What should I upgrade? CPU or GPU?

[spioner]

Hello LinusTechTips peeps. I have been thinking about upgrading my CPU for a while now, but I realized that I could "almost" buy a GTX 780 Ti if I wanted to. By almost I mean in a few months. I started researching and found out that upgrading my CPU wouldn't actually benefit my gaming performance that much. More on this below.

I understand if you don't want to spend all your time reading this long-ass post, so reading only the Budget, Options and Summary will give you a pretty good idea of what I want.
Anyway, here goes:
 
System specs: pastebin.com/YiY7iqtJ (I do have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO lying around that I got for my birthday, but I was planning to use that whenever I upgraded my CPU)
 
The Budget
I currently have about $400 to spend (converted from Euro, I live in the Netherlands). In 6 months I could probably have $600-ish. Whenever I upgrade, I sell my old parts. At the moment selling my GTX 770 would yield around $250. Selling the i7 860 and P55M is hard to say, but I think I can get $200 for it. Adding the selling value of my GPU, I could theoretically buy a GTX 780 Ti in 6 months ($600 + $250 = $850 =  780 Ti).
 
What I'll use the system for
Pretty much only gaming. And web browsing, like what I'm doing right now.

The Options (other suggestions are allowed, stimulated even)

• Upgrade CPU/Mobo from i7 860 and MSI P55M-GD45 to i5 4690K and MSI Z97 Gaming 3
• Wait and upgrade from MSI GTX 770 to GTX 780 Ti when I have the money.
• Wait a bit longer and upgrade from MSI GTX 770 to GTX 9xx (assuming NVIDIA will skip the 800-series)
• Buying an SLI motherboard and buying a second GTX 770 when I can. (costs a lot, and I'm not a big fan of SLI)

Note: My 770 is only 3 months old.

Reasons to upgrade GPU (in order of importance)

• Better gaming performance. From what I read, upgrading my CPU will improve my framerate by only 2-15% in most games (correct me if I'm wrong!). Upgrading to a 780 Ti, for example, could increase gaming performance by 40%, assuming my CPU doesn't bottleneck it.
• Selling my current GPU would be easier (higher demand) and yield more money than selling my CPU/Mobo.

Reasons to upgrade CPU/Mobo (in order of importance)

• Buying a high-end GPU seems like it would bring my system out of balance. A $800 dollar GPU like the 780 Ti and a 5 year old CPU/Mobo somehow doesn't make sense. I am afraid my current CPU might bottleneck a card like the 780 Ti.
• I currently have no SATA 6Gbps ports on my mobo, so I can't even consider buying an SSD right now.
• My current mobo seems to be bugged when OC'ing CPU. I need to turn OC Genie on and then off again to be able to change any OC values. Very annoying. This is the reason I haven't really OC'd my CPU yet (although I plan to try again some other day). I might make a separate thread about this if I can't get it to work.
• I have a strange problem that causes my entire system to perform poorly on a cold boot. Rebooting or going into BIOS, then exiting again, fixes it. Since this problem started (I do not remember when exactly) I have reinstalled Windows, upgraded PSU, RAM and GPU (twice). So the suspects remain CPU/Mobo/HDD. Might make a separate thread on this as well.
• My motherboard's fan control doesn't work how I'd like it to. I now use SpeedFan to control fan speeds, but the fans spin up to 100% during boot. Small inconvenience.
• Smaller overall investment than a high-end GPU.
• There is a cashback deal running throughout this month that saves me about $40 when buying a Z97 board from MSI/Gigabyte/ASUS/ASRock with an i5 4690k.

To summarize
I currently have no problems with my GPU, although I would obviously like to have better gaming performance.
I do have some problems with my CPU, but I can live with them.
I don't know if my CPU would bottleneck together with a high-end card like a GTX 780 Ti.


Thank you for reading all of this. And even if you didn't read all of it, please just tell me your opinion. I take all suggestions seriously.
Please do not hesitate to ask for further information if you don't understand something.

[AlwaysFSX]

New mobo and CPU first. Something like a 4690k and pretty much any Z97 that supports SLI because you should nab a second 770 when you get the chance.

[Venusia]

Getting an SSD in your system should be #1 priority at this stage.

 

...and you should probably get a job too, so that you don't have to buy new parts at such a slow rate

[spioner]

Getting an SSD in your system should be #1 priority at this stage.

Even though I could get a 780 Ti for $100 more than a CPU+Mobo+SSD? It really goes against my instincts.

 

EDIT: Including sales that is.

Edited September 6, 2014 by spioner

[jollander]

-snip-

 

 

New mobo and CPU first. Something like a 4690k and pretty much any Z97 that supports SLI because you should nab a second 770 when you get the chance.

 

 

This seems like the most logical order for pure performance increase. If an SSD could somehow be included in the upgrade process (perhaps before the second 770), you'll be set for years to come.

[D3MON]

Id say if your board supports sli get another 770, that'll give you a bigger performance boost in games than anything else. and you'r cpu wont bottleneck it in multi-threaded games, newer cpu's havent improved THAT much..

and yes a 240-512gb ssd if you can afford it (dont bother with 128)

[spioner]

New mobo and CPU first. Something like a 4690k and pretty much any Z97 that supports SLI because you should nab a second 770 when you get the chance.

What do you think of the MSI Z97-G55 SLI?

[spioner]

Id say if your board supports sli get another 770, that'll give you a bigger performance boost in games than anything else. and you'r cpu wont bottleneck it in multi-threaded games, newer cpu's havent improved THAT much..

and yes a 240-512gb ssd if you can afford it (dont bother with 128)

That's the problem: my board doesn't support SLI, nor does it have any SATA 6Gbps ports.

[AlwaysFSX]

What do you think of the MSI Z97-G55 SLI?

Solid board, supports the most important features you would need.

[Venusia]

Honestly dude I don't think your current PSU can handle a 780 GTX or SLI 770's. So you should probably take that into account too when calculating the cost of a GPU upgrade.

[spioner]

Id say if your board supports sli get another 770, that'll give you a bigger performance boost in games than anything else. and you'r cpu wont bottleneck it in multi-threaded games, newer cpu's havent improved THAT much..

and yes a 240-512gb ssd if you can afford it (dont bother with 128)

What about single-threaded games? Kind of a noob question, but I read that older i7's don't really have the best of single core performance.

[spioner]

Honestly dude I don't think your current PSU can handle a 780 GTX or SLI 770's. So you should probably take that into account too when calculating the cost of a GPU upgrade.

That's true, I forgot about that. Seems like the GPU upgrade is really not that much of an option right now.

[D3MON]

What about single-threaded games? Kind of a noob question, but I read that older i7's don't really have the best of single core performance.

what single threaded games do you play? because most single threaded games are either badly coded and get 25fps no matter what or are stuff like cs:go and you get 225fps..

[spioner]

what single threaded games do you play? because most single threaded games are either badly coded and get 25fps no matter what or are stuff like cs:go and you get 225fps..

I play GTA IV every so often. It's pretty bad as far as optimization goes, but I like the way it looks with ENB.

Is the majority of modern games multi threaded?

[D3MON]

That's true, I forgot about that. Seems like the GPU upgrade is really not that much of an option right now.

looks like a new cpu and board it is. (amd ftw jk) thing is a 4690k is a ripoff compared to a pentium k (you pay 3x more for 2x the cpu) and a 4790k is just the same chip withhyperthreading enabled and the price bumped up by 60%.

for multi threaded games check out techspots game reviews by cpu, any game where the same architecture gets major performance increase from clock speed or where there's no difference between dual and quad cores-single threaded, also my "stuff" album has some screenshots of task manager from games i have.

some people say a game is cpu heavy or cpu demanding....does that mean you need a really really fast single core because its badly coded or is it like arma where if you have a slow-ish quad core you're going to get rubbish performance? unfortunately most dont clarify or know before preaching it.

any game that with a quad core even down to 3ghz) gets equal performance to an i7-e 2011 3960x cpu is good in my book.

well threaded

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/645-tomb-raider-performance/page5.html

badly made (slick would agree)

http://www.techspot.com/review/787-thief-benchmarks/page4.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/827-watch-dogs-benchmarks/page5.html

was badly made and demanding, largely fine now

http://www.techspot.com/review/712-arma-3-benchmarks/page5.html

lightly threaded

http://www.techspot.com/review/689-company-of-heroes-2-performance/page4.html

cant remeber but can be run on a fast dual core (stupid easy)

http://www.techspot.com/review/655-bioshock-infinite-performance/page5.html

[spioner]

looks like a new cpu and board it is. (amd ftw jk) thing is a 4690k is a ripoff compared to a pentium k (you pay 3x more for 2x the cpu) and a 4790k is just the same chip withhyperthreading enabled and the price bumped up by 60%

How would the unlocked Pentium perform compared to my current i7 860?

[Venusia]

How would the unlocked Pentium perform compared to my current i7 860?

 

Probably not well enough to justify the upgrade.

[spioner]

looks like a new cpu and board it is. (amd ftw jk) thing is a 4690k is a ripoff compared to a pentium k (you pay 3x more for 2x the cpu) and a 4790k is just the same chip withhyperthreading enabled and the price bumped up by 60%.

for multi threaded games check out techspots game reviews by cpu, any game where the same architecture gets major performance increase from clock speed or where there's no difference between dual and quad cores-single threaded, also my "stuff" album has some screenshots of task maanager from games i have.

well threaded

http://www.techspot.com/review/734-battlefield-4-benchmarks/page6.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/645-tomb-raider-performance/page5.html

badly made (slick would agree)

http://www.techspot.com/review/787-thief-benchmarks/page4.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/827-watch-dogs-benchmarks/page5.html

was badly made and demanding, largely fine now

http://www.techspot.com/review/712-arma-3-benchmarks/page5.html

lightly threaded

http://www.techspot.com/review/689-company-of-heroes-2-performance/page4.html

cant remeber but can be run on a fast dual core (stupid easy)

http://www.techspot.com/review/655-bioshock-infinite-performance/page5.html

Thank you for the links!

Seems like the "badly made" games would benefit a bit from an upgrade from i7 860 -> i5 4690K.

Don't think I'll be going for a Pentium, because I like to play some badly made games from time to time...

[Trik'Stari]

Even though I could get a 780 Ti for $100 more than a CPU+Mobo+SSD? It really goes against my instincts.

 

EDIT: Including sales that is.

An SSD will speed up everything in your system (that's installed on the SSD mind you). The difference it makes is ridiculous, even just for the OS. Restarting my computer is no longer an annoyance because instead of a minute or two it takes about 10 to 15 seconds, depending on how long it takes me to enter the password.

 

A CPU upgrade is a must in my opinion, especially with games like Star Citizen on the way, which according to the Devs will be cpu intensive. And from looking at the footage of what they have given us, and knowing where they plan to actually go with it, I have to agree, that game will be holy balls cray cray ridiculous to run.

 

Especially with crazy shit like this going on in an open world MMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4UR5HRM5Us#aid=P-F1n-wIFjc

[spioner]

An SSD will speed up everything in your system (that's installed on the SSD mind you). The difference it makes is ridiculous, even just for the OS. Restarting my computer is no longer an annoyance because instead of a minute or two it takes about 10 to 15 seconds, depending on how long it takes me to enter the password.

 

A CPU upgrade is a must in my opinion, especially with games like Star Citizen on the way, which according to the Devs will be cpu intensive. And from looking at the footage of what they have given us, and knowing where they plan to actually go with it, I have to agree, that game will be holy balls cray cray ridiculous to run.

 

Especially with crazy shit like this going on in an open world MMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4UR5HRM5Us#aid=P-F1n-wIFjc

 

Haha, looks like that will be a good game to do some graphics whoring!

[spioner]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post!

I think I've made up my mind and will be going for a CPU and motherboard upgrade, followed by a 250GB (or maybe more) SSD as soon as I have the money.

My headache is over, and I should probably get to work on some school stuff.

 

Thanks again!

[Trik'Stari]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my post!

I think I've made up my mind and will be going for a CPU and motherboard upgrade, followed by a 250GB (or maybe more) SSD as soon as I have the money.

My headache is over, and I should probably get to work on some school stuff.

 

Thanks again!

An excellent choice my friend.

 

Haha, looks like that will be a good game to do some graphics whoring!

Good luck. The Dev has outright stated that he's shooting for a game that's so complex and so good looking that on "release day" no single GPU will be capable of playing the game on ultra graphics.

 

In my mind, ther're shooting for something that's truly (and I hate to use this term) "Next Gen"

[D3MON]

An excellent choice my friend.

 

Good luck. The Dev has outright stated that he's shooting for a game that's so complex and so good looking that on "release day" no single GPU will be capable of playing the game on ultra graphics.

 

In my mind, ther're shooting for something that's truly (and I hate to use this term) "Next Gen"

arma 3 looks good and people say it runs like crap (its just demanding, i can run it pretty good...), arma 2 was hard to run but that really was just coded like crap, same with watch dogs. whenever a dev says "no system will be able to play it" that usually means they're going to make the game badly, bf4 at 4k on ultra is demanding, but at 720p on low you can run it with really low hardware, the looks and performance scale with the hardware you use as it should do.

remember when ghosts said it would need 6gb of ram minimum...

[D3MON]

How would the unlocked Pentium perform compared to my current i7 860?

what the others have said, 4670k/4690k should be okay, pretty close to my 8320 when both are overclocked. (both at 4.8ghz but not many run that)

your cpu at 4ghz scores about the same as a 4690k at stock (3.5ghz), so definately overclock it.

its 55ish% more expensive than my fx8, in multi threaded task's it'll be equal, in single threaded tasks's games itll be 50% faster so makes sense...

[Trik'Stari]

arma 3 looks good and people say it runs like crap (its just demanding, i can run it pretty good...), arma 2 was hard to run but that really was just coded like crap, same with watch dogs. whenever a dev says "no system will be able to play it" that usually means they're going to make the game badly, bf4 at 4k on ultra is demanding, but at 720p on low you can run it with really low hardware, the looks and performance scale with the hardware you use as it should do.

remember when ghosts said it would need 6gb of ram minimum...

Have you seen star citizen? It's a complex ass game. More in depth space flight physics than anything done before it.

 

Edit: In a game.