Is it worth upgrading my i7 4790k?

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Nath_198

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Hey guys, I recently purchased an MSI 1080 TI, and I can't tell if my CPU or GPU are being bottlenecked on recent games.

I have a 1080p monitor, but in the mean time before I get a 1440p monitor, I am upscaling my res to 1440p.

On GTA v my GPU usage goes anywhere between 50% and 95%, meanwhile my cpu usage hovers around, maybe 70-80%, idk if this is bad or good. I'm also noticing that I get lower fps on my setup than other setups with 1080 ti's. one setup similar to me gets 20 fps more than me on GTA v and watchdogs 2.

Idk if this was me expecting too much of the 1080ti, or if there is something wrong.

Just in case those is needed, here are my fire strike scores

GPU - 29k
CPU - around 10k
Both my GPU and cpu scored around, I think, 7k, can't remember correctly
My overall score was just over 19k

If this is also needed, here is is what I can recall that I have in my pic

MSI 1080 ti
I7 4790k (not oc'd)
16 go ddr3 ram
Asrock b85m pro4 motherboard
650w psu

Any and all help would be appreciated :)
 
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maxalge

maxalge

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May 31, 2012
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you are naturally going to get lower fps than people that have a 4790k and overclocking motherboard in cpu bound games
 
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blockhead78

blockhead78

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as maxalge said, overclocking

your firestrike scores sound about right for your rig

My score was around 22000, but my 4790K & Strix 1080ti are overclocked

Don't focus on what other people's scores are. The most important thing is, does it perform well in games for you?

I was considering moving to a Z270 setup, but then after a bit of research I realised that I'd only see a small increase in performance for a big price tag.

And with X299, the price hike is even bigger.

As far as is it worth upgrading? If your comfortable with it and have adequate cooling, experiment with OC'ing the CPU/GPU. If you've never done it before READ UP ON IT first. Don't just dive in head first and change settings and risk damaging something.

Personally, I just couldn't justify the expense on upgrading for me and I'm more than happy with the in game performance I get from my rig.
 
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guanyu210379

guanyu210379

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"I have a 1080p monitor, but in the mean time before I get a 1440p monitor, I am upscaling my res to 1440p."
wat?!
You can not make your monitor displaying 1440p means you can not upscale 1080p to 1440p and make your monitor to display it.
or...is it downscaling/downsampling a.k.a Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) by nVidia from 1440p to 1080p you mean?
 
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Nath_198

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what i mean is, i have a 1080p monitor, but i use dsr to get it up to 1440p.

what about the thing about my grandad getting the same frames as me on fh3 with a regular 1080?

also, on watchdogs 2, is it normal for my rig to struggle a little at ultra?

and on gta, i get around 75-110 at max everything and msaa x4 and at 1440p where as with my old 970, i was getting 70-80 fps at 1080p and grass on high, is this an adequate performance icrease i was to expect?
 
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blockhead78

blockhead78

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using DSR to get 1440 > 1080 puts more strain on the GPU

is your grandad also using DSR? if not, that could explain why he's getting the same frames (might also be a number of things in his rig that could explain it)

If you disabled that and played at 1080, you'd see a performance boost
 
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Nath_198

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its weird though, because when i put the res back down to 1080p, sometimes the fps stays the same, or it gets slightly worse fps.

someone on steam discussions said this may be to do with my gpu performing so well, that my cpu cant keep up with it, so putting dsr to 1440p put more strain on my gpu and takes a little bit off of my cpu, is that how it works (im no pc expert by any means so correct me if im wrong)
 
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blockhead78

blockhead78

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your rig is performing fine and as expected based on your spec

going from 70-80 FPS @ 1080 to 75-110 @ 1440 is a big performance jump

If you're happy with the performance, then great!

If you want to get a bit more out of it, look into overclocking if you're comfortable with it.
 
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Nath_198

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i may look into oc'ing so that on cpu bound games it isnt on 100% usage all the time.

but i need a decent but cheap-ish cpu cooler as i have the stock cooler currently, any recommendations?
 
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blockhead78

blockhead78

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some games are more CPU bound than others

as far as a decent cooler, depends on your budget

you can get a decent overclock on air cooling
the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is an excellent budget cooler

a more pricey, but another excellent cooler is the noctua nh-d15

there are also AIO water cooling options like The Corsair hydro range, Kraken, swiftech to name a few.

However, with overclocking always remember, not all CPUs are equal.

You might have a really good 4790K that will overclock easily without too much voltage being needed.

But you might have one that might not OC as well as others and requires higher voltages, therefore will run warmer.

Some people can easily OC to the likes of 4.8-5Ghz without any problems. Some cant get past 4.6Ghz.

The limit on mine seems to be around the 4.8Ghz mark.
 
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