Hardware pickle need help!

Dimetime35c · June 26, 2015

Okay first post Evers on this forum so not 100% sure if this is the right section. Anyways I've been going back and forth on weather to upgrade my already overkill rig and need some reasons for or against doing so. I should preference this with money isn't much of an issue. I have about 1000$ to play with. I currently run an i5 4690k standard clock, an nvidia GTX 970, an msi z97 gaming 5, 16gb DDR3 ram at 1600mhz, a Sound Blaster Z sound card, 1tb HDD, and 750w power supply. I'm wanting to upgrade my GPU to either a 980 or 980ti, maybe replace the motherboard with a gaming 7 or maybe 9, add an i7 4790k, and finally add some type of SSD. My problem is I keep going back and forth on weather I even need to change anything. Yeah it's a beefy system but I honestly some games I don't feel like I'm running a beefy setup. I get HORRIBLE fps drops and stutter in WoW at ultra and have to watch my GPU temp as I'm seeing jumps approaching 60c in some fights. Planetside 2 runs at 40+fps saying CPU bound. What of the upgrades would give me the biggest fps increase??? I haven't pushed my system as I'm worried if I'm getting these types of issues at the most basic level pushing it in higher demanding games wouldn't even be worth it. Finally should I just use the money I've got on games and stop worrying about how the hardware I have "MIGHT" run them and just play? Any help is very appreciated!!!!!

pwn_intended · June 26, 2015

a new motherboard will not improve performance at all.

Get an SSD!!! That will make the biggest difference in how fast the computer feels overall.

And then either a second 970, or get a 980TI if money is no object. A i7 4790K will maybe make a bit of a difference but not too much.

What resolution are you running by the way?

Also, temps in the 60's under load are VERY good.

SonoDanshi · June 26, 2015

Honestly, if all you are interested in doing is gaming then there are precisely 0 reasons to switch from a 4690K to a 4790K. I would pretty much say the same for the motherboard as well as the 7 and 9 series basically offer better power delivery and a few extra features like dual BIOS etc as far as I am aware, but nothing that would warrant an upgrade (imo).

Grabbing an SSD is always a nice option if you need to spend money and I would say either consider a 2nd 970 for SLI or go for a 980Ti over the 980 every single time.

Dzzope · June 26, 2015

Honestly, if all you are interested in doing is gaming then there are precisely 0 reasons to switch from a 4690K to a 4790K. I would pretty much say the same for the motherboard as well as the 7 and 9 series basically offer better power delivery and a few extra features like dual BIOS etc as far as I am aware, but nothing that would warrant an upgrade (imo).

Grabbing an SSD is always a nice option if you need to spend money and I would say either consider a 2nd 970 for SLI or go for a 980Ti over the 980 every single time.

Wow actually does take advantage of HT from what I remember (as does GW2)

SSD will help in the transitions from zone to zone but not much else.. Unfortunately wow is heavy when you turn everything up because the engine is clunky and there are sooo many spell effects happening, especially in a big raid or worse a big world boss..

Personally there are a few settings which I used to turn down (ex player) that actually make it easier to see what the hell is happening (it's not just some huge random ball of muddled spell effects) which also hugely improve performance but don't take away from the experience..

If your on a 970 and 1080 then it's more likely to be lag or engine glitches than the GPU.. Also 60c is fine for a gpu temp.

before you splash the cash, you should monitor the usage of your cpu, GPU and ram to se which is the bottle neck (Get the ssd.. you DO want an SSD, 240GB OCZ Arc 100 or Sammy 850 Evo are your best bang for buck drives)

Once you've spotted the issue, overclock that part and see if it makes any difference (Cpu and GPU)

If it doesn't.. it may well be time to upgrade BUT you won't know till you do if there is an engine glitch or lag issue on your line (packet loss or similar would show it)