[SOLVED] Upgrade question for a poor boy who doesn't know squat.

[SuvyBA]

Whats up. So I came to the conclusion that it may be time to upgrade my almost 5 year old system. It is:

I5 4690k
RTX 2060 SUPER
X2 8gb ddr3 ram
Gigabyte z97x MOBO

I purchased the 2060 in January replacing my Gtx 980. The 980 decided it wanted to give up on me unfortunately. So I do believe I am experiencing some bottlenecking, playing call of duty warzone. High cpu usage around 80-90%, low GPU usage. This is the wake up call that is motivating this upgrade. So the question is...

What should I do? I'd like to do the best possible thing for longevity and performance.

Since i just recently acquired the 2060, through some research i've done, the I7 9700k or the i5 9600k seem to pop out at me. I am aware I need a mobo as well. Any input on the two CPUs?

I should note, I do not stream or do any video rendering. I mainly use this ol girl for games and communicating with my fellow warriors.

I'm not very bright so try to keep it simple for me =). I appreciate you. Thanks!

 

[Simonberserker]

What kind of budget do you have

 

[SuvyBA]

What kind of budget do you have

I guess I'd like to stay around 1k if possible. But if its logical to make a big jump for more... I may explore that possibility as well.

 

[ttower2020]

Yes, the Intel i7-9700k is a good CPU. However, I do recommend the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X instead. It is a cheaper CPU that is almost identical in performance, as well as being a more upgradable system. You can get the parts you need for well under 1k

Ryzen 7 3700X - $300
X570 Mobo - $150-250 depending on the model you choose
16GB 3600MHz RAM - $80-100

The highest reasonable total cost for this upgrade would be about $650. If you have extra money to spend, look at getting an upgraded PSU, depending on what you have now, which you didnt mention. You could also get a new case, if your older case suffers from poor airflow or bad design. Both a PSU and Case upgrade could be done for under $250 easily for top notch equipment. Depending on what you have already, you may not need to buy these anyway.

If you still have some budget, an SSD could be a nice upgrade, if you dont already have one. You can get a 1TB NVMe SSD for $120 roughly.

 

[SuvyBA]

I guess I'd like to stay around 1k if possible. But if its logical to make a big jump for more... I may explore that possibility as well.

Yes, the Intel i7-9700k is a good CPU. However, I do recommend the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X instead. It is a cheaper CPU that is almost identical in performance, as well as being a more upgradable system. You can get the parts you need for well under 1k

Ryzen 7 3700X - $300
X570 Mobo - $150-250 depending on the model you choose
16GB 3600MHz RAM - $80-100

The highest reasonable total cost for this upgrade would be about $650. If you have extra money to spend, look at getting an upgraded PSU, depending on what you have now, which you didnt mention. You could also get a new case, if your older case suffers from poor airflow or bad design. Both a PSU and Case upgrade could be done for under $250 easily for top notch equipment. Depending on what you have already, you may not need to buy these anyway.

If you still have some budget, an SSD could be a nice upgrade, if you dont already have one. You can get a 1TB NVMe SSD for $120 roughly.

Thanks for the input, my PSU is a 600 W 80+. Case nzxt s340. Was probably going to keep the case. The PSU is questionable then, along with aftermarket cooler.

 

[ttower2020]

Thanks for the input, my PSU is a 600 W 80+. Case nzxt s340. Was probably going to keep the case. The PSU is questionable then, along with aftermarket cooler.

I would keep the case, yes. There may be better, but not better enough to upgrade it. The PSU will be good for now, as long as it is a good brand. What brand is it?

I did forget an aftermarket cooler, though you dont technically need one, it can prove to be nice to have. I personally have a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4, which is a really decent air cooler, You could also look at Noctua coolers, or a AIO watercooler. A good one shouldnt be more than $150, and you can get one for much less.

I still recommend an SSD if you dont have one, as well.

 

[mdd1963]

One does not decide on bottlenecking by CPU/GPU usage ratios...; you need to upgrade when your min FPS is not enough for the games you play at your chosen resolution and refresh rate. Although certainly a 5 year old i5, with but 4 threads, is leaving some/significant potential FPS on the table, particularly in the .1/1% lows (aka, minimums). As the new GPU is indeed faster, your CPU usage will indeed go up anyway, trying to feed the GPU as much as it can process, and, your i5 is likely not capable of saturating a 2060. As the new GPU likely has more VRAM, it's usage might go down some compared to past measurements taken with a GTX980...

Whatever min FPS you had before, should at least still hold true, but, the 2060 should be able to play 1080P high/ultra in most all games but, with higher average FPS due to the 2060; the more powerful GPU (and higher VRAM capacity) at 1080P means GPU usage will certainly be lower than that of the 980....

If you want a new CPU and mianboard, I'd start your search with a B450/R5-3600 or R7-3700X combo; if determined to stay Intel, the only two contenders are 9700K or 9900K, IMO...(with the imminent advent of 10700K and Z490 mainboards, it's entirely possible you can match current 9900K performance for ~$100 less in a month or so, if the specs and forecasts are accurate)

 

[punkncat]

Even with that CPU usage, are you hitting target framerates at the resolution you want?

If it were my dollar to spend there is both not a whole lot of reason in most titles to upgrade that 4690K to a newer i5 and I personally feel that Intel needs to rethink it's pricing structure on i7/9 to be current against it's competitor, aforementioned. Talk is that 10th gen is bringing more cores, will likely be hampered with high temps like high end 9th tends to be. Intel needs to get off refresh cycle and bring something new.

 

[SuvyBA]

One does not decide on bottlenecking by CPU/GPU usage ratios...; you need to upgrade when your min FPS is not enough for the games you play at your chosen resolution and refresh rate. Although certainly a 5 year old i5, with but 4 threads, is leaving some/significant potential FPS on the table, particularly in the .1/1% lows (aka, minimums). As the new GPU is indeed faster, your CPU usage will indeed go up anyway, trying to feed the GPU as much as it can process, and, your i5 is likely not capable of saturating a 2060. As the new GPU likely has more VRAM, it's usage might go down some compared to past measurements taken with a GTX980...

Whatever min FPS you had before, should at least still hold true, but, the 2060 should be able to play 1080P high/ultra in most all games but, with higher average FPS due to the 2060; the more powerful GPU (and higher VRAM capacity) at 1080P means GPU usage will certainly be lower than that of the 980....

If you want a new CPU and mianboard, I'd start your search with a B450/R5-3600 or R7-3700X combo; if determined to stay Intel, the only two contenders are 9700K or 9900K, IMO...(with the imminent advent of 10700K and Z490 mainboards, it's entirely possible you can match current 9900K performance for ~$100 less in a month or so, if the specs and forecasts are accurate)

Thanks, I was reluctant to share my concern with my "bottlenecking" because i am still trying to grasp the concepts. I appreciate your input, I probably will investigate the 3700x.

 

[SuvyBA]

Even with that CPU usage, are you hitting target framerates at the resolution you want?

If it were my dollar to spend there is both not a whole lot of reason in most titles to upgrade that 4690K to a newer i5 and I personally feel that Intel needs to rethink it's pricing structure on i7/9 to be current against it's competitor, aforementioned. Talk is that 10th gen is bringing more cores, will likely be hampered with high temps like high end 9th tends to be. Intel needs to get off refresh cycle and bring something new.

I was having some serious stuttering/ dips in frames when I left in game settings to uncapped. I also xperience unexpected crashing mid-game with no error message. I did cap the frame rate to 60, because i am playing on 1080p 60hz and that seemed to help. Consistent 60 for the most part.

 

[SuvyBA]

I would keep the case, yes. There may be better, but not better enough to upgrade it. The PSU will be good for now, as long as it is a good brand. What brand is it?

I did forget an aftermarket cooler, though you dont technically need one, it can prove to be nice to have. I personally have a Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4, which is a really decent air cooler, You could also look at Noctua coolers, or a AIO watercooler. A good one shouldnt be more than $150, and you can get one for much less.

I still recommend an SSD if you dont have one, as well.

I did recently pick up an SSD. PSU might be a standard Cyberpower ps-132-101. Unfortunately this was a prebuild back in the day before my very basic knowledge was acquired.

 

[k1nationIG]

Whats up. So I came to the conclusion that it may be time to upgrade my almost 5 year old system. It is:

I5 4690k
RTX 2060 SUPER
X2 8gb ddr3 ram
Gigabyte z97x MOBO

I purchased the 2060 in January replacing my Gtx 980. The 980 decided it wanted to give up on me unfortunately. So I do believe I am experiencing some bottlenecking, playing call of duty warzone. High cpu usage around 80-90%, low GPU usage. This is the wake up call that is motivating this upgrade. So the question is...

What should I do? I'd like to do the best possible thing for longevity and performance.

Since i just recently acquired the 2060, through some research i've done, the I7 9700k or the i5 9600k seem to pop out at me. I am aware I need a mobo as well. Any input on the two CPUs?

I should note, I do not stream or do any video rendering. I mainly use this ol girl for games and communicating with my fellow warriors.

I'm not very bright so try to keep it simple for me =). I appreciate you. Thanks!

So in my opinion, you should probably get the 3700x or the 3600x, probably the 3600x because you don't stream. You recently bought your GPU so I would wait for maybe black friday and pray that NVIDIA released their new cards by then. For the Mobo, the x570 will provide longetivity and the b450 will provide the basics and great value. I am clueless on which one you should get tbh. MSI is basically the only option for b450 boards with obviously a few good options from other companies. In fact their best board imo, the tomahawk max, is sold out probably for a good extent of time. PLEASE GET SOME 70-100$ 16gb ddr4 ram. 3200 CL 16/14 Ram will do fine, 3600mhz will be optimal CL 16 or 14.

 

[k1nationIG]

So in my opinion, you should probably get the 3700x or the 3600x, probably the 3600x because you don't stream. You recently bought your GPU so I would wait for maybe black friday and pray that NVIDIA released their new cards by then. For the Mobo, the x570 will provide longetivity and the b450 will provide the basics and great value. I am clueless on which one you should get tbh. MSI is basically the only option for b450 boards with obviously a few good options from other companies. In fact their best board imo, the tomahawk max, is sold out probably for a good extent of time. PLEASE GET SOME 70-100$ 16gb ddr4 ram. 3200 CL 16/14 Ram will do fine, 3600mhz will be optimal CL 16 or 14.

This will be much less than 1000, probably 600$. 300$ processor, 100$ ram, either a 100$ or 200$ mobo. so 500-600$. That is if you get a 3700x. The 3600x will even be less

 

[SuvyBA]

This will be much less than 1000, probably 600$. 300$ processor, 100$ ram, either a 100$ or 200$ mobo. so 500-600$. That is if you get a 3700x. The 3600x will even be less

You're the bomb, thanks. I think i might end up going that route. I'll for sure get some decent ram too.

 

[ttower2020]

I did recently pick up an SSD. PSU might be a standard Cyberpower ps-132-101. Unfortunately this was a prebuild back in the day before my very basic knowledge was acquired.

If you have a prebuilt unbranded PSU, you really should get a good one. A bad PSU from the same brand caused me 2 months of strange issues before I pinpointed the issue by pure luck of upgrading the PSU, and the problem disappeared. I am very thankful that it didnt kill any of my PC components in the process, and this was after 1.5-2 years of use. If you have been running it for 5 years, then you might be pushing your luck with that PSU. I had a friend who was not as lucky as me, who lost the GPU he bought within the last 3 months due to a poor, dying PSU. A 750W 80+ Gold PSU should be plenty powerful for whatever you plan to put in the PC, and should last for a pretty long time, before you start running any risks with it. Some top models even come with a 10 year warrenty, and many have a 3 year or more.

 

[k1nationIG]

This will be much less than 1000, probably 600$. 300$ processor, 100$ ram, either a 100$ or 200$ mobo. so 500-600$

This will be much less than 1000, probably 600$. 300$ processor, 100$ ram, either a 100$ or 200$ mobo. so 500-600$

You're the bomb, thanks. I think i might end up going that route. I'll for sure get some decent ram too.

3600x or 3700x and x570 or b450? Quick recap, the 3600x is DEFINETLY not a bad option by any means and will save you money, Idk to be precise, but the maximum difference would probably be 10 fps between the two processors. if you plan on upgrading your cpu within two years, get x570, otherwise dont to save money.

 

[k1nationIG]

If you have a prebuilt unbranded PSU, you really should get a good one. A bad PSU from the same brand caused me 2 months of strange issues before I pinpointed the issue by pure luck of upgrading the PSU, and the problem disappeared. I am very thankful that it didnt kill any of my PC components in the process, and this was after 1.5-2 years of use. If you have been running it for 5 years, then you might be pushing your luck with that PSU. I had a friend who was not as lucky as me, who lost the GPU he bought within the last 3 months due to a poor, dying PSU. A 750W 80+ Gold PSU should be plenty powerful for whatever you plan to put in the PC, and should last for a pretty long time, before you start running any risks with it. Some top models even come with a 10 year warrenty, and many have a 3 year or more.

This guy is definetly right, but maybe a 650 w to save money. Do not pay more than 130 for a power supply

 

[SuvyBA]

If you have a prebuilt unbranded PSU, you really should get a good one. A bad PSU from the same brand caused me 2 months of strange issues before I pinpointed the issue by pure luck of upgrading the PSU, and the problem disappeared. I am very thankful that it didnt kill any of my PC components in the process, and this was after 1.5-2 years of use. If you have been running it for 5 years, then you might be pushing your luck with that PSU. I had a friend who was not as lucky as me, who lost the GPU he bought within the last 3 months due to a poor, dying PSU. A 750W 80+ Gold PSU should be plenty powerful for whatever you plan to put in the PC, and should last for a pretty long time, before you start running any risks with it. Some top models even come with a 10 year warrenty, and many have a 3 year or more.

That gtx 980 I mentioned may have been the result of the PSU for all I know. The PC wouldnt boot while both the 8 pin connectors were connected to the card. It would boot while one was in tho. And I dont know why that is. And that happened randomly as well. Came home from work one day and the PC was off, wouldnt turn back on until i started diagnosing. So i'll definitely heed the advice

 

[SuvyBA]

3600x or 3700x and x570 or b450? Quick recap, the 3600x is DEFINETLY not a bad option by any means and will save you money, Idk to be precise, but the maximum difference would probably be 10 fps between the two processors. if you plan on upgrading your cpu within two years, get x570, otherwise dont to save money.

I'm trying to think of longevity I guess. If i don't need to upgrade for a few years if i go 3700x and x570 then i may try to lean that way. Obviously thats more cash too so, if there isn't going to be alot of difference between 3600 and 3700 (without getting into the details), then maybe I should go with 3600 and the b450. Guess I'm split here. Either way ill end up with improvement but still. decisions decisions

 

[kwikgta]

My suggestion:
*Ryzen 3600 = $175 @ newegg.
*Msi Tomahawk MAX mobo = $114 @ newegg. The MAX version has a larger bios chip.
*16 gig of DDR 3600 memory = Around $75 bucks @ newegg
*Graphics = Keep your Rtx Super 2060
*PSU = A gold rated quality 650 to 750 watt

 

[k1nationIG]

I'm trying to think of longevity I guess. If i don't need to upgrade for a few years if i go 3700x and x570 then i may try to lean that way. Obviously thats more cash too so, if there isn't going to be alot of difference between 3600 and 3700 (without getting into the details), then maybe I should go with 3600 and the b450. Guess I'm split here. Either way ill end up with improvement but still. decisions decisions

The main benefit that you would get from the 3700x would be if you are streaming or video rendering which you arent.

 

[ttower2020]

That gtx 980 I mentioned may have been the result of the PSU for all I know. The PC wouldnt boot while both the 8 pin connectors were connected to the card. It would boot while one was in tho. And I dont know why that is. And that happened randomly as well. Came home from work one day and the PC was off, wouldnt turn back on until i started diagnosing. So i'll definitely heed the advice

That is defiantly an indication of a HUGE issue. Either the GPU is dying just on its own, which is unlikely, or more likely the PSU has done one of two thing. One, it could be the PSU had started to fry the 980, causing it to become problematic, or Two, the PSU has worn down, and is no longer able to send full power through two 8 pin power cables anymore, at least consistantly.

And I agree, the Ryzen 5 3600 is probably a better bet for someone who just plays games. You might see some increase with the Ryzen 7, but not much for "just gaming" use. If you wanted to both save some money, and go with a more future-proof option, you could get a Ryzen 5 3600 and an X570 motherboard. The Ryzen 7 is not exclusive to X570. This is a bit different than most people tend to do, but it could work for you. If you are tempted for this route though, I think AMD is planning to release the B550 series motherboards sometime soon, so it might be worth waiting for that. I do not remember the actual (assumed) date for their arrival.

 

[SuvyBA]

That is defiantly an indication of a HUGE issue. Either the GPU is dying just on its own, which is unlikely, or more likely the PSU has done one of two thing. One, it could be the PSU had started to fry the 980, causing it to become problematic, or Two, the PSU has worn down, and is no longer able to send full power through two 8 pin power cables anymore, at least consistantly.

And I agree, the Ryzen 5 3600 is probably a better bet for someone who just plays games. You might see some increase with the Ryzen 7, but not much for "just gaming" use. If you wanted to both save some money, and go with a more future-proof option, you could get a Ryzen 5 3600 and an X570 motherboard. The Ryzen 7 is not exclusive to X570. This is a bit different than most people tend to do, but it could work for you. If you are tempted for this route though, I think AMD is planning to release the B550 series motherboards sometime soon, so it might be worth waiting for that. I do not remember the actual (assumed) date for their arrival.

How about the stock cooler that comes with either of those? are they reputable? Wraith stealth and wraith spire? I currently have a Asetek 550lc watercool. But it is also 5 years old, and I never done any servicing with it.

 

[ttower2020]

Both stock coolers are pretty good, considering they are stock coolers. However, they are being pushed to their limits a bit by the CPUs. An aftermarket cooler is best if you want the system to be quieter, run cooler, or if you intend to do any overclocking. A decent, cheaper air cooler can do the job nicely. You dont need to get a massive cooler for it, though it could help with temps/noise.