Better To Upgrade GPU or CPU for VR?

[AfxTwn]

Hi, I am hoping to finally have enough funds to upgrade something in my current system but I'm not sure what to get, in particular for VR gaming with my Vive.

 

I currently have a Windows 10 Home PC 64 bit with Asus H81 Gamer mobo, i7 4790K (not OC) CPU, 16GB DDR3 RAM @1600MhZ and an AMD R9 290X GPU.

 

I struggle to get a smooth or constant 90fps in most VR games and I know my GPU isn't really good enough for VR however my whole system could do with an upgrade really, in fact I could do with a completely new build. Unfortunately I don't think my budget will stretch that far and so I would rather upgrade one major component such as my GPU than spend months and months saving in the hope of eventually having enough for a new computer and be able to enjoy my PC now and play VR without any issues.

 

I know if I just upgrade my GPU then my CPU will act as a bottleneck but will it be so much of a bottleneck that it will hold me back and make the upgrade pointless? Or will it just be a minor bottleneck that will still be an improvement over my current setup and improve things anyway, just not as good as if I also had a better CPU?

 

I am leaning towards upgrading the GPU as if I just get a new mobo, CPU and RAM, then because of a lack of new GPU, they won't give me enough overall gain anyway and will only slightly make things better and if a lot of VR games are more GPU-heavy then I won't be getting much return on my investment.

 

I would prefer to switch from AMD to Nvidia this time round and so I was thinking either a 2070 Super, 2080 Super or going all out for a 2080 TI if funds allow (this would be overkill I know but would give me the best GPU available if at a later date I do manage to save up enough for a CPU, mobo and RAM).

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[jj9987]

GPU is the bigger bottleneck here.

[AfxTwn]

1 hour ago, jj9987 said:

GPU is the bigger bottleneck here.

So do you recommend changing my GPU from an R9 290X to something else and not worrying about the CPU?

[i_build_nanosuits]

32 minutes ago, AfxTwn said:

So do you recommend changing my GPU from an R9 290X to something else and not worrying about the CPU?

Yes absolutely

[Jon Jon]

I would also recommend going with an RTX 2070S as your upgrade.

 

That i7 is still great, especially fine for VR.

[hollyh88]

4 hours ago, AfxTwn said:

Hi, I am hoping to finally have enough funds to upgrade something in my current system but I'm not sure what to get, in particular for VR gaming with my Vive.

 

I currently have a Windows 10 Home PC 64 bit with Asus H81 Gamer mobo, i7 4790K (not OC) CPU, 16GB DDR3 RAM @1600MhZ and an AMD R9 290X GPU.

 

I struggle to get a smooth or constant 90fps in most VR games and I know my GPU isn't really good enough for VR however my whole system could do with an upgrade really, in fact I could do with a completely new build. Unfortunately I don't think my budget will stretch that far and so I would rather upgrade one major component such as my GPU than spend months and months saving in the hope of eventually having enough for a new computer and be able to enjoy my PC now and play VR without any issues.

 

I know if I just upgrade my GPU then my CPU will act as a bottleneck but will it be so much of a bottleneck that it will hold me back and make the upgrade pointless? Or will it just be a minor bottleneck that will still be an improvement over my current setup and improve things anyway, just not as good as if I also had a better CPU?

 

I am leaning towards upgrading the GPU as if I just get a new mobo, CPU and RAM, then because of a lack of new GPU, they won't give me enough overall gain anyway and will only slightly make things better and if a lot of VR games are more GPU-heavy then I won't be getting much return on my investment.

 

I would prefer to switch from AMD to Nvidia this time round and so I was thinking either a 2070 Super, 2080 Super or going all out for a 2080 TI if funds allow (this would be overkill I know but would give me the best GPU available if at a later date I do manage to save up enough for a CPU, mobo and RAM).

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

GPU 100% 

Cpu is fine for a little while longer. 
amd cards are generally not the better option when it comes to VR. either get a non super 2070 or if it fits your budget a 2070 super. 
after that your upgrade path should be either high end intel or amd. in my bit biased opinion.. i jumped the ship on intel cpu's when the 2600/x came out. go for the 3000 amd series. whether its 3600 3700x or  3900x. amd provides way better value. more cores more threads. and get for example my mobo (msi b450 gaming pro carbon ac) flash it get it to have the latest bio im 95% sure it has such a flash option and you are good to go when it comes to it being good enough for a 3000 series amd processor. 

on a side note i also will soon be getting a vr set but first i will also upgrade my gpu. i upgraded my pc last wednesday with a new case. and new psu and ram. (the ones listed in my signature) i will personally be going for a 2070 super gaming x trio or 2080 non super if the prices continue to drop more. 

You could do the same gpu wise but make sure your psu can handle it. that's the biggest issue ofc. 
But seeing how you have a r9 290x im sure you most have a proper psu lol. 

[AfxTwn]

Thanks very much for all the replies, the consensus seems to be to just upgrade the GPU and not worry about the CPU for now which was my initial thought. Depending on budget I will probably get a 2070 Super but maybe 2080. I've just been looking at PC Part Picker to get an idea of budget builds and I could make a RTX 2080 TI system for less than 2 grand. Either using an i7 9700 or one of the AMD's like the 3600 or 3700. So if I do manage to get enough cash together for a completely new build then I know it's not quite as expensive as I thought.

 

At the moment I have a Cooler Master G750M PSU and my current build was done in 2015. As you mentioned holly88, Nvidia are generally better for VR than AMD but at the time of building my last PC (or rather it was built for me by a family friend who didn't really know what he was doing but neither did I at the time), I didn't have a VR headset and didn't know I would be heading in that direction.

 

After finding a great deal on a used Vive with DAS a few years ago, I got it and immediately got the VR bug but now really, really regret getting an AMD card. What I really want to do is be able to play Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator in VR with supersampling (which I can't do now) and with no stuttering or reprojection and without it looking like PS1-era graphics due to having to run it on such low settings.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the advice. Hopefully sometime in September I'll know how much money I have spare and can make a decision on which graphics card to get and possibly (please God!!!) have enough to do a completely new build.

[hollyh88]

okay not a bad psu. you could put a 2080ti on it but eh not something i would do

if you want to buy a new cpu the 3700x is probably the best one you can get. more threads, more cache and cheaper if you buy new. you would need a new mobo (preferabily x470/b450 and up.) since it's an am4 platform ofc. it also runs better with higher clock speeds on the ram. 3000 series preffers 3600 c16 for optimal performance. 

2070 super overclocked is basically a 2080 stock or a bit better. but you seem to have the money to spend so you should go for a 2080/2080super. 

 

[Fasauceome]

I used to have a 4790K and GTX 970 for my Vive, a 290X should have the same level of performance. I'm not certain you need new hardware, maybe some ironing out of your current system.

[AfxTwn]

11 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

I used to have a 4790K and GTX 970 for my Vive, a 290X should have the same level of performance. I'm not certain you need new hardware, maybe some ironing out of your current system.

I think perhaps a lot of the issues are that SteamVR and VR in general seems to be more geared toward Nvidia cards than AMD. Don't get me wrong, I can play VR games with my 290X, some with better performance than others but generally speaking I have to make sure most in-game settings are on low to get a smoother and less frame-dropping experience. Even in SteamVR Home when turning my head sometimes or moving from inside to outside the house, I notice frame drops but if I stay still and don't move around much then it's ok.

 

I have tried disabling and enabling Async Reprojection (which I'm not sure my AMD card supports anyway, I think it only does Interleaved) but then that reduces my frame rate down to 45fps and seems to introduce some blurry-ness and double vision. Regardless of whether I have Async on or off, I still get a lot of frame dropping in games and judder. Plus in SteamVR Async Reprojection is tied in with Interleaved and you can't have one or the other on or off, they both are either on or off. I can't use Motion Smoothing as my card doesn't support it either.

 

I'm pretty much convinced I need to switch to Nvidia at this point as even on a lower spec GPU, as long as it's Nvidia I'm sure I would get much better performance in VR.

 

I think another big issue for me is the terrible SDE of the Vive so hopefully one day I'll be able to get a much better headset but for now I am just concentrating on my GPU first and foremost. As I said, I may be able to have enough to do a whole new build, I'll know more by the end of the month.