[SOLVED] What should be upgraded/replaced next?

Solution
Problem with that case is that it only supports coolers up to 156mm tall. Not great, however there are options that are really good.

It does support water cooling, so a 240mm radiator in front is an option but that would mean removing the drive cages so if that is not an option for you, then an AIO cooler is probably out as an idea.

Personally, I think this is the best option for that case. You can probably take that CPU to it's maximum potential overclock with this cooler. Thermal headroom won't likely be your problem when it comes to overclocking limitations on the 4690k with this cooler, and this cooler is compatible with pretty much everything out there right now so if you upgrade later you won't need to buy a different cooler...
If you can find a 4790k for the right price, that would be the obvious easy, least expensive upgrade. That would give you a boost in clock speed and four additional hyperthreads, although the value of hyperthreads on Intel CPUs has become somewhat marginal these days due to all the Windows and microcode patches forced on users to mitigate the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, so it won't be as much of a boost as it would have been a few years back. Still, it would likely give you a bit of a boost and the gaming performance isn't as much affected as other tasks are.

Being as you are gaming at a wider 1080p resolution on a somewhat older card though, upgrading that GTX 1060 is probably a good idea as that card isn't a particularly good performer on the latest games, especially when you start rendering more pixels than at the standard 1080p resolution.

What can you afford to throw at upgrades, and what country are you in?
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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Well being that Christmas is coming around, I'm honestly not sure what my budget is. I thought I could potentially sell my current gpu and buy a 1080 or something but I just wanted a second opinion. Being that my motherboard is LGA-1150, I thought I'd probably want to upgrade my mobo to support a better processor but I also thought I could potentially get a better cooler and maybe overclock it some?
Any advice is helpful and should I maybe wait to buy a gpu for some cheaper prices?
Also, I definitely wanna get a different monitor so that hopefully won't be too much of a problem in the future.
I mainly play Escape From Tarkov and my fps is beginning to get unbearable at some points.
Also I'm in the US
 
If it's a game you've played for a while, and you used to get good enough performance, then you may not even NEED an upgrade. It might be due to to other factors.

When was the last time you did a clean install of Windows? Have you been through several spring and fall major updates? Are you RUNNING Windows 10, or are you still on an older version of Windows?

Your motherboard is PLENTY good enough to run a 4790k, and that would give you a nice little boost with four extra hyperthreads. But if you can't find one for a good price from a trustworthy seller, then it's obviously not viable.

Right now, I don't see ANY reasonably priced 4790k's for sale on Ebay, so that's probably a scratch. At the prices you can get one for right now, used, you might just as well go ahead and just get something much newer if it comes to that.

You have plenty of RAM, for that platform. You have a very good motherboard. Maybe just getting a good cooler and overclocking it is the key. What cooler are you running? Are you sure your poor performance isn't just due to thermal throttling from a thermal condition. Maybe the CPU or GPU coolers need to be repasted. Might want to do some monitoring of thermals while gaming to see what that looks like.
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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Awesome, I'll probably just get a nice cooler for my cpu and try to overclock it. Do you have any suggestions for either an air cooler or water cooling system? I'm currently just running the stock Intel cooler and I've been wanting to get something else just wasn't too sure what to get. Last time I was looking, the noctua's caught my eye.
The last time I did a clean wipe was probably about a year ago. I'm not exactly sure which major updates I've done but everything is up to date. I'm on Windows 10 and all my drivers are up to date.
If you have any videos about checking thermal Temps to see what's good temperatures then that would be helpful.
Also I'll keep my eye out for a reasonably priced 4790k, what seems like a good price for it now?
 
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Problem with that case is that it only supports coolers up to 156mm tall. Not great, however there are options that are really good.

It does support water cooling, so a 240mm radiator in front is an option but that would mean removing the drive cages so if that is not an option for you, then an AIO cooler is probably out as an idea.

Personally, I think this is the best option for that case. You can probably take that CPU to it's maximum potential overclock with this cooler. Thermal headroom won't likely be your problem when it comes to overclocking limitations on the 4690k with this cooler, and this cooler is compatible with pretty much everything out there right now so if you upgrade later you won't need to buy a different cooler. This is pretty much a lifetime type CPU cooler purchase unless you go with something that needs incredibly high end cooling like the 9900k.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Scythe Ninja 5 43.03 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $59.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-30 17:40 EST-0500




Checking thermals is relatively simple. Download HWinfo. Install it. Run it and choose the "Sensors only option". Disable the "Summary option".

Scroll down to the individual and package core temperature sensor readings. Run your game or a stress utility like Prime95 (Disable AVX/AVX2). Keep an eye on thermals for about 15 minutes to see what the maximums are.
 
Solution
You did the right thing. You were past thermal spec so there was no reason to continue. Once you pass 80°C, the test is done. There is no point in testing any further until some kind of change or upgrade is done that might affect thermal performance.

Were you overclocking or was that thermal test done at the stock configuration?

Dsymborski is right as well, that PSU is definitely a problem in the overclocking discussion. At some point you will definitely want to look at replacing that old CX with a better unit, even if it's just a newer CX which are much better than those older ones but still not what we'd call great.
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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I agree wholeheartedly with what @Darkbreeze has been saying but just out of curiosity, what kind of games specifically are you trying to get more FPS in? That could be a factor as some games a really dependent on CPU performance, while others you will gain more with a better GPU.
Mainly Escape From Tarkov
Also I checked my idle Temps and they are around 60c to 65c. My thermal paste doesn't come in till the 9th but until then I've just been trying to also figure out why my cpu usage is so high.
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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You did the right thing. You were past thermal spec so there was no reason to continue. Once you pass 80°C, the test is done. There is no point in testing any further until some kind of change or upgrade is done that might affect thermal performance.

Were you overclocking or was that thermal test done at the stock configuration?

Dsymborski is right as well, that PSU is definitely a problem in the overclocking discussion. At some point you will definitely want to look at replacing that old CX with a better unit, even if it's just a newer CX which are much better than those older ones but still not what we'd call great.

I read your post on PSU's and I know you were talking good about the Seasonic PSU's. What do you think about me potentially upgrading to a
Seasonic FOCUS GX-750
 
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DSzymborski

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I read your post on PSU's and I know you were talking good about the Seasonic PSU's. What do you think about me potentially upgrading to a
Seasonic FOCUS GX-750

It's an excellent PSU that you can happily use for a decade. And if it doesn't last a decade, SeaSonic will replace it. You can overclock the bejeesus out of anything with this PSU.
 
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Agreed. That is a good PSU. But then again so are a lot of PSUs. If you can find an EVGA G2 650-750w (Avoid G1, G3 and G5. Well, G3 isn't HORRIBLE, but it's got it's own problems.) or an RMi/RMx or HX Corsair unit, or a Super Flower Leadex II or Leadex III or Antec High current gamer gold, those are all good choices as well.
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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Agreed. That is a good PSU. But then again so are a lot of PSUs. If you can find an EVGA G2 650-750w (Avoid G1, G3 and G5. Well, G3 isn't HORRIBLE, but it's got it's own problems.) or an RMi/RMx or HX Corsair unit, or a Super Flower Leadex II or Leadex III or Antec High current gamer gold, those are all good choices as well.
Would you recommend any of those over the Seasonic?
So far to upgrade my build, I've gotten a different monitor, I plan on getting a new psu. I got a new cooler and some more thermal paste. I'm keeping my eye out for some 4790k's and should I upgrade my gpu or should I keep it for a bit longer.
Is there anything that I'm missing?
Also any ideas on what I should do with my old cpu, psu, and monitor if I replace them?
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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So getting back to my original question, my birthday is coming up in the next couple weeks. I was thinking about selling my mobo, ram, cpu, and maybe gpu and fully upgrading. I wasn't sure what would be my best bet in upgrading and how much I should sell my components for. I was thinking Ryzen might be a good idea and I wasn't quite sure what gpu would be a good upgrade.
 
Good questions, but, questions that are FULLY dependent on what your actual budget will be for everything that you need as well as whether you are ONLY going to be changing the CPU, motherboard, memory and graphics card?

Also, it very much matters WHEN you will be doing the upgrade, and I don't recommend even LOOKING at the prices or options until you are within about a week of being able to pull the trigger because market pricing, sales, diminishing availability of last gen hardware, and a variety of other factors can have a tremendous effect on the cost of a given build or whether it is even still possible to do with the hardware outlined if it becomes unavailable, in as little as a day or week, but certainly if we are talking several weeks or months out. In other words, here today, gone tomorrow, has never been more true than it is when talking about the prices and availability of computer hardware. Best to wait until you have the funds and are fully ready to pull the trigger.
 

Thatpkmtrainer

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Good questions, but, questions that are FULLY dependent on what your actual budget will be for everything that you need as well as whether you are ONLY going to be changing the CPU, motherboard, memory and graphics card?

Also, it very much matters WHEN you will be doing the upgrade, and I don't recommend even LOOKING at the prices or options until you are within about a week of being able to pull the trigger because market pricing, sales, diminishing availability of last gen hardware, and a variety of other factors can have a tremendous effect on the cost of a given build or whether it is even still possible to do with the hardware outlined if it becomes unavailable, in as little as a day or week, but certainly if we are talking several weeks or months out. In other words, here today, gone tomorrow, has never been more true than it is when talking about the prices and availability of computer hardware. Best to wait until you have the funds and are fully ready to pull the trigger.
So after getting some of this new stuff, I started getting some weird bsod's but I eventually fixed it but now, I'm not sure why but my computer will randomly shut off and then once it's off itll power back on but not quite boot as in it doesn't do a single beep. And it's a constant cycle. I solved it last time by unplugging everything except the psu cord and it booted the last 2 times I did it. My Cpu Temps are fantastic. I'm not 100% sure about my gpu Temps. Anyways I tried doing the previous fix and it wasn't wanting to boot. What's wrong with my pc?
 
Hell, I don't know. You didn't offer much information. LOL.

What "stuff" did you get? What does your full hardware specifications look like now? What is the exact model of your power supply now? What was added and what is still the same? What have you tried or done to solve the issues so we don't repeat the same things?
 
If you are getting BSODs now that you did not before, then you either got a bad PSU or failed to connect something, OR, more likely, there is an issue with how you mounted the CPU cooler. Double check it to make sure that you did not overly tighten one corner or fail to tighten one corner or side enough. If the CPU cooler, especially on big heavy ones, is not completely evenly seated all the way around, it can cause the CPU to cock in the socket and break contacts or make something contact where it shouldn't in some cases.

That can cause CPU or memory errors and problems.