Upgrading an Old Prebuilt

Strouip · January 16, 2022

I have an old Omen prebuilt used only for gaming. I play a couple physics heavy games so having a stronger CPU than GPU I think would be fine.

I see the CPU running at high usage a lot so I wanted to upgrade it. The CPU I was thinking of upgrading to is a i3 12100F (I would be getting a H670 or B660 Motherboard too), but I was also thinking that it would be really overpowered for the GTX 1060 3GB that I have, so I wanted some more experienced opinions. If it's overpowered please say what you would recommend instead.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Strouip
Clarification

Tech87 · January 16, 2022

7 minutes ago, Strouip said:

I have an old Omen prebuilt that I think is CPU bound right now, so I want to upgrade it. The CPU I was thinking of upgrading to is a i3 12100F, but I was also thinking that it would be overpowered for the GTX 1060 3GB that I have so I wanted some more experienced opinions. If it's overpowered please say what you would recommend instead.

It's not as simple as just upgrading the cpu, as you would also need a compatible motherboard.

What are the current specs of your system?

What do you use your system for?

RONOTHAN## · January 16, 2022

First what games are you trying to play, and what CPU is currently installed in it? An in-socket upgrade might be the best option for you, depending on exactly what you have.

AS for whether "it would be overpowered for the GTX 1060 3GB," the premise of the question is wrong. In a perfect world, you want the CPU and GPU to be perfectly balanced, but in the real world, for the best bang-for-the-buck you want it to be as close while slightly leaning towards a more powerful CPU. Since a CPU upgrade is a lot more difficult to do and more expensive (usually since you need to upgrade the motherboard and sometimes RAM at the same time) having a more powerful CPU to carry through an inevitable GPU upgrade is what you want. The question should more be whether the CPU is a good value for your system. I would be inclined to say it likely will be (again, depending on what games you play and everything), but a 12400F would likely be better. It's ~$50 more, and you get 2 more cores, which modern games are starting to utilize. It would give you more room to grow with a GPU upgrade down the road, and allow you to have more stuff open in the background (if you're lazy like my and don't close Chrome when you open a game).