this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2024
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Unsure of what my next upgrade should be for my gaming rig (self.buildapc)
submitted 2 weeks ago by gingitsune182 to c/buildapc
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**Current specs:

CPU: Intel i5 10400F

GPU: RTX 3070

RAM: 32GB (2 x 16GB) 2666MHz DDR4

Motherboard: PRIME H410M-E

SSD: 480GB (Windows 11)

HDD: 2TB **

In short I'm stumped as to where I go upgrading my current rig. Various bottleneck sites suggest my CPU might not be able to keep up with the 3070 which might hinder FPS and performance, but I also know that for the most part this information cant be trusted.

Main reasons for wanting to upgrade include doing away with the extra dongles I have for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi which aren't always reliable and futureproofing.

I'm currently hanging my nose over an MSI B760M GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard and i5-12400F processor. I could get both for just over £200 right now, but don't really know if this would be worth it, or if investment would be better placed elsewhere. I've not considered GPU update because a) EXPENSIVE and b) current information seems to suggest that 40 series GPU do not have much bang for the buck.

So the question, what do people here think makes sense to do?

Thanks in advance!

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[–] theunknownmuncher 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Uhhh... nothing? You're good already. Upgrade to an ethernet cable. Would have the most impact and would be cheaper than any other upgrade.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks for the feedback, unfortunately running ethernet around the house isnt an option for me. The Wifi is decent enough, I get 160Mb to the house and the dongle picks up 80-90% of it most of the time, its just occasionally flaky.

[–] cybervseas 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I don't know if it's this simple but:

If your computer is for gaming, play games you like at settings that you want, and see if CPU, GPU, or memory utilization reach 100%. Whichever it is, that would be your bottleneck.

Edit: while your CPU is getting a little older, your RAM is also pretty slow. It's hard to say if you need to upgrade the RAM alone. Because if you do, you might as well upgrade the CPU (and motherboard) at the same time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

GPU will often be at 100% load, but the CPU can be a bottleneck even if the displayed load is way below 100%.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks for the feedback guys!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Back then, I swapped my i5-6600k out for a Ryzen 3700X. Games like GTA V would never exceed 50% CPU usage, so I always thought the i5 was plenty. Once I got the 3700X, the frame pacing improved dramatically and the game felt so much smoother, even though I was frame-capped at 70 due to the monitor I was using. CPU usage often does not tell you half the story.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

what resolution and fps do you play at, and what are some of the games you play?

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I run at 1080p and mostly play big single player epics (GoW Ragnarok right now for example). 2k or higher support isnt needed right now as my monitors only support 1080p. Thanks for responding!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think memory speeds could be the bottleneck in this case. So as others have said, an upgrade of motherboard generation, and higher RAM speeds and CPU speeds would be good.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

X870-E board, whichever CPU you can afford, and DDR5 RAM. Everything else is good for quite awhile.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks for taking the time @[email protected], I will do some research on X870-E boards.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Do you live near a > Microcenter? < Crazy AMD bundle deals

7700XT $360

7900GRE $550

Or hold out for the 8800XT launch if you care about Ray Tracing.

[–] Omgpwnies 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I could get both for just over £200 right now

£200

Gonna go out on a limb and say no, they do not live close to a Microcenter

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, thanks for the feedback @[email protected] but as @[email protected] explains, im UK bound.

[–] daddybutter 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Newer CPU with faster ram would be a nice boost in performance. That's where I would start followed by a big NVME drive upgrade. 3070s still do great at and under 1440p and with AMD and Nvidia both launching new cards within the next couple months, it would make sense to put off a GPU upgrade for a bit if money is a concern. Also if you're not using Nvidia specific stuff like NVENC or CUDA, AMD cards offer a lot of bang for the buck.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks mate! Yeah, I was considering making the jump over to AMD, but with the imminent launches around the corner, it makes sense to wait and see when it comes to the GPU world.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

If you can afford to upgrade the main board, do it. Your current board tops out at PCI 3.0, the 3070 is PCI 4.0. Which means even if the CPU can keep up, the bus probably can't. Bear in mind you'll need new RAM too, the B760M takes DDR5.

[–] daddybutter 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah, PCIE 3.0 still has plenty of bandwidth for a 3070 to not be bottlenecked at all.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

The 4090 gets like a 5% performance penalty on pcie 3. I doubt a 3070 would even be noticeable.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, and this was my thinking too regarding the DDR5. Glad I wasnt barking up the wrong tree.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago

UPDATE - 03/12/2024: Thank you to all who commented, at the reasonable cost of under £300, ive upgraded to the i5-12400F, MSI B760M Board, and 32GB of Crucial DDR5 6000 RAM and I am seeing a significant increase across the board in load times and frame rates. Thank you to everyone for their advice!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

CPU would be the first thing I'd upgrade. If you can find an i7 or i9 10th gen for cheap then you could just drop that in. But odds are to get any real performance uplift you'd need a new Mobo/CPU which also means new ram.

Also if you're stuck using wifi make sure you get an Intel wifi card. Intel makes far and away the best wireless cards. If you're not on wifi 6e (6ghz wifi 6, not 5ghz wifi 6) then I'd try to upgrade your wireless card or Router/AP. I HATE using wifi, but 6ghz wifi is actually good enough for me.

[–] gingitsune182 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks so much for the detailed advice! I think im definitely leaning towards the Mobo/CPU and then RAM upgrade path, for now the Wifi is decent enough for me as the D/L speeds are stable enough and I dont play online games, so latency/ping etc arent a major factor for me.