PC Upgrade for Gaming

[Antony101]

So I've been out of the loop for a while when it comes to PC components and I think my CPU is starting to get in the way of my gaming.

I've currently got an ITX build with a GTX 1080 and an Intel Core i7 2600k and 16GB of RAM. The CPU is overclocked quite happily to 4.2GHz.

I'm struggling to get more than 60fps on games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey at 1080p on High/Very High settings and I'm sure the GTX 1080 should be doing better than this, can anyone give me advise on my best options?

 

[azazl187]

So I've been out of the loop for a while when it comes to PC components and I think my CPU is starting to get in the way of my gaming.

I've currently got an ITX build with a GTX 1080 and an Intel Core i7 2600k and 16GB of RAM. The CPU is overclocked quite happily to 4.2GHz.

I'm struggling to get more than 60fps on games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey at 1080p on High/Very High settings and I'm sure the GTX 1080 should be doing better than this, can anyone give me advise on my best options?

Download hardware monitor and have a look at what percentage your CPU is running at.

I would imagine that the CPU is running at 100% at 1080p and an upgrade to a more modern CPU would increase fps.

Saying that you would have to upgrade the motherboard and ram as the socket would change. Otherwise you could try to overclock the CPU further to get a few more frames per second.

 

[Quartz]

The first thing to do is to test your hypothesis. Do you have a second monitor? If so fire up Task Manager and GPU-Z on that and monitor CPU and GPU usage.

Something else to check: is the fan on your GPU working? The fan on my Maxwell Titan failed and I still got ~20 fps at 4k in Borderlands 2!

 

[Antony101]

Download hardware monitor and have a look at what percentage your CPU is running at.

I would imagine that the CPU is running at 100% at 1080p and an upgrade to a more modern CPU would increase fps.

Saying that you would have to upgrade the motherboard and ram as the socket would change. Otherwise you could try to overclock the CPU further to get a few more frames per second.

I knew I'd need a socket upgrade and it would appear the upcoming AMD chips may be winners so that could be an option? I'm not against spending some money if I know it'll help boost the FPS a good amount. I'm not that in the know about overclocking anymore and don't really have the patience for it anymore, it's at 4.2GHz via the MSI overclocking thing on the motherboard.

The first thing to do is to test your hypothesis. Do you have a second monitor? If so fire up Task Manager and GPU-Z on that and monitor CPU and GPU usage.

Something else to check: is the fan on your GPU working? The fan on my Maxwell Titan failed and I still got ~20 fps at 4k in Borderlands 2!

I don't unfortunately, most of my gaming is now done on the 4k TV in the living room with a controller and I sold my monitors as they were in a cupboard for over a year. Is there any software that logs usage in the background that I could check?

 

[azazl187]

I knew I'd need a socket upgrade and it would appear the upcoming AMD chips may be winners so that could be an option? I'm not against spending some money if I know it'll help boost the FPS a good amount. I'm not that in the know about overclocking anymore and don't really have the patience for it anymore, it's at 4.2GHz via the MSI overclocking thing on the motherboard.



I don't unfortunately, most of my gaming is now done on the 4k TV in the living room with a controller and I sold my monitors as they were in a cupboard for over a year. Is there any software that logs usage in the background that I could check?

Download hardware monitor and that can log your stats while gaming. I am almost certain that your CPU is bottlenecking your GPU at that resolution.

The upgrade path for you to gain FPS is a CPU upgrade. You have the option of either AMD or Intel. There are many benchmarks out there that you can look at online.

What would your budget be? If you state that the peeps on here will come flocking to advise your next upgrade @orbitalwalsh

 

[Antony101]

Download hardware monitor and that can log your stats while gaming. I am almost certain that your CPU is bottlenecking your GPU at that resolution.

The upgrade path for you to gain FPS is a CPU upgrade. You have the option of either AMD or Intel. There are many benchmarks out there that you can look at online.

What would your budget be? If you state that the peeps on here will come flocking to advise your next upgrade @orbitalwalsh

I've used HW Monitor and no matter what I do every core on the CPU is hitting 100% utilisation. Even at Ultra High and 1440p the GPU is only hitting 82% so it's definitely the CPU at this point.

Budget wise I really don't have one, I've got plenty of spare cash laying around to spend and some valuable stuff I still need to sell but would prefer to keep it as low as possible. I'd appreciate someone just telling me what I'd need to get that wouldn't bottleneck my GTX 1080 and may also allow for a GPU upgrade in about a year?

 

[Quartz]

I've used HW Monitor and no matter what I do every core on the CPU is hitting 100% utilisation.

You're definitely CPU-limited, then. Look for a CPU with 8-12 physical cores.

Even at Ultra High and 1440p the GPU is only hitting 82% so it's definitely the CPU at this point.

That seems very high for 1080p. Are you sure the GPU fan is working? You should be able to run your games at 4k on medium settings with a GTX 1080.

 

[azazl187]

The new Zen2 chips will be pretty good for gaming but if money isn't really an issue I'd be tempted by the 9900k i7 and the motherboard/ram to support it. You will also want a decent 280 aio cpu cooler to keep it nice and cool.

From what I read Intel still have the single core performance over AMD so for gaming it's really Intel. Some will mention the hyperthreading security issues but I'm not that fussed personally.

It might be prudent to wait for the Zen2 benchmarks mind

 

[Danny75]

What's the CPU usage when browsing?

 

[Antony101]

The new Zen2 chips will be pretty good for gaming but if money isn't really an issue I'd be tempted by the 9900k i7 and the motherboard/ram to support it. You will also want a decent 280 aio cpu cooler to keep it nice and cool.

From what I read Intel still have the single core performance over AMD so for gaming it's really Intel. Some will mention the hyperthreading security issues but I'm not that fussed personally.

It might be prudent to wait for the Zen2 benchmarks mind

I've got an NZXT Kraken X62 in the system at the minute so that'll keep most things cool. What's the ETA on the Zen2?

What's the CPU usage when browsing?

Less than 5% overall with a few apps and downloads running.

 

[azazl187]

What's the ETA on the Zen2?

7th of July

 

[orbitalwalsh]

AC:O is one of those cases 6/8 cores comes in handy, specially at 1080p with a powerful GPU !
Sure your CPU can be pushed to 4.5 which would help .

Be interesting to see how Ryzen 6 core 3600X overclocks to even 3700 8 core.
Intel with no doubt still hold 1080p crown , but by how much ! And for how much !

If you've got the case 9900k and z390 Aorus board with 16GB of DDR4

*** Intel 9900k is silly money, like resellers have seen price of incoming ryzens and rough performance and have increase it !!!!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM= £359.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £70.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Elite Intel Z390 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £169.99

Total: £611.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​

​

- bottom line, resellers always win with competition

 

[Antony101]

AC:O is one of those cases 6/8 cores comes in handy, specially at 1080p with a powerful GPU !
Sure your CPU can be pushed to 4.5 which would help .

Be interesting to see how Ryzen 6 core 3600X overclocks to even 3700 8 core.
Intel with no doubt still hold 1080p crown , but by how much ! And for how much !

If you've got the case 9900k and z390 Aorus board with 16GB of DDR4

*** Intel 9900k is silly money, like resellers have seen price of incoming ryzens and rough performance and have increase it !!!!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM= £359.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £70.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Elite Intel Z390 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £169.99

Total: £611.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​

- bottom line, resellers always win with competition

My intent is to push the card to as high a resolution as possible as I play on a 2160p display. I prefer higher settings though so that's why I am playing in Very High at 1440p and not Medium at 2160p.

The case is a Phanteks Evolv ITX and I'd like to keep it ITX as it's in my living room.

 

[azazl187]

My intent is to push the card to as high a resolution as possible as I play on a 2160p display. I prefer higher settings though so that's why I am playing in Very High at 1440p and not Medium at 2160p.

The case is a Phanteks Evolv ITX and I'd like to keep it ITX as it's in my living room.

If you play at 2160P then there isn't much of a need to upgrade yet

 

[orbitalwalsh]

My intent is to push the card to as high a resolution as possible as I play on a 2160p display. I prefer higher settings though so that's why I am playing in Very High at 1440p and not Medium at 2160p.

The case is a Phanteks Evolv ITX and I'd like to keep it ITX as it's in my living room.

Ryzen 3700 and x570 Aorus itx .
7th July hopefully