i7-4790 (non k) still valid? upgrade advice

[rob_097]

Hey guys,

I've got a question I hope you can help me with. First of all my pc specs:

ASUS H81-Gamer MB

Intel i7-4790 (non k)

16gb DDR3 Memory

Gainward Phantom GTX 970

 

I'm currently looking into upgrading and am not sure where to start to be honest. Since my pc is quite a bit older by now i wanted to make it a bit more future proof. Im looking forwards to games like Cyberpunk and VR gaming. I've got an Oculus Quest which works fine standalone. But I would also like to use it as a pc vr headset. Problem ist that my pc starts chugging even on the smallest most lightweight pc vr games like VRChat...

The usual advice i ge everywhere is to upgarde the GPU first since its the easiest. But people kept pointing out to me, that my cpu is too weak to even handle a 980ti, referring to this website.

So accoring to those guys I need to upgrade my cpu and gpu. But that basically means to get and completely new pc since ill need a new mb and memory as well...

(I do have a big case and 650Watt power supply which should be fine for any new system)

 

What do you guys think ?

I appreciate any kind of advice or help!

 

Thanks in advance,

Robert

[Sarra]

5 minutes ago, rob_097 said:

Hey guys,

I've got a question I hope you can help me with. First of all my pc specs:

ASUS H81-Gamer MB

Intel i7-4790 (non k)

16gb DDR3 Memory

Gainward Phantom GTX 970

 

I'm currently looking into upgrading and am not sure where to start to be honest. Since my pc is quite a bit older by now i wanted to make it a bit more future proof. Im looking forwards to games like Cyberpunk and VR gaming. I've got an Oculus Quest which works fine standalone. But I would also like to use it as a pc vr headset. Problem ist that my pc starts chugging even on the smallest most lightweight pc vr games like VRChat...

The usual advice i ge everywhere is to upgarde the GPU first since its the easiest. But people kept pointing out to me, that my cpu is too weak to even handle a 980ti, referring to this website.

So accoring to those guys I need to upgrade my cpu and gpu. But that basically means to get and completely new pc since ill need a new mb and memory as well...

(I do have a big case and 650Watt power supply which should be fine for any new system)

 

What do you guys think ?

I appreciate any kind of advice or help!

 

Thanks in advance,

Robert

My suggestion is to start from scratch. New board, new CPU, new graphics card, new RAM.

 

I'm almost in an identical situation, except I have a Haswell Xeon that's roughly equivalent to your 4790, 32 GB of DDR3, and a GTX 980. I've been eyeing a 9900k and a 2080TI. Also considering a Ryzen 3900x or similar.

 

I think you should set a budget, and build a system for the budget.

[Parideboy]

Depends on the games you play. I have a 4460 that's basically a downclocked 4790 with no HT and I struggle in some triple-A titles such as Odyssey (40ish to 60ish fps), while in some other games the CPU does just fine and it's not bottlenecking the system. The CPU itself is valid, but from your situation it's just better to buy an entirely new system, if you feel the need to, that is.

[rob_097]

Just now, Sarra said:

My suggestion is to start from scratch. New board, new CPU, new graphics card, new RAM.

 

I'm almost in an identical situation, except I have a Haswell Xeon that's roughly equivalent to your 4790, 32 GB of DDR3, and a GTX 980. I've been eyeing a 9900k and a 2080TI. Also considering a Ryzen 3900x or similar.

 

I think you should set a budget, and build a system for the budget.

Thanks for the quick response!

Sounds smart! But i think I'll at least wait until the next gen of nvidia gpus comes out in hope for the old gen to drop in price a bit... maybe

I was hoping that I could reuse at least some of the parts but I guess a completely new system is kind of inevitable.

 

Many thanks for your thoughts!

[rob_097]

Just now, Parideboy said:

Depends on the games you play. I have a 4460 that's basically a downclocked 4790 with no HT and I struggle in some triple-A titles such as Odyssey (40ish to 60ish fps),
while in some other games the CPU does just fine and it's not bottlenecking the system. The CPU itself is valid, but from your situation it's just better to buy an entirely new system, if you feel the need to, that is.

Well im experiencing the same basically! I can play pretty much every single recent game there is with no problems mostly (but often not on highest settings of course). Where my pc immediately chugs is VR titles... I also dont get why. The quest runs VRChat (yes its tuned down) just fine but my PC cant handle it? just feels weird if that makes sense

[GuruMeditationError]

20 minutes ago, rob_097 said:

Hey guys,

I've got a question I hope you can help me with. First of all my pc specs:

ASUS H81-Gamer MB

Intel i7-4790 (non k)

16gb DDR3 Memory

Gainward Phantom GTX 970

 

I'm currently looking into upgrading and am not sure where to start to be honest. Since my pc is quite a bit older by now i wanted to make it a bit more future proof. Im looking forwards to games like Cyberpunk and VR gaming. I've got an Oculus Quest which works fine standalone. But I would also like to use it as a pc vr headset. Problem ist that my pc starts chugging even on the smallest most lightweight pc vr games like VRChat...

The usual advice i ge everywhere is to upgarde the GPU first since its the easiest. But people kept pointing out to me, that my cpu is too weak to even handle a 980ti, referring to this website.

So accoring to those guys I need to upgrade my cpu and gpu. But that basically means to get and completely new pc since ill need a new mb and memory as well...

(I do have a big case and 650Watt power supply which should be fine for any new system)

 

What do you guys think ?

I appreciate any kind of advice or help!

 

Thanks in advance,

Robert

I don't really know about VR and how resource intensive it might be but you could start off by researching how far upgrading to a 4790k with an overclock could get you. It could be a lot of work though, because it might need de-lidding because of the terrible thermal material they used between the die and the heat spreader.

The graphics card definitely needs upgrading. 970's were great value at the time but they're stuttery. New graphics cards are about to be revealed at the end of this month so wait and see how the new releases affect pricing etc. ...the 970 is about to get even older and even though it was great value at the time it was less expensive for a reason (memory issues and stuttery performance).

But yeah, if you have more time than money upgrading to a 4790k and overclocking it might stretch some more life out of your rig but do some research on whether it'll be powerful enough for your needs before going that route. 

[Sarra]

I love my 980, I may have won the silicon lottery with it (OCed, it hits power limits, but never gets over 75c, I usually drop the OC back to keep it at 70c), but I know that it isn't powerful enough for modern games.

 

You COULD use the 970 for a temporary card, but it's going to bottleneck your system. I'd at least keep it as a backup card, in any event.

[Sarra]

Just now, GuruMeditationError said:

I don't really know about VR and how resource intensive it might be but you could start off my researching how far upgrading to a 4790k with an overclock could get you. It could be a lot of work though, because it might need de-lidding because of the terrible thermal material they used between the die and the heat spreader.

The graphics card definitely needs upgrading. 970's were great value at the time but they're stuttery. New graphics cards are about to be revealed at the end of this month so wait and see how the new releases affect pricing etc. ...the 970 is about to get even older and even though it was great value at the time it was less expensive for a reason (memory issues and stuttery performance).

But yeah, if you have more time than money upgrading to a 4790k and overclocking it might stretch some more life out of your rig but do some research on whether it'll be powerful enough for your needs before going that route. 

The cost of a 4790k is stupid. Used, they're around $300. I got lucky and scored a used server pull Xeon for $100, but it's not smart to drop $300 on a CPU you probably won't use for more than a year; plus, his board does not support OCing.

[GuruMeditationError]

Just now, Sarra said:

 plus, his board does not support OCing.

Oh okay, then maybe better to start from scratch?

That much for a CPU plus a new motherboard that you can OC with is a lot to invest in an old system.

I try and stretch my hardware as far as it'll go because the longer it lasts the better value I get when I finally have to upgrade (moore's law etc.) but if you want VR right away I guess a new build would probably be the way to go.

[Jeppes]

Quad core cpu:s are getting worse and worse on games, and soon almost all games are made for 8 core 16 thread zen2 cpu:s clocked to 3.8GHz. Maybe buy a new gpu first and see if it helps, if not get a new 8-core cpu(zen2 or zen3), motherboard and at least 2x8GB of ram.

[Fungal]

You definitely need a new gpu and most likely a cpu upgrade. Cyberpunk minimum spec has an i5-4670k which isn't far off from 4790k. If you are trying to buy used I'd checkout ebay after the rtx 3000 series reveal  in a week. Some 980ti's went for under half price when the 10 series cards were announced. Ryzen 4000 series is reportedly coming out october/novemberish i think.  I don't expect massive improvements on the cpu side, but it's something to keep in mind. 

[rob_097]

Thanks a lot you guys!

I think I will Wait a bit and first of all see what happens to prices when the new nvidia cards get released. Maybe I can get a good deal somewhere!

Plus I'll probably do the same for the cpu and see and wait for the new generation later this year since I dont need a new System right away!

[thewelshbrummie]

Probably best to do a full rebuild. My 4670K @4.2GHz has been fine for me but then I haven't thrown anything harder at it than GTA V and F1 2018. I had it paired with a GTX970 which just got to around 60fps (at 1920x1200) even on those games, so for anything newer it would require a new CPU and GPU - and since my Haswell board is DDR3 then that's also new memory, so basically a complete rebuild. Put it this way, Red Dead Redemption 2 is out of the question on those specs.

 

Realistically you want at least 8 threads minimum so a Ryzen 5 or 10th Gen Core i5 would be the obvious starting point for some decent longevity (both being 6 core/12 thread).

[rob_097]

On 8/25/2020 at 11:22 AM, thewelshbrummie said:

Probably best to do a full rebuild. My 4670K @4.2GHz has been fine for me but then I haven't thrown anything harder at it than GTA V and F1 2018. I had it paired with a GTX970 which just got to around 60fps (at 1920x1200) even on those games, so for anything newer it would require a new CPU and GPU - and since my Haswell board is DDR3 then that's also new memory, so basically a complete rebuild. Put it this way, Red Dead Redemption 2 is out of the question on those specs.

 

Realistically you want at least 8 threads minimum so a Ryzen 5 or 10th Gen Core i5 would be the obvious starting point for some decent longevity (both being 6 core/12 thread).

Thanks for your comment!

Yea I won't get around a full rebuild. I was hoping I would but you guys are right. I mean my system did serve me very well for 6 years. Most people upgrade earlier than that I think!