Upgrade cpu or whole system?

[Mun0425]

I currently have an i5-4670k at 4.6 ghz and even at that, some games such as bf1, mass effect andromeda, or mirrors edge catalyst all pin the cpu at 100 percent causing a bottleneck and skippy frame rates and stutters. So i have two options, I could go with getting a new i7-4690k, or i could just upgrade my whole system with a 7700k since ddr3 and the z87 chipset is starting to age. Which would be the better idea?

 

[jaslion]

I currently have an i5-4670k at 4.6 ghz and even at that, some games such as bf1, mass effect andromeda, or mirrors edge catalyst all pin the cpu at 100 percent causing a bottleneck and skippy frame rates and stutters. So i have two options, I could go with getting a new i7-4690k, or i could just upgrade my whole system with a 7700k since ddr3 and the z87 chipset is starting to age. Which would be the better idea?

The i7 4790k is a fine upgrade. However if you do want to switch to a new platform ryzen is the way to go atm.

 

[herrwizo]

Faced the same dilemma recently, actually. And I don't even have unlocked CPU like you do, it is only an i5 4460. After much consideration, I decided that it is best to either upgrade to something considerably more powerful, or not upgrade at all at this point. i7s are definitely not anything more than a slight "relief" in gaming due to HT, and even i7s from 4th gen are very expensive and do not justify the price. Going for 7th gen can at least be justified by newer platform, but this will all be obsolete quite soon when intel's mainstream 6-core chips get to the market. If you cannot wait until then, I might even suggest Ryzen instead, which seems far more future-proof than any i7 at this point.

 

[guanyu210379]

If you want to upgrade only the processor, I would go simply with i7 4790k and keep the rest.
If you want to upgrade the whole rig, go with Ryzen 7.

Anyhow, I do not think it is the time already to replace i5 4670k. I would rather upgrade the GPU, get an SSD, get 16GB RAM, etc. I am still walking around with E3-1231V3 and I see still no big reason to replace this proc for games. I am only looking at those Ryzens for the extra cores I need for work. Vast majority of games rely more on GPU than on CPU.
The Z87 platform is old but not yet a big problem for bottleneck. I would wait and keep the i5 4670k for about 1-3 years more.

BTW, post your entire setup, the guys here can better support you.

 

[Mun0425]

I currently have an i5-4670k at 4.6 ghz and even at that, some games such as bf1, mass effect andromeda, or mirrors edge catalyst all pin the cpu at 100 percent causing a bottleneck and skippy frame rates and stutters. So i have two options, I could go with getting a new i7-4690k, or i could just upgrade my whole system with a 7700k since ddr3 and the z87 chipset is starting to age. Which would be the better idea?

The i7 4790k is a fine upgrade. However if you do want to switch to a new platform ryzen is the way to go atm.

If you want to upgrade only the processor, I would go simply with i7 4790k and keep the rest.
If you want to upgrade the whole rig, go with Ryzen 7.

Anyhow, I do not think it is the time already to replace i5 4670k. I would rather upgrade the GPU, get an SSD, get 16GB RAM, etc. I am still walking around with E3-1231V3 and I see still no big reason to replace this proc for games. I am only looking at those Ryzens for the extra cores I need for work. Vast majority of games rely more on GPU than on CPU.
The Z87 platform is old but not yet a big problem for bottleneck. I would wait and keep the i5 4670k for about 1-3 years more.

BTW, post your entire setup, the guys here can better support you.

it is perfectly fine for most games but like i said pretty much all the new frostbite games pin the cpu at 100 very often at 4.6 ghz even with no background tasks open. i have a gtx 1070 so im good on graphics.

 

[Mun0425]

Faced the same dilemma recently, actually. And I don't even have unlocked CPU like you do, it is only an i5 4460. After much consideration, I decided that it is best to either upgrade to something considerably more powerful, or not upgrade at all at this point. i7s are definitely not anything more than a slight "relief" in gaming due to HT, and even i7s from 4th gen are very expensive and do not justify the price. Going for 7th gen can at least be justified by newer platform, but this will all be obsolete quite soon when intel's mainstream 6-core chips get to the market. If you cannot wait until then, I might even suggest Ryzen instead, which seems far more future-proof than any i7 at this point.

ive been heavily considering ryzen, but i will wait because of drivers for it. My friend has the 1700 and even though in bf1 it maxes out at 40 percent usage, he gets tiny stutters constantly and its even worse with older games like on source engine.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd be unconcerned over just the high cpu usage alone, unless also getting stuttering/microfreezes, etc... (Some folks are reporting these issues with some i5-based rigs, but, I cannot unilaterally declare that all folks have seen it in a variety of games)

I just know I would not upgrade until/unless i saw inadequate i5 performance, w/CPU utilization ignored. (For someone already owning a recent i5-4xxx series CPU, an i7 upgrade might be nice. Of course, cpu expense must be considered. (The R5-1600 upgrade path requires new MB and DDR4 RAM, of course..)

 

[Mun0425]

I'd be unconcerned over just the high cpu usage alone, unless also getting stuttering/microfreezes, etc... (Some folks are reporting these issues with some i5-based rigs, but, I cannot unilaterally declare that all folks have seen it in a variety of games)

I just know I would not upgrade until/unless i saw inadequate i5 performance, w/CPU utilization ignored. (For someone already owning a recent i5-4xxx series CPU, an i7 upgrade might be nice. Of course, cpu expense must be considered. (The R5-1600 upgrade path requires new MB and DDR4 RAM, of course..)

I do indeed get horrible stuttering on certain maps and also in mass effect andromeda often times. I look in my task manager and there are no programs that are taking over 2 percent of cpu usage (which only about 4 of them actually stay active when games are running such as msi afterburner, corsair, logitech, ect.), but im curious if i should only upgrade cpu or save to get whole new system because the z87 chipset and ddr3 is getting old and im concerned about future proofing and dont want tto waste money on 4th gen i7 if it would be better to get latest gen amd or intel.