GPU or CPU upgrade?

[rezig824]

Hi, i'm having a GTX 1650 with a Ryzen 3600 that i wan't to upgrade.
But i'm struggling to find out if i should upgrade the GPU or the CPU? (Can't do both atm) I do mostly gaming.
The GPU i have in mind is the RTX 4070 or RTX 4070 Super (if it is any good/ reasonably priced). Or should i wait until next gen GPU comes, and this time around upgrade my CPU to a 5700X3D?
,but the plan is to upgrade both in the future, so the question is more like, upgrade GPU now and get CPU in about a year or so, or CPU now and wait for next gen GPU until like 2025?
i have motherboard ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS pcie-4.0 AM4 and Monitor ASUS TUF Gaming Vg24vq 144hz 1080p.
but i need more fps first Upgrade GPU RTX 4070/Super + ryzen 5 3600 , after waiting 3 months buy cpu upgrade AMD Ryzen 7 5700x3d + rtx 4070
msi geforce rtx 4070 super 12go gaming x slim vs asus tuf gaming geforce rtx™ 4070 super 12gb gddr6x oc edition What difference?

 

[Macro Device]

You will get a massive FPS boost even without upgrading your CPU. 4070 Super is ages better than 1650. Sure, you'll be bottlenecked but this is a very reasonable purchase.

I'd go for the GPU first (even disregarding the actual games you play because improvements will be massive all across the board, even in the games that have the least GPU importance such as Counter-Strike, DotA, CoD, and the likes).

The difference between these two 4070Ss is that the latter is usually more expensive. Buy the cheaper one (if both fit your PC case just fine), it doesn't matter. Quality is about 99.9% identical.

 

[izy]

If you grab the RTX 4070 instead of RTX 4070 S you might have some money left to get a 5700x3d or even a 5700x is a decent option, i also think you should get the cheaper option of the RTX 4070 / S .. u wont get significant performance increase.. maybe just a lil better cooling.

 

[DaemonForce]

i'm struggling to find out if i should upgrade the GPU or the CPU? (Can't do both atm) I do mostly gaming.

Mostly gaming is one thing. What is the other? I'm not sure what advice to give so flip a coin.
I run a frightfully similar combination of R5 3600 and RX580.

Mostly gaming, if I'm in my gaming phase. Otherwise VR development, 3D stuff and watching streams, which can be offset to phone/tablet.
Going live is a whole other universe that I could do by phone and I just don't do that on my hardware as it's too troublesome to setup.
On a 1650 Super, all of that would be perfectly fine. So unless you need more than 1080p144 desktop or dual 2K90, just go a class up?
The RTX 2000 series is mad cheap but seems limited to 8GB. Not sure if that's a deal breaker for you. The 10GB+ RTX 3000 stuff looks cheap.
You missed the boat on discount RX 6000/7000 stuff by just over a month. No idea if those prices are ever coming back without a fight.
Also CES is coming up in a day with new product announcements and a lot of everything. So maybe it's best to just hold tight for now?\

Last year I made multiple attempts to sunset my 580 with the 7900 XT and it didn't go well.
Can't power them correctly or something where literally everyone missed the problem.
I'm willing to try it again if prices come down but I understand that the 3600 will heavily bottleneck it at 1080p, which is NOT my concern.
Since you have a bigger monitor and probably enjoy higher resolution devices, maybe you're headed for the same exit. Unless you're streaming.
Either way, retiring my GPU is a much bigger priority than a new CPU. I have no idea if your frames are suffering or whatever so it depends.

 

[QuietBob]

A new generation of GPUs from both manufacturers will be available within weeks. So it isn't the best time to buy one now.

On the other hand, if you're not going for a full platform upgrade, the only CPU that makes sense for gaming on AM4 is the 5700X3D.

What kind of games do you mostly play? Do you expect them to run at your monitor's native 144 Hz? Do you mind lowering the settings if they don't? Alternatively, do you consider upscaling and/or frame generation to achieve your target fps?

Do you see RT as a requirement?

 

[AusWolf]

I vote GPU.

But instead of the 4070, you may find a massive discount on the 7900 GRE, as it's being discontinued. Some places list it cheaper than the 4060 Ti, while it's way faster.

 

[Zazigalka]

Something like a 7700xt would be better, you won't push 4070 Super at 1080p to its fullest using a 3600.

 

[TommyT]

ryzen 3600 is not the best those days. but its still good! and i think its better to upgrade your gpu.

 

[dgianstefani]

4070S now and 5700X3D later.

 

[TommyT]

4070S now and 5700X3D later.

a friend of my just upgarded to 4060 ti from 2070 for free...

and his next move is 5700x3d. he have the same cpu - 3600 ...

 

[RAJOD1]

May as well wait for the 5070 now. Or keep waiting for the 6070. Your gpu is weak, get a new graphics card first. Get a x3D later. EZ or stop gaming and get nothing.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

4070, but make sure your PSU isn't ancient otherwise this whole endeavor might be a very expensive lesson...

All GPUs after the RX6xxx and RTX3xxx series can be assumed to have some brutal transient power spikes that can cause at minimum instability issues and at worst hardware damage if your PSU isn't on the newer side.

 

[dgianstefani]

4070, but make sure your PSU isn't ancient otherwise this whole endeavor might be a very expensive lesson...

All GPUs after the RX6xxx and RTX3xxx series can be assumed to have some brutal transient power spikes that can cause at minimum instability issues and at worst hardware damage if your PSU isn't on the newer side.

Actually it's specifically that generation that had that issue. RTX 40xx and presumably RTX 50xx have resolved this.

 

[AusWolf]

Actually it's specifically that generation that had that issue. RTX 40xx and presumably RTX 50xx have resolved this.

So did RX 7000 (somewhat).

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Actually it's specifically that generation that had that issue. RTX 40xx and presumably RTX 50xx have resolved this.

-Ah good to know.

 

[Zach_01]

Hi, i'm having a GTX 1650 with a Ryzen 3600 that i wan't to upgrade.
But i'm struggling to find out if i should upgrade the GPU or the CPU? (Can't do both atm) I do mostly gaming.
The GPU i have in mind is the RTX 4070 or RTX 4070 Super (if it is any good/ reasonably priced). Or should i wait until next gen GPU comes, and this time around upgrade my CPU to a 5700X3D?
,but the plan is to upgrade both in the future, so the question is more like, upgrade GPU now and get CPU in about a year or so, or CPU now and wait for next gen GPU until like 2025?
i have motherboard ASUS TUF GAMING B550-PLUS pcie-4.0 AM4 and Monitor ASUS TUF Gaming Vg24vq 144hz 1080p.
but i need more fps first Upgrade GPU RTX 4070/Super + ryzen 5 3600 , after waiting 3 months buy cpu upgrade AMD Ryzen 7 5700x3d + rtx 4070
msi geforce rtx 4070 super 12go gaming x slim vs asus tuf gaming geforce rtx™ 4070 super 12gb gddr6x oc edition What difference?

As you said you are more comfortable to upgrade the system in 2 times.
1. GPU
2. CPU (after a few months)

It would be better to tell us how much you can spend on each, where are you, and what market choices you have.

I too vote that the GPU should go first, followed by the CPU later.

 

[DaemonForce]

If you need some logic behind the upgrade order, it goes something like this:
GPU and other accelerators that bottleneck the snot out of the CPU are welcome as they are an immediate massive improvement.
The CPU is already doing its best and a new CPU should unlock some fair improvements after the first change.
So it's no wonder I'm looking at doing exactly this. I'm sure many others will agree.

 

[RAJOD1]

If you need some logic behind the upgrade order, it goes something like this:
GPU and other accelerators that bottleneck the snot out of the CPU are welcome as they are an immediate massive improvement.
The CPU is already doing its best and a new CPU should unlock some fair improvements after the first change.
So it's no wonder I'm looking at doing exactly this. I'm sure many others will agree.

I agree. in most cases a new GPU will give much more of a WOW vs a cpu. I had a old Xeon quad (E5-1660 v2 @ 3.70GHz w 32GB of quad channel ECC ram.
First upgrade was to a 1080GTX and was a massive WOW at the time then.....I did it again
2nd upgrade was to a 4070FE and again WOW it was so smooth in new games almost all games could be maxed out and did not slow down under 60fps most 90-180 fps.
3rd upgrade was the cpu/mb/ram X3D amd system. and this was not a WOW more of a ok its a little smoother in this game. Like Red Dead on max went from 62fps to like 90fps, I did not really feel the new cpu in the game but when I benched yes it was faster.

Now if I kept my pre 1080gtx gpu and just did 3 cpu upgrades it would have been a major let down having over powered cpus with an old quadro graphics card.

Yes get a new GPU first.

 

[Outback Bronze]

I'd go for the GPU

100% agreed

We will be having new GPU releases soon so just hold your horses. You should be able to pick up 4070's cheaper if that's the way you still want to swing.