Question Upgrade advice

[Raindog12]

Hi, I bought my PC prebuilt a year ago for gaming, and I'm really happy with it so far. But I'm wondering, if at some point I did want to make any upgrades, where would be the best place to start in terms of overall gaming experience? Better GPU/monitor/something else?

Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS Prime B560M-A
CPU: i5 11400f
CPU Cooler - BeQuiet! Pure Rock
GPU: RTX 3070ti (8gb)
RAM: 16bg DDR4 3200Mh
PSU: Corsair RM750
Monitor: LG 27UL500-w 4k, 27"
Thanks!

The motherboard only works with 11th gen CPUs, so one option would be to upgrade to an i9. Another would be to replace the motherboard in preparation for a more significant CPU upgrade further down the line. Or there's the GPU, or possibly the monitor. Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

what should be upgraded would be relative to what you would be expecting from the system;

what resolution,
what specific games,
what in-game settings would you like to use,
what frames per second would you like to see,..

Better GPU/monitor/something else?

everything could be better but without any end-point to be aiming for there are no specific suggestions to be made.

 

[dark_globe]

your system is kind of well balanced as it is - replacing one part will create bottleneck on some other part and vice versa .
i9 11th gen should be out of a question regardless :
since it is still very expensive and it is already vastly outdone by both 12th gen i7K and 13 gen i5K in
both productivity and gaming performance .
also your motherboard is rather low end and its VRM is not well suited to accommodate i7/i9 processors -
however if all you do is gaming you should be fine since those processors draw only around 100w of power while gaming .
if you want to upgrade on your current motherboard you would be better off with i7 which is basically as fast as i9 and should be cheaper .
in that case my suggestion would be 11700f .

but as others said , we don´t really know what is bothering you with your current system or what framerates you would like to achieve
(you have 60Hz monitor which is fine for 3070Ti in 4K ,
however if you want to get 100 plus FPS in 4K resolution than you would need 7900 XT , new monitor and new i5K/i7K processor
(at which point we are talking about an entirely new system)

another option would be to downgrade the resolution to WQHD 144Hz panel and swap your processor for an i7 11700f
in order to achieve 100+ framerates which 3070Ti is capable of most of the time - this would also be the most cost effective solution .

 

[logainofhades]

4k gaming, the GPU is where I would start.

 

[Raindog12]

your system is kind of well balanced as it is - replacing one part will create bottleneck on some other part and vice versa .
i9 11th gen should be out of a question regardless :
since it is still very expensive and it is already vastly outdone by both 12th gen i7K and 13 gen i5K in
both productivity and gaming performance .
also your motherboard is rather low end and its VRM is not well suited to accommodate i7/i9 processors -
however if all you do is gaming you should be fine since those processors draw only around 100w of power while gaming .
if you want to upgrade on your current motherboard you would be better off with i7 which is basically as fast as i9 and should be cheaper .
in that case my suggestion would be 11700f .

but as others said , we don´t really know what is bothering you with your current system or what framerates you would like to achieve
(you have 60Hz monitor which is fine for 3070Ti in 4K ,
however if you want to get 100 plus FPS in 4K resolution than you would need 7900 XT , new monitor and new i5K/i7K processor
(at which point we are talking about an entirely new system)

another option would be to downgrade the resolution to WQHD 144Hz panel and swap your processor for an i7 11700f
in order to achieve 100+ framerates which 3070Ti is capable of most of the time - this would also be the most cost effective solution .

Thanks for the advice. I'm aiming for 60fps at ultra settings - but I'm generally fine with 40+ as long as its consistent. I mostly play games like Witcher or AC Valhalla, so visuals matter more to me than extra high frame rates. The thing that seems to hold the system back is actually the 8gb of VRAM on the GPU. That's what gets maxed out first on demanding games. So I'm wondering if I'd see an improvement on that front just from jumping up to a 3080/3090, or would the CPU become a problem at that point?

 

[geofelt]

From a gaming experience point of view, consider a larger/wider 4k monitor.
Keep your 27" unit as a passive side monitor.

To see if a better graphics card would help with fps,
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.
Usually it is single thread performance that matters most.

If you are cpu limited, a modest upgrade would be the I7-11700K.
Run cpu-Z bench on your 11400. You should get a single thread rating of about 544 which is decent:
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/yu48q3

I suspect by the time you need more than a 11700K, there will be new and more effective offerings.
Best to wait until your needs are clarified.

And, if you are not now using a SSD for the C drive, that would be my immediate upgrade.
M.2. pcie, or sata makes little difference.

 

[logainofhades]

I would worry about PSU, before I did CPU. 4k gaming, the CPU is typically not as big of a factor, as the GPU. If you want 60fps ultra, you need to look to a 4080, 4090, or a 7900xtx.

 

[Nighthawk117]

The motherboard only works with 11th gen CPUs, so one option would be to upgrade to an i9

I wouldn't do this unless you can find a very good price. A new CPU and motherboard would likely cost no more and represent a better value upgrade.

nother would be to replace the motherboard in preparation for a more significant CPU upgrade further down the line.

I would not do pre-emptive upgrades like this. Upgrade if you feel you need more performance, don't go through the hassle of changing major components to prepare for a future that isn't here.

You have a nice very capable system. Unless there is something that your unhappy about which has prompted this I would just enjoy your computer and worry about everything else at a later date.

 

[Nighthawk117]

The thing that seems to hold the system back is actually the 8gb of VRAM on the GPU

That makes more sense, you've answered your own question really. If your running out of VRAM then you would need a new GPU first.

So I'm wondering if I'd see an improvement on that front just from jumping up to a 3080/3090, or would the CPU become a problem at that point?

I don't know what the prices are like where you are but I would really look at the 4080. A higher end CPU would be more ideal but I wouldn't expect it to be too much of a bottleneck at 4k 60hz. Right now you won't notice a CPU upgrade on it's own, but you would notice a GPU upgrade, therefore the latter would be more worthwhile if you had to pick one.

 

[Raindog12]

That makes more sense, you've answered your own question really. If your running out of VRAM then you would need a new GPU first.


I don't know what the prices are like where you are but I would really look at the 4080. A higher end CPU would be more ideal but I wouldn't expect it to be too much of a bottleneck at 4k 60hz. Right now you won't notice a CPU upgrade on it's own, but you would notice a GPU upgrade, therefore the latter would be more worthwhile if you had to pick one.

Thanks again - what about a 4070ti? Where would that fall between a 3090 and a 4080?

 

[Nighthawk117]

Thanks again - what about a 4070ti? Where would that fall between a 3090 and a 4080?

It depends on the game but roughly similar to a 3090 Ti. The 4080 is roughly 26% faster in synthetic benchmarks but can vary wildly between games, anywhere from single digits to substantial gains. The 4070 Ti does pretty well at 4k right now but the 12GB VRAM may become a limiting factor down the road.

 

[logainofhades]

4k gaming, the 4070ti starts to fall apart, mostly due to the ram configuration. The lower amount, and reduced bus size hurt it. The 4070ti is really more of a 1440p card.

 

[Nighthawk117]

I would agree with the above, the 4080 is a better long term card for 4k.

 

[Raindog12]

I would agree with the above, the 4080 is a better long term card for 4k.

That's all very interesting, thanks again. Last question - what about the RX 7900xt? Around £400 cheaper than the 4080, with 20gb Vram.

 

[GarrettL]

Good card just lacks in Ray Tracing if that matters.

 

[Nighthawk117]

That's all very interesting, thanks again. Last question - what about the RX 7900xt? Around £400 cheaper than the 4080, with 20gb Vram.

Good card, similar to a 3090 ti. The large amount of VRAM makes it a better long term bet than the 4070 Ti. Ray tracing is not as good as Nvidia's though and FSR isn't as good as DLSS. It really depends on how important those features are to you.