New CPU or GPU?

[Deleted]

Hi all,

I want to upgrade my PC so I get more fps while playing WoW so i get more than 70-ish while playing solo and 30-40-ish while raiding.
My current setup:

i7-4770k (4x3.5GHZ)
GTX 980 Ti
16GB RAM
Samsung SSD 840 EVO

My goal would be like 100-ish fps while playing solo and at least stable 60fps while raiding. Do I need a new CPU or GPU or both?

PS: Iam currently not playing on 4k but using pretty high settings.

[Sorshen]

You'd need new cpu+mainboard+ram. It will cost you a lot and it won't really be a huge improvement.
I recommend you heavily overclock your cpu, it will improve your minimum fps as WoW is CPU bound.
Turn down shadows settings and don't use graphics over slider 7 cause it's a waste and you won't notice the difference.

[Fascinate]

I actually recommend you sell your motherboard ram and cpu on ebay and upgrade. The reason for this is haswell CPU's and z97 motherboards sell for crazy amounts on there, and i really have no idea why. The cheapest 4770k on ebay is 190 bucks, thats ludicrous from a buying perspective but great for the seller.

[Deleted]

The 980ti is roughly the same as a 1070. This should provide plenty of performance for WoW at 1080p and decent 1440p (even at max settings).

You also have a CPU that can be overclocked. I'd start there if I were you, 4.2 GHz shouldn't be that hard to achieve, just make sure you get cooling for that. If your motherboard is meh, put a fan to blow over the VRMs too. You can get to 4.5GHz with great cooling/motherboard and a "good" CPU, but that's just your usual silicon lottery.

If you get the 4770k at 4.5GHz, don't expect crazy improvements from a 8700K (at stock). You'd have to OC that as well.

Now, if you're set on buying, at this time the best choices would be:

- 8600K (budget, will work just as good for WoW, might show its age faster, some intensive CPU games like AC:Origins already use 100% of its 6 cores)
- 8700K (medium budget, will last a bit longer)
- 8086K (i.e. anniversary edition, a binned 8700k that should OC easier with less voltage)
- pre-OC CPU, for example buying from Silicon Lottery. It comes already delidded and tested at a specific speed. It also comes with a hefty price hike.

You could wait, October seems to be when Intel will release new CPUs. Might be even more pricey. You'll get a 8/8 (no HT) 9700K i7 and a 8/16 (with HT) 9900K i9. They run at higher speeds out of the box compared to what we have now. They seem to OC to about 5.5GHz, but at crazy high voltages, so that means you'll need crazy cooling. Maybe. We just don't know 100% sure for now.

You'll also need DDR4 RAM and a motherboard if you decide to buy, besides the CPU.

A better GPU won't help you much, if at all if you play at 1080p. Is that 980ti reaching 99% utilization? Monitor it. Make sure you disable SSAA and keep resolution scale at 100%, and maybe don't use crazy amounts of MSAA, 2xMSAA should be enough.

If you play at 1440P, you might benefit a bit from a better GPU. The CPU however will limit you significantly.

You should also tweak the settings to help with the CPU bottleneck.

Drop View Distance to 7, Env. Detail to 7, and drop Liquids/Shadows 1-2 levels as well. Rest could stay maxed I think.

TLDR: I'd OC first, reduce some settings, monitor the situation with MSI Afterburner to identify bottlenecks, and then wait for new Intel gen. or even AMD on 7nm.

Thank you for your reply.
So my PC has a "Gigabyte ga-z97x-ud5h-bk" mainboard a big noctua cpu cooler (I dont know the exact modell)

I never did any overclocking so I watched some guides and overclocked to 4.3GHZ with 1.25Vcore. Before I overclocked my pc was handling a stress test with the prime95 software just fine. After I overclocked it I get a bluescreen after I start the blend-test (with prime95) after like 5seconds.
Does this mean the cpu overheated?
Is the Vcore setting to high/low?

[Sorshen]

Probably Vcore and/or LLC is too low.

[mauserr]

wait 4 9700k n 9900k da i7 9700k without yperthreadin is on par wiv ryzen2700x in multi threaded per4mance n single core per4mance is mostly da same as 8700k without oc bruv da i9 9900k will be 8/16 + very igh turbo cloks out of da box so it shud be da new gamin king especially wiv igh overcloks since dis is a soldered chip now m8

[Deleted]

Wow ok that's a lot of input for a first time overclocker - ty for the effort I really appreciate it. I will try what you suggested and hopefully it will work out.

[Saphyron]

If I could upvote a person I would @CryotriX

That is pretty detailed. And very helpful to a newbie. Couldn't have written it better myself.

[ashley02]

I recommend you upgrade to GEFORCE GTX 1080.

[Temp name]

I recommend you upgrade to GEFORCE GTX 1080.

I recommend you don't. New CPU will give you better performance, and there's the 2080 coming out in like 2-3 weeks

[MrPaladinGuy]

I recommend you upgrade to GEFORCE GTX 1080.

No x100000

[ashley02]

GeForce RTX 2080? What's the price range?