[SOLVED] What's the best upgrade GPU card for my build with an i7 4790K without bottleneck problems?

nickeh1

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Jul 16, 2015
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I used to have an AMD R9 390 Graphics Card and it broke on me a couple of months ago. After thorough testing I have found it is definitely the graphics card so I am looking for a replacement.
I understand that my build is quite dated now but I would prefer to keep it for a good couple of years (if I can) considering I do not play any high-end games. I only play games such as CSGO, Rocket league, Valorant. I would like to be able to play Escape From Tarkov smoothly as well.
So far I've done quite a bit of research of which would be the best graphics card to go for based on my build but I'm still stuck for what to go for – please see my options and where I am below:

- 1080ti ? Costs around £450 second hand – cannot buy brand new any more.
i7-4790K with 1080ti comparison link - https://www.cpuagent.com/cpu/intel-...vidia-geforce-gtx-1080-ti?res=1&quality=ultra

- 1660ti ? - Costs around £380 brand new
i7-4790K with 1660ti comparison link - https://www.cpuagent.com/cpu/intel-core-i7-4790k/bottleneck/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti

- 3060ti ? – Costs around £550 brand new
i7-4790K with 3060ti comparison link - https://www.cpuagent.com/cpu/intel-...vidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti?res=1&quality=ultra

Or should I look at AMD based on the build I currently have?
My old card costs around £160 second hand, and that's for the slight upgrade from R9 390 to R9 390X. Worried this will struggle with running Escape from tarkov on high frames though and I want the pc to last me a good couple of years at least.

This is the current build and I run on 1440p :
[CARD DIED – LOOKING FOR REPLACEMENT] - MSI Radeon R9 390 GAMING AMD Graphics Card 8GB
Intel Quad-Core i7-4790K
EVGA Super NOVA 850W PC Power Supply – Gold
Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard (4x DDR3, 6x USB3.0, 6x USB2.0, HDMI, DVI-I, DSUB)
Crucial BX100 250 GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive
WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue
Alpenfhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler 120 mm
NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case with Side Window and 4 Quiet Fans for PC - White/Black
Team Group TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01 - TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual
ASUS MG278Q Gaming Monitor - 27" 2K WQHD (2560 x 1440), 1ms, G-SYNC Compatible, up to 144Hz, FreeSync

From my research (partially based on those comparison links above with an i7 4790K) it seems that the 3060ti would give me best performance and the price difference is not huge compared to the other options out there which are available today.
However, I am wondering if those comparisons are based on running at 1080p (I will be running 1440p) which I have gathered means more load on GPU, but no more load on CPU for 1440p compared to 1080p - would this mean the bottleneck won't be that bad with 3060ti + i7-4790K?
I am also open to exploring upgrading the CPU as well but I think I am limited with this due to my old motherboard. It also gets to the point where if I am upgrading multiple parts, I may as well start looking at a new build but that’s not really what I can do at the moment.
Anyways I'm just exploring all options so I'd appreciate if any of you have a suggestion based on the above. Many thanks,
 
Solution
Bottleneck calculators are nothing but utter crap. You should not advise them, don't trust them and certainly don't use them.

You CAN NOT tell the amount of bottleneck there is in a system without knowing all the variables. A system does not have the same performance loss in each and every game, with different drivers, windows updates, temps, etc...

So, every single scenario is different and you have to be extremely specific to find how much performance loss your system has.

Buy the best card you can afford and carry it to your next build.
I used to have an AMD R9 390 Graphics Card and it broke on me a couple of months ago. After thorough testing I have found it is definitely the graphics card so I am looking for a replacement.
I understand that my build is quite dated now but I would prefer to keep it for a good couple of years (if I can) considering I do not play any high-end games. I only play games such as CSGO, Rocket league, Valorant. I would like to be able to play Escape From Tarkov smoothly as well.
So far I've done quite a bit of research of which would be the best graphics card to go for based on my build but I'm still stuck for what to go for – please see my options and where I am below:

- 1080ti ? Costs around £450 second hand – cannot buy brand new any more.
i7-4790K with 1080ti comparison link - https://www.cpuagent.com/cpu/intel-...vidia-geforce-gtx-1080-ti?res=1&quality=ultra

- 1660ti ? - Costs around £380 brand new
i7-4790K with 1660ti comparison link - https://www.cpuagent.com/cpu/intel-core-i7-4790k/bottleneck/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-ti

- 3060ti ? – Costs around £550 brand new
i7-4790K with 3060ti comparison link - https://www.cpuagent.com/cpu/intel-...vidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti?res=1&quality=ultra

Or should I look at AMD based on the build I currently have?
My old card costs around £160 second hand, and that's for the slight upgrade from R9 390 to R9 390X. Worried this will struggle with running Escape from tarkov on high frames though and I want the pc to last me a good couple of years at least.

This is the current build and I run on 1440p :
[CARD DIED – LOOKING FOR REPLACEMENT] - MSI Radeon R9 390 GAMING AMD Graphics Card 8GB
Intel Quad-Core i7-4790K
EVGA Super NOVA 850W PC Power Supply – Gold
Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard (4x DDR3, 6x USB3.0, 6x USB2.0, HDMI, DVI-I, DSUB)
Crucial BX100 250 GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive
WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue
Alpenfhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler 120 mm
NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case with Side Window and 4 Quiet Fans for PC - White/Black
Team Group TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01 - TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual
ASUS MG278Q Gaming Monitor - 27" 2K WQHD (2560 x 1440), 1ms, G-SYNC Compatible, up to 144Hz, FreeSync

From my research (partially based on those comparison links above with an i7 4790K) it seems that the 3060ti would give me best performance and the price difference is not huge compared to the other options out there which are available today.
However, I am wondering if those comparisons are based on running at 1080p (I will be running 1440p) which I have gathered means more load on GPU, but no more load on CPU for 1440p compared to 1080p - would this mean the bottleneck won't be that bad with 3060ti + i7-4790K?
I am also open to exploring upgrading the CPU as well but I think I am limited with this due to my old motherboard. It also gets to the point where if I am upgrading multiple parts, I may as well start looking at a new build but that’s not really what I can do at the moment.
Anyways I'm just exploring all options so I'd appreciate if any of you have a suggestion based on the above. Many thanks,
Why bother with the "bottleneck"? even if your cpu bottlenecks your gpu, it will still churn out good graphics

e.g. a 3060ti working at 80 pct is still nice

you wont have the cpu forever, so why would you scale your gpu to your cpu?

once you get a new cpu you can carry over the gpu
 

nickeh1

Distinguished
Jul 16, 2015
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18,535
Why bother with the "bottleneck"? even if your cpu bottlenecks your gpu, it will still churn out good graphics

e.g. a 3060ti working at 80 pct is still nice

you wont have the cpu forever, so why would you scale your gpu to your cpu?

once you get a new cpu you can carry over the gpu

I agree but it seems it could be bottleneck at more like 60 percent

And in a couple of years, if i need a new build, I'd probably want a better card than 3060ti if I'm going to be going for a new CPU such as Alder Lake or whatever is best at the time.

All depends how future proof 3060ti is... could go even higher range than this but it just seems a bit silly right now.
 
I agree but it seems it could be bottleneck at more like 60 percent

And in a couple of years, if i need a new build, I'd probably want a better card than 3060ti if I'm going to be going for a new CPU such as Alder Lake or whatever is best at the time.

All depends how future proof 3060ti is... could go even higher range than this but it just seems a bit silly right now.
personally i woud get whatever gpu you want and sthat suits your need/budget

futureproofing is a flawed concept, there are always upgrades changes you can do, the road doesn't end with the perfect balanced pc
 
Bottleneck calculators are nothing but utter crap. You should not advise them, don't trust them and certainly don't use them.

You CAN NOT tell the amount of bottleneck there is in a system without knowing all the variables. A system does not have the same performance loss in each and every game, with different drivers, windows updates, temps, etc...

So, every single scenario is different and you have to be extremely specific to find how much performance loss your system has.

Buy the best card you can afford and carry it to your next build.
 
Solution
There is no such thing as "bottlenecking"
If, by that, you mean that upgrading a cpu or graphics card can
somehow lower your performance or FPS.
A better term might be limiting factor.
That is where adding more cpu or gpu becomes increasingly
less effective.

As a rule, games are more limited by the graphics card than the cpu.
If that is the case, any of the cards you are considering will be a major upgrade over a r9-390.
If you are currently using integrated graphics it will be hard to guess what your most effective upgrade might be.
Many games such as CSGO depend on the single thread performance of the master thread, making cpu performance a more important factor.
You can try this experiment:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.
If cpu is your main limiter, I might take a stab at overclocking.
There is some 25% cpu improvement available.

More likely, you need a good graphics card, particularly at 1440P
I would try to buy the 3060ti.
It can be carried forward to an eventual cpu/mobo/ddr4 rebuild.
At that time, look at the i5-11400.
I might guess that such an upgrade with a b560 motherboard and 16gb of ddr4 ram could be had for the same £380 as the 1660ti graphics card.
Here is a review:
Here is a review
 
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If your goal is to have 100% GPU utilization, the easy solution is to crank up the details, resolution, and use super sampling antialiasing features.

If your goal having a GPU that gives you a solid 60FPS no matter what, then know that your CPU determines the maximum possible frame rate. If you play a game and the CPU is struggling to provide 30FPS, no GPU is going to help you here.