Should I upgrade?

[dennisw95]

So I've been thinking about upgrading my computer recently... I'm pretty happy with my 2 970s. But I wonder if my i5 is bottlenecking them. So I was thinking about going to an i7. 

 

Would like some opinions on if I should upgrade and to which i7 I should upgrade to. Also I don't have a budget. 

[Jack Kaye Pc Gamer]

I think your i5 will be bottlenecking, upgrade to a skylake i7 if you have no budget, something like a 6700k

[MarkoCroatiaMC]

17 minutes ago, dennisw95 said:

So I've been thinking about upgrading my computer recently... I'm pretty happy with my 2 970s. But I wonder if my i5 is bottlenecking them. So I was thinking about going to an i7. 

 

Would like some opinions on if I should upgrade and to which i7 I should upgrade to. Also I don't have a budget. 

 

13 minutes ago, Jack Kaye Pc Gamer said:

I think your i5 will be bottlenecking, upgrade to a skylake i7 if you have no budget, something like a 6700k

no budget? get a x99 cpu like the 5820k or the 5930k. NOTHING bottlenecks these puppies

[dennisw95]

45 minutes ago, Jack Kaye Pc Gamer said:

I think your i5 will be bottlenecking, upgrade to a skylake i7 if you have no budget, something like a 6700k

 

30 minutes ago, MarkoCroatiaMC said:

 

no budget? get a x99 cpu like the 5820k or the 5930k. NOTHING bottlenecks these puppies

Okay so taking those CPUs into consideration, will they all be compatible with my ASUS Maximus VII Ranger motherboard? Because when i looked it said its compatible with 4th&5th gen intel processors.

[incarnate]

19 minutes ago, dennisw95 said:

 

Okay so taking those CPUs into consideration, will they all be compatible with my ASUS Maximus VII Ranger motherboard? Because when i looked it said its compatible with 4th&5th gen intel processors.

5th gen is broadwell, which are the 5000 series EXCEPT the 5800 i7s. So no, none are compatible.

 

Honestly I doubt your i5 is causing severe bottlenecks unless you're playing at 1080p. Get a higher resolution monitor if you are bottlenecking in games. Higher resolutions are harder to bottleneck. Sli 970s are great for 1440p

 

To check, turn off vsync and use the on screen display in msi afterburner to check gpu loads. With no bottleneck you should be at about 99%

[dennisw95]

4 minutes ago, incarnate said:

5th gen is broadwell, which are the 5000 series EXCEPT the 5800 i7s. So no, none are compatible.

 

Honestly I doubt your i5 is causing severe bottlenecks unless you're playing at 1080p. Get a higher resolution monitor if you are bottlenecking in games. Higher resolutions are harder to bottleneck. Sli 970s are great for 1440p

 

To check, turn off vsync and use the on screen display in msi afterburner to check gpu loads. With no bottleneck you should be at about 99%

So if my gpu loads are upwards of 99%, then my CPU is not bottle-necking? What if both CPU and GPU are upwards of 99% or only CPU is upwards of 99%?

Because I am starting to gain interest in Twitch streaming, and when I stream with OBS, i notice a loss of frames in games. So I was assuming an upgrade to an i7 would fix that problem and might be a benefit to gaming whilst not streaming..?

[Low_Battery]

2 hours ago, dennisw95 said:

So I've been thinking about upgrading my computer recently... I'm pretty happy with my 2 970s. But I wonder if my i5 is bottlenecking them. So I was thinking about going to an i7. 

 

Would like some opinions on if I should upgrade and to which i7 I should upgrade to. Also I don't have a budget. 

If you are happy with what you are getting, and your frame rates are over 100 for the games you are playing, why not wait until the bottleneck is actually impacting your performance in a way that matters or is noticeable?  Usually the i5 vs i7 bottleneck only translates into 5 to 10 fps, max.  The longer you wait the more increased performance you are going to see from your upgrade as new tech comes out. I personally don't think it is that worth while to go to a i74790k when you are happy with your current set up and could put that money towards newer tech.  However, if you are streaming and doing heavy computer application processing, or want to, and can't afford to do a new MB and RAM at the moment, then maybe I would change my opinion... 

[dennisw95]

1 minute ago, Low_Battery said:

If you are happy with what you are getting, and your frame rates are over 100 for the games you are playing, why not wait until the bottleneck is actually impacting your performance in a way that matters or is noticeable?  Usually the i5 vs i7 bottleneck only translates into 5 to 10 fps, max.  The longer you wait the more increased performance you are going to see from your upgrade as new tech comes out. I personally don't think it is that worth while to go to a i74790k when you are happy with your current set up and could put that money towards newer tech.  However, if you are streaming and doing heavy computer application processing, or want to, and can't afford to do a new MB and RAM at the moment, then maybe I would change my opinion... 

Yeah my performance is fine. But im gaining interest in streaming which is why i was considering an upgrade.. Because I feel like my i5 is holding me back from doing so...

[Otakuness]

What games will you be playing at what resolution?

[Low_Battery]

3 minutes ago, dennisw95 said:

Yeah my performance is fine. But im gaining interest in streaming which is why i was considering an upgrade.. Because I feel like my i5 is holding me back from doing so...

Out of curiosity, have you tried it with your i5?

 

[dennisw95]

2 minutes ago, Low_Battery said:

Out of curiosity, have you tried it with your i5?

 

Yes I have, I've also messed with settings within OBS to try and increase it's fluidity whilst streaming and gaming but doesn't seem to do much unless I really down the quality of the stream which is something I'd rather not do.

4 minutes ago, Otakuness said:

What games will you be playing at what resolution?

I game at 1080p and right now i play games like WoW, CS Go, GTA V, H1Z1, Battlefield 4, Far Cry 4.... Etc.  I plan on getting gears when they decide to release it to pc...

[Low_Battery]

2 minutes ago, dennisw95 said:

Yes I have, I've also messed with settings within OBS to try and increase it's fluidity whilst streaming and gaming but doesn't seem to do much unless I really down the quality of the stream which is something I'd rather not do.

I game at 1080p and right now i play games like WoW, CS Go, GTA V, H1Z1, Battlefield 4, Far Cry 4.... Etc.  I plan on getting gears when they decide to release it to pc...

Well, it sounds like you have your answer then.  Although I would consider one other thing before pulling the trigger.  Hypothetically, if you did upgrade, how long would you have to wait to upgrade your computer again?  If you didn't upgrade, when would you be upgrading your computer?  Lastly, does the gap between the two make sense to upgrade now?

[dennisw95]

28 minutes ago, Low_Battery said:

Well, it sounds like you have your answer then.  Although I would consider one other thing before pulling the trigger.  Hypothetically, if you did upgrade, how long would you have to wait to upgrade your computer again?  If you didn't upgrade, when would you be upgrading your computer?  Lastly, does the gap between the two make sense to upgrade now?

Well I've had my rig for almost 15 months now. I'm still pleased with its performance. But I guess i can either deal with the lag i get when i want to stream and upgrade my MB and get a better processor with the new MB later this year.. Or upgrade my cpu now and do the new MB beginning of next year...

You've made great points and i appreciate your input. It's helped me a lot

[Low_Battery]

2 hours ago, dennisw95 said:

Well I've had my rig for almost 15 months now. I'm still pleased with its performance. But I guess i can either deal with the lag i get when i want to stream and upgrade my MB and get a better processor with the new MB later this year.. Or upgrade my cpu now and do the new MB beginning of next year...

You've made great points and i appreciate your input. It's helped me a lot

No problem, take care!