[SOLVED] Upgrading my CPU

[Existz]

I'm a bit confused upgrading my PC.. i need more performance.. mostly games. But not only mainstream PC games. But also android games with emulator
My specs
I5 8400
1660 super 6GB
16GB DDR4
A dirt cheap mobo gigabyte H310M DS2

My option were

1. Upgrade my CPU to i7 9700F without changing my mobo
2. Upgrade my CPU to i7 10700F with new mobo
3. Upgrade my GPU to 2060 super

As of today i can open 3 nox instance without LAG.. i want to be able open nox instance to 5 at least.. which road i should take? Always open to option 4 Lol 😁
Ps: its not like money is a problem or money is not a problem either.. LoL i want the best bang for bucks.. thanks

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Well, the thing that will give you the biggest boost in FPS is a new GPU. The 2060 Super will give you a leap in performance. Changing CPU will not benefit you much. Perhaps a small increase in FPS, not nearly as much as changing GPU will do for you.

 

[sizzling]

Actually your scenario is not clear cut as being gpu limited as you are running an emulator. Monitor your CPU usage on all cores (not total cpu usage) and also gpu usage. Is the gpu hitting 100% usage or any cpu cores hitting 100%?

 

[Existz]

Hey there,

Well, the thing that will give you the biggest boost in FPS is a new GPU. The 2060 Super will give you a leap in performance. Changing CPU will not benefit you much. Perhaps a small increase in FPS, not nearly as much as changing GPU will do for you.

Actually your scenario is not clear cut as being gpu limited as you are running an emulator. Monitor your CPU usage on all cores (not total cpu usage) and also gpu usage. Is the gpu hitting 100% usage or any cpu cores hitting 100%?

Hello,thanks for your reply.
yes its a dillemma now... for mainstream PC games i need to Upgrade my GPU which will be giving much more FPS boost rather than CPU upgrade.. and yes on android emulator opening 3 instance give around 60-85% cpu usage and its working well.. while opening 4 making the CPU usage rise to almost 100%.. stay around 92-95% and Stutter, Lag etc start coming too... the GPU is around 70%- 80% at most.. but i dont have enough money to upgrade both CPU or GPU at the same time.. any middle way to solve this? thanks

 

[mamasan2000]

Have you tried other emulators? LDplayer, MSI's android app, Bluestack etc? Maybe those are less heavy on the CPU.

 

[Existz]

Have you tried other emulators? LDplayer, MSI's android app, Bluestack etc? Maybe those are less heavy on the CPU.

Try LD player.. 3 is the max too
bluestacks i can add up to 4 but the 4th instance i can't play heavy mobile games on it.. like Blade and soul revolution/dragon raja etc.. if the 4th instance only for Plant vs zombie then yes its working alright... does this mean my cpu is the problem?

 

[geofelt]

Emulators are cpu intensive and, I suspect, single threaded.
The best processor available for your motherboard would be a I7-9700K or KF.
That gets you 8 threads vs. 6, but more importantly, a boost in single thread performance from 2417 to 2922 passmark rating.
I think you have sufficient ram to hold all the instances of NOX in your 16gb of ram.

If you want to go current gen, the I7-10700K or KF and a Z490 motherboard will give you about the same single thread performance, but with 16 threads available.

For games that are fast action, a graphics upgrade is likely a good option.
But, when upgrading a graphics card, I suggest making it a Big jump in capability or you might be disappointed. With an impending nvidia 3000 series announcement, I might wait and see what is offered.
If you want an upgrade now, buy an EVGA card. they have a 90 day free upgrade trade in option if you should decide you want something stronger.
Read the fine print.

 

[Existz]

Emulators are cpu intensive and, I suspect, single threaded.
The best processor available for your motherboard would be a I7-9700K or KF.
That gets you 8 threads vs. 6, but more importantly, a boost in single thread performance from 2417 to 2922 passmark rating.
I think you have sufficient ram to hold all the instances of NOX in your 16gb of ram.

If you want to go current gen, the I7-10700K or KF and a Z490 motherboard will give you about the same single thread performance, but with 16 threads available.

For games that are fast action, a graphics upgrade is likely a good option.
But, when upgrading a graphics card, I suggest making it a Big jump in capability or you might be disappointed. With an impending nvidia 3000 series announcement, I might wait and see what is offered.
If you want an upgrade now, buy an EVGA card. they have a 90 day free upgrade trade in option if you should decide you want something stronger.
Read the fine print.

hello and thanks
okay so... with this answer i can make some priority now.. my 1660 super are okay to play games like Apex Legend.. Red Redemption etc.. (which eliminate my GPU for being the problem) but my CPU is almost dead with 4 instance at the same time.. if this the case then i should upgrade the CPU first .... halt the GPU upgrade until nvidia release the 3000 with "super"in it.
now i7 9700K/KF seems the more affordable and the most logic one but the price gap between i7 9700K and i7 10700K is not much.. around 80-90$ in here..(it feels nice to have the latest hardware LoL) BUT.. the Z490 seems too much for my budget.. do you think A B460M chipset can handle i7 10700K? and if i choose the i7 9700 i still have some budget left to spend.. i'm thinking buying 1 more SSD where i will install the emulator in here.. will it make a difference? thanks

PS my friend have almost the same specs like mine.. he has i5 8600K with 16GB ram and a 1070 (non-TI) and he can open 4 instance without lag at all.. 5 is still good with some slight/minor stutter but definitly Okay. does this mean GPU also matter? i mean 1660 super vs 1070 non TI is not much of differents except 2GB of DDR VRAM.. (6GB vs 8GB)

 

[geofelt]

Good that you have a system you can compare with.
A 8600k has the same 6 threads, but the single thread performance is better.
2647 vs. 2417. Perhaps even 25% better if the 8600K is overclocked near 5.0.

If you have a budget issue, buy a used 9700K.
Whatever you can buy, you can sell later with minimal loss.

If you will buy a i7-10700K, buy a z490 based motherboard so you can increase the performance by overclocking. It can be a beast.

On a budget, look at the i5-10600K.
It will have 12 threads and a single thread performance comparable to the 9700K.
Again, pay a bit more for a Z490 based motherboard. Overclocking can generally gain you 20% or so, compared to stock.

 

[Third-Eye]

hello and thanks
okay so... with this answer i can make some priority now.. my 1660 super are okay to play games like Apex Legend.. Red Redemption etc.. (which eliminate my GPU for being the problem) but my CPU is almost dead with 4 instance at the same time.. if this the case then i should upgrade the CPU first .... halt the GPU upgrade until nvidia release the 3000 with "super"in it.
now i7 9700K/KF seems the more affordable and the most logic one but the price gap between i7 9700K and i7 10700K is not much.. around 80-90$ in here..(it feels nice to have the latest hardware LoL) BUT.. the Z490 seems too much for my budget.. do you think A B460M chipset can handle i7 10700K? and if i choose the i7 9700 i still have some budget left to spend.. i'm thinking buying 1 more SSD where i will install the emulator in here.. will it make a difference? thanks

PS my friend have almost the same specs like mine.. he has i5 8600K with 16GB ram and a 1070 (non-TI) and he can open 4 instance without lag at all.. 5 is still good with some slight/minor stutter but definitly Okay. does this mean GPU also matter? i mean 1660 super vs 1070 non TI is not much of differents except 2GB of DDR VRAM.. (6GB vs 8GB)

I don't see the i7-9700 being a good option for your H310 motherboard, because the motherboard might not be able to handle it too well. The motherboard might throttle the CPU if the VRMs can't handle the load required or the VRMs might overheat if your case has poor air flow and ventilation.

You would also be spending a lot of money on a CPU with only 8 cores/threads when you could sell your i5-8400 with the motherboard and put that toward the 10700 and a better H470 motherboard than a B460. Reuse the ram you have to save money if the ram is already 2400MT/s or faster or sell it with the old parts and get DDR4 2933-3200 CL16 or 3600 CL18 if you get a Z series board.

Ryzen 4000 releases in two months, so you might be better off waiting to see reviews. You might decided to switch to AMD assuming it's available to you.

 

[geofelt]

Here are the supported processors for the motherboard:
https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/H310M-DS2-rev-10/support#support-cpu
It includes even the i9-9900K.
Of course, one can not overclock a K suffix processor on that chipset, but the top end processors are supported.

On waiting, if you wait for the next best thing, you will wait forever.
If there is a need now, buy now.

 

[Existz]

I don't see the i7-9700 being a good option for your H310 motherboard, because the motherboard might not be able to handle it too well. The motherboard might throttle the CPU if the VRMs can't handle the load required or the VRMs might overheat if your case has poor air flow and ventilation.

You would also be spending a lot of money on a CPU with only 8 cores/threads when you could sell your i5-8400 with the motherboard and put that toward the 10700 and a better H470 motherboard than a B460. Reuse the ram you have to save money if the ram is already 2400MT/s or faster or sell it with the old parts and get DDR4 2933-3200 CL16 or 3600 CL18 if you get a Z series board.

Ryzen 4000 releases in two months, so you might be better off waiting to see reviews. You might decided to switch to AMD assuming it's available to you.

i have Case with back and top exhaust.. total of 6 12mm Fans.. 3 as intake and 3 as exhaust fans.. will this good enough for the H310 chipset to handle I7 9700.. and also i put a deepcool Gammax HSF (replaced the standard intel HSF)
i never use AMD before... execpt long time ago in the Era of their APU generation the A series.. a bit disapointed. but yeah i heard they closing the gap with ryzen series. thanks.. i'm gonna keep this in mind
oh and yes my Ram is Patriot DDR4 2400mhz ram...
and AMD is more than available in here.. it is popular. i'm just not a fans of AMD at least for now.. dunno later..

Good that you have a system you can compare with.
A 8600k has the same 6 threads, but the single thread performance is better.
2647 vs. 2417. Perhaps even 25% better if the 8600K is overclocked near 5.0.

If you have a budget issue, buy a used 9700K.
Whatever you can buy, you can sell later with minimal loss.

If you will buy a i7-10700K, buy a z490 based motherboard so you can increase the performance by overclocking. It can be a beast.

On a budget, look at the i5-10600K.
It will have 12 threads and a single thread performance comparable to the 9700K.
Again, pay a bit more for a Z490 based motherboard. Overclocking can generally gain you 20% or so, compared to stock.

okay thanks
i will do my research about i5 10600K... with just one problem.. i never OC anything manually.. i mean i'm OC my GPU but with the help of MSI afterburner OC scanner... will this 10600K good enough without OC compare to i7 9700? and will PSU enough to handle 10600K OC? My PSU corsair CX550M
and buying a used i7 9700 is actually a good idea coz i can save a bit in budget. just never buy a used proccessor before LoL

never know building/rebuild a PC is this hard... LMAO

 

[geofelt]

Overclocking a processor these days is as simple as entering the bios and increasing the all core multiplier.
There is no need to do so, but it is an option.
The newer processors have a very high turbo mode where a single core will go very fast.
Normally that is what you want.
If you want all cores to run equally fast, that is where an oveclocks can come in to play.

 

[Third-Eye]

i have Case with back and top exhaust.. total of 6 12mm Fans.. 3 as intake and 3 as exhaust fans.. will this good enough for the H310 chipset to handle I7 9700.. and also i put a deepcool Gammax HSF (replaced the standard intel HSF)
i never use AMD before... execpt long time ago in the Era of their APU generation the A series.. a bit disapointed. but yeah i heard they closing the gap with ryzen series. thanks.. i'm gonna keep this in mind
oh and yes my Ram is Patriot DDR4 2400mhz ram...
and AMD is more than available in here.. it is popular. i'm just not a fans of AMD at least for now.. dunno later..


okay thanks
i will do my research about i5 10600K... with just one problem.. i never OC anything manually.. i mean i'm OC my GPU but with the help of MSI afterburner OC scanner... will this 10600K good enough without OC compare to i7 9700? and will PSU enough to handle 10600K OC? My PSU corsair CX550M
and buying a used i7 9700 is actually a good idea coz i can save a bit in budget. just never buy a used proccessor before LoL

never know building/rebuild a PC is this hard... LMAO

I would count overclocking as a secondary concern anyway because of the added cost of buying a larger heat-sink or all in one liquid cooler. That is partly why I suggested looking into AMD, because they are not far off the performance from Intel right now and they run cooler, requiring cheaper 120-140mm tower coolers instead of liquid cooling like the 10700K might need even without overclocking it.

 

[geofelt]

10600k is not a particularly hot processor.
A simple tower type cooler like the deepcool Gammax HSF with a 120mm fan should be sufficient.
See how you do.

 

[Existz]

Overclocking a processor these days is as simple as entering the bios and increasing the all core multiplier.
There is no need to do so, but it is an option.
The newer processors have a very high turbo mode where a single core will go very fast.
Normally that is what you want.
If you want all cores to run equally fast, that is where an oveclocks can come in to play.

that sounds really interesting.. so i explore the big wide internet and i found some other perspective.. the i5 10600K+ asrock Z490 extreme pro 4 vs i7 10700F (no IGP) + asrock B460M Pro 4 how do you think about this 2 comparison? on the review, even if the i5 10600K is strong enough after OC-ing to 5.0Ghz its still an i5 and even if its locked i7 its still i7 even with stock setting.. which one do you think will give the best performance?

I would count overclocking as a secondary concern anyway because of the added cost of buying a larger heat-sink or all in one liquid cooler. That is partly why I suggested looking into AMD, because they are not far off the performance from Intel right now and they run cooler, requiring cheaper 120-140mm tower coolers instead of liquid cooling like the 10700K might need even without overclocking it.

i try reserarching about AMD especially the Ryzen 3700X which is most people say that this is the equivalent of i7 10700 or so, i think.. LoL
and AMD allow its user to overclock with any motherboard except the A series.. it is more cheaper motherboard indeed.. but the headroom for overclock in AMD is quite small from what i read. it doesnt really something WOW or so.. and also yes AMD new ryzen 3000 series has lower TDP thanks to 7nm... can you give mo some example which proccessor + motherboard and what performance should i expect compare to intel. thanks

PS: and while searching for CPU i found this GPU 2060super its like the cheapest i ever see.. but never heard this brand before.. its PNY.. its advertised as US products with high Quality. anybody know if this GPU brand is good and reliable?

 

[geofelt]

i5-10600K and i7-10700F are quite comparable.
12 threads vs. 16 threads.
Comparable 4.8 turbo.
Extra threads are good for heavy batch work, not so much for gaming.
Multiplayer with many participants can be helped with many threads.
I like the convenience of having integrated graphics available, and would not pick a F suffix version unless the price difference was important.

PNY is reputable. The guts are all made by nvidia.
Cards differ in the cooling solutions, all of which are acceptable, and of the factory overclock.
Graphics brand is relevant mostly for support if you have an issue.
In the US, I like EVGA for support and warranty.

AMD does support overclocking.
But, the chips are binned and come running at near the maximum clock so the value of overclocking is limited.
As always how well you can overclock is determined by your luck in getting a good chip.
Here is an interesting table of historical overclocking capabilities:
https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics
for the 3700x, only the op 21% of samples can reach 4.15 clock.
For the 10600K, 100% can reach 4.7.
the top 25% can reach 4.9

 

[Existz]

i5-10600K and i7-10700F are quite comparable.
12 threads vs. 16 threads.
Comparable 4.8 turbo.
Extra threads are good for heavy batch work, not so much for gaming.
Multiplayer with many participants can be helped with many threads.
I like the convenience of having integrated graphics available, and would not pick a F suffix version unless the price difference was important.

PNY is reputable. The guts are all made by nvidia.
Cards differ in the cooling solutions, all of which are acceptable, and of the factory overclock.
Graphics brand is relevant mostly for support if you have an issue.
In the US, I like EVGA for support and warranty.

AMD does support overclocking.
But, the chips are binned and come running at near the maximum clock so the value of overclocking is limited.
As always how well you can overclock is determined by your luck in getting a good chip.
Here is an interesting table of historical overclocking capabilities:
https://siliconlottery.com/pages/statistics
for the 3700x, only the op 21% of samples can reach 4.15 clock.
For the 10600K, 100% can reach 4.7.
the top 25% can reach 4.9

okay after a few days researching for info and review.. i will go with your suggestion.. i5 10600K with Z490 motherboard (i choose MSI). hope this is what i'm looking for... will be back to post some review of my new system later. thanks

 

[Existz]

after a week trying my new rig... its perfect!! i'm glad i pick i5 10600K + MSI 490 A PRO, i also add 16 gb more ram to 32gb and buy 240gb ssd just for emulator installation folder.. from 3 android emulator at the same time.. now i can open 6 (havent try 7 yet) but this is already surpass my expectation.. (i play 5 games) amazing!! very happy... altough my wallet really dry LoL but dang it really worth it... every penny of it.

PS
6 emulator all with 2 cores 4096 mb memory
opening browser 7 tab
listening to spotify
while also copy date from external to my harddrive

CPU temp 60C
CPU usage 50-60%
RAM 21GB used
GPU 65 C
GPU VRAM around 4GB
Perfect! exactly what i want