Question What are the best upgrades for my Asus Maximus VII Hero motherboard

[Marcendes]

I am hoping to get some suggestions on what component would give me the best bang for the buck in terms of performance. Should I upgrade my CPU first or don't bother and just go for a new GPU. Would another 8GB of RAM make much of a difference? Maybe I need a new mobo?

Any help is appreciated, I am not an expert. I am scouring the forums and youtube but can't find anything recent.

Thank you in advance, here's what I have today:

Motherboard ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760

 

[tennis2]

There's a good chance you'll need a new mobo+RAM if you want a better CPU, unless you can find a 4th gen i7 for cheap cheap.

Is this a gaming machine? What types of games?
What's the monitor resolution & refresh rate?

 

[Marcendes]

This is a gaming machine for sure. No shooters, mostly RPGs, but I want to try VR
I just got a new monitor - 3440 x 1440 120Hz so I should be covered there.

I am not opposed to getting a new mobo. I built this PC in 2014 so it is definitely a little behind on the latest performance upgrades. I have been noticing lately that games will freeze for up to 20 seconds, then come back as if nothing happened... not great for online gaming.

 

[tennis2]

Depending on your funds, it's probably best to just do a full system upgrade. Your 8GB DDR3 RAM is lacking (and everything is DDR4 now), even a 4th gen i7 is only going to kick the can another year or so, and obviously a GTX760 isn't going to do well at 3440x1440

 

[Marcendes]

I was afraid that might be the case. I'll start to do some research and see what my budget can afford.

 

[tennis2]

Plenty of people here can do that for you also. Just need to know what country you're in, and how much you're willing to spend.
Also, what power supply do you have?
What are you using for storage (SSD, HDD)
would you be keeping your case?

 

[Marcendes]

I am in the US. I would want something VR capable, mid-high end components. I was thinking nvidia gtx 1080 at a minimum. I have a buddy with the 1070 and he says that works well.
My power supply is a 850 Corsair
SSD and HDD storage. The HDD is from an old computer
Yes, I would like to keep the case, it's a thermaltake, don't know the model.

I am eyeing the gigabyte, frankly it was between that and the ASUS back in '14 so I wanna give them a try this time.
I should probably just make my build around the 1080 right? I've seen some good posts on this forum about people's builds.