$500: Upgrade to i7 7700K+Mobo or GTX1080?

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Spixe

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May 4, 2010
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18,510
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: this week

Budget Range: (e.g.: 300-400): Around $500 give or take $100.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Priority is gaming, after that movies and heavy multitasking (often have up to 10 programs running at the same time).

Parts to Upgrade: CPU + Mobo or Video card

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, ncix.com, amazon, whatevers cheapest

Location: City, State/Region, Country: USA, California, central valley

Parts Preferences: Intel or AMD, but I think the best right now is i7 if I'm not mistaken.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4k)

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Been a couple years, my rig can't handle games under "ultimate" settings anymore.

Additional Comments:

Basically I have a budget of around $500 give or take $100 to upgrade my computer. I want it to be able to run the newest games as beautifully as possible (for the budget). I'm looking at either upgrading my CPU + Motherboard to a Core i7 7700K @4.2Ghz (around $350) plus a supporting motherboard for around $150. OR My video card to a GeForce GTX 1080.

My current build:
OS: Win 10 x64
Ram: 16GB
CPU: AMD FX-8320 @3500
GPU: ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1060 Mini, ZT-P10600A-10L, 6GB GDDR5 Super Compact

So given a choice between spending around $500 on a CPU upgrade or a GPU upgrade, which one would give me the most bang for my buck? Thanks a ton for any advice!
 
Solution
Blas
Though choice it is! You have a decent GPU, but not for 4K gaming with ultimate details. And you have an old CPU. For $500, you won't be able to play in 4K at max settings, because you need to upgrade both.

If you upgrade the CPU, you also need to upgrade the motherboard and RAM. The best CPU for gaming today is the Intel i7 7700K, but in about three weeks a new generation from intel is coming out, with 50% more cores. So it would be better to wait for that. Or go AMD with a Ryzen 1600, for example. I would recommend Ryzen, because while it's not as fast as the intel one, it's still way faster than the 8320 you have now, and it's only marginally slower than the Intel one (so a 7700K may be 100% faster than your current CPU, while the...
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Blas

Blas

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May 18, 2007
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Though choice it is! You have a decent GPU, but not for 4K gaming with ultimate details. And you have an old CPU. For $500, you won't be able to play in 4K at max settings, because you need to upgrade both.

If you upgrade the CPU, you also need to upgrade the motherboard and RAM. The best CPU for gaming today is the Intel i7 7700K, but in about three weeks a new generation from intel is coming out, with 50% more cores. So it would be better to wait for that. Or go AMD with a Ryzen 1600, for example. I would recommend Ryzen, because while it's not as fast as the intel one, it's still way faster than the 8320 you have now, and it's only marginally slower than the Intel one (so a 7700K may be 100% faster than your current CPU, while the Ryzen 1600 may be "only" 90% faster). It's also way cheaper: a Ryzen 1600 + overclockable mobo + RAM may be some $100-$150 cheaper than the equivalent setup from intel for a 7700K. Ryzen 1600 + your GPU would be an upgrade that falls into your budget and would improve your gaming.

In reality what you need the most to play at 4K at max settings is a powerful GPU, and the GTX 1080 is the best option for that price. But paired with your current 8320, it will be bottlenecked and underused. It's a bad combination, it's too good a GPU for your CPU.

So I would upgrade the cpu+mobo+ram: an AMD Ryzen 1600 (around $200), some Asrock B350 mobo (this B350 chipset allows overclocking, and has all the features except it does not allow SLI, which i don't recommend anyway; Asrock mobos have relatively good power phases to allow for stable overclocking), and 16 GB of DDR4 @ 3000 / 3200 MHz (the faster, the better: Ryzen is quite sensitive to RAM speeds, 3200 MHz is the sweet spot in terms of speed/price).

Hope it helps! :)
 
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Spixe

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May 4, 2010
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Wow, that's a ton Blas, you really considered everything and then some! I couldn't be more appreciative of your consideration in responding to me.

You gave me a lot to consider. I think you made a good point that waiting 3 weeks might be best. When the new Intel's come out, it should probably push the price of the 'old gen' ones lower (I hope) or at least force the competition to do a bit more competitive marketing, so with any luck there will be a price drop.

If that is not the case however, and they just end up making them twice as expensive, then I'll be left with the original two options. In which case, I'll take your advice and go for an AMD Ryzen 1600, an Asrock B350 mobo, and 16GB of DDR @ 3200. Sounds like almost the perfect rig.

Here's hoping in 3 weeks time we'll see a price drop or the next gen of Intels for a similar price to make it an even better rig. :wahoo:

Thanks again! Really appreciate it~



 
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