• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Recently bought a 4k monitor, wondering which parts should I upgrade next in my PC

Innerverse

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2020
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Hello! First post here.

So I recently bought the BenQ PD2700U 27 inches 4k IPS monitor and since I've been on one 1080p monitor for the last decade, I thought maybe it's time to upgrade something else in my rig soon since 4k is much more demanding (I believe?). I use my PC for various reasons, i'm a graphic designer and video editor (but I never edited in 4k before, don't think i'll be using 4k footage anytime soon but it will be a thing in the long run) and i'm also a gamer, I was able to run pretty much any games in high settings at 1080p and 60fps, obviously I don't think i'll be able to run 4k yet but perhaps. I didnt try yet. My main focus for the near future isn't to run 4k gaming at 60 fps, I just want to make sure the PC run smooths for my multimedia work when im using both my monitors (photoshop, premiere pro). So far everything run smooths, but I can definitely tell it's not as fast as it was before adding the 4k screen and I didn't do any heavy multimedia work since receiving my screen.

Here is my current set-up:

Monitors: 27'' 4k + 24'' 1080p (both at 60 hz)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 Deluxe
CPU: i7 3930k (hexcores @ 3.2 GHz)
GPU: GTX 1060 6gb
RAM: 16 gb DDR3 (2x 8gb @ 1600 MHz)
Storage: 240 gb SSD + 2 tb HDD
System: Windows 10

So basically my question:
Is my set up okay for a while still? If I had the budget to upgrade one part first, what should it be? Or is it better to wait longer, save up more money to upgrade more parts together at the same time later down the road.

PS: I never did any overclocking, should I ?

Thank you for your time!
 
Last edited:

FordGT90Concept

"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Joined
Oct 13, 2008
Messages
26,259 (4.65/day)
Location
IA, USA
System Name BY-2021
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (65w eco profile)
Motherboard MSI B550 Gaming Plus
Cooling Scythe Mugen (rev 5)
Memory 2 x Kingston HyperX DDR4-3200 32 GiB
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage Samsung 980 Pro, Seagate Exos X20 TB 7200 RPM
Display(s) Nixeus NX-EDG274K (3840x2160@144 DP) + Samsung SyncMaster 906BW (1440x900@60 HDMI-DVI)
Case Coolermaster HAF 932 w/ USB 3.0 5.25" bay + USB 3.2 (A+C) 3.5" bay
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1150, Micca OriGen+
Power Supply Enermax Platimax 850w
Mouse Nixeus REVEL-X
Keyboard Tesoro Excalibur
Software Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Faster than the tortoise; slower than the hare.
Graphics card for sure but if you're happy with how the 1060 is running then no sense in changing it.

I'm waiting for Arcturus & Ampere for 4K because both should be on 7nm, Arcturus should be competitive with Ampere, and the two combined should result in more performance per dollar while having enough transistors to reasonable render at 4K.

5700 XT struggles at 4K and RTX 2080/2080 Ti is a blatant rip off.
 

silentbogo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 20, 2013
Messages
5,470 (1.45/day)
Location
Kyiv, Ukraine
System Name WS#1337
Processor Ryzen 7 3800X
Motherboard ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory 4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s) Inno3D RTX 3070 Ti iChill
Storage ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s) Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s) ALC1220
Power Supply SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Is my set up okay for a while still? If I had the budget to upgrade one part first, what should it be?
I'd start saving for the whole system upgrade. If it works for now, just keep what you have and plan for the future. I did the same when I bought my 4K Samsung: kept my Skylake rig w/ GTX1060 for as long as I could, and then upgraded to 1st gen ryzen when the prices were so low that I couldn't resist the upgrade itch.
You are in a better position, cause you have some time to fill up the piggy bank for upcoming GPUs, and wait for a possible price drop on current-gen CPUs/boards.
 
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
235 (0.07/day)
Given the X79, track down a Xeon E5-1680V2 IVB-EP 8c/16t. It's unlocked, so low 4ghz is a cinch. Add another 2x8gb DIMMs for quad channel. Stick with the 1060 & 1080p60 gaming until current gen Navi/Turing prices drop when Navi2/Ampere are released & evaluate your gpu options then. Otherwise, Ryzen2/mb/RAM combos are great value.

I'm waiting for Arcturus & Ampere for 4K

What do you think Arcturus is?
 

Innerverse

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2020
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Thank you guys for the answers, great insight!

So far the thinking is to keep gaming at 1080p 60fps, which is totally fine for me to be honest. Most games I play are competitive anyways, and I will most likely keep my 24'' for it since 27'' is a bit too big for competitive games in my opinion (I don't want to have to move my eyes too much to see what's on the screen).
I guess my current rig is okay for my multimedia work aswell. I will still be glad if others want to add their thoughts on the topic!
 

Innerverse

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2020
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Ok so I didn't want to create another thread just for this simple question.

I was using 2x8 GB DDR3 1600hz sticks for a total of 16 gb, then my roomate upgraded his rig and had his 2x8 GB DDR3 1600hz sticks to give away (same speed as mine but another brand). I did some research and found out that they could fit on my motherboard and my other sticks since they have same amount of memory and speed so I installed them, so im now having 4 sticks on my motherboard for a total fo 32 gb. Thing is, I now see on my task manager performance tab that my speed is 1333 MHz (instead of the 1600 MHz I had previously on 16 gb). Is this normal? The 4 sticks are 1600 MHz and my motherboard is the Asus P9X79 Deluxe, supporting 8 sticks total. If that's normal, is it still a good trade to go from 16 GB 1600 MHz to 32 GB 1333 MHz? Thank you (rest of my rig specs are in the initial post)
 
Joined
May 13, 2006
Messages
1,005 (0.15/day)
Processor i9 10850k
Motherboard Asus strix Z-490-e
Cooling Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360
Memory G.SKILL Trident Z 4000mhz
Video Card(s) Asus STRIX RTX 3080
Storage 1tb Samsung 970 EVO,1tb hdd,750gb hdd
Display(s) Asus 27" 144htz 1440
Case Lian Li lancool 2 mesh
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Seasonic GX-850
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard Logitech Pro
Go to the bios and change the speed of the ram and everything will be like it should.
 

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
23,312 (3.77/day)
Location
London,UK
System Name Codename: Icarus Mk.VI
Processor Intel 8600k@Stock -- pending tuning
Motherboard Asus ROG Strixx Z370-F
Cooling CPU: BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 {1xCorsair ML120 Pro|5xML140 Pro}
Memory 32GB XPG Gammix D10 {2x16GB}
Video Card(s) ASUS Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 512GB SSD (Boot)|WD SN770 (Gaming)|2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300|2x 2TB Crucial BX500
Display(s) LG GP850-B
Case Corsair 760T (White)
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V573|Speakers: JBL Control One|Auna 300-CN|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply Corsair AX760
Mouse Logitech G900
Keyboard Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Ok so I didn't want to create another thread just for this simple question.

I was using 2x8 GB DDR3 1600hz sticks for a total of 16 gb, then my roomate upgraded his rig and had his 2x8 GB DDR3 1600hz sticks to give away (same speed as mine but another brand). I did some research and found out that they could fit on my motherboard and my other sticks since they have same amount of memory and speed so I installed them, so im now having 4 sticks on my motherboard for a total fo 32 gb. Thing is, I now see on my task manager performance tab that my speed is 1333 MHz (instead of the 1600 MHz I had previously on 16 gb). Is this normal? The 4 sticks are 1600 MHz and my motherboard is the Asus P9X79 Deluxe, supporting 8 sticks total. If that's normal, is it still a good trade to go from 16 GB 1600 MHz to 32 GB 1333 MHz? Thank you (rest of my rig specs are in the initial post)

Without knowing what make and model your friends sticks of ram were - its hard to say. Usually its better to go with matched sets. as mismatched ram could cause all sorts of problems with a PC - Ive been there with a P9X79Pro and 3930k and with other builds.

Whats happening is that your original ram has defaulted to matching the speed of the slowest set or ram or sticks for safety/stability purposes. You can set the ram to run at a faster speed but without knowing the make/model of your friends ram, I cant tell you if this would cause instabilities. I also recommend you stay away from XMP settings otherwise that might mess your system up even more.

Quad channel doesnt make a whole lot of difference in gaming.... Not unless youre loaded down with dual GPUs then that extra bandwidth that quad channel brings helps it hold up pretty good against DDR4 ram. Quad channel is still the way to go but not a requirement unless youre the hardcore of gamers and want to squeeze out every last drop of performance.

Find the timings for your friends set of ram as im guessing its the slowest set and manually set the speed and ram timings in the bios to prevent issues that happen with mismatched rams.

As for your setup. you can upgrade your GPu to a 1080Ti but complete setup as a whole could really do with an overhaul.

New cards on the way from AMD and Nvidia very soon anyway so you've got some time to decide what path you want to take.
 
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Messages
1,118 (0.67/day)
System Name just ordinary potato system, but dont understimate potato..
Processor ryzen raven ridge 2200g, ryzen 2600 upgrade:)
Motherboard msi b350 pc mate, biostars a320, asrock ab350m micro
Cooling x2 cheap china handmade, i got plenty aigo/fantech rgb fans now heh
Memory klevv dual channel 8gb 3000mhz, trident 16gb 3600mhz, random ddr2 stick
Video Card(s) back to square, using vega 56 now:D
Storage wd green ssd 240gb, 3tb seagate expnasion, random laptop hdd x4, 1tb 3.5
Display(s) acer vgo 22inch fullhd 75hz
Case cheap segotep/dazumba mid atx, alcatroz mini atx
Audio Device(s) genius retro wood style, harman kardon stick iii
Power Supply be quite system power9, powerlogic standar, voltron 300fx, thermaltake smart 1200w
Mouse rexus, genius ps/2, powerlogic ps/2 ball tracking
Keyboard rexus, random china product x3
Software talking abt best software, autodesk/unity3d/notepad yes notepad!!
Benchmark Scores theres nothing to brag abt potato, but it can run decent 30fps fullhd with good setting:)
stick with your curent card, theres no point upgrade right now, becouse you will need an expensive 2080ti to get stable 60hz 4k, also cpu/motherboard/ram upgrade needed for 4k gaming i guess
but if you want to enjoy temporary 4k experience juts grab a nice 1080ti and do 4k setup normal/high preset, dont do ultra :D
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
5,398 (0.92/day)
Location
Australia
System Name Night Rider | Mini LAN PC | Workhorse
Processor AMD R7 5800X3D | Ryzen 1600X | i7 970
Motherboard MSi AM4 Pro Carbon | GA- | Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Cooling Noctua U9S Twin Fan| Stock Cooler, Copper Core)| Big shairkan B
Memory 2x8GB DDR4 G.Skill Ripjaws 3600MHz| 2x8GB Corsair 3000 | 6x2GB DDR3 1300 Corsair
Video Card(s) MSI AMD 6750XT | 6500XT | MSI RX 580 8GB
Storage 1TB WD Black NVME / 250GB SSD /2TB WD Black | 500GB SSD WD, 2x1TB, 1x750 | WD 500 SSD/Seagate 320
Display(s) LG 27" 1440P| Samsung 20" S20C300L/DELL 15" | 22" DELL/19"DELL
Case LIAN LI PC-18 | Mini ATX Case (custom) | Atrix C4 9001
Audio Device(s) Onboard | Onbaord | Onboard
Power Supply Silverstone 850 | Silverstone Mini 450W | Corsair CX-750
Mouse Coolermaster Pro | Rapoo V900 | Gigabyte 6850X
Keyboard MAX Keyboard Nighthawk X8 | Creative Fatal1ty eluminx | Some POS Logitech
Software Windows 10 Pro 64 | Windows 10 Pro 64 | Windows 7 Pro 64/Windows 10 Home
If you are intending to play any games at 4k then your going to need a 2080 Ti, CPU doesnt mean anything when it comes to that res.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2016
Messages
1,025 (0.37/day)
Location
Croatistan
System Name 1.21 gigawatts!
Processor Intel Core i7 6700K
Motherboard MSI Z170A Krait Gaming 3X
Cooling Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Slim with Arctic MX-4
Memory 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 3000 MHz
Video Card(s) Palit GTX 1080 Game Rock
Storage Mushkin Triactor 240GB + Toshiba X300 4TB + Team L3 EVO 480GB
Display(s) Philips 237E7QDSB/00 23" FHD AH-IPS
Case Aerocool Aero-1000 white + 4 Arctic F12 PWM Rev.2 fans
Audio Device(s) Onboard Audio Boost 3 with Nahimic Audio Enhancer
Power Supply FSP Hydro G 650W
Mouse Cougar 700M eSports white
Keyboard E-Blue Cobra II
Software Windows 8.1 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R15: 948 (stock) / 1044 (4,7 GHz) FarCry 5 1080p Ultra: min 100, avg 116, max 133 FPS
GPU. The best option is used GTX 1080 or GTX 1080 Ti. Just don't expect to play everything with max details at 60+ FPS. Lower the details to medium or high and you'll be fine or simply lower the to 2560x1440.
You made a mistake by buying a 4K monitor, but now it is what it is. I would advise anyone against buying a 4K monitor because current hardware is still not suited to it as good as it is for 1080p and 1440p monitors. Sure, you can always burn a lot and I mean a lot of money to build a proper 4K system but even such ridiculously expensive system will be surpassed by the upper-middle class PC's for like 5 years.
 
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
7,762 (3.08/day)
Location
Back in Norway
System Name Hotbox
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, 110/95/110, PBO +150Mhz, CO -7,-7,-20(x6),
Motherboard ASRock Phantom Gaming B550 ITX/ax
Cooling LOBO + Laing DDC 1T Plus PWM + Corsair XR5 280mm + 2x Arctic P14
Memory 32GB G.Skill FlareX 3200c14 @3800c15
Video Card(s) PowerColor Radeon 6900XT Liquid Devil Ultimate, UC@2250MHz max @~200W
Storage 2TB Adata SX8200 Pro
Display(s) Dell U2711 main, AOC 24P2C secondary
Case SSUPD Meshlicious
Audio Device(s) Optoma Nuforce μDAC 3
Power Supply Corsair SF750 Platinum
Mouse Logitech G603
Keyboard Keychron K3/Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro M w/DSA profile caps
Software Windows 10 Pro
Ok so I didn't want to create another thread just for this simple question.

I was using 2x8 GB DDR3 1600hz sticks for a total of 16 gb, then my roomate upgraded his rig and had his 2x8 GB DDR3 1600hz sticks to give away (same speed as mine but another brand). I did some research and found out that they could fit on my motherboard and my other sticks since they have same amount of memory and speed so I installed them, so im now having 4 sticks on my motherboard for a total fo 32 gb. Thing is, I now see on my task manager performance tab that my speed is 1333 MHz (instead of the 1600 MHz I had previously on 16 gb). Is this normal? The 4 sticks are 1600 MHz and my motherboard is the Asus P9X79 Deluxe, supporting 8 sticks total. If that's normal, is it still a good trade to go from 16 GB 1600 MHz to 32 GB 1333 MHz? Thank you (rest of my rig specs are in the initial post)
First order of business: check the timings for each RAM kit. They should be listed in the BIOS somewhere. Chances are one is slower/higher timings than the other. If you then try to apply an XMP profile from the faster memory this will likely not be stable, so any profiles applied should be from the slower kit. Even this might not be stable though, and you might need manual tuning to make both run at the same clock speed. Still, I ran mismatched DDR2 in my previous rig for 8 years by simply using the (slightly) slower kit to set timings.

As for any upgrades I agree on holding off - while the GPU is by far your biggest bottleneck for 4k gaming, competitive gaming at 4k doesn't make much sense anyhow. Keep doing what you've been doing until you can afford a full system upgrade, and hold off until the next generation of GPUs shows up (Arcturus/RDNA2 and Ampere). Even then I would consider getting a secondary high refresh rate monitor at a lower resolution rather than gaming at 4k - if speed and responsiveness matters at all to you a move to 1080p or 1440p 120/144/240Hz will make far more of a difference to your gaming experience than the extra resolution of 4k.
 

Innerverse

New Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2020
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
GPU. The best option is used GTX 1080 or GTX 1080 Ti. Just don't expect to play everything with max details at 60+ FPS. Lower the details to medium or high and you'll be fine or simply lower the to 2560x1440.
You made a mistake by buying a 4K monitor, but now it is what it is. I would advise anyone against buying a 4K monitor because current hardware is still not suited to it as good as it is for 1080p and 1440p monitors. Sure, you can always burn a lot and I mean a lot of money to build a proper 4K system but even such ridiculously expensive system will be surpassed by the upper-middle class PC's for like 5 years.

Thanks for the input, but like I said in the OP, my main goal is NOT for 4k gaming. I am working in multimedia and bought this monitor especially for multimedia work (it's a monitor made for that, it's not even a good gaming monitor). What I want to do right now is being able to run duo monitors while running adobe suite softwares smoothly, gaming is a bonus, I will keep using my 24'' monitor for that for probably a long time still.

Thanks everyone else aswell, all those replies helped me. Seems like my current system is good enough to support my needs at the moment, I will wait for a full upgrade in the future. As for the 2 additional ram sticks, I decided to remove them, I don't think the extra RAM will be that helpful anyway and I felt like there was some compatibility issues.
 
Joined
Aug 6, 2017
Messages
7,412 (3.05/day)
Location
Poland
System Name Purple rain
Processor 10.5 thousand 4.2G 1.1v
Motherboard Zee 490 Aorus Elite
Cooling Noctua D15S
Memory 16GB 4133 CL16-16-16-31 Viper Steel
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio
Storage SU900 128,8200Pro 1TB,850 Pro 512+256+256,860 Evo 500,XPG950 480, Skyhawk 2TB
Display(s) Acer XB241YU+Dell S2716DG
Case P600S Silent w. Alpenfohn wing boost 3 ARGBT+ fans
Audio Device(s) K612 Pro w. FiiO E10k DAC,W830BT wireless
Power Supply Superflower Leadex Gold 850W
Mouse G903 lightspeed+powerplay,G403 wireless + Steelseries DeX + Roccat rest
Keyboard HyperX Alloy SilverSpeed (w.HyperX wrist rest),Razer Deathstalker
Software Windows 10
Benchmark Scores A LOT
I don't know what "multimeda" 3930k+1060 can't run that 3950x and Titan RTX can.

I can definitely tell it's not as fast as it was before adding the 4k screen and I didn't do any heavy multimedia work since receiving my screen.
specifically
 
Top