Need some PC upgrading advice

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typetheSHADE

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#318739 16-Feb-2025 20:49

Hi there peeps!

I just need a little bit of advice. Currently running an i5-13600kf with a gigabyte 4070 on my rig but my friends are telling me to either upgrade one or both of them. I read somewhere that the i5 is bottlenecking the 4070 and the PC still has some frames to give but me being not really a big computer guy(and this being my first custom build) am really not sure what to do right now. Rig is mainly used for gaming.

Any advice and/or insight to this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks very much!

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#3343455 16-Feb-2025 21:15

Are you considering the upgrade because you want to or are you considering because your friends want you to?

And also depends on what you would consider upgrading to within budget range and if you can use the same motherboard for a cheaper upgrade.

You can google this stuff on what to upgrade to and the gemini AI will spit something out.

Me personally I'd be pretty happy with that rig for a bit and optimise the settings for maximum frames but I'm just cheap and don't rally care about framerates unless its affecting any competition games I play. If I had the money I'd switch to a Ryzen X3D for gaming but tbh its all just throwing money at stuff I don't care about anymore. So whatever keeps you happy

mentalinc

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#3343457 16-Feb-2025 21:43

Agree, not sure what you'd see as an upgrade.

What games do you play?

Wat FPS are you getting?

What Resolution and refresh rate do you use?

What are YOU (not your friends) wanting from the upgrade?

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typetheSHADE

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#3343465 16-Feb-2025 22:02

Thanks for the replies!

Yeah I currently playing on a 240hz ultra wide monitor at the moment and doing a mix of 1440p 4k games(mainly RPGs and RTS). As I said previously Im quite new to the PC building scene as Im still a console peasant to this day. I just asked my friends input as I tend to crank up everything to Ultra and sometimes I get some screen tearing. I was thinking maybe I can upgrade to an i7-14th gen or something to help with it? I've been looking around and it's kinda hard(and way too expensive) to find like an 4080 super, which I think is a bad choice anyway as the gains really isnt worth it looking at some reviews. Maybe it's just me and all this Frame rate hype friends I have that are affecting me but your inputs are really appreciated!

Scott3

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#3343466 16-Feb-2025 22:06

I plugged your CPU & GPU into a calculator, and used the GPU intensive tasks setting

If you are gaming at 1080p, your system has a 4.1% processer bottleneck.

At 1440p, it is 0% (i.e. perfectly balanced between gpu and CUP)

At 2160p there is a 3.4% GPU bottleneck.

Anything under 5% should not be considered a major bottleneck.

Means your system is fairly balanced, and there are not going to be any quick winds from upgrading a single component.

You could spend $400 for this used 14600KF and boost your CPU performance by 2%, but I doubt it is worth the effort.

www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/components/cpus/intel/listing/5173772401

Or spend $850 on a new 14900 KF for a 12% single core, 36% multicore jump. But be aware these are exactly the CPU's that were most impacted by the Intel instability scandal...

Or Jump to Ryzen X3D, but that means a new motherboard, and given your system is balanced and decent, you might be better to sell it, and build a whole new one.

On the GPU front, if you want Nvidia, things are a shit show at the moment. The stopped 40 series production prior to the 50 series launch, and then launched the 50 series with barely any stock. You can actually order a 5080 at the moment on pbtech, but delivery dates are in April or May. (and prices start at $2.5k).

Used market GPU prices reflect scarcity in the new market. A used 4070 Ti or Super is going to cost more than $1300.

Ultimacy comes down to what you want to do with the PC. If your current PC is meeting your needs, everything is good. If you want to game in high resolutions at high frame rates, Place an order for a 5080 or 5090 (if you like the latter, hope you like custom watercooling, as that is the only option available for order at PBtech), and build a new PC when it turns up in April or May.

typetheSHADE

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#3343468 16-Feb-2025 22:16

Yeah I heard about the Nvidia 50 series hypestorm. Im not really considering getting into the 50 series as I dont want to give Mr.Huang money yet. Was also considering jumping ship from team blue and just use AMD but I feel like that would be a huge waste of resources at the moment. I think I'll just stop playing at 4k then if the components seem happy with 1400p. May just need to not drive my system as hard haha! Coming from console gaming where everything is just ready to go all the time, I'm still just learning how to fine tune the settings to my liking, so I guess Im sticking to my current setup for now till it dies or something. Thanks for the very much for the helpful replies!

Scott3

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#3343469 16-Feb-2025 22:28

Here is a GPU performance chart.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

You are already above all the intel CPU's, but there are some AMD options you could consider.

But the same issues of your system being fairly balanced currently apply.

xpd

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#3343525 17-Feb-2025 07:15

Friends aside.... are you happy with the performance you are getting ?

If yes, then ignore everyone and play on.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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SpartanVXL

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#3343537 17-Feb-2025 09:14

What is your monitor resolution? Are you actually targeting 4k? Or are you supersampling?

4k 240Hz is 4090/5090 territory. If your monitor isn’t actually 4k then keep to 1440p output to lower the load. Use nvidia DLSS setting at quality and enable frame generation if available. Disable raytracing when you can, lower some settings to high instead of ultra like post processing, shadows etc.

A 13600kf is perfectly fine, just keep the bios updated so you don’t keep risking lifespan from Intel’s snafu. You’d want a GPU upgrade first at the resolutions you are targeting.

Edit: just realised you said ultrawide, so likely 3440x1440p. A super variant would probably have made a difference but unless you manage to find one at a reasonable price you’ll have to wait till 5070 or supers to release.

Qazzy03

477 posts

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#3343567 17-Feb-2025 10:21

No nees to upgrade either part if you are happy with the performance.

I dont see any bottlenecking with parts and resolution.

Heck i am running a 7900xtx on a i7 8700.

mobiusnz

457 posts

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#3343571 17-Feb-2025 10:29

I'm running an i5 14600K with an ordinary 4060 and I'm happy with my gaming at 1080p sitting 50cm from a 27" monitor.

I'm sure I could be impressed going to 4K with a monitor upgrade and a MAJOR GPU upgrade but bangs for bucks I'm happy and will really only notice when I stop to admire it rather than actually playing and being immersed.

Your setup sounds like a good sweet spot - You can't push everything to Ultra but it sounds like your friends are trying to push you into point scoring brag stats rather than a needed spend. That top 5-10% is always an expensive zone to enter.

I'd just wait a while as the more water under the bridge the better gains you'll be able to make in GPU for less money.

Have a look at temps - You might find your CPU is getting hot and clocking back and improving the cooling might be a better gain. For me I HATE hummer and whirring noises so I spend money on the chassis and a good 3 fan water cooler (Good bangs for bucks - Not the best) and that means generally my CPU doesn't spike too high and the noise from the case stays in a comfortable level.

Monitor temps for some time while gaming and see what the CPU is spiking at. Some small spend there might stop the CPU from hitting the massive highs that cause it to clock back. I've also bought an LGA1700 bracket that tests have shown can see decent drops in normal temps through better contact. The bracket was $15 and I'll fit it when I can be bothered with the dismantling, repasting and reassembly required and see how much that improves my temps but in general seeing 5-10 degrees lower temps seems pretty achievable.

With GPU's the longer you wait to upgrade the more gains you get for less - On the flip side the resale on the 4070 is probably pretty reasonable but you'll still be spending a bit to make the jump. Keep an eye on PBTech and see when they have a decent sale on but then wait till the sale is long since over to list the 4070 or you might find theres a glut of upgraders reselling at the same time. I work in computer retail, mainly on the business side but I did built custom pc's for Photogrammetry and water modelling work which needs a GPU and you can't do better than PB Tech - Most of my wholesalers have given up on the fickle GPU market altogether as the prices and demand can swing so badly that new stock has hit the market and retailing less than they paid for whats sitting in their warehouse.

Matt Beechey Mobius Network Solutions

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#3343621 17-Feb-2025 10:40

typetheSHADE:

Hi there peeps!

I just need a little bit of advice. Currently running an i5-13600kf with a gigabyte 4070 on my rig but my friends are telling me to either upgrade one or both of them. I read somewhere that the i5 is bottlenecking the 4070 and the PC still has some frames to give but me being not really a big computer guy(and this being my first custom build) am really not sure what to do right now. Rig is mainly used for gaming.

Any advice and/or insight to this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks very much!

depends on how much money you have and what you expect.

i upgraded from 13600kf + 4070 to 13900K + 4090

in fortnite 1440p, at max settings with my new set up, i get 80fps. 80FPS. so i have to turn down my settings, and with some compromise, i now get a stable 160fps (with 1% lows of 100 fps). my monitor is 240 and there is no way to get 240 without playing in potato graphics mode.

so it's a waste of time unless you have a lot of money and you want the best then i'd say the only way forward is 9800x3d + 5080 or 5090. how much money do you want to spend?

SpartanVXL

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#3343701 17-Feb-2025 11:44

Batman:

typetheSHADE:

Hi there peeps!

I just need a little bit of advice. Currently running an i5-13600kf with a gigabyte 4070 on my rig but my friends are telling me to either upgrade one or both of them. I read somewhere that the i5 is bottlenecking the 4070 and the PC still has some frames to give but me being not really a big computer guy(and this being my first custom build) am really not sure what to do right now. Rig is mainly used for gaming.

Any advice and/or insight to this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks very much!

depends on how much money you have and what you expect.

i upgraded from 13600kf + 4070 to 13900K + 4090

in fortnite 1440p, at max settings with my new set up, i get 80fps. 80FPS. so i have to turn down my settings, and with some compromise, i now get a stable 160fps (with 1% lows of 100 fps). my monitor is 240 and there is no way to get 240 without playing in potato graphics mode.

so it's a waste of time unless you have a lot of money and you want the best then i'd say the only way forward is 9800x3d + 5080 or 5090. how much money do you want to spend?

The main issue is setting to ultra and trying to call it a day. Modern games have raytracing in their ultra preset now, even Fortnite uses hardware lumen (i.e. raytracing).

OP will need to take a look in game settings and be sure about what they need enabled, or liberal use of DLSS upscaling.

cddt

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#3343706 17-Feb-2025 11:58

Right now is probably the worst time to upgrade a PC in decades. Especially one which is <2 years old. New gen parts are unavailable, old gen parts are scarcely available, prices have been driven to stratospheric levels by the "AI" bubble. Of course, if you don't mind spending money, you can spend many thousands of dollars to get a handful more frames per second. But there's no quick win here like the old days, where you could spend $300 on a 2 year old PC and double your FPS.

Source: me, gaming with a dedicated GPU since 1999.

And of course as always I recommend checking out https://pyronic.al/ to get an idea of build tiers with approximate NZ prices.

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

xpd

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#3343715 17-Feb-2025 12:34

I'm on AMD R7 5800X3D with a Nvidia 1650S on a 34" 3440x1440 screen, and while I don't get the best performance overall on some games, its enough to keep me happy, and not make me want to go out and spends god knows how much to improve it.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#3343716 17-Feb-2025 12:47

typetheSHADE:

. I read somewhere that the i5 is bottlenecking the 4070 and the PC still has some frames to give but me being not really a big computer guy(and this being my first custom build) am really not sure what to do right now.

The reality is, these games nowadays most of them, even with the most powerful CPU, (9800x3d) are CPU bottlenecked unless you play in 4K then you are most likely GPU bottlenecked.

The trouble with upgrading your gpu is you have to pay a lot to get a few fps. You could swap with a 13700k and gain amputee few fps. So it depends if you want to spend a bit of money.

What games do you play and at what resolution?

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