Upgrading Gaming Computer - Help!

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Twin Fang

Twin Fang

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Hello!

So my Birthday is coming up and I am hoping to get some new gear for my gaming PC but I am not completely sure what sort of things I should be upgrading. I want a PC that ideally will run the top games on the highest FPS, I currently use a 144hz monitor and I average running more intensive games on around 40 - 60 FPS on the highest settings. I would love to be able to run all games on the best settings with an average FPS of 60+ if possible. I know a bit about computers, mostly graphics cards but I have no idea if things like motherboards matter that much? I bought my motherboard randomly when I built my PC not knowing what it does and if it's actually any good. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I know parts of my build are really outdated but I don't know which parts I should upgrade.

This is my current build:

GPU - GeForce GTX 970

CPU - Intel i5-4670 3.40GHz

RAM - 16GB

Motherboard - Gigabyte H87-HD3

Power Supply - 750W

HDD - WD Blue 1TB


Thanks again.



 
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I don't think it's a thing. It won't offer any performance difference apart from possibly better features such as more connections or better audio or better LAN. Motherboards are usually upgraded to afford someone the ability to upgrade their CPU to a different socket type(such as Haswell(1150) to Coffeelake(1151).

Coffee Lake is an odd one in that it is the same socket type as the previous generation but needs a 300 series board. 1151 Z270? Not going to happen.
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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Jan 10, 2006
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MERGED QUESTION
Question from Twin Fang : "Upgrading Gaming Computer - Help!"



 
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derekullo

derekullo

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Jan 25, 2009
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If you are planning on running games at 60 fps then you don't need a 144 hertz monitor.

That's like saying you want to get a B on a test instead of an A.

Ideally you should be shooting for 144 fps to match your monitors refresh rate.

Upgrading your graphics card would be your biggest upgrade.

Your cpu may hold you back if any game wants to use more than 4 threads.


The 2 most important factors to really answer this question is what games do you play and what resolution is your 144 hertz monitor (or rather what is the model of your monitor)?
 
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Twin Fang

Twin Fang

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Well I would love to be able to play every game on 144FPS, that would be insane :D But I am not sure what the price of being able to do that would be? So I just said 60+

My monitor is a 1920x1080 Hz monitor if that helps?
 
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Twin Fang

Twin Fang

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I have heard really good things about the 1080, is there any difference in the brands? I see you suggested the MSI version.
 
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cryoburner

cryoburner

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Oct 8, 2011
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A 1060 would not be a particularly worthwhile upgrade from a 970, since it's only around 10% faster in most games. One would need to be looking at something with at least the 1070's level of performance to notice a substantial improvement. 1070s do tend to be overpriced lately due to the cryptocurrency miners though. Recent months have not exactly been a good time to shop for graphics cards, since most mid-range cards cost significantly more than they did a year ago, or even half a year ago. The current generation of graphics cards are a year to a year-and-a-half old at this point, but most of them cost more than they did at launch.

And of course, even a 1080 won't manage to provide 144fps in all games, since the CPU would be the limiting factor in many titles, and even the fastest processors available today don't have the performance to push framerates much above 100fps in some games.

Really, I'd say nothing in this build is "really outdated". CPU performance hasn't substantially improved over that i5-4670, and the GTX 970 still makes for a reasonable mid-range card at 1080p. Some games might dip below 60fps at ultra settings, but you could likely drop some settings to 'high' to remain over that threshold. Personally, with that hardware, I would probably hold out some months for new graphics cards to come out, and hopefully for their prices to come back down closer to where they should be.
 
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aquielisunari

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That is based on their past experience and price. It's less expensive than some of the 1070 cards. It wasn't based on a current review. The reviews from those with their boots on the ground suggest it's a nice card.

Remember when someone mentioned refresh rates? That's the Hz. Your monitor refreshes its screen 144 times per second. When the card can't fill all those frames the gaming experience is not the best it can be. I have a GTX 970 FTW with a 4690K OC'd to 4.3GHz. that I use with a 1080p 60Hz TV. It's a good pairing because I can usually keep 60 frames with reduced settings. You will notice a difference between 144Hz gameplay(and movies :D) and 60Hz gameplay.
 
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aquielisunari

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Mar 31, 2011
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I don't think it's a thing. It won't offer any performance difference apart from possibly better features such as more connections or better audio or better LAN. Motherboards are usually upgraded to afford someone the ability to upgrade their CPU to a different socket type(such as Haswell(1150) to Coffeelake(1151).

Coffee Lake is an odd one in that it is the same socket type as the previous generation but needs a 300 series board. 1151 Z270? Not going to happen.
 
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Twin Fang

Twin Fang

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Feb 10, 2016
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Ah okay, thank you! It's always been a wonder for me aha.
 
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