1. #1
    Deleted

    Upgrade the CPU(and extras) or the GPU

    As the title states I am looking to upgrade either the CPU, Motherboard and RAM or the GPU, problem is I'm not sure which one would have a better impact.

    Currently my setup is "OK", it runs most things without a problem:
    CPU: AMD-FX 9590 (OC to 5.0)
    RAM: 4x4 1334Mhz Kingston Hyper-X
    GPU: AMD Radeon R9 290X

    Currently thanks to the meaty (and power hungry) CPU I can run WoW fine on level 4 settings. That may or may not seem low, but I'm honestly quite surprised it's still alive after the pain I've put it through - the story behind that is not having a sufficient Watercooler as it trickled water from the pump/reservoir to the CPU block, the temperature when I had that was 80/90C when running WoW, however now having a proper pump it sits at 40C with the overclocking.

    Here is what I was looking to upgrade the parts to, either:

    1. Change the CPU and components
    AMD-FX 9590 -> Intel i7-8900K
    Kingston 1334Mhz -> Team- T Force RGB 2666Mhz
    (of course I'll need to buy a decent motherboard and a new waterblock too)

    2. Change the GPU
    Radeon R9 290X -> GeForce 1070ti

    Any thoughts would be appreciated as I honestly don't know what to upgrade, I know people say "WoW is CPU intensive" but I also see people saying a good GPU affects performance quite a lot too.

  2. #2
    Wow has both an affinity for intel cpu's and nvidia gpu's. That said i cant imagine you would see a ton of difference moving to a 1070ti from a 290x, wow just isnt that graphically demanding. CPU tho you would see massive performance uplift, id recommend buying 3000-3200 ram that in on the qvl list tho, its usually no more expensive than 2666.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Fascinate View Post
    Wow has both an affinity for intel cpu's and nvidia gpu's. That said i cant imagine you would see a ton of difference moving to a 1070ti from a 290x, wow just isnt that graphically demanding. CPU tho you would see massive performance uplift, id recommend buying 3000-3200 ram that in on the qvl list tho, its usually no more expensive than 2666.
    not nitpicking, and you're 99% correct, you usually only see fps increases in WoW with better gpu's, when youre pushing more than 1080p at higher refresh.

  4. #4
    Deleted
    Decided to go with upgrading my CPU and extra components, so I've ordered:

    CPU: Intel i7-8700K
    Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 D3
    RAM: 2x8GB Corsair Dominator DDR4-3000Mhz

    Hopefully that does the trick as I would love to play WoW at a solid 60FPS again. I'll update the thread once I have it and it's installed so if anyone else has a conundrum like this, it may help them.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Barnzy View Post
    Decided to go with upgrading my CPU and extra components, so I've ordered:

    CPU: Intel i7-8700K
    Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 D3
    RAM: 2x8GB Corsair Dominator DDR4-3000Mhz

    Hopefully that does the trick as I would love to play WoW at a solid 60FPS again. I'll update the thread once I have it and it's installed so if anyone else has a conundrum like this, it may help them.
    Probably, just expect to get heavy dips in places like Suramar.

  6. #6
    I just flew around suramar to test, lowest i could get is 100 fps at evermoon bazaar. I play on the 7 preset with a 4.8ghz 8700k.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Installed the CPU and RAM. WOW! Why didn't I do this earlier...

    On Argus Mythic I was on setting "2" before and struggling to keep 30FPs, after upgrading I now cap my frames to 80FPs on setting "8" with no problem and it doesn't dip below 60FPs - well worth the upgrade and happy I paid the money for it.

    (Reason why I cap my frames is because it does push to 140ish FPS, and my GPU fan goes crazy as it gets hot)

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Barnzy View Post
    Installed the CPU and RAM. WOW! Why didn't I do this earlier...

    On Argus Mythic I was on setting "2" before and struggling to keep 30FPs, after upgrading I now cap my frames to 80FPs on setting "8" with no problem and it doesn't dip below 60FPs - well worth the upgrade and happy I paid the money for it.

    (Reason why I cap my frames is because it does push to 140ish FPS, and my GPU fan goes crazy as it gets hot)
    Very nice

    I just did this upgrade to my GPU:
    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-029-_-Product

    Temps on my gtx 1060 went from 74c to 46c with zero noise lol. I paid around 70 bucks but even at full price i think its worth it. If you get a new GPU in the future try and find one with a radiator attached, worth the extra few bucks.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Fascinate View Post
    Very nice

    Temps on my gtx 1060 went from 74c to 46c with zero noise lol. I paid around 70 bucks but even at full price i think its worth it. If you get a new GPU in the future try and find one with a radiator attached, worth the extra few bucks.
    That's nice - I didn't realise you could use what is known as a CPU cooler for a GPU - might look at that if needed.

    I've been looking at watercooling blocks for the current CPU but they are hard to come by it seems so I'll just wait as there's no harm in capping the frames. I don't have a 144Hz monitor (and not intending to get one anytime soon) and if I'm correct that's the only reason it would be beneficial. Just glad that my custom watercooled loop is able to handle the CPU's heat very well after overclocking it to 4.9GHz

    Now all I can do for the next 6 months is pray that the prices for GPU's decline.

  10. #10
    In case you're gaming, at that point the cpu could hold up later. In case you're simply doing work, you're fine where you are presently. In any case, it would seem that you're gaming, so at any rate get a 1050 ti or rx 470. they're just around $150-170. In the event that you have a considerable measure of cash in your wallet, certainly go for a gtx 1060 or 1070. On the off chance that you have significantly more cash if your wallet, go for no less than an i5. No requirement for another motherboard unless you require more openings for things.

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