Consider Intel or AMD upgrades for your system.
Consider Intel or AMD upgrades for your system.
Hey everyone! I'm using an i5 4690k that's been overclocked to 4.6ghz with a good AIO cooler, 16GB RAM, and a GTX 1070. I'm thinking about whether it's worth getting a second-hand i7 4790K instead. On eBay in the UK, those parts usually cost between £150 and £190. Alternatively, I could wait for new B550 boards that offer a 3300x RAM upgrade and better motherboards. I mainly play games at triple A resolution on my 1080p TV and haven’t planned a jump to 4K yet. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I’d choose AMD, thinking it offers better performance. You might also find a 450 board at a lower price—just confirm it includes the BIOS update for version 3000.
Setting up my Titan bubble ahead of the inevitable constant AMD commentary. In short, your 4690k should work fine for 1080P gaming for some time yet. I wouldn’t even consider a platform upgrade unless you were me. But... I’m still using a system that’s been around a decade, so here’s what I really know.
It varies based on game weight and other activities on the system. For casual play and browsing, consider used Intel proc units; for better performance, hold off until B550 boards are released.
Resolution impact on CPU isn't significant. Lower resolutions can boost GPU performance, moving the bottleneck to the CPU but allowing smoother frame rates.
If you find one under $150-175, it's a good deal. Switching to AM4 will bring the price down to 225-250, and a genuine upgrade to 3600 could push it to around 300-325.
Successfully acquired an i7 4790k for £130 plus £5 shipping, owned by just one person who’s had it for three years without any overclocking. I believe I secured a good deal along with a new 2TB SSD priced at £145 (Kingston A400). The existing 1TB HDD drive is nearing capacity, so I considered upgrading it as well.