Upgrade options for gaming at 1440p 144Hz

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Hello, folks. First timer here and wanted to get your opinions on an upgrade that I'm planning. I currently have the rig mentioned below and want to upgrade my monitor to 1440p 144Hz to be future proof. I know my GTX 960 isn't ideal for 1440p, so thought about upgrading my GPU later on. I also want to get a G-Sync monitor, so have my eye out for an Acer Predator XB271HU or the Dell S2716DG, but they're turning out to by too expensive, especially if I'll get a new GPU, like the 1070. Thanks to the busting of the myth about how not to pair an Intel CPU with an AMD GPU, I'm now starting to consider scrapping the above 2 monitor options and going for their Freesync counterpart along with a Radeon GPU. The problem is that being on the Nvidia family for almost a decade now, I'm not sure which Radeon GPU is suitable for my current set up. So, I would appreciate it if someone can provide me pointers on a few things:

 

1. Would the RX 580 play well with my system, then is probably a few generations old? Are there any caveats to consider that might cause bottlenecks or might not let me get the best out of such a card?
2. Is my current CPU good enough for games like Assassin's Creed Origins/Odyssey or should I upgrade to a newer generation or CPU (..and thereby get a new mobo and RAM as well)? 
3. Would adding another stick of 8GB RAM help my gaming experience in anyway? Shorter load time perhaps?
4. Any other recommendations?

TIA.

 

Intel Core i5-4460 3.2 Ghz

MSI Z97 Gaming 3 mobo

1x Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Desktop Memory

MSI Gaming GTX 960 2GB

Samsung P2350 monitor

[mxk]

Welcome to the forum! You gave a lot of good information to go off of, but whats your budget and currency? That would help.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

1 minute ago, mxk. said:

Welcome to the forum! You gave a lot of good information to go off of, but whats your budget and currency? That would help.

I'm from India, so currency is INR. My budget is about USD 800-1000. But I am willing to exceed it if necessary.

[Cereal5]

4 minutes ago, mxk. said:

18,000+ SSG-08 kills in CSGO

At least half of those better be jumps

 

Well... there are a lot of ways you can go about upgrading your rig without having to do a complete overhaul, but you could also do a complete overhaul for probably a similar price... It's ends up being very similar in the end though. But yeah, start by answering the above questions.

 

edit: You can either upgrade to a 4770K/4790K and then get a GPU (probably would recommend another stick of RAM also, 8GB is close to the bare minimum these days). Or you could do a full upgrade to an R5 2600, appropriate MoBo, and 16GB of RAM. I don't know how much that works out to in INR, but that tends to be about $350-400 USD. The former option would probably be... $250 or so, depends on the CPU deal you get.

[mxk]

Just now, Cereal5 said:

At least half of those better be jumps

 

Well... there are a lot of ways you can go about upgrading your rig without having to do a complete overhaul, but you could also do a complete overhaul for probably a similar price... It's ends up being very similar in the end though. But yeah, start by answering the above questions.

Do you know what scoutzknivez is? Also, I've practiced headshot wallbanging people through dust 2 mid doors from ct cross

 

You think he could manage getting a 4790k?

[Cereal5]

Just now, mxk. said:

Do you know what scoutzknivez is? Also, I've practiced headshot wallbanging people through dust 2 mid doors from ct cross

 

You think he could manage getting a 4790k?

No idea what that is, but lol to the second, probably a good skill to have.

 

See my edit. It would depend entirely on the used market in India. 4770K/4790Ks are still pretty expensive even in the US.

[mxk]

1 minute ago, Cereal5 said:

No idea what that is, but lol to the second, probably a good skill to have.

 

See my edit. It would depend entirely on the used market in India. 4770K/4790Ks are still pretty expensive even in the US.

True, true. An overhaul might be a good idea.

[mxk]

The rx 580 isn't the best option for 1440p gaming to be honest, A 1070/vega 56 and up is a better choice for that. 

[Cereal5]

2 minutes ago, mxk. said:

The rx 580 isn't the best option for 1440p gaming to be honest, A 1070/vega 56 and up is a better choice for that. 

For 1440p 144Hz I'd say 1070 TI or higher, I don't know how the Vega cards handle higher frame rates at 1440p, though I'm pretty sure a 56 is similar to a 1070, so it might require a 64. That might be pretty hard to pull off though with the CPU upgrades since the US market tends to run cheaper than pretty much anywhere else (except you damn Australians and your 970 Evo SSDs).

[mxk]

Just now, Cereal5 said:

For 1440p 144Hz I'd say 1070 TI or higher, I don't know how the Vega cards handle higher frame rates at 1440p, though I'm pretty sure a 56 is similar to a 1070, so it might require a 64. That might be pretty hard to pull off though with the CPU upgrades since the US market tends to run cheaper than pretty much anywhere else (except you damn Australians and your 970 Evo SSDs).

I'm doing a list right now, you think a 2600 will be able to manage 144hz 1440p? Or should I be taking the list in a different direction

[TrigrH]

Without a 4770K/4790K you cannot reach the framerates you need.

 

I personally found a 1070 not fast enough for a 144hz 1440p, I swapped it for a 1080ti.

[WereCat]

For 1440p 144Hz you need to upgrade CPU, RAM and GPU.

 

You are not doing 144Hz at 1440p with RX 580 8GB unless you just want to play some light titles like CS:GO, Rocket League, etc...

So if you want to play some more demanding games, your GPU wont be powerfull enough to get you 144FPS at this resolution on anything more than LOW/MEDIUM settings.

But then again, your CPU is not really great for 144Hz gaming either and it will have huge problems with maintaining anything above 100FPS in the more demanding games, not to mention that you are using just a single-channel RAM, throwing in another stick would definitely help with stabilizing the FPS but you will still be limited by the CPU in the more demanding games... assuming that your GPU is powerfull enough which means that you have to get something more powerfull than RX 580.

 

Optimal build would be

Vega 56 or GTX 1070ti

i7 4770k/4790k

2x8GB DDR3 2133Mhz

 

Honestly, unless you can find a good deal for these parts (used likely) then just build a new machine alltogether that is actually suited for 1440p 144Hz.

[Cereal5]

1 minute ago, mxk. said:

I'm doing a list right now, you think a 2600 will be able to manage 144hz 1440p? Or should I be taking the list in a different direction

It could do 100+. 144 might be asking a bit much. But if he has freesync then it should be fine.

[mxk]

Just now, Cereal5 said:

It could do 100+. 144 might be asking a bit much. But if he has freesync then it should be fine.

thats true, the monitor he has isn't freesync though. The most I can say right now, OP, is that you need a setup overhaul in order to do 1440p 144hz. I love helping out but I kinda have a lab report I've been neglecting.... oops.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

17 minutes ago, mxk. said:

Do you know what scoutzknivez is? Also, I've practiced headshot wallbanging people through dust 2 mid doors from ct cross

 

You think he could manage getting a 4790k?

Both the 4770 and 4790 are about $470. The R5 2600 is about half that price. If I do decide for an overhaul, then Ryzen seems like the way to go.

14 minutes ago, mxk. said:

The rx 580 isn't the best option for 1440p gaming to be honest, A 1070/vega 56 and up is a better choice for that. 

The Vega 56 is as expensive as the 1070, depending on the variant. So, would the Vega 56+a Freesync monitor do well on my current rig?

[mxk]

Just now, Sheik Yerbouti said:

Both the 4770 and 4790 are about $470. The R5 2600 is about half that price. If I do decide for an overhaul, then Ryzen seems like the way to go.

The Vega 56 is as expensive as the 1070, depending on the variant. So, would the Vega 56+a Freesync monitor do well on my current rig?

before I go, yes, ryzen is a great choice and so is vega 56 with a freesync monitor. Vega 56 is about the same as the 1070 so the pricing is gonna be equal. It wouldn't be a bad pair with the cpu you have right now, but I personally think you should just wait for a little while longer and then do a complete, new AMD based PC.

[Cereal5]

2 minutes ago, Sheik Yerbouti said:

Both the 4770 and 4790 are about $470. The R5 2600 is about half that price. If I do decide for an overhaul, then Ryzen seems like the way to go.

The Vega 56 is as expensive as the 1070, depending on the variant. So, would the Vega 56+a Freesync monitor do well on my current rig?

Your CPU is pretty old. Take your favorite game, turn all the settings on as low as possible, and whatever frame rate you get sill probably be the maximum you can get at any resolution. I would imagine on games like AC, that would be a little below 100, although I think AC is pretty CPU intensive. 

 

Just now, mxk. said:

before I go, yes, ryzen is a great choice and so is vega 56 with a freesync monitor. Vega 56 is about the same as the 1070 so the pricing is gonna be equal. It wouldn't be a bad pair with the cpu you have right now, but I personally think you should just wait for a little while longer and then do a complete, new AMD based PC.

Yeah, if you can save up a little more money then you should be able to do a full system and have something pretty good that will last you a while.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

2 minutes ago, mxk. said:

before I go, yes, ryzen is a great choice and so is vega 56 with a freesync monitor. Vega 56 is about the same as the 1070 so the pricing is gonna be equal. It wouldn't be a bad pair with the cpu you have right now, but I personally think you should just wait for a little while longer and then do a complete, new AMD based PC.

Thanks for your inputs. Good luck with that lab report.  

2 minutes ago, Cereal5 said:

Your CPU is pretty old. Take your favorite game, turn all the settings on as low as possible, and whatever frame rate you get sill probably be the maximum you can get at any resolution. I would imagine on games like AC, that would be a little below 100, although I think AC is pretty CPU intensive. 

 

Yeah, if you can save up a little more money then you should be able to do a full system and have something pretty good that will last you a while.

 That would be The Witcher 3. I saw a video of it running in potato mode (all graphics options turned down) and it was awful. 

 

OK, back to the drawing boards then. I don't mind an overhaul, but I hate having to worry about getting rid of my current PC. The used market here isn't too great, at least from what I can see, and I'd hate for this rig, which I spent quite a bit on a few years ago, just sitting there collecting dust.  Thanks for your help though.