• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Best graphics card match for a 4790k?

Associate
OP
Joined
9 Jan 2006
Posts
1,375
It's borderline, while it isn't going to burn your house down, I'd personally want a tier up such as an RM model to power a 3070 or 3080.

You think so? I got that PSU 10+ years ago, but I suppose nothing 'future proof' is ever altogether future proof. I'll keep that in mind and probably go for something a little less juicy then. I reckon this old power supply has one more build left in it, as long as I'm sensible.

EDIT: Sorry, I just checked the old doll and it's a TX750w. No idea where that sits in the pecking order, but it was at least upper mid range when it was new.
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
22 May 2015
Posts
1,936
Location
Manchester
The TX was very good but ten years old you say? I'd really be replacing that. After so long, the caps in it could well have degraded. Plus being so old, it's likely to be an old style group regulated unit that I again wouldn't pair with a 3000 series card.

At the end of the day it's your choice, but I know what I'd be doing.
 
Permabanned
Joined
22 Oct 2018
Posts
2,451
I don't agree with the "buy the best you can" brigade. The 4790K is a good CPU but it starts to show it's limitations with good graphics cards. I have a 4790K and I would go so far 1660 but no higher than that before I would consider replacing the CPU/RAM/Motherboard. The problem is that in CPU intensive games under stress the 4790K just isn't a patch on something like a 10700K and to my mind if you replace the graphics card with something higher then you are just going to be falling short of being able to drive it well pretty much all the time.
 
Associate
Joined
22 May 2015
Posts
1,936
Location
Manchester
I don't agree with the "buy the best you can" brigade. The 4790K is a good CPU but it starts to show it's limitations with good graphics cards. I have a 4790K and I would go so far 1660 but no higher than that before I would consider replacing the CPU/RAM/Motherboard. The problem is that in CPU intensive games under stress the 4790K just isn't a patch on something like a 10700K and to my mind if you replace the graphics card with something higher then you are just going to be falling short of being able to drive it well pretty much all the time.

You can disagree for sure, and if the OP is running 1080p then you may have a bit of a point. But above 1440p a decent card will still yield decent gains, even with a 3000 series card.

If you are running 1440p or above, then limiting yourself to a 1660 is pointless as there is more performance to be gained, you're not CPU limited at that res.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2009
Posts
6,407
My 1080ti plays well with my 4790k. I play at 1440p and get around 100 fps on RB6 Seige Ultra settings and 90 fps on COD Cold War Ultra/High settings.

I woukd get anything less than a 10 series as I feel my card is going to need replacing in 3 years time

Also get a gsync monitor for now. It will help loads with sub 60fps games. I did that when I had my 970 and made huge difference
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2009
Posts
4,320
40% bottleneck with a 3080 rubbish.
that 4790k overclocked will power that card just fine.

It's certainly possible to get 40% or higher bottleneck with a RTX 3080 on a 4790k.

I upgraded a work mates 4790k system with a GTX 1080ti to a Ryzen 5 3600 and got a good 30% + improvement with games that need a decent CPU like The Witcher 3 and cyberpunk at 1440p & 75 Hz.

Lets be realistic here, if your getting an RTX 3080 you're either in the high refresh rate camp 120Hz + and need a fast cpu, or the 4k + camp which might let you get away with your old cpu on more games, but not all.

So if you only play old games that have low CPU requirements or at 4k 60 Hz you may be ok, but otherwise your paying for a a 3080 and getting 3070 or lower performance.
 
Associate
Joined
30 Dec 2013
Posts
2,106
Location
Liverpool
I've got a 4790k clocked at 4.7ghz for 24/7 usage with a Titan Xp (2017) overclocked and play at 4k60 no issues, when I run games at 1440p or 1080p just to test performance my cpu holds it back massively at 1080p and a little bit at times at 1440p.. I would say my card is in-between a 2080-2080 super or 3060-3060 Ti for comparison to modern gpus... get the best you can afford now it will still be an upgrade from the 970 and when you upgrade your system you'll get a free upgrade again :D
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2009
Posts
6,407
It's certainly possible to get 40% or higher bottleneck with a RTX 3080 on a 4790k.

I upgraded a work mates 4790k system with a GTX 1080ti to a Ryzen 5 3600 and got a good 30% + improvement with games that need a decent CPU like The Witcher 3 and cyberpunk at 1440p & 75 Hz.

Lets be realistic here, if your getting an RTX 3080 you're either in the high refresh rate camp 120Hz + and need a fast cpu, or the 4k + camp which might let you get away with your old cpu on more games, but not all.

So if you only play old games that have low CPU requirements or at 4k 60 Hz you may be ok, but otherwise your paying for a a 3080 and getting 3070 or lower performance.

This is true for CPU limited games. I'm looking to upgrade mine to a 5800X and according to benchmarks on YouTube I'd get a 40% increase in the games I play. Having said that 100 fps is good enough for me and I'd only upgrade when the games I like to play need more CPU grunt.
 
Permabanned
Joined
22 Oct 2018
Posts
2,451
You can disagree for sure, and if the OP is running 1080p then you may have a bit of a point. But above 1440p a decent card will still yield decent gains, even with a 3000 series card.

If you are running 1440p or above, then limiting yourself to a 1660 is pointless as there is more performance to be gained, you're not CPU limited at that res.

Updating any part of a system will usually give gains, but it's a question trying to keep the system balanced.
I compared a 4790K to a 9700K and I can tell you there are differences. The 9700K is significantly smoother, especially under heavy loads. Not so much the maximum frame rate, but the minimum. I would say anything above a 1070/1660ti then I would be considering updating the CPU/Motherboard and RAM. A 1080? Maybe. 2070 maybe. A 2080? No. A 3080 definitely not.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
19,354
Location
South Manchester
A lot of opinion as fact in here. Short version is : it depends. Some games are heavy on CPU, some need more cores, some need better IPC. Others don't and heavily lean on the graphics card.

Once we know what's being played then a sensible suggestion can be made.

That said, the price of used graphics cards is off the scale at the moment, so it's a bad time to buy short of lucking into finding something like a 3070 new at RRP.
 
Associate
Joined
29 Aug 2012
Posts
84
Hello any and all,

I'm looking to do an upgrade from a 970gtx for gaming at 1080p. I know my CPU will bottleneck anything too powerful, but ideally i'd like to get another year or so out of the platform before doing a full rebuild. I've been exceptionally pleased with the 4790k over the years, but the 970gtx is starting to flag a bit and is certainly the weak link in the pairing.

I know prices are bonkers right now, and availability scarce, but were they not, what card would you guys recommend? It wouldn't necessarily have to be a current gen card, but in an ideal world it would be something with enough overhead that when I do build a new system i could potentially keep the same card for a bit. I have a mid range Corsair 750w PSU, so power shouldn't be an issue.

The specific game I want to max out is Mechwarriors 5

Your help is much appreciated.

Man from Uncle

Hi OP

I was in the same dilemma as yourself last year. I'd held on to my Palit GTX980 for well over 5 years and tbh it was starting to show its age on the latest titles. I game with a G-Sync monitor at 1920 x 1080 so the higher the frame rate for me the better.

I took the plunge and was lucky to pick up a Palit RTX3060ti Dual from Overclockers on the initial batch. To say the card is a huge improvement is a bit of an understatement. I will admit, I havent played Mechwarriors 5 but have a look on Youtube for videos and I'm sure there will someone with a similar set up to yourself so you can get an idea.

Lastly I wouldnt worry too much about your CPU. I've paired my RTX 3060ti with my trusty Core i7 3700k @ 4ghz + 32GB Ram. Apart from Flight Sim 2020 every game I've tried so far runs like a dream.

Hope this helps
 
Associate
OP
Joined
9 Jan 2006
Posts
1,375
I finally (had to) take the plunge. My brother bought me a 4k monitor, not knowing that I really didn't have the funds for the horsepower to power it. I ended up spending £700 on a 6700xt. Well, let's hope it can play MechWarrior 5 and Pathfinder at that res.
 
Permabanned
Joined
20 Jan 2021
Posts
1,337
I finally (had to) take the plunge. My brother bought me a 4k monitor, not knowing that I really didn't have the funds for the horsepower to power it. I ended up spending £700 on a 6700xt. Well, let's hope it can play MechWarrior 5 and Pathfinder at that res.

Ah, 6700xt is not bad at all. Did you look at the 6800XT
 
Associate
OP
Joined
9 Jan 2006
Posts
1,375
Ah, 6700xt is not bad at all. Did you look at the 6800XT

I didn't. I really wasn't planning at all to spend that sort of money and anything more would have broken my heart. With that said, the 6700xt really is doing the job. Overclocked the core to 2650mhz without touching cooling or voltage and it eats it up at 4k for what i'm playing. Really quite satisfied.
 
Suspended
Joined
18 Oct 2007
Posts
1,862
I used a RTX2080Ti with a 4790K for a while and it was fine, no major overclock on the CPU, just 4.6GHz.

So RTX3060Ti/RTX3070 or similar ? A good quad core CPU can still game quite well.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
9 Jan 2006
Posts
1,375
I used a RTX2080Ti with a 4790K for a while and it was fine, no major overclock on the CPU, just 4.6GHz.

So RTX3060Ti/RTX3070 or similar ? A good quad core CPU can still game quite well.

Should be ok for when I upgrade the platform as well. Not sure i've ever migrated the GPU from one system to the next, but for £700, i'm darn well planning to get a least a few years out of it. And to be fair, it may well last a while as it is more or less what the consoles use.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Oct 2008
Posts
11,484
Location
Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Should be ok for when I upgrade the platform as well. Not sure i've ever migrated the GPU from one system to the next, but for £700, i'm darn well planning to get a least a few years out of it. And to be fair, it may well last a while as it is more or less what the consoles use.

If you're not getting 60FPS smooth, drop one of the visual options to medium and keep the rest high, job done. Have a tinker to see what visual medium will give you the better FPS without losing the eye candy.

Use FRAPS to get your FPS...or Afterburner will give you ingame FPS too.
 
Back
Top Bottom