Not sure what to do (gaming)

Noxin

Currently running:
ASRock Z77E6
i5 3570k
GTX 970

I find that while gaming, my cpu gets maxed out a lot. I'm torn as to what to do.

My current thoughts are:
a) buy an i7 4790k
or
b) go balls deep and upgrade the mobo to an x99, get a 2011v3 cpu and obviously new ram.

Any suggestions? Money is not too big an issue (lets not go to extremes here though)

Is it pointless to grab a 4790k at this point? Would I just be better off upgrading the lot?

Any thoughts please? Would be much appreciated.

freelancerTax

is your cpu currently overclocked? are you comfortable overclocking?

K.O.Kiki

Turn down some settings until you get smooth 60fps+.

TerrorFirmer

What are you playing? There's no way that under normal circumstances a 3570K is bottlenecking a 970, unless it's a highly unusual CPU gruelling or unoptimised game.

The 4790k is a different socket than the 3570k, you would need a board upgrade and at that point, you might as well go to skylake and ddr4.

But I doubt that the 3570 is really a bottleneck, especially not if overclocked as designed (and even without an OC it should still be pretty rock solid for 60fps+ on most games dependent on the card you have)

Noxin

Lewl, I had a brain fart earlier. Yea scrap that about 4790k. For some reason I had it in my head that the 3570k was 1150.

Games I play are the likes of BF4, ((1 when it comes out more than likely) pretty cpu intensive for 4 at least)
FO4 (not that bad)
GTAV (fairly intensive).

I'm looking at a bigger picture here too. Future games etc..

According to CPUZ I was running at 3.7 even though I had set 4.2 via the basic ASROCK bios OC settings. I've set it again now and cpuz shows me running at 4.2 now. I'm on the stock cooler so don't really wanna go higher. I've been meaning to buy myself a hydro cooler so I might be able to up it more and properly.

Another thing to mention is I may pick up a 1080 when they get asus or some other release their version. Would the CPU bottleneck there I wonder?

TerrorFirmer

I still don't understand where you're seeing a bottleneck though?

BF4 runs like butter on a 3570k as does GTA V, Fallout 4 actually is more CPU intensive than both but isn't very well optimised either, would still run perfectly good though on that CPU. Fo4 even gets stutter and drops on a 6700K.

In terms of would a GTX1080 be bottlenecked, not really, unless you had a 120hz monitor. At 1440p60 it would be fine.

Your GTX970 is a bigger bottleneck than the CPU. If you're gaming at 1440p especially the GTX970 is definitely the bottleneck in the setup. At 1080p everything should be running at ultra 60fps just fine.

K.O.Kiki

Are you sure your CPU isn't thermal throttling? Could be a badly seated, or overworked cooler.

Noxin

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I still don't understand where you're seeing a bottleneck though?

Overall I'm looking at future gaming as well here. The games for the most part run "fine". But who wants to settle for fine?
Should have mentioned that I do record some at the same time.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Are you sure your CPU isn't thermal throttling? Could be a badly seated, or overworked cooler.

Could be I guess. I'll grab some paste and give it a cleanup / reseat over the weekend just in case.

Digital Solitude

Noxin wrote: »

Overall I'm looking at future gaming as well here. The games for the most part run "fine". But who wants to settle for fine?
Should have mentioned that I do record some at the same time.

Well seeing as your CPU probably isn't what's holding the PC back, there's no point upgrading, you'd be throwing money at a new CPU with no benefit. You futurproofed already by getting an overclockable i5

Noxin

ok cool.
I'll give it a cleanup grab a proper cooler for it and OC it a bit more.

Cheers for the input folks

TerrorFirmer

You still haven't actually said what is actually happening with the PC though?

Are you getting low framerates? What resolution are you playing at?

You said 'my cpu gets maxxed out a lot' but you didn't really say how you came to that point. Are you monitoring CPU usage in games or what?

The only thing I would upgrade in that machine is the GTX970. That is the only real bottleneck. You could sell it now while GTX970's sell for OK money 2nd hand, maybe 250ish, and get a new GTX1070 for about €420 which is way faster.

BloodBath

3570k + gtx 970 combo is probably good enough for 1080p gaming for the next 5 years or so. No need to upgrade unless increasing resolution and/or refresh rates.

K.O.Kiki

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You still haven't actually said what is actually happening with the PC though?

Are you getting low framerates? What resolution are you playing at?

You said 'my cpu gets maxxed out a lot' but you didn't really say how you came to that point. Are you monitoring CPU usage in games or what?

The only thing I would upgrade in that machine is the GTX970. That is the only real bottleneck. You could sell it now while GTX970's sell for OK money 2nd hand, maybe 250ish, and get a new GTX1070 for about €420 which is way faster.

I don't know how you'd sell a GTX970 for higher than RX480 asking price unless you dupe someone :pac:

Lu Tze

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I don't know how you'd sell a GTX970 for higher than RX480 asking price unless you dupe someone :pac:

We don't know the 480 price and its not available yet. That will likely change when it becomes available

TerrorFirmer

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I don't know how you'd sell a GTX970 for higher than RX480 asking price unless you dupe someone :pac:

No need to dupe anyone. There are still people happily paying €250 for GTX780's and 290's, 280 for 970's, and 980Ti's for 480.

If they're happy to pay, let them off. It's not going to change dramatically with the release of the 480 either, I would say.

Tun_80

BF4 is the only game i play really and i get a consistent 80-90 fps 1080p with a 4690k and a 970.

Tun_80

And thats with everything maxed out and no overclock.

platinums

lol, didnt realise this was the second page. nevermind, nothings to see here.