From 970 to ?

Anno1800

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Nov 11, 2018
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Hello peeps

Since i purchased Forza Horizon 4, my gpu can barely push medium settings & sometimes it crashes. Upon watching on Gpu-Z it nearly maxes out its vram :(
I play Cities Skylines, Forza Horizon4, Bf1, Dreadnaught + World of Warships. Currently have dual monitor setup (2d monitor is an old monitor Samsun XL2370 1080p).

My specs are
* 4690k 4.2ghz at the moment (can push to 4.6)
* Trident X 2400 8gb Ram
* Win 10 Ultimate 64 bit
* Msi 970 gtx Gaming
* Corsair RMX 650 psu Gold
* My monitor is a Acer Predator 27' 1440p 165hz Gsync (longterm investment)
* Asus rog vii hero

In the future i'll be upgrading to 9600k with 16gb of Ram (at least 2400mhz) + Asrock Extreme4 or Taichi.

However i've been looking at gpu prices in Europe (Belgium) & they are all very pricey however i need a better gpu. Paying 745 Euros is alot still.

Which gpu should i go for? I can't afford 2080 TI.

I'm kind of afraid to purchase a used gpu from Ebay (specially if they are being imported from wherever + added taxes).
Should i buy 2070 or whichever gpu for now & get 7nm gpu in the future?
I don't have to play on Ultra settings, i'm fine with High settings or may be Very High, also having Gsync helps alot.


Thanks alot
 
I was going to recommend Vega 64 or 56 even since you play Forza considering Vega 64 outperforms 1080Ti. But since you committed on the Gsync monitor I'm sure you aren't interested in an AMD card.

For the green team typically the 1070Ti has been the sweet spot for sub 4K gaming. Not sure on the prices for Belgium though.
 
I'd say at least a 1070 Ti to make it a worthwhile upgrade, but maybe RTX 2070 would be nice if you can swing the extra cash.
 
If you can't find a 1080ti in your price range certainly go regular 1080 and as cyber said a 1070ti is still a nice upgrade. Great monitor btw the 970 is barely adequate for it!
 
An older i5 and only 8 gigs of RAM is not going to cut it when pushing a newer high-end GPU. A 1080ti would be a laughable waste on that set up in some games. Hell there are some games now where I can't even maintain 60fps due to even all eight threads of my i7 being a limitation. I can't even imagine trying to play those same games with only four cores. You are going to have some stuttering for sure especially in games like Mafia 3 and parts of Watch Dogs 2 and Assassin's Creed Origins.

I would get another 8 gigs of RAM and find a 4790k and sell your 4690k if you're going to make a big GPU upgrade.
 
Especially for 165Hz, the rest of the system will likely bottleneck a high-end GPU.

However, you might have to do a full rebuild to get real benefit.

The 4790K would be better, but probably not drastically. So I think your CPU is alright for now. Another 8GB of RAM might not be a bad idea, though.

Or you can just save that money for a real upgrade later on. But if you want a new GPU that could certainly help.

I had a machine on a 4790K and I was able to get 60 fps+ at 4K on a Titan X Pascal. So a good GPU would not be a waste.

You should get good performance with an RTX 2070. I think that is your best bet (plus you can buy new, with warranty, etc.).
 
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An older i5 and only 8 gigs of RAM is not going to cut it when pushing a newer high-end GPU. A 1080ti would be a laughable waste on that set up in some games. Hell there are some games now where I can't even maintain 60fps due to even all eight threads of my i7 being a limitation. I can't even imagine trying to play those same games with only four cores. You are going to have some stuttering for sure especially in games like Mafia 3 and parts of Watch Dogs 2 and Assassin's Creed Origins.

I would get another 8 gigs of RAM and find a 4790k and sell your 4690k if you're going to make a big GPU upgrade.

This is true. 8GB of ram is going to be a problem in modern games and a 4core 4 thread CPU is really going to struggle. A 4790K and 8 more GB would be a big upgrade for you.
 
Especially for 165Hz, the rest of the system will likely bottleneck a high-end GPU.

However, you might have to do a full rebuild to get real benefit.

View attachment 119326

https://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/4

See the 4790K is barely any better. So I think your CPU is alright for now. Another 8GB of RAM might not be a bad idea, though.

Uhm, that's an iGPU test. the 4670 and 4790 all use the same iGP, and has nothing to do with CPU bottlenecks.
 
Especially for 165Hz, the rest of the system will likely bottleneck a high-end GPU.

However, you might have to do a full rebuild to get real benefit.

View attachment 119326

https://www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/4

See the 4790K is barely any better. So I think your CPU is alright for now. Another 8GB of RAM might not be a bad idea, though.

Or you can just save that money for a real upgrade later on. But if you want a new GPU that could certainly help.

I had a machine on a 4790K and I was able to get 60 fps+ at 4K on a Titan X Pascal. So a good GPU would not be a waste.

You should get good performance with an RTX 2070. I think that is your best bet (plus you can buy new, with warranty, etc.).

View attachment 119327
Maybe it's lack of sleep on my part but I'm confused to why you're showing a benchmark for integrated graphics in an old game and talking about CPU speed not mattering much when it comes to the 4790k. If I disable hyper-threading on my 4770k I can sometimes lose 30 or 40% of performance and even more than that in minimum frame rates. There are parts of some games that are literally not even what I consider playable if I disable hyper-threading and only use four cores. And pretty much every single modern game out there will have all four cores pegged nearly the whole time with a higher-end GPU.
 
Uhm, that's an iGPU test. the 4670 and 4790 all use the same iGP, and has nothing to do with CPU bottlenecks.
Sorry, that was a bad link. I think my point is still valid though. Here is a video comparison I found.

 
Maybe it's lack of sleep on my part but I'm confused to why you're showing a benchmark for integrated graphics in an old game and talking about CPU speed not mattering much when it comes to the 4790k. If I disable hyper-threading on my 4770k I can sometimes lose 30 or 40% of performance and even more than that in minimum frame rates. There are parts of some games that are literally not even what I consider playable if I disable hyper-threading and only use four cores. And pretty much every single modern game out there will have all four cores pegged nearly the whole time with a higher-end GPU.
LOL, no it's not you. I posted a bad link. Will need to read more and not just look at the images.
 
Yeah, I get it.

To counter my original point, I upgraded from a i5-4590 to a i7-4790K, and from 8GB to 16GB of 1600 speed RAM, and I did notice a difference.

I'd say it was about a 10%, or at most 20%, increase in some games. So yeah, that could be worthwhile. It just won't be a night and day difference.
 
Yeah, I get it.

To counter my original point, I upgraded from a i5-4590 to a i7-4790K, and from 8GB to 16GB of 1600 speed RAM, and I did notice a difference.

I'd say it was about a 10%, or at most 20%, increase in some games. So yeah, that could be worthwhile. It just won't be a night and day difference.
Depending on the game it can absolutely be a night and day difference. As I've already mentioned even my 4770k is a CPU imitation in some of the newer games and trying to run those same games on four cores is a laughable mess at times. Just turning the mouse in Mafia 3 is a stutterfest on 4 cores while it's 100% smooth when I have hyper-threading enabled. And also again like I already mentioned every single modern game will have all four cores pegged almost the whole time if trying to push a higher end GPU and that can be very noticeable.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

4790k costs here 400+ euro.
I can spend up to 600 for GPU.
Don't have enough cash to buy both new cpu ram & motherboard + gpu. So it has to either gpu or the rest.
 
Buy a used 1080ti and call it a day.
You mentioned you can clock to 4.6ghz...buy 8 gb used ram if need also
 
Buy a used 1080ti and call it a day.
You mentioned you can clock to 4.6ghz...buy 8 gb used ram if need also
It would be stupid to put a 1080ti with an older i5 and "call it a day". He will rarely have playable performance above what a plain 1080 can do and in some cases he will not even reach the full potential of what a 1070 ti can do especially when looking at minimum frame rates and frame times.
 
It would be stupid to put a 1080ti with an older i5 and "call it a day". He will rarely have playable performance above what a plain 1080 can do and in some cases he will not even reach the full potential of what a 1070 ti can do especially when looking at minimum frame rates and frame times.
Original post stated hes going to buy a 9600K at later date.
If he is gaming at 1440P which he stated, anything less than 1080ti is "stupid"
 
Original post stated hes going to buy a 9600K at later date.
If he is gaming at 1440P which he stated, anything less than 1080ti is "stupid"
And by the time he upgrades his CPU the GPU landscape may be completely different. If he is seriously going to upgrade soon then sure grab a 1080ti but if it could be a year or more than he would be foolish to pay with a 1080 ti cost and pair it with an older i5. And you are flat out clueless if you think a 1080ti is required at 1440p so saying it's stupid to have anything less than that at that resolution is laughably ridiculous. The main reason to need a 1080ti at that resolution would be if you have a high refresh rate monitor which his older i5 would defeat the point of that anyway since he would be too CPU limited to take full advantage of the high refresh rate. He won't even be able to maintain 50 FPS in some games with that CPU.
 
I think a used 1070TI from a reputable source and a 4790k would be a good path. Both should be about $600 USD.
 
You'll want a 1080 Ti if you're shooting for 1440p @ 165Hz. A 1070 Ti would be the bottleneck at that high a refresh rate.
 
You'll want a 1080 Ti if you're shooting for 1440p @ 165Hz. A 1070 Ti would be the bottleneck at that high a refresh rate.
He sure as hell won't be getting 1440p 165 with an older i5 anyway. Luckily with g-sync he should smooth out most of the performance but again if the CPU is 100% pegged which it will be in almost every modern game pushing a 1080ti then there's going to be some stuttering and hitching. Again that older i5 will not even maintain 60 or even 50 FPS in parts of some games. Hell he can't even average 60fps in some of the really CPU intensive games.

And I think his future plans for upgrading to a 9600k would be foolish too. We have a few games right now that will peg all 6 cores of that CPU if trying to push a 1080ti and that's only going to get worse over the next few years. And if you have a 1080ti then the next upgrade will be a GPU that has Ray tracing. And DICE has already made it clear that you really want 12 threads or at least 8 very fast threads on the CPU to handle that and again that's only going to get more demanding too.

I guess it becomes sort of a Snowball Effect once you start getting high-end stuff as you really need more high end stuff to get full use out of it. LOL
 
And by the time he upgrades his CPU the GPU landscape may be completely different. If he is seriously going to upgrade soon then sure grab a 1080ti but if it could be a year or more than he would be foolish to pay with a 1080 ti cost and pair it with an older i5. And you are flat out clueless if you think a 1080ti is required at 1440p so saying it's stupid to have anything less than that at that resolution is laughably ridiculous. The main reason to need a 1080ti at that resolution would be if you have a high refresh rate monitor which his older i5 would defeat the point of that anyway since he would be too CPU limited to take full advantage of the high refresh rate. He won't even be able to maintain 50 FPS in some games with that CPU.
I agree that the i5 will bottleneck at high refresh rates. But the OP is on a 970 right now. Surely an upgrade to a 1070 Ti (or better) would be the bigger improvement (assuming they have $600 to spend and can only choose one path right now).
 
I agree that the i5 will bottleneck at high refresh rates. But the OP is on a 970 right now. Surely an upgrade to a 1070 Ti (or better) would be the bigger improvement (assuming they have $600 to spend and can only choose one path right now).
Yes in terms of Pure Performance he will certainly get a massive upgrade. I'm just saying if he's trying to push that refresh rate with a very high-end GPU then his CPU is going to be at 100% in pretty much all modern games so that is going to cause some hitching and stuttering. I know running my 4770k without hyper-threading even at 60 hertz has my CPU at or near 100% in pretty much all newer games. And a GTX 1080 TI is certainly not cheap so it seems silly to buy a GPU like that and not be able to get full use out of it.
 
Yeah, I get it. The OP did say they were looking to update the CPU/Mobo/RAM at a later date. Might be best to invest in the RTX 2070 now, and then get the rest when possible.

Of course, they won't get the full benefit, certainly not 165 fps, but they will be ready to roll once they can afford updating everything else.
 
Thanks again for replies guys.
Just wanted to clarify that i'm not trying to achieve max refreshrate of 165 or 140. I'd be good at 100+ on ultra settings or Very High depending on the game ofc (Gsync will do the rest).
I'll be buying MSI GeForce RTX 2070 GAMING Z 8G for 645 euros brand new for now. I'll wait till Xmas hoping to see some price cuts on future cpu ram mobo upgrade.

I'm also curious as how to Zen 2 will be like, i hate waiting & choices man.

You think i should buy these cpu ram & mobo or wait for AMD new cpus?

Edit: Is 645 euro worth for Gaming Z 2070 or should i get the cheapest one for 519 (Evga or Palit)?
 

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Unless the Armor cooler is different than before, I would stay the hell away from that garbage. It was literally the worst cooler out there on the 980 TI.
 
I've ran MSI cards before, they've been solid. But EVGA is also a great brand with great support.
 
Probably a GTX 1080. The diff in prices come BF and CM may put the gtx 1080 in your budget, and better to get best for your budget.
 
i would hold off and see what amds 7nm gear cpu/gpu looks like. if they can at the least, challenge nvidia in the mid range market it should force a price decline for the 2070 and possibly the 2080(heres to hoping). i wouldnt consider an intel upgrade until we see what amds 7nm cpus can do. it sounds as tho they are going to be top notch performers. keeping your options open would be my best advice. if you absolutely cant stand the 970 for a couple more months you may as well invest in the 2070 so you can maximize your resell value.
 
i would hold off and see what amds 7nm gear cpu/gpu looks like. if they can at the least, challenge nvidia in the mid range market it should force a price decline for the 2070 and possibly the 2080(heres to hoping). i wouldnt consider an intel upgrade until we see what amds 7nm cpus can do. it sounds as tho they are going to be top notch performers. keeping your options open would be my best advice. if you absolutely cant stand the 970 for a couple more months you may as well invest in the 2070 so you can maximize your resell value.
2070 is only slightly faster than the 1080. Vega 64 trades blows with the 1080. With Vega 64 as cheap as $399 right now, I'd say AMD has more than enough challenge for the midrange.
 
i hear ya, my opinion in the end is that the 2070 will hold its value much better than anything in its price range. being that hes running a g-sync monitor it just makes sense to go with a 2070.
what i was driving at as far as the mid range goes is that amd isnt expected to release its navi big dogs with this gen. rather they will start off with their mid range cards(580 range). from the rumours ive read they wont try to compete with the turing cards this time around. so he will be right where he wants to be with a 2070. if he decides to go 2080 or 1080ti the 2070 will still have very good resell value as it doesnt look like nvidia is going to adjust pricing any time soon either.
 
I'll be buying either Evga 2070 Black Gaming or MSI ARMOR 2070. Evga does not have any 2070 in stock on Eu store though, so yea.

Also, i've been reading people having issues even with this card along with 2080 & 2080ti, so kind of worried.

For the rest of the system i'll wait what AMD will bring to the market next year.


Thanks again, guys!
 
I would go for a 1080ti if its in the budget. You can find pretty good deals on them and imo its still the best bang for your buck card considering the price drops on them with the RTX series out and that would be a huge upgrade over your 970.
 
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