release in the past 10 years and I really want to enjoy the experience – I’m not sure at 1440p with a GTX1070 I will be able to do that too well.

It would be nice to get a new CPU, mobo and GPU. But this will probably necessitate new memory and PSU too. And anyway, all of that is probably outside my budget – I’d like to stay as low as possible and wait until mid-late 2021 to build an entirely new rig when I can afford it more easily and pass this setup on to my daughter for FIFA and Forza.

I built my current rig for gaming and work (MS office mostly) a few years back. I don’t play twitch gaming really, nor any games competitively. Strategy and open world games (esp. The Witcher 3) have seen the most play time in the past 5 years.

What do you think I would see the biggest improvement from? What about the biggest bang for my buck (£)?

• Pre-owned GPU (RTX 2XXX series)
• New monitor (maybe 144Hz)?
• Something else?
• Don’t bother – it will be fine on your rig – suck it up - build a new rig once RTX3070 is widely available?

I think a 2nd hand RTX2070 or above would probably make the most sense, otherwise I feel I am looking at pretty much an entirely new build. But I’m keen to get some other opinions.

I guess the key issue here is the aging CPU being a bottleneck maybe? That’s beyond my knowledge.

Current Rig
CPU: 3.60 gigahertz Intel Core i7-4790
Mobo: Asus Z97-K
RAM: 4* 4GB Corsair DDR3 1600
HD: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
PSU: Corsair 600W CP-9020048-UK
Displays: 2* 1440p Dell U2515H

Location: UK
Parts Preferences: Intel and NVidia
Overclocking: Probably not
Your Monitor Resolution: 1440p (like this res, but would like to try 144Hz)
 
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Solution
I think we can safely say that your current rig won't be running the highest settings at 1440p. At least, not anywhere near the kind of framerate to take advantage of a high refresh rate display. Laying out the details of what you're aiming for is helpful in giving us somewhere to focus, though, so kudos on that.

Realistically, you're in quite the predicament. Because while a 2070 Super (for example) would most certainly improve your experience playing Cyberpunk 2077, the rest of your components will hold it back. The Witcher 3, when it came out, was fairly demanding, and while game engines have become more efficient and tend to scale better nowadays, I expect Cyberpunk to be both CPU and RAM intensive.

The most pertinent question...

parkour47

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Jul 22, 2011
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I think we can safely say that your current rig won't be running the highest settings at 1440p. At least, not anywhere near the kind of framerate to take advantage of a high refresh rate display. Laying out the details of what you're aiming for is helpful in giving us somewhere to focus, though, so kudos on that.

Realistically, you're in quite the predicament. Because while a 2070 Super (for example) would most certainly improve your experience playing Cyberpunk 2077, the rest of your components will hold it back. The Witcher 3, when it came out, was fairly demanding, and while game engines have become more efficient and tend to scale better nowadays, I expect Cyberpunk to be both CPU and RAM intensive.

The most pertinent question, therefore, is one of finances. So, before anyone can advise you properly, we need an idea of your current and future budget.

A few things to bear in mind:
  1. You may be able to sell your current setup for £500-ish after building your new rig.
  2. Your monitor should only ever be capable of displaying what your PC can throw at it, otherwise you're wasting money. Likewise, if you don't play the type of games that benefit from lightning fast responsiveness, then a 144Hz monitor is unnecessary.
  3. The 3070 probably won't be easy to get ahold of until early next year, despite its impending launch (as you appear to be aware), so whatever graphics card you pick up in the meantime won't seem like great value in comparison, but may have to suffice.

I think the most sensible approach is as you suggested yourself. However, the temptation to construct an entirely new system, ready to house your 3070 when it becomes available, if you can find a way to afford it, may be worth considering.
 
Solution
Sep 29, 2020
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Thanks, some that's very useful and helpful feedback.

I've been doing a little more research and the more I read, the more it looks like this is the worst time to upgrade. With Ryzen 5000 and RTX3XXX availability both close (but not necessarily readily available) it seems a little crazy to build an entirely new rig just yet. Also, the non-Intel world is new to me (last time I was in that camp was an Athlon 900 that was no end of trouble!), so getting up to speed there has been a revelation.

I'm not normally one for saying "wait until xxxxx" but in this case it really seems to be the best course of action, especially because due to finances, next year I can blow £1-2k on a new rig, whereas right now I will struggle to spend more than £500-£600 without a guilty conscience; but I also want to have a great 1440p Cyberpunk experience!

Any recommendations for super-budget builds that would see a significant improvement to my current setup for £500 or less? I don't mind spending on a GPU too much as I can recoup around 60% of what I spend when upgrading next year I hope. I'd then do the full build next year. I appreciate it's not an exact science whilst the specs are unclear for the game right now.

Any further advice or thoughts appreciated, thanks. Perhaps waiting for October 8th is the first step?
 
Sep 29, 2020
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You know what, I'm glad you said that, becuase that's pretty much what I'm thinking right now too.

Buy a 2070 Super for £400 new. Get maybe £200-£250 back when selling/exhanging early next year for a 3070 and build the rig I want to build then with a big budget and less compromise.

I've looked at a couple of sources to try and understand the degree of bottleneck and I think it's probably acceptable if they're anywhere close to accurate: around 10% to 12% estimated (see below). Also, expected framerates for 1440p look very respectable, though for this game with ray-tracing et al, I'm pretty sure they could be pushed down well below 60fps quite easily so i'll take those estimates with a pinch of salt. Still, looks like just a GPU upgrade might just be the best option for my current situation.

Any point considering trying to find a better LGA1150 CPU? Overclocking?

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