Question How much improvement can I expect with only a new GPU?

[Bat123Man]

I built a system a number of years ago. It has been great for games up until recently, but now my sons are complaining that they get lag when playing games such as Mordhau. It is probably time to upgrade it, but don't want to build an entirely new rig if I can avoid it.

The one I built :
Core i5-3570K
Gigabyte Z77-UD3H (ivy bridge)
16 GB DDR3
EVGA 1060 GTX 6GB
500 GB SSD

If I only replace the GPU with a more modern one, like a 1660 Ti, will there be an appreciable FPS gain? To be honest, from what I can see, the answer is likely no unless I go all the way to something extravagant like a 2080. I could probably swing a 2060, but that would be the absolute upper limit in terms of cost. I am worried that the few FPS they might gain would not justify the cost, and I would end up having to build a whole new system again just to make use of the new GPU.

Appreciate any advice.

 

[mohit9206]

Yes i don't think a new GPU would help you enough although if you can find a cheap 1660ti it could be worth it.

 

[SPBHM]

1060 is the recommended GPU for the game you mentioned, while the 3570 is bellow recommended and even minimum,
you can't really trust those min/recommended specs most of the time, but going by that a GPU upgrade would likely be a mistake.

 

[Bat123Man]

1060 is the recommended GPU for the game you mentioned, while the 3570 is bellow recommended and even minimum,
you can't really trust those min/recommended specs most of the time, but going by that a GPU upgrade would likely be a mistake.

Hmm, that is interesting. Yes, I saw that the 1060 is min spec for that game. It does run, just lags from time to time. And since it is a knight free-for-all, lagging from time to time kind of ruins the fun. Well I certainly could try to OC the 3570 then if that is the bottleneck. I did buy the K version deliberately just in case I ever wanted to get back into my O'Cing days....... hmmmmmmmm

 

[Spjut]

An easy way to test how much you're CPU bottlenecked is to just lower the resolution. If you play at lets say 1080p and try 720p instead, you should get close to double the FPS, assuming the CPU can cut it. And the lower the gain is, the more CPU bottlenecked you are.

 

[Bat123Man]

That was stressful. I followed a video I found on overclocking my exact mobo. It suggested to use the Turbo Ratio settings instead of the multiplier, and then also decrease the CPU PLL voltage from 1.80 to 1.65. I made both changes and the PC refused to boot. Worse, it wouldn't even bring up the BIOS any longer. I had to download the manual to find the BIOS override switch, which allowed me to boot back into the BIOS and undo my settings. Back to normal now although my kid probably learned a few 4-letter words in the interim.

I could try it again, this time only setting the Turbo Ratios without touching the voltage, but I stressed the CPUs a bit and then rebooted into the BIOS, and it was reading 82C. If I O'C, I'll probably go over 90C so that seems like a bad idea without buying a better heatsync/fan.

I did try to see if I could reset Mordhau to a lower res, but there is only one 21:9 setting in the list. Since he is playing on ultrawide, I could at least test it on 16:9 but everyone will be really fat.

 

[Deegan000]

dude holy crap your cpu voltage should be like 1.35 or so to hit at least 4.4 to 4.5 ghz on a 3570k easy. and you could easily oc it and play games super well with a 1660. you should only up the multiplier i believe on those chips

 

[blckgrffn]

Well, are you on the stock cooler with that thing? With the age of it and given the very modest performance of the stock cooler, issues don't surprise me. Decent coolers are also depressingly priced right now.

I would seriously consider new mobo, CPU, ram. W10 seems really good at being "portable" so you could likely avoid an OS re-install. As others have indicated, being under the minimum CPU spec is an unhappy place to be. A 2600 or better Zen CPU would likely put you in a much happier place for a few years.

Just the other day in our very own forums I picked up a six core intel i5, mobo and ram for $250 shipped, I think, and a bunch more goodies totaled $400.

A couple weeks before that I got a mitx motherboard, 4790s and 16GB of memory with a noctua cooler for $160 shipped.

Give the FS/FT forum a look if you haven't already.

 

[C2bcool]

The i5-3570K is a 4core/4 thread CPU. It is done, literally dead in the water and an over 8 year old chip at this point. 4cores/4theads just doesn't cut it anymore.

I recently upgraded from a i7-3770k (4c/8t) with a RX580 8gb (similar performance to your gtx1060) to a 3700x build using the same RX580 and notice a really nice performance bump in games.

Time to move on. I suggest going AMD...B550 mobo, 3600/3600x or 3700x, 16gb of ddr 4 3200 or 3600 and carry over the gtx1060. Can upgrade the GPU later if needed.

 

[amenx]

If you can upgrade your display from 1080p to 1440p, that will shift a considerable load off the CPU to the GPU. Side benefit is increased visuals, even if you have to lower settings slightly to accommodate the higher res. A 1660ti can do 1440p well enough.

 

[Snakexor]

If you can upgrade your display from 1080p to 1440p, that will shift a considerable load off the CPU to the GPU. Side benefit is increased visuals, even if you have to lower settings slightly to accommodate the higher res. A 1660ti can do 1440p well enough.

Shift? I would argue the load would be the same - rather the bottleneck would perhaps move to the GPU thanks to the additional pixels. To imply that the CPU would bear less of a burden at a higher resolution is not correct.

 

[amenx]

Shift? I would argue the load would be the same - rather the bottleneck would perhaps move to the GPU thanks to the additional pixels. To imply that the CPU would bear less of a burden at a higher resolution is not correct.

Maybe semantics are getting in the way of the point being made. At 1440p gaming, his 3570k is less of a hindrance to performance than @ 1080p.

CPUs benches @ 1440p vs 1080p:

Intel Core i7 9700K processor review

It is time to review that secondary Coffee Lake-S refresh release, in this review, we put some blisters on the Core i7 9700K. This is the higher end mainstream processor. With eight cores it is aimed ... Performance - dGPU - Games: Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)

www.guru3d.com

 

[Snakexor]

Maybe semantics are getting in the way of the point being made. At 1440p gaming, his 3570k is less of a hindrance to performance than @ 1080p.

CPUs benches @ 1440p vs 1080p:

Intel Core i7 9700K processor review

It is time to review that secondary Coffee Lake-S refresh release, in this review, we put some blisters on the Core i7 9700K. This is the higher end mainstream processor. With eight cores it is aimed ... Performance - dGPU - Games: Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)

www.guru3d.com

Right that's exactly what I said: "bottleneck" = "hindrance".

I am not trying to convey to the OP that the 3570 magically becomes FASTER at higher res, and yes point being that he should upgrade.

 

[C2bcool]

Agreed. The CPU is clearly the bottleneck more so then the gtx1060 at this point. Hence why I recommended going to 3600/3700x. The IPC advancements, more cores/threads, and DDR4 make it a VERY nice upgrade from an old i5 3570k.

I say this while back at work (1st time in 3 months not working remotely) and typing on an i3-3220 (2c/4t) and of course it only has one 8gb stick of ram so no dual channel and no SSD. I am hating every slow second of it. This thing struggles with word and a few chrome tabs, god forbid I have youtube or music going too lol.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Simple solution, though not necessarily the best value: buy a used 3770K for $120, $32 BE Hyper212 and add an easy overclock using multiplier to get to 4.3-4.5GHz with a voltage bump at most. No windows and programs to reinstall or license to buy, and 8 threads to run games.

 

[MrTeal]

Simple solution, though not necessarily the best value: buy a used 3770K for $120, $32 BE Hyper212 and add an easy overclock using multiplier to get to 4.3-4.5GHz with a voltage bump at most. No windows and programs to reinstall or license to buy, and 8 threads to run games.

Are four extra HT threads really worth spending $150 on though? It would take an extra $200 to pick up a 3600, cheap B450 and 16GB of DDR4-3600, less if he sold the platform. Definitely more work than the CPU upgrade, but it seems a really bad value. Dumping the extra money in might be a worthwhile investment of he can't stretch out the 3570k.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Are four extra HT threads really worth spending $150 on though? It would take an extra $200 to pick up a 3600, cheap B450 and 16GB of DDR4-3600, less if he sold the platform. Definitely more work than the CPU upgrade, but it seems a really bad value. Dumping the extra money in might be a worthwhile investment of he can't stretch out the 3570k.

You're not wrong, which is why I referenced value in my post. The more time&effort+more money v. less money&less value, is the choice that has to be made. Regardless of which path is taken (the i5 is not going to cut it anymore) I would personally sell the 1060 and put it toward a faster card.

 

[Mopetar]

I think getting a mid-range Zen 2 CPU and holding on to the 1060 is the best bet and offers the possibility of upgrading the GPU in a few years when that becomes necessary without having to upgrade the whole system.

If you wanted to you could probably just keep the old machine to use for internet browsing or non-gaming workloads if you went that route since the integrated graphics will be fine to run a display. I'm not sure how much it would otherwise sell for, but a few members here could probably give you an idea if you wanted to replace it.

It's probably a good idea to figure out what you want to spend. A 3600X is probably in the sweet spot for price/performance. A 3700X is probably a little more future proof but also overkill if it's just a gaming PC. Both AMD and NVidia will have new GPUs out late this year or early next so I'd consider holding off on that regardless if you can drop settings until then.