[SOLVED] Visually smoother, less grainy gaming

[epocjoe]

I've upgraded by SFF 990 Optiplex containing an i5-2400 to 16gb of DDR3 Ram and a low profile Nvidia GT1030 gpu. With a super tight budget in mind, under $300 probably, I'm considering some options.

I have an empty micro ATX box with a 380W PSU that I can fill with a LGA 1150 mb and all the parts I currently have in the 990. With more power, this option allows me to replace the gt1030 with something a bit better. $50 or so for a micro mb and $200 for gpu upgrade.

or

using the same micro ATX box and PSU, I buy an Ivy Bridge-style 1150 mb and a i5-2700K and keep all else the same. That also can be found for about $250.

Which will provide smoother, less grainy gaiming on my 60hz monitor and support higher FPS on at least a 144Hz monitor?

 

[tennis2]

The GT1030 is slow. Upgrading that should be your first priority. Something like a RX570 4GB for $130 would be roughly 3x faster. Here's some performance figures unimpeded by CPU limitations.

$250 for a 2700K doesn't sound like a good deal AT ALL.

 

[Eximo]

No idea what you mean by grainy. That might be the monitor. The graphics card you have can run all the modern features, should look identical to everything that isn't an RTX card. Of course very few games support that.

LGA1150 is not compatible with 2nd gen Intel chips, so not sure where that is coming from. Ivy Bridge is 3rd gen.

LGA1155 2nd, 3rd gen (60 and 70 series)
LGA1150 4th, 5th gen (80 and 90 series)
LGA1151 6th, 7th gen (100 and 200 series)
LGA1151 v2 8th and 9th gen (300 series) (officially)

You should be able to drop in an i7-2600 directly into the board you have if you wanted to. If your limitation is the form factor you can always transplant that board into a larger case. There are power supply adapters as well.

I don't think it would be worth it really. Better to save up.

If that GT1030 purchase is recent, you might consider returning it. Picking up a Ryzen 3 2200G would be a better platform for the money. Then you can upgrade the CPU and GPU at a later time.

 

[epocjoe]

I improved the sharpness of my monitor while in game by adjusting a 3D setting in the game. I'd still like to upgrade, but the sense of urgency is now diminished thanks to finding this new setting. I wonder if it will get even sharper if I simply upgrade the monitor to 144hz. the game shows i recieved in excess of 120fps and shoots up to 200fps but it fluctuates so much it's hard to know the optimal refresh for the monitor. Can't go wrong with a cheaper 144hz, no?

No idea what you mean by grainy. That might be the monitor. The graphics card you have can run all the modern features, should look identical to everything that isn't an RTX card. Of course very few games support that.

LGA1150 is not compatible with 2nd gen Intel chips, so not sure where that is coming from. Ivy Bridge is 3rd gen.

LGA1155 2nd, 3rd gen (60 and 70 series)
LGA1150 4th, 5th gen (80 and 90 series)
LGA1151 6th, 7th gen (100 and 200 series)
LGA1151 v2 8th and 9th gen (300 series) (officially)

You should be able to drop in an i7-2600 directly into the board you have if you wanted to. If your limitation is the form factor you can always transplant that board into a larger case. There are power supply adapters as well.

I don't think it would be worth it really. Better to save up.

If that GT1030 purchase is recent, you might consider returning it. Picking up a Ryzen 3 2200G would be a better platform for the money. Then you can upgrade the CPU and GPU at a later time.

Thanks, Eximo. thanks for the correction on the board. Of course, you're right, I have an 1155 socket in that dell not an 1150. I like your tip about PSU adapters as the first thing to try. I wasn't aware of anything like that. If that works out, I may go with tennis2's idea to upgrade the gpu to an RX 570 or some nvidia XXX gtx card on the used market.

saving rhe most money and upgrading has always been about solving the PSU issue in my SFF. hopefully the adapter thing works out. Thanks guys!