What to upgrade?

NFSxperts

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Aug 7, 2015
112
53
I was originally planning on upgrading my main rig to the new RTX2070, but with price bump and the less-than-expected performance increase seen with the rtx1080, I'm unsure of what to do.
My current system is a 2500k@4.5GHz / ASRock Z68 ext3gen3 / 2x8GB DDR3@2166MHz / Zotac 1070 AMP

My budget is around the equivalent of USD$500. I probably don't need to upgrade, but wanted to cheer myself up. For the price of what I paid for my gtx1070 2 years ago, right now I can get a....erm.....1070.

The games I play are Helldivers, Slime Rancher, Borderlands 2, CSGO, TF2, Truck Simulators on 4k60fps

Here are what my options are: (sorted from least to highest spending)
Scenario 1:
Swap my 2500k @ 4.5GHz for a 1230v2 @ 3.5GHz and hopefully the extra threads and pci-e 3.0 will last me 1 more year.

Scenario 2:
Wait for benchmarks of the 2070 and then wait 1+ more years for the rtx2070 to actually drop to msrp prices.

Scenario 3:
Get a 1st gen Ryzen 7 system.
AMD Ryzen 7 1700x / ASRock X370 Gaming K4 / ADATA Premier DDR4 2666MHz 16GB (1x16GB)

Scenario 4:
Get a Ryzen+ 5 system instead.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / ASRock B450M PRO4 / ADATA Premier DDR4 2666MHz 16GB (1x16GB)


Other:
get something else instead such as an office chair or a new router or new monitor or headphones.
 

tinyitx

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 25, 2018
2,279
2,338
If you wish to upgrade for performance, suggest first finding out whether it is the CPU or GPU (or something else) is holding back.
Plot a little graph of framerate/settings vs frequencies (CPU/GPU) and check the gradient of the curve. I reckon, using standardized gaming benchmarks or playing through a sequence of an actual game would do the trick to provide the data. If the curve has a steep slope, then it hints at a bottleneck. If the curve has a gentle slope or zero gradient, bottleneck is not there.

If you wish to upgrade due to an itchy ass, then anything would do.
And if you do not have a SSD yet, this should be the must-get upgrade (from a mechanical HDD).

BTW, learn from the history of your 1070. Two years later and its price just does not drop. So, there is a good likelihood that price of 2070 would stay up there for a long long time. How unfortunate!
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,827
4,902
In higher resolution, the CPU is often not the bottle-neck. The GTX 1080 is attainable at that budget, yet it won't be twice as fast. Maybe the GTX 1080 Ti if you give the RTX 2080 a while to achieve reasonable pricing.

If you still are considering upgrading (to Ryzen), I recommend going with the 2nd gen Ryzen. Compared to Ryzen 1st gen it performs better, has better memory support and the Precision Boost Overdrive feature on the X-processors when combined with a capable B450 board and good cooling will result in automatic but stable overclocking that rivals good manual overclocking.
 
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NFSxperts

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
Aug 7, 2015
112
53
I play at 4k so its a gpu bottleneck. An overclocked Sandybridge is still very capable.

The cheapest 1080 is around $600, which is more that I wish to spend on a gpu. For $500, at most I could get is a 1070ti. The 10-series gpus lasted this long and cost this much is because of the mining boom.

I think I'll wait and see if the rtx2070 is worth getting. If its not, then I'll probably run SLI with the spare one from my NCASE and swap the 1230v2 for the extra threads and PCI-E 3.0. If the rtx2070 is still not worth getting in around a year, I'll upgrade to Zen+ next year.

In the meantime, I'll probably replace my keyboard and see if I can get ahold of the mx518 legendary edition to ease the itch.

If you wish to upgrade for performance, suggest first finding out whether it is the CPU or GPU (or something else) is holding back.
Plot a little graph of framerate/settings vs frequencies (CPU/GPU) and check the gradient of the curve. I reckon, using standardized gaming benchmarks or playing through a sequence of an actual game would do the trick to provide the data. If the curve has a steep slope, then it hints at a bottleneck. If the curve has a gentle slope or zero gradient, bottleneck is not there.

If you wish to upgrade due to an itchy ass, then anything would do.
And if you do not have a SSD yet, this should be the must-get upgrade (from a mechanical HDD).

BTW, learn from the history of your 1070. Two years later and its price just does not drop. So, there is a good likelihood that price of 2070 would stay up there for a long long time. How unfortunate!

In higher resolution, the CPU is often not the bottle-neck. The GTX 1080 is attainable at that budget, yet it won't be twice as fast. Maybe the GTX 1080 Ti if you give the RTX 2080 a while to achieve reasonable pricing.

If you still are considering upgrading (to Ryzen), I recommend going with the 2nd gen Ryzen. Compared to Ryzen 1st gen it performs better, has better memory support and the Precision Boost Overdrive feature on the X-processors when combined with a capable B450 board and good cooling will result in automatic but stable overclocking that rivals good manual overclocking.