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Upgrade CPU or GPU first?

Cs342
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Hello everyone.

I've been using my current PC for a loooong time. It's got a i7 2600K and a 7970 graphics card. It still runs pretty well but I've been getting the urge to upgrade for a while now and I'm not sure if it's worth upgrading my CPU, or if I should just spend all that money on a good graphics card and get a 1440p monitor (I'm currently running 1080p). From what I can tell, the 2600K is starting to show its age but is still performing respectably in games. I'm looking to play the latest titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, the upcoming Battlefield game etc.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

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3 minutes ago, Cs342 said:

I'm looking to play the latest titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, the upcoming Battlefield game etc.

Lol good luck. I say get a new graphics card like a 2070 and see if you can get away with it, but if you can't get good performance then you'll need a new CPU.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 11 and Fedora Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

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1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

Lol good luck. I say get a new graphics card like a 2070 and see if you can get away with it, but if you can't get good performance then you'll need a new CPU.

I can actually get 30-40FPS on Rise of the Tomb Raider with my current setup and mostly high settings @ 1080p which is quite decent considering how old my graphics card is :P

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

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5 minutes ago, Cs342 said:

Hello everyone.

I've been using my current PC for a loooong time. It's got a i7 2600K and a 7970 graphics card. It still runs pretty well but I've been getting the urge to upgrade for a while now and I'm not sure if it's worth upgrading my CPU, or if I should just spend all that money on a good graphics card and get a 1440p monitor (I'm currently running 1080p). From what I can tell, the 2600K is starting to show its age but is still performing respectably in games. I'm looking to play the latest titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, the upcoming Battlefield game etc.

if you go 1440p then there's no need for a CPU upgrade unless you can get something faster than an RTX 2070

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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Just now, Cs342 said:

I can actually get 30-40FPS on Rise of the Tomb Raider with my current setup and mostly high settings @ 1080p which is quite decent considering how old my graphics card is :P

Than GPU first? I mean I feel like this is something that you should hold out on and upgrade both at the same time, probably just save money for a new PC.

8086k

aorus pro z390

noctua nh-d15s chromax w black cover

evga 3070 ultra

samsung 128gb, adata swordfish 1tb, wd blue 1tb

seasonic 620w dogballs psu

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Cs342 said:

 

What budget/country for new stuff?

The 2600K is still perfectly fine assuming it's OC'd to at least 4.5ghz.
 

 

I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

Spoiler

 

What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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2 minutes ago, mxk. said:

Than GPU first? I mean I feel like this is something that you should hold out on and upgrade both at the same time, probably just save money for a new PC.

The thing is my CPU still performs fine for regular tasks so I don't know if I'd be able to tell the difference with a newer CPU unless the 2600K was bottlenecking my graphics card

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

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Just now, Cs342 said:

The thing is my CPU still performs fine for regular tasks so I don't know if I'd be able to tell the difference with a newer CPU unless the 2600K was bottlenecking my graphics card

You'll be able to tell the difference between an 8700k/9700k from your 2600k. The 8700k has 6 cores and the 9700k has 8. THe 9700k has double the cores of your CPU

8086k

aorus pro z390

noctua nh-d15s chromax w black cover

evga 3070 ultra

samsung 128gb, adata swordfish 1tb, wd blue 1tb

seasonic 620w dogballs psu

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Cs342 said:

 

You can get a used 980ti for like $200-250, or a new 1070ti for under $400

Really I'd just wait and see what NAVI will bring, but who knows how long that is.

You need to save up for a new monitor anyways, or just save up for an entire new system for whenever Ryzen 3000 and NAVI drops.

A 1440p 144hz IPS free-sync display is about $400 by itself.

If you were only getting a 1440p 60hz display, you should instead buy a 4k 60hz IPS free-sync display, also from $250-400

AdoredTV has insane rumors/leaks in his latest video, most likely we get more Info at CES in January

 

I edit my posts a lot, Twitter is @LordStreetguru just don't ask PC questions there mostly...
 

Spoiler

 

What is your budget/country for your new PC?

 

what monitor resolution/refresh rate?

 

What games or other software do you need to run?

 

 

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