Question What should I upgrade first? i7-7700 or GTX 1060 6gb

[Wanderrlust]

Title kind of explains it, but I want to upgrade either my cpu or my gpu and I'm not sure which I should. I am upgrading for gaming purposes. I have a i5-9600k in mind which is inside my budget and I could probably get a cpu and gpu if not too expensive. Any gpu recommendations are welcome too.

Sorry if this is the wrong thread but idk where to put it.

Thanks y'all, have a merry X-Mas
Wanderrlust

 

[boju]

What's your intended resolution and refresh rate?

9600k is going to require a new mobo, i hope you realise that. Compared to your 8 thread cpu though in modern games, 9600k's higher freq might get more fps but it'll run into a high usage wall before your cpu does.

Depending on resolution and fps, if you're aiming for 60~80fps the 9600k would do ok. Beyond that, would consider 9700k/9900k or 3600x/3700x Ryzen.

 

[Nikhil880]

In budget building go for Nvidia 1650. Or if you can afford but 1660. But not 1660Ti it might result in little bottleneck

 

[Wanderrlust]

Hey boju thanks for your response

I have a 1060 6gb and am just looking for 1080p 60 - 144 fps.

 

[Third-Eye]

Title kind of explains it, but I want to upgrade either my cpu or my gpu and I'm not sure which I should. I am upgrading for gaming purposes. I have a i5-9600k in mind which is inside my budget and I could probably get a cpu and gpu if not too expensive. Any gpu recommendations are welcome too.

Sorry if this is the wrong thread but idk where to put it.

Thanks y'all, have a merry X-Mas
Wanderrlust

If you want a 50% fps increase with your current CPU, you would need to upgrade the GPU to a GTX 2070 or Super. You might be better off saving toward an RTX 3060 which may release next year and be as fast as the 2070/Super but for close to the price of the 2060 Super right now. A GTX 1660ti or RTX 2060 Super will only increase fps by around 32-37%.

Assuming you have a 7700k, you would need to buy a new motherboard for the 9600k, but you could reuse the DDR4 ram if you are on a tight budget. On the other hand a Ryzen 5 3600X is pretty much equal to the 9600k and has 6 cores 12 threads vs the 9600k's 6 Cores 6 threads and comes with a pretty good stock cooler. The Ryzen 5 3600X is also $5 cheaper on amazon at $200.

Buy the GPU before upgrading the CPU since you can still get another year or two out of the 7700k.

 

[Wanderrlust]

In budget building go for Nvidia 1650. Or if you can afford but 1660. But not 1660Ti it might result in little bottleneck

ok good to know thanks

 

[Wanderrlust]

If you want a 50% fps increase with your current CPU, you would need to upgrade the GPU to a GTX 2070 or Super. You might be better off saving toward an RTX 3060 which may release next year and be as fast as the 2070/Super but for close to the price of the 2060 Super right now. A GTX 1660ti or RTX 2060 Super will only increase fps by around 32-37%.

Assuming you have a 7700k, you would need to buy a new motherboard for the 9600k, but you could reuse the DDR4 ram if you are on a tight budget. On the other hand a Ryzen 5 3600X is pretty much equal to the 9600k and has 6 cores 12 threads vs the 9600k's 6 Cores 6 threads and comes with a pretty good stock cooler. The Ryzen 5 3600X is also $5 cheaper on amazon at $200.

Buy the GPU before upgrading the CPU since you can still get another year or two out of the 7700k.

nah i have a 7700 non-k.

thanks very much for your response

 

[Bobbysix]

AMD Radeon 5700XT is a tremendous value GPU - like most people have already said, go with a GPU upgrade before you upgrade the CPU.

 

[EPIC123]

What do you mean "the gtx 1660 ti will bottleneck the i5-9600k"? Going to this website https://pc-builds.com/calculator/, the gtx 1660 ti goes great with the i5-9600k. Don't underestimate the i5-9600k.

 

[Bobbysix]

I think

What do you mean "the gtx 1660 ti will bottleneck the i5-9600k"? Going to this website https://pc-builds.com/calculator/, the gtx 1660 ti goes great with the i5-9600k. Don't underestimate the i5-9600k.

I think he means that the GPU will be the bottle neck in the system - I had a i5 8600K (very similar to a 9600K) with a RTX 2070 and the GPU was still the bottleneck.

 

[boju]

Depends on game, game code, resolution & refresh rate, cpu resource and IPC to maintain a level of pre-render frames. High fps in busy games can lead to very high usages on some cpus and chance for stutters.

See

 

[sizzling]

The 9600k is not a worthwhile upgrade over the 7700. The 9600k was only very slightly ahead of the 7700k so you are only looking at a similar difference to upgrading to a 7700k.

As a 9600k would also require a new motherboard you are better off going Ryzen. The i5 although a good performer just isn’t as good of an option as a 3600X. The 9600k is showing it is near it’s limits in a few cpu heavy games due to only 6 threads. A 3600X with 12 threads has more headroom for the future. We saw how badly the 4 core/thread i5’s aged (example 7600) with some games needing more than 4 cores/threads. I believe we are going to see the same poor aging from the 6 core/thread i5’s in the next couple of years.

For now stick with the 7700 and upgrade the gpu.