Need to Upgrade my Gaming Rig

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

I'm looking for advice on upgrading my gaming rig.

I play games competitively; by that I mean, I do not care what graphics settings I use, or what resolution I use, I will use the optimal settings for competitive play.

I play on 1080p @ 144hz.

Here are my current specs:
R9 390
i5-4460
16gb DDR3 RAM
Rosewill Photon 750w 80+ Gold
240gb ssd + 1tb hdd (which just hit 20,000 power on hours, perhaps I should get a new one?)

As most people who use 144hz would understand, I just want to play games at 144+fps.

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

i5-8500 (or better)
H310 (or better)
16gb DDR4 (2666)

Your other parts are fine.

Budget & what games are your playing?

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

No GPU upgrade? I don't necessarily have a budget, I want to buy whatever will get me 144fps at 1080p in the majority of games. For example, I'd imagine I wont need a 1080 ti, but I'll probably need a 1070 ti.

I'm mostly looking at options here. Maybe It would be worth it to invest in a better CPU and keep my gpu? I don't want to upgrade CPU, GPU, RAM, Mobo, only to see like a 30 fps increase. If I could get a 15-20 fps increase from just a cpu/mobo upgrade it might be worth it though. Hopefully what I'm saying makes sense, thank you very much for your help btw.

Edit: What would give me the greatest performance increase value wise?

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

If game settings don't really matter the R9 390 is still decent, it's going to comes down to the games you play, some may favor the CPU so getting a significantly better CPU would make a noticeable difference.

Are any of your games not getting up to 144 as you lower the settings?

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

There are definitely certain areas in fortnite where I will get ~70-90 fps. I also get about an average of 70 fps in Black ops 4. I assume that as new titles release and I am working less later this year, I will be playing more demanding titles. My main spark for this upgrade was black ops 4 not running as smoothly as I'd like it to, and I found a 1070ti for $325.

The way I see it is, I have money to spend, and I have alot of things I can sell. I could probably sell my 390 for $150, my mobo for $50, my CPU for $80, my old keyboard for $50, my old mouse for $50, etc. I think after selling those an upgrade could be super worth it, but potentially still worth it without doing that. I personally don't know how far an upgrade to a 1070ti and a better cpu will get me, thats why I'm asking here lol.

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

The price for that 1070 ti is excellent so as long as it hasn't been used for mining I'd snag it. If 144 FPS with minimal dips is a must then just grab either the 8600K or 8700K with a Z370 motherboard and 16gb of DDR4 @2666+. These specs will give your 144 FPS in current FPS but the important part is that you will want to overclock either of these CPU's to around 5.0ghz.

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

That looks to be about a $700 upgrade. Do you think the performance I gain will be worth the money? I guess, if you were in my shoes, would you do it?

also here is a quote from the seller.
"it was used for gaming was also used on minergate just to see how it performed... It works perfect"

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

If it were me I'd look for a 4770(K)/4790(K) for under $200 (I see a few around $170), sell the 4460 ($90 maybe?) and grab a new 1070 ti for $430 (EVGA GTX 1070 ti 8gb Silent). After everything is said and done it'll be about a $350 upgrade (post selling 4460/R9 390) and at least you'll have a GPU under warranty and hasn't been mined with (I don't trust those cards as you have no idea how long they'll last).

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

My CPU is cooled with a H100i v2, assuming I get a good OC on a 4790k, how would that compare with an 8600k? If comparable, I wouldn't need to buy new RAM, which would save me a ton. Also, my RAM is 1600mhz, does ram freq. even affect gaming performance / latency?

& the seller of the 1070 Ti has quite poor grammar / spelling, but he said he's used it since may, it has been used mainly for gaming and hasnt done much mining. I don't need the card to last 5 years, I usually upgrade every 2 1/2 years or so. I could be pretty confident that it would last that long, right?

Edit: here's the quote
"Since may was not used much for minning wasn't no profit so it's mainly gamming"

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

The difference between the two is minimal.
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-8600K/2384vs3941

As for the RAM the speed doesn't matter much for Intel, maybe like 2-3 FPS which isn't worth the extra cost. Now if we were talking about AMD Ryzen then that's a different story, going from 2133 to 3200 can make up to a 30 FPS difference.

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

As for the GPU that's solely up to you, personally I don't buy used GPU's unless I know the seller (friend, family member, etc).

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

I'm having trouble finding functional 4790k's for under $200, where are you looking?
Also, will an OC'd 4770/4790k be much better than a 4460?

I think I'll need a new motherboard aswell. What would you recommend for overclocking?

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

I was looking at 4770K's around $170 on ebay, if you have a locked motherboard then you may want to consider a newer platform. What is your current motherboard?

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

Gigabyte B85M-DS3HA according to windows.

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

You might be able to overclock on it but it probably won't be as good as a Z87/Z97 motherboard. At this point I think your better off selling the 4460/MB/DDR3 and going newer platform. You could probably get around $250 for everything.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($254.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($146.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: ADATA - XPG GAMMIX D10 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $546.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-13 14:36 EDT-0400

So this upgrade would be around $300 (selling old stuff and getting new). The R9 390 is still a solid card and I think you'll see a bigger improvement via the CPU upgrade. Using the H100i V2, 5.0ghz should be fairly easy with the 8600K and is a massive improvement over your 4460, especially with games that can utilize more then 4 cores.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-8600K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4460/3941vs2310

The R9 390 8gb is even pretty close to performance to the GTX 1060 6gb so for 1080P its a solid card.

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

Oof, I already bought the 1070 Ti knowing it would get sold pretty quickly.

The seller has listed no returns on ebay and has already shipped the item.

Breaking down the prices of the options you have sent, the CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade will be about $246, assuming that I sell everything I want to sell for a total of $300.

On the other end, the GPU/Mobo/CPU upgrade will be about a $300 upgrade.
(325 for gpu, 100 for mobo, 175 for cpu) - 300.

There is always the option of reselling the 1070 Ti, allowing me to go for the CPU/Mobo/Ram option, but do you honestly think that option will provide more performance? Assuming an OC'd 4770k is comparable to an OC'd 8600k, how can the 2nd option be justified?

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

I mean if you were willing to go with a 700$ upgrade previously then having a 8600K @5.0ghz & a 1070 ti will definitely get you 144 FPS in 1080P.

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

Sorry I guess I worded that poorly, I meant if the 8600k is comparable to an overclocked 4770k, how can the additional price for ram be justified? A.k.a, why would I convert to newer gen if I won't see much of an FPS boost. It will run me an extra $140.

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

I don't think your going to be able to overclock on that 4770K with a B85 board. Even if the board supports it I doubt you'll get into the 4.4ghz to 4.5ghz area and the difference is quite noticeable from a stock 4770(K) against a 8600K.
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-8600K/1537vs3941

The 4790K is clocked quite a bit higher then the 4770K so you'll have a bit more performance.

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

Right, I was accounting for the motherboard upgrade.

The way I'm seeing it is:

For upgrading to 8600k
requirements: Mobo, RAM

For upgrading to 4770k
requirements Mobo

I already have a liquid cooler, so at this point I'm wondering if the $140 ram price is worth the performance edge of the 8600k.

Edit: This is assuming that I keep the 1070 Ti.

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

The problem is getting a good Z97 motherboard, there hard to come by and usually very overpriced even though there used.

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

Makes sense.

I think at this point I'm beating a dead horse.

I should have all the information I need.

Thank you very much for all of your help, I really appreciate it!

WildCard999 · Aug 13, 2018

No problem, sorry I may of confused you (& myself) a bit.

At this point get the 1070 ti, run your games and see the increased performance (make sure you do a clean install of Nvidia Drivers). If it keeps you at 144 then great and you can forgot the CPU/MB/RAM upgrade for now. If performance is still lacking then well look at the next best step based on pricing and what's available. Rumor is that Intel might be releasing the 9th gen CPU's this fall so I'd save up some cash and this way it would probably be a more substantial upgrade over the current 8th gen.

Shlutka · Aug 13, 2018

WildCard999 :

Exactly what I was thinking!

Need to Upgrade my Gaming Rig

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