Question Upgrade CPU or GPU first?

[Redhot12]

Hi all

I got i7-7700 and GTX 1080Ti.... I play diff kind of games, Battlefield, Rainbow six, Microsoft flight simulator, and more..

What should I upgrade first? GPU or CPU?

Motherboard Maximus IX Extreme

 

[Lutfij]

Battlefield is CPU intensive.
and more..
please elaborate on the more part. Different game engines demand more than just the CPU or GPU or both.

I'd upgrade everything except your GPU. You can carry over the GPU to your new platform and then invest on a new GPU around the time when the mid range RTX5000 GPU's are released.

To confirm my assumption on your existing build, you might want to include 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.

 

[Redhot12]

I got Maximum IX Extreme, i7-7700 and GTX 1080Ti

With a budget of 1630 USD, I want to upgrade the 3 of them... Or At least 2 of them.

Want your opinions, I personally prefer Asus motherboard, Nvidia GPU. But go ahead and advise.

Much much appreciated.

 

[Lutfij]

If you're not located in the USA, that budget you've included is moot without inclusion of sites you have access to, since this site is based in the USA. One other thing is that product availability can and will vary with respect to region. Essentially info asked of in this thread;

*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

so minimal time is wasted in asking questions, while hunting for viable solutions.

Moved thread to Systems section from PC Gaming + Merged with previous ongoing thread, Please stick to one thread unless you want spaghetti brains.

 

[Redhot12]

Thank you a lot ! And yesh!
Regardless of the budget,
Thinking of Maximus Hero or Strix.... with i9-4900k & GTX 4070

Will it work?

Any advice
I prefer Asus motherboard, intel CPU, Nvidia

Current specs:
CPU: i7-7700
Motherboard: Maximus IX Extreme
Ram: 16gb
GPU: GTX 1080Ti
Case: Panzer S Cougar
not sure how to check power supply

 

[SkyNetRising]

Thinking of Maximus Hero or Strix.... with i9-4900k & GTX 4070

What is i9-4900k ? Never heard of it.

not sure how to check power supply

You open up your pc and read PSU model name from info label printed on PSU.

 

[geofelt]

Here is my stock answer, written some years ago.
My stock approach to this perennial question:

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.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

In the upgrade options, you may want to also look at your monitor.
Larger/higher resolution can be very immersive.
If this is an option, I recommend upgrading the monitor before the graphics card.
You then know better what graphics you need, and you can always lower the settings to get a playable frame rate.

 

[Lutfij]

OP, you haven't included info I've asked you to include, besides the system's specs.