[SOLVED] What PC Component should I next upgrade for the biggest performance upgrade?

[xPoddyMc]

I'm not sure what component I should upgrade next to get a noticeable improvement.

My current specs are as follows.

Cpu - i7 4790
Ram - 16GB DDR3 Corsair vengeance
Motherboard - MSI z97 Gaming 3
GPU - 4GB GTX 980
SSD - 250GB Samsung 850 EVO (Main storage, boot etc,)
HDD - 500GB (not sure what model, but it's just for movies, music etc.(

P.S. - I'm not sure if it matters much, but I currently have Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit just because i've always preferred windows 7.

 

[WildCard999]

What is your monitor resolution/refresh rate?

Budget?

 

[xPoddyMc]

What is your monitor resolution/refresh rate?

Budget?

1920x1080p @ 144Hz and I have a budget of approximately £500 - but i'd be willing to stretch to £600 if it's a major improvement.

 

[WildCard999]

1920x1080p @ 144Hz and I have a budget of approximately £500 - but i'd be willing to stretch to £600 if it's a major improvement.

Ok ty. So you have a well balanced system but is there a particular game the system struggles to get to 144 or isn't stable?

Also are your graphic settings good?

By knowing this we can determine if a platform (CPU/MB/RAM) would be better or GPU. Although with the newer platforms you may need to make the update to Win10.

 

[Karadjgne]

Umm isn't the MSI 970 Gaming an AMD mobo? That wouldn't go well with an i7-4790.

 

[xPoddyMc]

Ok ty. So you have a well balanced system but is there a particular game the system struggles to get to 144 or isn't stable?

Also are your graphic settings good?

By knowing this we can determine if a platform (CPU/MB/RAM) would be better or GPU. Although with the newer platforms you may need to make the update to Win10.

Upgrading to windows 10 isn't an issue. I guess i'll just have to adapt.

There's no particular game that I am struggling with. I'm currently playing Z1BR, Apex Legends and Black Ops 4.

However, I really enjoy Z1BR and understand that it's not the greatest performing game - even for much higher end PCs. With all my settings on low on Z1BR, i'll typically get around 120fps until I enter a major city it'll peak around 75-80fps.

Basically, I earned a decent chunk of bonus in work and decided that I wanted to invest in an upgrade for my PC.

 

[xPoddyMc]

Umm isn't the MSI 970 Gaming an AMD mobo? That wouldn't go well with an i7-4790.

I got mixed up, fixed the post lol. Thanks for the heads up >.<

 

[WildCard999]

Upgrading to windows 10 isn't an issue. I guess i'll just have to adapt.

There's no particular game that I am struggling with. I'm currently playing Z1BR, Apex Legends and Black Ops 4.

However, I really enjoy Z1BR and understand that it's not the greatest performing game - even for much higher end PCs. With all my settings on low on Z1BR, i'll typically get around 120fps until I enter a major city it'll peak around 75-80fps.

Basically, I earned a decent chunk of bonus in work and decided that I wanted to invest in an upgrade for my PC.

Well if you could benefit more from increasing the FPS then something like the 8700K could be a good upgrade but then you'd need the new MB/RAM and possibly a aftermarket cooler depending on what you have on your 4790.

I've always liked monitor upgrades but if you really need that 120+ refresh rate then I'd stick with the current monitor.

 

[xPoddyMc]

Well if you could benefit more from increasing the FPS then something like the 8700K could be a good upgrade but then you'd need the new MB/RAM and possibly a aftermarket cooler depending on what you have on your 4790.

I've always liked monitor upgrades but if you really need that 120+ refresh rate then I'd stick with the current monitor.

Yea, I was looking at the 8700k - and yea, I recognized that I'd need an entire overhaul.

If you were to recommend a great MB/RAM combination for me that'd be great. I've currently got the Corsair h100i CPU cooler, too.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ok, that's better. Now, is that a 4790 or a 4790k. Cpus run on IPC, that's instructions per clock. You can't change that at all, IPC is IPC. What you can do is change the amount of clocks per time period. That's Hz. When trying to get maximum results for a 144Hz monitor, that means higher fps. The only way you'll bump fps is higher clocks. The 980 can do 1080p quite easily, it's the cpu that's responsible for setting fps. For minimum budget, a used 4790k and a decent cpu cooler can bump OC clocks up @ 1GHz, a decent gain on fps ceilings. After that, it's upto the gpu to paint them all.

 

[barryv88]

How big is your monitor? I went from an 8 year old 24" HD 60Hz screen to a 27" QHD 144Hz with Gsync. That alone brought a magnificent difference as the upgrade warranted a bigger display, higher res and much higher refresh with gaming sync.
Stepping up to QHD will of course bring out more details out of gaming, but as a result, your GTX980 will be taxed further. In that case, you'd wanna bump up the GPU to a 1660Ti/V56 or higher. The rest of your system is just fine. It depends if you wanna wait and see what Ryzen3000 brings to the table. It might be quite big. But that's around the corner and nobody yet knows about release dates.

 

[xPoddyMc]

Ok, that's better. Now, is that a 4790 or a 4790k. Cpus run on IPC, that's instructions per clock. You can't change that at all, IPC is IPC. What you can do is change the amount of clocks per time period. That's Hz. When trying to get maximum results for a 144Hz monitor, that means higher fps. The only way you'll bump fps is higher clocks. The 980 can do 1080p quite easily, it's the cpu that's responsible for setting fps. For minimum budget, a used 4790k and a decent cpu cooler can bump OC clocks up @ 1GHz, a decent gain on fps ceilings. After that, it's upto the gpu to paint them all.

It's just a standard i7 4790 that I've got currently. This was what I was originally considering upgrading first of all - but wanted a few opinions before making the leap.
Thanks for the help guys

 

[xPoddyMc]

How big is your monitor? I went from an 8 year old 24" HD 60Hz screen to a 27" QHD 144Hz with Gsync. That alone brought a magnificent difference as the upgrade warranted a bigger display, higher res and much higher refresh with gaming sync.
Stepping up to QHD will of course bring out more details out of gaming, but as a result, your GTX980 will be taxed further. In that case, you'd wanna bump up the GPU to a 1660Ti/V56 or higher. The rest of your system is just fine. It depends if you wanna wait and see what Ryzen3000 brings to the table. It might be quite big. But that's around the corner and nobody yet knows about release dates.

My current monitor is 24". I find that is perfect for me. I've always been a huge fan of 24" monitors and will probably continue to upgrade to them going forward.

 

[Karadjgne]

Contrary to popular belief and urban legends, size doesn't matter in the slightest. When it comes to monitors. A 65" 1080p is identical to a 15" 1080p.

What matters is resolution. 1440p has @ 1.7x as many pixels as 1080p, and 4k has just less than 4x as many. That's what's brutal on the gpu, having to put that many pixels on the screen at a decent fps. It's the entire theory behind balance when it comes to cpu/gpu relationships. The cpu sets the fps limits, gpu has to live up to it. So if a cpu puts out 100fps, the 980 will probably get that at 1080p, but has to work 1.7x as hard at 1440p, so might see 60fps, and at 4k is looking closer to 30fps. With the 980 taxed at 30fps, you could use an old fx6300 and still get the same 30fps. Higher resolutions require a lot less cpu output and a lot more gpu output. Higher frequency monitors don't change that, they just allow for the cpu to actually field higher outputs. At 1080p, that old fx6300 might only be seeing 60fps max, the i7 100fps max, and a new i7 9700k might see 150fps max. But at 4k and just 30fps due to gpu limits, both the fx and the 9700k are the same, 30fps. At 1080p/144Hz... Huge difference.