[SOLVED] What would be the most suitable upgrade for my pc?

[Guitto]

Im wanting to upgrade my PC . My budget is around £600 or so. I was thinking of getting the new GTX 3080 but what do you guys think? I use it for gaming and college work. Here are my current specs:

CPU: Intel quad core i7-4790K
CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO
GPU: GTX 1070 6GB
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G43 ATX
RAM: Kingston HyperX 16GB 2133MHz (2x8GB)
SSD: Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB
Hard Drive: Stagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm
PSU: Antec 750w

 

[logainofhades]

Unless you are playing at 4k, I wouldn't other with a 3080, with a 4790k. Is there anything that isn't working to your satisfaction currently?

 

[PC Tailor]

PSU model specifically?
Monitor refresh rate and resolution?

 

[Guitto]

PSU model specifically?
Monitor refresh rate and resolution?

Im not sure about the model but its quite good. It cost me about £80 2 years ago. and 144hz 1080p

 

[Guitto]

Unless you are playing at 4k, I wouldn't other with a 3080, with a 4790k. Is there anything that isn't working to your satisfaction currently?

tbh, Im a very competitive fps player and like to have the best frame rate as possible and with my current setup its good but i feel like it can be better...

 

[PC Tailor]

Im not sure about the model but its quite good

I'd still verify if you can.

m a very competitive fps player and like to have the best frame rate as possible

I understand, problem is the 3080 is just going to sit idle, it'll be a hit on your pocket for little/no gain as it's built for better than 1080p.

 

[Guitto]

I'd still verify if you can.


I understand, problem is the 3080 is just going to sit idle, it'll be a hit on your pocket for little/no gain as it's built for better than 1080p.

Okay, that makes sense. So is there anything worth upgrading? Like maybe a better gpu or cpu?

 

[sizzling]

tbh, Im a very competitive fps player and like to have the best frame rate as possible and with my current setup its good but i feel like it can be better...

Usually the best FPS is set by the cpu/RAM combination. The gpu then determines at what resolution and game settings you you can achieve that FPS at. As a test try dropping to 720p. If your FPS does not increase significantly you are likely already limited by your cpu/RAM.

 

[PC Tailor]

Okay, that makes sense. So is there anything worth upgrading? Like maybe a better gpu or cpu?

Well I'd say CPU. But to do that really you'll have to upgrade the rest of the platform. CPU, RAM, and MB.

Ultimately it's down to what you want to achieve, checking how your components are performing in that, and then seeing what the next logical upgrade is for what YOU want to achieve in your specific application.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

AMD is supposed to release new chips shortly. I would hold with what you've got now and wait to see what chips hit the market.

That said, the 4790k is not bad, don't misunderstand. But the new Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300x, as well as the new i3 10 series chips are basically making the 7700k and previous i7 chips almost obselete. By that I mean the Ryzen 3 chips I mentioned and the i3 chips mentioned now are quad cores with hyperthreading. So you can basically get the power of an i7 7700 for about 120 bucks. Which is definitely interesting.

In your case as I said, I'd hold off and see what new chips drop. You can probably get some money for the current setup you've got since people with i3 and i5s of that era may be looking for a last upgrade. So there might be value left there. Looking on ebay says that that your i7 can sell between 175-300 dollars used. At least that's what completed items seem to be going for now.

 

[Guitto]

Well I'd say CPU. But to do that really you'll have to upgrade the rest of the platform. CPU, RAM, and MB.

Ultimately it's down to what you want to achieve, checking how your components are performing in that, and then seeing what the next logical upgrade is for what YOU want to achieve in your specific application.

Why would I need to upgrade my MB too? Would upgrading RAM and CPU not be enough?

 

[PC Tailor]

Why would I need to upgrade my MB too? Would upgrading RAM and CPU not be enough?

Because there is no upgrade worth having on your current platform, it's outdated. To get any newer CPU you'd have to change platform, meaning new CPU, a new MB that can take said CPU, and DDR4 RAM that would be needed for it too.

Your platform isn't compatible with any of the newer components.

 

[geofelt]

To me, the very important information is that you are a very competitive fps player.
I am not one, but I do a lot of reading, and in my previous life I was a performance specialist.
On a gross level, your cpu and cpu performance are the main determinants of performance.
Games will differ in how they use the cpu.
Try the test mentioned above and see how you do by reducing the gpu load on YOUR games.
If you get an FPS improvement, it suggests that a stronger graphics card would do you some good.
Likely, a 3080 is not what you want if you are playing at 1080P and perhaps not even at 1440P.
Wait and see what a 3070 brings. Or, you might find that a GTX1080ti will do the job; they should start to be discounted.

Have you overclocked your I7-4790K?
If not, you are leaving some 20-30% performance on the table.
Here is another experiment to try:
Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.
I suspect that a change to a 10th gen K suffix processor would be that last step up in cpu performance for you.
What you are looking for is an OC or turbo for the top two cores to go past 5.0
The i5./7/i9 K processors will all do that. The main difference is how many threads you get.
12/16/20 respectively. The ryzens are attractive, but the best they can do is around 4.3.

To see how important the number of threads is to your games, here is another experiment to try:

You should also experiment with removing one thread. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.

Only in multiplayer would I expect to see much benefit past 6 threads.
I think a i5-10600K would be very good. I7-10700K at most. You will want a Z490 based motherboard.
Here is a review:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5-10600k-cpu-review/5
Your ram is not the fastest, but Intel does not need fast ram for performance.
It will do.

Gaming on a HDD is not best. Why is that?
Aside from level loads, a game must load graphics textures from the game drive and do game checkpoints.
That is some 40x slower on a HDD compared to a SSD.
A 1tb SSD is not that expensive. Without changing the motherboard, try a samsung 860 evo.
If you have a z490 based motherboard, pay a bit extra for a m.2 pcie ssd like the samsung 970 evo plus.

You will need ddr4 ram. A 2 x 8gb kit in 3200-3600 speed is fine.

What is your mouse and mouse connection?
If I am not mistaken a wired ps2 connection is a bit better for gaming.

I can't talk about mice, but that could also be a factor.
Mice are cheap if you can identify a mouse upgrade.

What is your monitor?
Yes, refresh rate is important. But there is also the issue of input latency that can be helped with buffering.
Here is an older article that might be relevant to you:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/10325/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-and-1070-founders-edition-review/13

 

[helper800]

For the price of a 3080 you could do this for higher fps 1080p competative gaming on your current 1070 card:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor (€353.79 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€89.90 @ Aquatuning)
Motherboard: ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard (€131.97 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €650.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-23 07:42 CEST+0200

Or

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10600K 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor (€243.89 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€89.90 @ Aquatuning)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX LGA1200 Motherboard (€189.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €598.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-23 07:41 CEST+0200

 

[Guitto]

Usually the best FPS is set by the cpu/RAM combination. The gpu then determines at what resolution and game settings you you can achieve that FPS at. As a test try dropping to 720p. If your FPS does not increase significantly you are likely already limited by your cpu/RAM.

So I lowered the resolution to 720p from 1080p and got a little fps boost, more consistent fps and the game seemed to be smoother. Suggestions?

 

[sizzling]

So I lowered the resolution to 720p from 1080p and got a little fps boost, more consistent fps and the game seemed to be smoother. Suggestions?

That is a strong indication you are already cpu limited and it will be essential to upgrade cpu if aiming for higher FPS.

 

[geofelt]

So I lowered the resolution to 720p from 1080p and got a little fps boost, more consistent fps and the game seemed to be smoother. Suggestions?

That suggests to me that a graphics card upgrade would be of some help.
But, the "little" boost suggests that there is also a cpu component that could use updating.

If you have overclocked your processor, what is the max multiplier?
If not, try a small OC and see how you do.
That is what the K and Z97 are designed for.
You might need a better cooler than the hyper212.

The current gen i3-10600K, i5-10700k, and I9-10900k will all boost or oc to around 5.0.
Considerably higher than your I7-4790K.
The main difference is in the number of threads you get.
12/16/20 respectively.
How many of your current 8 threads are effectively used?

You can find out.
In the windows msconfig boot advanced options option change to 7 threads.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.
While you will see all threads having activity, that does not mean that a game or app is well threaded.
What you are seeing is just windows spreading the activity to all available threads.

 

[Guitto]

That suggests to me that a graphics card upgrade would be of some help.
But, the "little" boost suggests that there is also a cpu component that could use updating.

If you have overclocked your processor, what is the max multiplier?
If not, try a small OC and see how you do.
That is what the K and Z97 are designed for.
You might need a better cooler than the hyper212.

The current gen i3-10600K, i5-10700k, and I9-10900k will all boost or oc to around 5.0.
Considerably higher than your I7-4790K.
The main difference is in the number of threads you get.
12/16/20 respectively.
How many of your current 8 threads are effectively used?

You can find out.
In the windows msconfig boot advanced options option change to 7 threads.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.
While you will see all threads having activity, that does not mean that a game or app is well threaded.
What you are seeing is just windows spreading the activity to all available threads.

I've never OC in my life. How would I get on doing it safely?

 

[geofelt]

Your i7-4790K runs at a stock clock multiplier of 40.
Under good thermal conditions and a light load, you can get a turbo of 44.
The K suffix processors are unlocked, meaning that in the bios you can change the multiplier.
You can look up some sophisticated ways to get the best out of your chip.
But really the best you can do is determined by your luck in getting a good chip.
Intel guarantees 40, but with a decent cooler, I would imagine something like 46 on all cores is a reasonable expectation.

To start, leave all voltage settings on Auto.
Then increase the all core multiplier from 40 to 41.
Run some sort of a stress test.
CPU-Z has a simple one on it's bench tab.
If you run a second copy, you can see the multiplier and the voltage.
Run HWmonitor to monitor the temperatures.
It will show you the current, minimum, and maximum temperatures.
85c. on a stress test is ok.
The chip monitors it's temperature and will shut down if it detects a dangerous temperature.
That is around 100c.
As I recall a cpu core voltage of 1.3v is ok. I think 1.35 would be the most you want to do.

When done, implement speedstep and adaptive voltage.
That will reduce the multiplier and voltage when there is little to do.