Gaming performance boost by upgrades?

[Splitzer]

Most of my time online is spent playing video games but I have not upgraded anything other than the gpu since 2014 or 2015, Right now I have a DDR3 system with a 4790k and 16gb ram. My montor resolution is 4K but I often drop that down to 1440p to maintain a high number of frames where possible. I know I know if I want the best frames "Go and get yourself a 2080ti lad and forget about the cpu setup" The thing is I do not feel like my gpu is the problem at the moment I have a 1080ti and I drop the settings down to 1440p ultra for higher fps most of the time. If a 2080TI is worth it though I'm all ears, then again though that would only benefit me on the gpu side of things. I tend to play a lot of Overwatch, Fallout 4, GTA and CS:GO which are considered more cpu dependent. I play my fair share of these types of games regularly that fall under the cpu dependent bracket so I'm left wondering will a cpu, mobo and ram upgrade be beneficial performance wise, more precisely fps gains? my frames tend to bounce around wildly at times and I lay the finger solely at the cpu when playing such titles. As for current games my cpu is slightly bottlenecking my gpu on some games or cutting it very close in 2018 and 2019 titles especially those open world environment type of games.

 

Has anyone here jumped ship and care to share their thoughts? Is anyone else suffering from bottlenecks on their 4790k? How about the fps and stability differences between the old and the newer hardware? It is all very important.

[Slottr]

The 4790k is an awesome, strong chip but there's obviously better one's out right now

Going from a 1080ti to a 2080ti is irrelevant, the upgrade is useless unless you REALLLLY want RT

 

I honestly wouldnt upgrade anything, but if you're just a performance junkie then go get a 9900k

[Volts2545]

First I would use task manager to see if your CPU is at %100 utilization. If so you have found your problem, it could also be your ram. For 4K gaming DDR3 could be a bottle neck.

[Splitzer]

7 minutes ago, Slottr said:

The 4790k is an awesome, strong chip but there's obviously better one's out right now

Going from a 1080ti to a 2080ti is irrelevant, the upgrade is useless unless you REALLLLY want RT

 

I honestly wouldnt upgrade anything, but if you're just a performance junkie then go get a 9900k

I would consider myself a bit of a performance junkie for sure but who isnt? We all want the best performance we can possibly achieve in the games we play. With me though I like to keep everything on high or ultra settings with the fps being above 60 preferably. The problem I had with 4K in some games is the fact I couldn't quite hit those numbers without turning many settings down so I just dropped to 1440p instead. 1440p is a fantastic go between in my opinion. Higher fps, still looks great and I can run everything at high / ultra without having to upgrade every 6 months. The 9900k is a cpu I will keep my eye on but one thing remains how much better would a DDR4 setup be when playing video games. Am I going to get a smoother and much more consistent framerate and am I going to see a considerable difference in frames on both cpu and gpu dependent games?

 

17 minutes ago, Volts2545 said:

First I would use task manager to see if your CPU is at %100 utilization. If so you have found your problem, it could also be your ram. For 4K gaming DDR3 could be a bottle neck.

 

Yes, I have noticed it in a few games so far. Either that or my cpu is 100% on one or two of the 4 cores 4 threads whilst the rest are low.

 

[Volts2545]

1 minute ago, Splitzer said:

I would consider myself a bit of a performance junkie for sure but who isnt? We all want the best performance we can possibly achieve in the games we play. With me though I like to keep everything on high or ultra settings with the fps being above 60 preferably. The problem I had with 4K in some games is the fact I couldn't quite hit those numbers without turning many settings down so I just dropped to 1440p instead. 1440p is a fantastic go between in my opinion. Higher fps, still looks great and I can run everything at high / ultra without having to upgrade every 6 months. The 9900k is a cpu I will keep my eye on but one thing remains how much better would a DDR4 setup be when playing video games. Am I going to get a smoother and much more consistent framerate and am I going to see a considerable difference in frames on both cpu and gpu dependent games?

 

 

Yes, I have noticed it in a few games so far. Either that or my cpu is 100% on one or two of the 4 cores 4 threads whilst the rest are low.

 

Their might be something wrong with your settings

[Splitzer]

26 minutes ago, Volts2545 said:

Their might be something wrong with your settings

Not all games just some. I prefer lowering it to 1440p for a higher achievable framerate. The cpu being at or almost max is not normal on a 4790k on current games? In my case it does infact hit or comes close to those figures in some games. What I would really like to know though is what would I be getting by investing in a 9900K when it comes to cpu and gpu dependent games compared to the existing setup.

[SkilledRebuilds]

53 minutes ago, Splitzer said:

Not all games just some.The cpu being at or almost max is not normal on a 4790k on current games?

What games specifically do you see this in?

 

[LienusLateTips]

Wait until Zen 2, rumoured to release at Computex '19

[Splitzer]

2 hours ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

What games specifically do you see this in?

 

It seems to happen with most of the newer releases in heavily populated areas. There is no way this is a isolated issue, it's been reported many a time. The 4 core cpu's can't handle these areas very well and it causes fps drops and stutter. It makes some of the games unplayable unless you lock the frames or and lower the settings even further to reduce the cpu load a little bit.

 

I would just like the other question being answered tbh.

 

"The 9900k is a cpu I will keep my eye on but one thing remains how much better would a DDR4 setup be when playing video games. Am I going to get a smoother and much more consistent framerate and am I going to see a considerable difference in frames on both cpu and gpu dependent games? "

 

"What I would really like to know though is what would I be getting by investing in a 9900K when it comes to cpu and gpu dependent games compared to the existing setup."

 

I believe the 4790k is holding me back at both 1440p and 4k resolutions in both cpu and gpu dependent games. On the gpu dependent games with populated areas crippling my fps and on cpu dependent games because the cpu is old.

[Jay Deah]

So 4K resolution is such a huge challenge for GPUs that your CPU performance isn’t reallly what’s holding you back. You could go to a 9900k and not suddenly hit that 4k 60fps AAA on your 1080ti.

 

1440p really is where it’s at for that card. Now yes you could spend 1.5k on a 2080ti but it still isn’t THAT much better to hit the resolution/quality/FPS goal you’re after. So is it really worth spending money if it still isn’t good enough? ProbBly not.

 

in my opinion what you need to do is either spend a ton of cash on a super-expensive Dual GPU setup costing many many thousands of dollars and MAYBE be satisfied.

OR

Lower your expectations and be content with 1440p and instead spend your money on something nice for your house.

[Splitzer]

2 hours ago, Jay Deah said:

So 4K resolution is such a huge challenge for GPUs that your CPU performance isn’t reallly what’s holding you back. You could go to a 9900k and not suddenly hit that 4k 60fps AAA on your 1080ti.

 

1440p really is where it’s at for that card. Now yes you could spend 1.5k on a 2080ti but it still isn’t THAT much better to hit the resolution/quality/FPS goal you’re after. So is it really worth spending money if it still isn’t good enough? ProbBly not.

 

in my opinion what you need to do is either spend a ton of cash on a super-expensive Dual GPU setup costing many many thousands of dollars and MAYBE be satisfied.

OR

Lower your expectations and be content with 1440p and instead spend your money on something nice for your house.

Thanks for the response, this is a bit more helpful, but I already drop the resolution to 1440p in most of the more current games and still have problems in populated city areas is this a cpu limitation or the gpu? Both Assassins' Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey has suffered from this problem in recent times so I had to lower the settings (not just the resolution) to get a stable framerate, The framerate tends to be fine at 1440p once you get away from the populated areas. As soon as you approach those populated city areas the cpu usage goes to 90+ on all cores and threads which not only causes my gpu usage to drop but some of my cores hitting 100% or cpu usage hitting 100% which causes fps drops and stutter when turning around. Some users blame the 4th series and 4 cores in crowded areas. AC is just one of many recent examples of this problem. Any recent title in say the last 2 or 3 years with large city areas populated with npc's causes those frame drops and stutter. This is why I asked the "Am I going to get a smoother and much more consistent framerate with an upgrade" rather than running into these fps issues in every populated area I see in many of the current games. I could give more examples but I'm pretty sure you all know which games I'm talking about.

 

As for cpu bound games I don't really have that many issues just wanted more fps The games tend to be pretty stable at 200-300 but would a newer cpu help against some of the fps inconsistencies or and even improve my framerate on those games that benefit from the cpu rather than the gpu? 

[Jay Deah]

so i have no practical experience, this is based on (significant) theoretical knowledge only...

 

i believe you're probably right with your suspicions about those crowded AI populated areas... if this is the case then yes looking at something like an 8th or 9th gen processor is probably a sensible move. its just quite pricey as you need a mobo+ram+cpu

 

I also have a 1080ti and when i moved from a 3770 to an 8700k and it was a noticeable improvement in PUBG's consistency. it went from VERY GOOD to EXCELLENT

[Domrockt]

did you overclock your 4790K? maybe give that a go, they tent to go in the 4.2-4.5Ghhz range when overclocked. 

1.3-1.4Vcore is considered a safe max on AIO or exsessive Air cooler.

 

i owned a 1080ti and a 4k monitor paired with an 5820K @4.5 and fallout 4 went away with 35-60fps on ultra but mostly 40-50ish fps

but 60+fps on 1440p.

 

my Uprgrade to an 8086k @ 5.4 ghz did indeed push my min fps  to 45-50 fps and max to steady 60-65 FPS @ 4k   

 

So hows your fps range? 

 

i personaly wouldn't pair a 4790k with any above a 1080ti even with 4k

The IPC on newer CPUs makes a difference tho.

 

tldr a new CPU will improve your overall playability for sure or overclock the living Joy out of that 4790k

[Berfs1]

16 hours ago, Volts2545 said:

First I would use task manager to see if your CPU is at %100 utilization. If so you have found your problem, it could also be your ram. For 4K gaming DDR3 could be a bottle neck.

If you know the secrets to RAM tuning on Haswell, you can get slightly more performance. Just saying, there is a few secrets relating to the ram that not a lot of people (even professional overclockers) know about  

[Berfs1]

12 minutes ago, Domrockt said:

did you overclock your 4790K? maybe give that a go, they tent to go in the 4.2-4.5Ghhz range when overclocked. 

1.3-1.4Vcore is considered a safe max on AIO or exsessive Air cooler.

 

i owned a 1080ti and a 4k monitor paired with an 5820K @4.5 and fallout 4 went away with 35-60fps on ultra but mostly 40-50ish fps

but 60+fps on 1440p.

 

my Uprgrade to an 8086k @ 5.4 ghz did indeed push my min fps  to 45-50 fps and max to steady 60-65 FPS @ 4k   

 

So hows your fps range? 

 

i personaly wouldn't pair a 4790k with any above a 1080ti even with 4k

The IPC on newer CPUs makes a difference tho.

 

tldr a new CPU will improve your overall playability for sure or overclock the living Joy out of that 4790k

Adjusting the RAM timings can help too. Just saying  

[Splitzer]

6 hours ago, Domrockt said:

did you overclock your 4790K? maybe give that a go, they tent to go in the 4.2-4.5Ghhz range when overclocked. 

1.3-1.4Vcore is considered a safe max on AIO or exsessive Air cooler.

 

i owned a 1080ti and a 4k monitor paired with an 5820K @4.5 and fallout 4 went away with 35-60fps on ultra but mostly 40-50ish fps

but 60+fps on 1440p.

 

my Uprgrade to an 8086k @ 5.4 ghz did indeed push my min fps  to 45-50 fps and max to steady 60-65 FPS @ 4k   

 

So hows your fps range? 

 

i personaly wouldn't pair a 4790k with any above a 1080ti even with 4k

The IPC on newer CPUs makes a difference tho.

 

tldr a new CPU will improve your overall playability for sure or overclock the living Joy out of that 4790k

I bought this bundle years ago https://www.overclockers.co.uk/revenge-gigabyte-z97-intel-core-i7-4790k-up-to-4.6ghz-configurable-enthusiast-gaming-bundle-bu-007-og.html     

 

It was a binned 4.8ghz cpu or something although that description states up to 4.6ghz. The default profile is only 4.4ghz, that's the one I'm currently using at 1.231V and 4398.97MHz according to CPU-z on the desktop. If it was a pre-overclocked bundle will there be other stable profiles in the bios for me to change it to? I nave never overclocked before so I'm not sure where to look. I could give this a try and see if it makes a difference, but I'm not sure what to do or where to find these pre overclocked profiles. I do remember changing the XMP Profile for the pre-overclocked RAM but that's about it.