Old PC revival

Paul2k12

Paul2k12

Paul2k12

Associate
Joined
22 Apr 2003
Posts
585
Location
Newcastle
Hello,

I’ve currently got the following system, looking forward to giving the new Flight Sim a try but aware that I need to upgrade to get the best of the sim.

I’m currently running the following;

Intel i7 4770k @4.2
8GB DDR3 RAM
GTX 780 3GB Card
Multiple SSD’s
Windows 10
1080p Monitor

I am planning on upgrading the ram within the next few days, doubling to 16GB 1866mhz as that’s what I’ve currently got. I’d like to upgrade the CPU but would likely need a new motherbroard, RAM etc so I’m thinking I might be ok for the time being with the 4770k. Graphics card will be the main upgrade however since my monitor only supports 1080p max res I’m thinking I might be alright with say the 2060 card? I understand new cards are coming soon to happy to wait. Lots of benchmarks test 1440p res and above so my question is running at 1080p does that relieve a lot of pressure from the graphics card or will I still benefit from getting the latest and greatest (within reason) for standard 1080p gaming?

Thanks
 
Ideally you want to be at a higher resolution so that your CPU doesn't have to do as much work. That said, you'd still get a decent uplift from your current GPU and could possibly take it with you in your next build depending on when you do that.
 
Anything better than a 1660S GPU and your CPU is going to bottleneck the system when gaming.
 
Might be ok with it being overclocked, but still gonna get slight bottle necking on 2060 with 4770k

Have to suck it and see, it'll be a big improvement still over a 780.
 
Thanks for the replies, is there much of a noticeable difference between the 2060 super and standard 2070?

Eventually I’d like to upgrade the CPU but hesitant to at present in case the increase in performance is going to be less noticeable, I was under the impression that upgrading the graphics card would give a significant boost even on a slightly older cpu.
 
2070 is about 5% more than a 2060 super but either card would give you a decent boost to fps and quality settings.
 
heatonpkmassive said:
Ideally you want to be at a higher resolution so that your CPU doesn't have to do as much work.
Click to expand...

I see this said a lot and it's a bit misleading. You are never gonna get more fps at higher resolutions than lower as it's just as taxing (if not even a bit more) on the cpu for a given frame rate.
 
Last edited:
My last CPU was i7 4770K overclocked with 8GB of DDR3 @ 2200. When I upgraded the GFX to 5700XT the CPU was bottle necking the GFX I play at 1440p. Upgrading the CPU made a big difference, I upgraded to I9 9900KS which may have been overkill but it should keep up for a number of years.
 
bagel said:
I see this said a lot and it's a bit misleading. You are never gonna get more fps at higher resolutions than lower as it's just as taxing (if not even a bit more) on the cpu for a given frame rate.
Click to expand...

You're not going to get more frames no, maybe that's the misleading part. But it doesn't mean you can't have a smoother gaming experience than your current one at that resolution. The OP is at 1080p, so his CPU at that resolution is more of a factor, whereas it wouldn't be as much were he to be at 1440p. This rig in my sig is only a week or so old, it replaced a 4790k with this same 2080 and same G-Sync monitor. Is gaming that much smoother? Yes it's smoother, but it's more about the lows being better, not necessarily the highs.

The OP would get an uplift, it's just that this uplift would be a fair bit greater were the system to be a bit more modern. That said, I don't think it's a bad idea to pair a 2060 with the i7 if you're looking to upgrade that i7 within a certain time frame, say 6 months to a year. I went for a 2080 just over a year ago when I had the 4790k, it nonetheless gave me a nice uplift from a 1070. But I had an eye on a new system within a year as well.

Paul2k12 said:
Eventually I’d like to upgrade the CPU but hesitant to at present in case the increase in performance is going to be less noticeable, I was under the impression that upgrading the graphics card would give a significant boost even on a slightly older cpu.
Click to expand...

Upgrading the graphics card would be a decent enough boost from your 780, decent enough but it also all depends when "eventually" is. If it's within 6 months, try to get a 2070s as that will definitely still be relevant for quite a while in a new system. And again it depends what you're after by a "significant boost". I used to think "Wow, this is quite a smooth gaming experience with the trusty old 4790k, couldn't really be that much smoother".

But fact is, it can be much smoother. I have a direct comparison between the 4790k and the 3700x, was it worth it to me? Definitely, I only get 20 more frames in the games I play, BF5 being one of them. But the overall experience is even smoother and more responsive compared to what I thought was a fantastic system. The Ryzen is a more refined experience than my old 4790k. Because it's all relative, my old system was a fantastic system, until I built a better one.

You've also not mentioned whether you plan any kind of monitor upgrade, is this also a possibility?
 
heatonpkmassive said:
You're not going to get more frames no, maybe that's the misleading part. But it doesn't mean you can't have a smoother gaming experience than your current one at that resolution. The OP is at 1080p, so his CPU at that resolution is more of a factor, whereas it wouldn't be as much were he to be at 1440p.
Click to expand...

That's my point - you aren't going to get more frames at 1440p so how could it be smoother on the same CPU?
 
bagel said:
That's my point - you aren't going to get more frames at 1440p so how could it be smoother on the same CPU?
Click to expand...

Because no matter what, a new GPU does give an uplift. Otherwise I'd have sent the 2080 back..

Uplift doesn't just mean to get more frames, I'd consider smoother performance an uplift.
 
Joxeon said:
Because the CPU is doing less work so less chance of frame drops.
Click to expand...

Not at the same fps... How can it be doing less work if it's telling the GPU to render the same number of frames (at a higher res no less)?

Uncapped is a different story but could argue the higher fps you'd get at a lower res could make it smoother, even if the frame rate is less stable

heatonpkmassive said:
Because no matter what, a new GPU does give an uplift. Otherwise I'd have sent the 2080 back..

Uplift doesn't just mean to get more frames, I'd consider smoother performance an uplift.
Click to expand...

Absolutely it does but upping resolution isn't going to be what makes things smoother
 
bagel said:
Not at the same fps... How can it be doing less work if it's telling the GPU to render the same number of frames (at a higher res no less)?

Uncapped is a different story but could argue the higher fps you'd get at a lower res could make it smoother, even if the frame rate is less stable



Absolutely it does but upping resolution isn't going to be what makes things smoother
Click to expand...
I think you missing the point that running a game at 1440p or 4K is less likely to result in a CPU bottleneck over running a game at 1080p.

For example if you had two systems both running an RTX 2080 but one with a 4790k and the other with a 10900k which at 1080p the system with the 10900k would pull ahead in FPS but if you set the res to 4K both systems would be almost identical for fps as the load would be on the Gpu so having a weaker CPU in this case wouldn't make a difference. It would also result in better 1% lows as the CPU is not playing catch up so the gameplay would run smoother.
 
Last edited:
Joxeon said:
I think you missing the point that running a game at 1440p or 4K is less likely to result in a CPU bottleneck over running a game at 1080p.

For example if you had two systems both running an RTX 2080 but one with a 4790k and the other with a 10900k which at 1080p the system with the 10900k would pull ahead in FPS but if you set the res to 4K both systems would be almost identical for fps as the load would be on the Gpu so having a weaker CPU in this case wouldn't make a difference. It would also result in better 1% lows as the CPU is not playing catch up so the gameplay would run smoother.
Click to expand...

Exactly that.
 
Joxeon said:
I think you missing the point that running a game at 1440p or 4K is less likely to result in a CPU bottleneck over running a game at 1080p.
Click to expand...

That's not the point though lol, you are categorically not going to get smoother gameplay at a higher resolution on the same CPU. Was never disputing the fact you are going to see less difference vs stronger CPUs as resolution increases, but your fps averages, maxes and lows are only going to get worse as it would on any system.

Flight sims tend to be fairly CPU intensive so if OPs CPU were to struggle to get a decent frame rate at 1080p it's only going to be worse at higher resolutions - that's all I was getting at.
 
Thanks for the replies, I didn’t consider upgrading the monitor at present as I was under the impression that higher resolution meant lower FPS.

I see what people mean about the lower the resolution the less the GPU has to do so it mainly falls on the CPU.

I’m hoping to wait till the new cards are announced and then pick up a 2’series card for a reduced price.

I’ll be upgrading the cpu/mb and ram in a couple of months too, it’s just expensive to do it all at once.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom