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Thread: Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

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    Question Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

    Hi all,

    I'm looking to upgrade my PC as it's not holding up so well with newer games, in particular red dead redemption 2 (realise this is poorly optimised) but also watch dogs 2 looks ok rather than good and seems like AA could do with being turned up a bit. Would also like to be able to play cyberpunk 2077 and fay cry 6 when it arrives at decent settings.

    Have also thought about upgrading monitor, perhaps to 1440p and probably to a bigger size, so any advice there much appreciated as not too sure about size, I sit about 70cm from the screen and so seems to be either 24" or 27" (currently have a 20").

    In terms of budget, it was the release of the 3060ti that's got me thinking about making the upgrade (although obtaining one obv non-trivial at this point ) but if there's anything close for a bit less that would be worth considering (my perception was that's not the case).. also for the monitor maybe another £180-300 max (can't really justify more than that unless there are really good reasons to do so, current monitor has been going for about 12 years though so maybe worth the investment). Also not sure whether CPU will be a bottleneck, or whether PSU needs upgrading as well.

    Thanks in advance!

    Current system:

    Motherboard: ASUS H97 Pro
    Processor: Intel i5-4690 3.50Ghz
    RAM: HyperX Savage 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) 1866 MHz DDR3 CL9
    HDD: Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
    PSU: Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 Power Supply (600 Watts) 80 Plus Gold
    Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970
    Display: NEC 20WGX2
    Case: Fractal Design Define R5

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    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
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    Re: Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

    I think even though a Core i5 4690 might have OK average framerates,its minimums which cause a problem in newer games,especially with a new dGPU.

    In terms of a CPU upgrade I would say a Ryzen 5 5600X at £280, or a £220 Core i5 10600KF at current street prices(the Ryzen 5 3600/3600X/3600XT pricing is too high now),or a Ryzen 7 3700X at under £300 if you want some longevity(IMHO). If you are on a lower budget perhaps a Core i5 10400F?? A secondhand Xeon E3 V3 or Core i7 4770/4790 might also be a shorter fix if cheap enough.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 09-12-2020 at 09:26 PM.

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    Re: Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

    The GTX 970 is, pretty much, the ceiling for that CPU - a significantly faster GPU will be bottle-necked.

    The used market is a bit of a mess right now - the 20 series cards are holding price because of the dearth of 30 series cards, so they ain't great value. CPUs are a bit steep too atm - I paid less for a new Ryzen 5 3600 than many of the used listings on ebay.

    Putting things in perspective though - even a Ryzen 5 2600/2700 will be in a different league to your 4690. Cheap but capable 1440p GPUs are unicorns right now.
    Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes; after that, who cares?! He's a mile away and you've got his shoes!

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    Re: Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

    Thanks for the replies, much appreciated

    Looks like I'm looking at a new GPU, CPU, mobo and monitor as a minimum then... How about the other components (particularly the RAM), do they hold up ok?

    Is there anything just round the corner CPU wise that might be worth waiting for... given the lack of GPU availability I'm tempted to hold off for a couple of months if the situation is likely to improve

    Thanks

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    Re: Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

    I have to agree with Spreadie here.
    I'm currently in a very similar situation to you, I need to update my listed sec's but I'm on an FX8350, a gtx970 and a 1440p IPS screen (it's not a high refresh rate monitor but it's the best purchase I've made in years)
    cyberpunk is just about playable at medium settings (note you need to set textures from main menu not in game) note sure what the fps is I'd guess around 25-40 depending on what's happening.

    I've been checking load and temp because I get random crashes and both cpu and gpu are under heavy load, cyberpunk seems to multi-thread well all cores at 70-90% load, gpu is pegged at 97%.
    This shows that I might be slightly GPU bound, as you'll have higher core performance, but fewer cores and should be in a similar situation.

    So I need a full system upgrade, cpu's are not very available atm and gpu's supply is even worse.
    The 2nd hand market is currently over inflated for 1000series or higher, best bet seems to be wait a few months and make do with what you have, maybe lower the graphics setting a couple of notches.
    probably not the answer you want, I know it's not the answer I want, but it's the answer I have

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    Re: Gaming system upgrade - advice needed!

    Quote Originally Posted by mrniceguy View Post
    Hi all,

    I'm looking to upgrade my PC as it's not holding up so well with newer games, in particular red dead redemption 2 (realise this is poorly optimised) but also watch dogs 2 looks ok rather than good and seems like AA could do with being turned up a bit. Would also like to be able to play cyberpunk 2077 and fay cry 6 when it arrives at decent settings.

    Have also thought about upgrading monitor, perhaps to 1440p and probably to a bigger size, so any advice there much appreciated as not too sure about size, I sit about 70cm from the screen and so seems to be either 24" or 27" (currently have a 20").

    In terms of budget, it was the release of the 3060ti that's got me thinking about making the upgrade (although obtaining one obv non-trivial at this point ) but if there's anything close for a bit less that would be worth considering (my perception was that's not the case).. also for the monitor maybe another £180-300 max (can't really justify more than that unless there are really good reasons to do so, current monitor has been going for about 12 years though so maybe worth the investment). Also not sure whether CPU will be a bottleneck, or whether PSU needs upgrading as well.

    Thanks in advance!

    Current system:

    Motherboard: ASUS H97 Pro
    Processor: Intel i5-4690 3.50Ghz
    RAM: HyperX Savage 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) 1866 MHz DDR3 CL9
    HDD: Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
    PSU: Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 Power Supply (600 Watts) 80 Plus Gold
    Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970
    Display: NEC 20WGX2
    Case: Fractal Design Define R5
    My son is in a similar situation with similar specs to you, and the market at the moment is disgusting.

    I have told him to wait till the new year when (Hopefully) the market will settle down to better prices.

    You could try overclocking your 970, to squeeze a few more FPS for now.

    I have an i5 6600K with a Geforce 970, 16gb DDR4 3200mhz and an 1tb M500 SSD. Cyberpunk 2077 plays ok with that spec with the tweaks people have posted on this thread its playable.
    https://forums.hexus.net/gaming/4231...ardware-3.html
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