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    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    New PC or New Graphics Card?

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    tofford

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    #1  Edited By tofford

    I built my first gaming PC around the start of the current generation and I doubt it is going to be able to handle next gen games. Ideally I would like to save money and just get a new RTX card rather than doing a complete PC rebuild. The thing is I'm not sure if my build would then be limited by other components. I would really appreciate if anyone could have a look at my setup below and let me know if I need to do a full rebuild to play games at 4K 60FPS or can I just upgrade my graphics card.

    ProcessorCore i7-4770K (3.5GHz)
    MotherboardAsus Z97 Pro +Wifi
    RAM16GB (2x8Gb) DDR3
    Graphics CardGTX 970
    Power SupplyCorsair C5650M 650W
    DrivesAsus BC12D2HT Blu-Ray
    Storage2 TB Hard Drive
    1TB Samsung SSD
    256Mb Crucial SSD (Boot Drive)
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    FacelessVixen

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    Having a more current CPU will help give a newer GPU more breathing room.

    But, what specific games do you want to play at that resolution and frame rate? I ask because a CPU and GPU combo that might work for Doom Eternal at 2160p/60 (because Vulkan is best girl) might not work for modern Ubisoft games or maxed out Control at that resolution and frame rate; the latter of which I get an average of 45 frames at 3440 x 1440 with a 9900K and a 2080 Ti, and I'm sure that going 2160p with that would turn the game into a PowerPoint presentation. Not worth spending $3,000 if you ask me.

    So, what's the budget, what game are we building a new system for, and are things like 1440p, ultrawide, HDR, G-Syne, FreeSync, and frame rates beyond 60 on the table?

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    tofford

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    @facelessvixen: I don't have a game in mind really and at the moment I only have a 1440p monitor (If my PC could handle it I would consider a G-Sync 4K monitor though). I'm basically hoping I can play games like Cyberpunk when it comes out at top end settings. I don't want next gen games to come out and find out I can barely play them.

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    cikame

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    I might go for a cheaper mid-tier graphics card update, if you need more performance right now for any reason, but if you can wait i get the feeling there will be a new wave of hardware coming soon.
    I don't have any evidence to back that up, i just keep hearing about Nvidia leaving the 2000 series behind and new CPU architecture like we're seeing in the PS5.
    I had to get a whole new PC last year because the one i had failed, if it was still working i'd probably have tried to drag it out to next year.

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    dsjwetrwete

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    #5  Edited By dsjwetrwete

    There's no real way to know until Cyberpunk actually comes out, although it is being built up by the media as something that might cripple older PCs. Technically a 4770k can still achieve 60fps plus average in many games because it's a 4 core 8 thread CPU (at least at 1080p). CD Projekt Red's last big game The Witcher 3 was known as being very CPU-demanding at the time, but it was an open-world third-person title. I'd honestly just wait until Cyberpunk releases, but if you do decide to buy a high-end GPU first, you can always put it in the new PC if you find your current one is holding back.

    Me personally? I went from an older i5 to a ryzen 3600 (4 cores 0 threads to 6 cores 12 threads) and it was worth the cost and effort, especially when it comes to minimum framerate. My average framerate increased approximately 80%. (A 3600 is close to an i7 7700k in gaming performance, although it outshines the latter when more cores are required.)

    If you want benchmarks, here's some links showing how the i7 4770K performs compared to more recent CPU's (as in from the past few years). Both of these have either the 4770K or 4790K listed among the CPU's tested in the charts:

    https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3412-intel-i7-2600k-revisit-2018-benchmarks-vs-9900k-ryzen-more

    https://www.techspot.com/review/1546-intel-2nd-gen-core-i7-vs-8th-gen/

    Edit: Is your CPU overclocked? You have a Z board. If it's at stock frequency, look up a basic guide to overclocking for your specific motherboard model and CPU.

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    FacelessVixen

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    #6  Edited By FacelessVixen

    @tofford: Well, a leaked Time Spy benchmark suggested that one of Nvidia's RTX 3000 series cards is 31% faster than a 2080 Ti which are supposedly due out sometime in August, so we all might actually be able to have our native 4K/60 with ray-tracing cake and eat it with Cyberpunk, assuming that there's any truth to the rumors and speculation about Ampere hold true and that benchmarks of the retail version of Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K align with the wishful thinking.

    ...Yeah, I'm a skeptic who strongly believes that futureproofing is bullshit. But I do know for sure that you'll need a newer CPU (most likely an i7 or Ryzen 7), motherboard, RAM, in addition to a new GPU for Cyberpunk, though how much of a money pit it will be to max it out won't really be known until November.

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    tofford

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    Thanks for all your help. Sounds like my best bet is to put up with my current rig for another 12 months and then see what is needed for the latest titles then.

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    Ry_Ry

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    Cyberpunk is releasing on base Xbox One and PS4 hardware. It'll look great on those platforms - especially when in motion. Could you get something better than a 970 - sure! But I'd wait to see how the game runs on your current machine before upgrading. With AMD and Nvidia seeming set to release newer stuff yet this year, that should help keep prices down on the current crop of cards.

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    BobbyDigital00

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    #10  Edited By BobbyDigital00

    New PC or New 3070

    Curious if anyone could advise me, and tell me if buying a 3070 would be overkill for my current PC.

    INTEL CORE I7-5775C 3.3GHZ 6MB INTEL SMART CACHE

    RM-501-102 GSKILL 4 GB DDR3 2133 MHZ RIPJAWS

    MB-432-108 MSI Z97S SLI KRAIT EDITION ATX LGA 1150

    PS-305-107 EVGA 600 WATT 80 PLUS POWER SUPPLY

    VC-249-102 SUPERCLOCKED ACX EVGA NVIDIA GTX 970 16GB (Upgraded to 1070 already)

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    colourful_hippie

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    #11  Edited By colourful_hippie

    @bobbydigital00: a 3080 would because they require a 750w PSU, 3070 should be fine. You and the OP here will both need to eventually upgrade the whole rig to a newer CPU that supports PCIE4 with an NVME SSD but I don't expect those demands to start hitting most game requirements for another 2 years.

    EDIT: Whoops completely missed your RAM. I didn't even know 4gig RAM was still a thing. You need to fix that to 16gig ASAP

    As for OP hoping to play Cyberpunk at high settings you're definitely going to have to tweak stuff at medium to high and drop that resolution down to 1080p if you're even considering blinking at RTX settings.

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    BobbyDigital00

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    @colourful_hippie: Thank you for the reply. I forgot to mention that I have upgraded to 16GB already. I was looking into it, and the 3070 required a 650W power supply, and I only have the 600W. :(

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