Upgrade GPU or New PC entirely?

[DeMisE]

With the pending 11.11 / Cyber Monday sales coming, I'm not sure whether I should bother upgrading my GPU with my current specs.

If its not worth just upgrading the GPU, then I might consider buying a new one in a few years time. Just worried about the CPU bottle-necking. Looking at the RTX 2070 Super / 2nd hand 1080ti

Currently using a 1440p 144hz screen, which my GTX 1070 is barely keeping up unless I scale down the graphics. Just want to play High on games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider or upcoming games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Current Specs for those on mobile:
CPU : i5-6600K CPU w Hyper 212 EVO (OC-ed to 4.4GHz)
Mainboard: ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming Aura
GPU: GigaByte GTX1070 G1 Gaming 8GB
RAM: G.Skill RipJaws V DDR4-2400Mhz (8GB x 2)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB / WD Blue 1TB
Display: Acer VG271UP 27" 2560x1440

 

[tigerwoods]

You can lower your resolution and enable the sharpening in the lastest geoforce driver, still looks great.

 

[SEvsNK]

Got money to spend why not ? 1070 can play 1440 but don’t expect smooth frame rates
From your expectations; Min must get 2080ti

 

[DeMisE]

Got money to spend why not ? 1070 can play 1440 but don’t expect smooth frame rates
From your expectations; Min must get 2080ti

Yeah that's what I'm doing now, but unsure if spending more than 800 would justify the fps increase.

How long do u guys thing a GTX 1070 would last playing new and upcoming games?

 

[Bumiputera]

Yeah that's what I'm doing now, but unsure if spending more than 800 would justify the fps increase.

How long do u guys thing a GTX 1070 would last playing new and upcoming games?

Probably until the next iteration of geforce gtx/rtx in 2-3 yrs time, where GTX 1070 will probably be peg at that generation xx50 performance level.

 

[Koenig168]

GTX 1070 is fine for 1440p gaming with some lowered settings. You might want to wait until you are ready for a complete overhaul.

btw GTX 1080Ti on the used market is overpriced ATM.

 

[yusoffb01]

if just gaming then buy gpu. during black fri should get ryzen 3000 series which outperform intel in gaming

 

[d5dude]

1070 pairs well with your current cpu, I think you will be cpu capped if you go from 1070 to something like the 2070s.

I see no point in lowering graphics just to run games at 1440p, 99% of the time the game will look worse with lowered settings at 1440p than high/ultra at 1080p. Imo resolution is very overrated, especially on smaller displays.

 

[xDragon]

1070 pairs well with your current cpu, I think you will be cpu capped if you go from 1070 to something like the 2070s.

I see no point in lowering graphics just to run games at 1440p, 99% of the time the game will look worse with lowered settings at 1440p than high/ultra at 1080p. Imo resolution is very overrated, especially on smaller displays.

How will he be CPU bottlenecked since he's running 1440p144? If he's using an older CPU and lower res like 720p/1080p then maybe.

I beg to differ on your 2nd point too, higher resolution(as well as refresh rated) are super noticable especially from 1080p to 1440p. It should be the other way around though. Lowering settings save you some frames while the game looks relatively the same.

This context is especially true for BR games where the settings don't really matter but the extra res helps you spot enemies.

 

[d5dude]

How will he be CPU bottlenecked since he's running 1440p144? If he's using an older CPU and lower res like 720p/1080p then maybe.

I beg to differ on your 2nd point too, higher resolution(as well as refresh rated) are super noticable especially from 1080p to 1440p. It should be the other way around though. Lowering settings save you some frames while the game looks relatively the same.

This context is especially true for BR games where the settings don't really matter but the extra res helps you spot enemies.

i5-6600k is more than 4 year old now, depending on title and the GPU he is looking to upgrade to, its definitely possible to be cpu bound at 1440p, at 4k maybe not.

Lowered settings definitely do not make games look the same, at least for the titles TS is playing, lowering settings like shadows can often make or break the visuals, it makes no sense to play the game on lower quality textures, lighting, etc but higher res, its like trying to look at something ugly with a binoculars, its never going to look pretty.

Yes lowering settings should improve performance, but I never said otherwise? My point was that if TS is targeting a certain performance (say stable 100fps with no drops) its better to just run the game at 1080p with higher settings, the game will 100% look better than lowering settings @ 1440p. Most people can tell the difference in shadow quality, lighting etc easily but going from 1080p to 1440p is not super obvious most of the time.

I don't play BR games but you might be right about that, most BR games don't really have stunning visuals to begin with so lowering graphic settings probably won't make too much of a difference to visuals.

 

[andymarsh]

Actually nvidia (e.g. 1070) has Freestyle sharpening, allowing games to be run at 1080p, then scaled to 1440p. Press Alt+F3 to pull up geforce experience overlay, and adjust the sharpening and grain loss.

 

[12122012]

forward to 26:22 for Shadow of the Tomb Raider...

 

[12122012]

forward to 19:00 for Shadow of the Tomb Raider @ 1440p...

 

[DeMisE]

Thanks for the input guys.
Decided that 4 core 4 thread might be dying soon, might as well buy a new rig in the future.
Meantime just tong with my 1070 until got budget for new rig.