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CPU or GPU upgrade

Ionah
By Ionah
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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I'm currently running a i3-4170 with a gtx 1050ti and 8gb of ram(dula-channel). My budget is limited so I made 2 options:buy i7-4790k and 2 more dims of 4gb(16 in total) and maybe a better gpu. Or get a new platform with i5/i7 9th/10th which require ram+mobo but no gpu upgrade. My monitor is 1080p 60hz. Should I gain more fps if I upgrade my cpu to a new generation or if I get an older i7+better gpu?  

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older i7s are expensive though, comparing to say, new i5 or Ryzen 5. Have you checked prices yet?

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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I had a card in the 1050Ti range and I can confirm, the Haswell i3 is a huge bottleneck for it in most modern games.

An used i7 4770/4790 (K or non-K) or a compatible 4-cores 8-threads Xeon (4 cores with hyperthreading) would allow you to take full advantage of the GPU.

But those older i7-s still hold a price. And the old 4c/8t would bottleneck a stronger GPU in case you do upgrade the GPU.

 

That's why I'm recommending a platform upgrade, and my recommendation would be a 6c/8t ryzen like the 2600 or 3600 paired with a B450 AM4 motherboard and at least 2x4GB of DDR4 3000+.

M.S.C.E. (M.Sc. Computer Engineering), IT specialist in a hospital, 32+ years of gaming, 20+ years of computer enthusiasm, Geek, Trekkie, anime fan

  • Main PC: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D - EK AIO 360 D-RGB - Arctic Cooling MX-4 - Asus Prime X570-P - 4x8GB DDR4 3200 HyperX Fury CL16 - Sapphire AMD Radeon 6950XT Nitro+ - 1TB Kingston Fury Renegade - 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade - 512GB ADATA SU800 - 960GB Kingston A400 - Seasonic PX-850 850W  - custom black ATX and EPS cables - Fractal Design Define R5 Blackout - Windows 11 x64 23H2 - 3 Arctic Cooling P14 PWM PST - 5 Arctic Cooling P12 PWM PST
  • Peripherals: LG 32GK650F - Dell P2319h - Logitech G Pro X Superlight with Tiger Ice - Madlions MAD 68HE Pro - EndGame Gear MPC890 - Genius HF 1250B - Akliam PD4 - Sennheiser HD 560s - Tripowin Vivace - Simgot EM6L - Truthear Zero - QKZ x HBB - 7Hz Salnotes Zero - Logitech C270 - Behringer PS400 - BM700  - Colormunki Smile - Speedlink Torid - Jysk Stenderup - LG 24x External DVD writer - Konig smart card reader
  • Laptop: Acer E5–575G-386R 15.6" 1080p (i3 6100U + 12GB DDR4 (4GB+8GB) + GeForce 940MX + 256GB nVME) Win 10 Pro x64 22H2 - Logitech G305 + AAA Lithium battery
  • Networking: Asus TUF Gaming AX6000 - Huawei OptiXstar EG8145X6-10 - 1000/500 Mbps fiber optic Internet access
  • TV and gadgets: TCL 50EP680 50" 4K LED + Sharp HT-SB100 75W RMS soundbar - Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 10.1" - OnePlus 13 16GB/512GB - OnePlus 9 256GB - Olymous Cameda C-160 - GameBoy Color - Miyoo A30 Spruce
  • Streaming/Server/Storage PC: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - LC-Power LC-CC-120 - MSI B450 Tomahawk Max - 2x4GB ADATA 2666 DDR4 - 120GB Kingston V300 - Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB - Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB - 2x WD Green 2TB - Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon R9 380X - 550W EVGA G3 SuperNova - Chieftec Giga DF-01B - White Shark Spartan X keyboard - Roccat Kone Pure Military Desert strike - Logitech S-220 - Philips 226L
  • Livingroom PC (dad uses): AMD FX 8300 - Arctic Freezer 64 - Asus M5A97 R2.0 Evo - 2x4 GB DDR3 1833 Kingston - MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB OC - 120GB Adata SSD - 500W Fractal Design Essence - DVD-RW - Samsung SM 2253BW - Logitech G710+ - wireless vertical mouse - MS 2.0 speakers
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@Jurrunio @191x7the price for the i7 is like $115 and a new ryzen 5 3600 is $252. If I buy a new platform, I would have not enough money to buy a new gpu in the near future. If I would upgrade to i7 and then rx 5700. Could be enough an older i7 and rx 5700 for 1080p 60hz or a ryzen 5 and gtx 1050ti? I want to know if the gains from ryzen with gtx 1050ti is much semnificant than 4790k with gtx 1050ti, for the moment..

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17 minutes ago, Ionah said:

I want to know if the gains from ryzen with gtx 1050ti is much semnificant than 4790k with gtx 1050ti, for the moment..

No, because in both cases you are GPU bottlenecked. Ryzen does give much greater GPU upgrade headroom though

 

What about Haswell i5s and Xeon E3 v3? Especially the 8 thread Xeon E3 v3, basically i7 without the iGPU.

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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14 minutes ago, Ionah said:

@Jurrunio @191x7the price for the i7 is like $115 and a new ryzen 5 3600 is $252. If I buy a new platform, I would have not enough money to buy a new gpu in the near future. If I would upgrade to i7 and then rx 5700. Could be enough an older i7 and rx 5700 for 1080p 60hz or a ryzen 5 and gtx 1050ti? I want to know if the gains from ryzen with gtx 1050ti is much semnificant than 4790k with gtx 1050ti, for the moment..

If you buy the 4790k you'd have the money to buy a new gpu in the near future, but you would not have a CPU powerful enough to feed that new GPU.

 

Ryzen 5 + 1050Ti would about equal i7 4790 + 1050Ti in most modern games on 1080p.

Ryzen 5 + 5700XT would significantly outperform i7 4790 + 5700XT (unless running 4K, on 4K it wouldn't matter)

i7 4790K + 5700XT would about equal i7 4790K + vega 56 or i7 4790K + GTX 1660 Super.

Ryzen 5 3600, on the other hand, can feed an rx 5700XT without any trace of a bottleneck.

 

But, keep in mind, the RX 5700 XT is a 1440p GPU. 

 

M.S.C.E. (M.Sc. Computer Engineering), IT specialist in a hospital, 32+ years of gaming, 20+ years of computer enthusiasm, Geek, Trekkie, anime fan

  • Main PC: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D - EK AIO 360 D-RGB - Arctic Cooling MX-4 - Asus Prime X570-P - 4x8GB DDR4 3200 HyperX Fury CL16 - Sapphire AMD Radeon 6950XT Nitro+ - 1TB Kingston Fury Renegade - 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade - 512GB ADATA SU800 - 960GB Kingston A400 - Seasonic PX-850 850W  - custom black ATX and EPS cables - Fractal Design Define R5 Blackout - Windows 11 x64 23H2 - 3 Arctic Cooling P14 PWM PST - 5 Arctic Cooling P12 PWM PST
  • Peripherals: LG 32GK650F - Dell P2319h - Logitech G Pro X Superlight with Tiger Ice - Madlions MAD 68HE Pro - EndGame Gear MPC890 - Genius HF 1250B - Akliam PD4 - Sennheiser HD 560s - Tripowin Vivace - Simgot EM6L - Truthear Zero - QKZ x HBB - 7Hz Salnotes Zero - Logitech C270 - Behringer PS400 - BM700  - Colormunki Smile - Speedlink Torid - Jysk Stenderup - LG 24x External DVD writer - Konig smart card reader
  • Laptop: Acer E5–575G-386R 15.6" 1080p (i3 6100U + 12GB DDR4 (4GB+8GB) + GeForce 940MX + 256GB nVME) Win 10 Pro x64 22H2 - Logitech G305 + AAA Lithium battery
  • Networking: Asus TUF Gaming AX6000 - Huawei OptiXstar EG8145X6-10 - 1000/500 Mbps fiber optic Internet access
  • TV and gadgets: TCL 50EP680 50" 4K LED + Sharp HT-SB100 75W RMS soundbar - Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 10.1" - OnePlus 13 16GB/512GB - OnePlus 9 256GB - Olymous Cameda C-160 - GameBoy Color - Miyoo A30 Spruce
  • Streaming/Server/Storage PC: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - LC-Power LC-CC-120 - MSI B450 Tomahawk Max - 2x4GB ADATA 2666 DDR4 - 120GB Kingston V300 - Toshiba DT01ACA100 1TB - Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB - 2x WD Green 2TB - Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon R9 380X - 550W EVGA G3 SuperNova - Chieftec Giga DF-01B - White Shark Spartan X keyboard - Roccat Kone Pure Military Desert strike - Logitech S-220 - Philips 226L
  • Livingroom PC (dad uses): AMD FX 8300 - Arctic Freezer 64 - Asus M5A97 R2.0 Evo - 2x4 GB DDR3 1833 Kingston - MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB OC - 120GB Adata SSD - 500W Fractal Design Essence - DVD-RW - Samsung SM 2253BW - Logitech G710+ - wireless vertical mouse - MS 2.0 speakers
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3 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

What about Haswell i5s and Xeon E3 v3? Especially the 8 thread Xeon E3 v3, basically i7 without the iGPU.

The i5 aren't HT so I saw that HT can help alot so that's why i looked at i7. About the xeon, I didn't found any one but will try.  

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3 hours ago, Ionah said:

The i5 aren't HT so I saw that HT can help alot so that's why i looked at i7.

dont need HT to run a 1050ti to its fullest, that's why I ask for its price

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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1 hour ago, Oalei said:

how about ali express sir

I'm not very "experienced" with aliexpress. I know that i can buy phone cases and accesories but about cpus...i don't know. Did you(or anyone else) tried to buy one from aliexpress?  

 

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

dont need HT to run a 1050ti to its fullest, that's why I ask for its price

Oh, got you! But let's say i want to play something more recent(like metro exodus), the i7 will have a smoother experience than i5, right? 

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17 minutes ago, Ionah said:

Oh, got you! But let's say i want to play something more recent(like metro exodus), the i7 will have a smoother experience than i5, right? 

graphically light games are the most likely games to show i5's lack of power with a 1050ti, say esports title and Minecraft, but they'll go past 60fps still. Triple A games like Metro Exodus punish the GPU so hard that i5 or i7 makes no difference with a 1050ti, just look at how in Read Dead 2 that at 1080p minimum settings it only gets around 40fps.

 

I do have experience with 4460 and 1070, and let's say CPU bottleneck is significant in games that punish both CPU and GPU, for example the Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey. This wasn't noticed with an RX 470 though, and both GPUs are faster than the 1050ti. Of course you could get higher frequency i5s than what I have which will make it work even better

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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