Upgrading 2014 system, GPU or CPU first?

[4a6f7368]

Budget (including currency): $400 usd

Country: Minnesota USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: The First Descendant, and other modern survival games at least 1440 60fps

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I currently have a gaming rig with a Core i7 4970 and a 980. I'm struggling to run modern survival games and especially the First Descendant.

 

I am looking to upgrade everything over the next few months.

 

Looking for AMD as I'm dabbling more and more into Linux.

 

Should I go for an AM5 processor first or go for a newer GPU?

 

Looking at a RX 7700 or better, and any AM5 CPU with upgrade path, probably a 7600.

Edited August 15, 2024 by 4a6f7368

[Tan3l6]

How about PSU?

[Tetras]

Based on the requirements for that game posted online, your CPU should be alright, but the 980 is below the recommended. If you don't have anything better to go on, I'd get the 7700 XT first and see how it goes.

[4a6f7368]

7 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

How about PSU?

iirc it's an 650w something or another, motherboard/ram/storage/PSU/monitors will come as needed so I will be comparing the system needs and what I have.

With all that being said it is also a time for a new PSU at some point.

[4a6f7368]

7 minutes ago, Tetras said:

Based on the requirements for that game posted online, your CPU should be alright, but the 980 is below the recommended. If you don't have anything better to go on, I'd get the 7700 XT first and see how it goes.

I knew the old adage of upgrading your GPU first with a new game, but did not automatically want to assume that that is still the case. I was already leaning that way and unless anybody has some objections I'll probably go that route. 

Thanks 

[Tan3l6]

3 minutes ago, 4a6f7368 said:

iirc it's an 650w something or another, motherboard/ram/storage/PSU/monitors will come as needed so I will be comparing the system needs and what I have.

With all that being said it is also a time for a new PSU at some point.

It's worth to know before modernizing your PC, what model PSU you have and if worth swapping first.

[jaslion]

Make and model.of psu first is needed.

 

The issue here is that both cpu and gpu arent cutting it. So I recommend runninh msi afterburner during the game and checking which is maxing at 100%

 

That way we can see which part has a little left to give and can pick the best start of upgrade

[Tetras]

17 minutes ago, 4a6f7368 said:

I knew the old adage of upgrading your GPU first with a new game, but did not automatically want to assume that that is still the case. I was already leaning that way and unless anybody has some objections I'll probably go that route. 

Thanks 

Yeah, it is awkward to say either way. Old 4 core 8 thread CPUs are starting to hit their limits, but the vast majority of games are still playable with these CPUs.

 

The 980 is around a 1650 Super or 6500 XT and while they're not bad (the very newest AAA games struggle, but most else are playable), for 1440p in modern games I really think you need something with more grunt.

 

The 7700 XT also has an advantage over nvidia cards, in that the driver overhead for AMD is generally a bit lower, which can help with slower CPUs like yours.

 

Assuming you meant i7-4790 rather than 4970, have a watch of this:

 

[Agall]

13 minutes ago, 4a6f7368 said:

Budget (including currency): $400 usd

Country: Minnesota USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: The First Descendant, and other modern survival games at least 1440 60fos

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I currently have a gaming rig with a Core i7 4970 and a 980. I'm struggling to run modern survival games and especially the First Descendant.

 

I am looking to upgrade everything over the next few months.

 

Looking for AMD as I'm dabbling more and more into Linux.

 

Should I go for an AM5 processor first or go for a newer GPU?

 

Looking at a RX 7700 or better, and any AM5 CPU with upgrade path, probably a 7600.

a 4790 and 980 gets out performed by a handheld in today's market, so its pretty easy to beat with normal PC components. For $400 though, that's not easy, except for the used market or a handheld.

[Agall]

33 minutes ago, Tetras said:

Based on the requirements for that game posted online, your CPU should be alright, but the 980 is below the recommended. If you don't have anything better to go on, I'd get the 7700 XT first and see how it goes.

4790 is old enough to where the motherboard matters on whether it'll detect and boot UEFI only newer GPUs. My 4790k and ROG Z97 Impact has proper UEFI support, but I'm not sure if every motherboard did in 4th generation. 3rd and 4th were the transitional period.

[4a6f7368]

16 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Make and model.of psu first is needed.

 

The issue here is that both cpu and gpu arent cutting it. So I recommend runninh msi afterburner during the game and checking which is maxing at 100%

 

That way we can see which part has a little left to give and can pick the best start of upgrade

I'm currently at school and can check when I get home on the exact power supply unit, The issue I'm having right now is that the game is crashing unless I turn it down to 720p. On the survival games I play I do notice that I am constantly GPU-bound.

[Tetras]

2 minutes ago, Agall said:

4790 is old enough to where the motherboard matters on whether it'll detect and boot UEFI only newer GPUs. My 4790k and ROG Z97 Impact has proper UEFI support, but I'm not sure if every motherboard did in 4th generation. 3rd and 4th were the transitional period.

If the OP can post the motherboard model we can check the user profiles on userbenchmark, since it lists the card used and the motherboard BIOS version.

[4a6f7368]

Just now, Tetras said:

If the OP can post the motherboard model we can check the user profiles on userbenchmark, since it lists the card used and the motherboard BIOS version.

I'm currently at school and can post it very late tonight.

[4a6f7368]

16 minutes ago, Agall said:

a 4790 and 980 gets out performed by a handheld in today's market, so its pretty easy to beat with normal PC components. For $400 though, that's not easy, except for the used market or a handheld.

The $400 budget is for the initial buy or a GPU or CPU/motherboard/ram. More budget will be allocated as I save up.

 

Doing nuts at a time instead of full send 

[Agall]

15 minutes ago, 4a6f7368 said:

The $400 budget is for the initial buy or a GPU or CPU/motherboard/ram. More budget will be allocated as I save up.

 

Doing nuts at a time instead of full send 

Either way you'll want to upgrade the platform. 4790 is functional, and a GTX 980 is at least decently capable still, but not great. You'll be able to squeeze a little bit more performance out of a GTX 980 with a new platform though.

 

The way I see it, you're in a scenario of replacing both. If you had to choose, a new CPU is relatively safe in today's market, GPU market is volatile as heck. The performance gains of a new CPU on even a GTX 980 might tide you over long enough to wait for a really good deal on a replacement GPU.