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Upgrade cpu or gpu

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Jun 3, 2012
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Processor I5 13600kf
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Video Card(s) Asus GeForce® RTX 5060 Ti 16GB Prime
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Software Windows 11 64 bit
I have an i5 8400, 2x Samsung C24FG70FQU and a sapphire rx 580 nitro+ 4gb oc'ed to rx 590 performance

What would give me the most performance gain, an i5 k cpu (mabye a i7 8700 non k if i can find one cheap?) or a gtx 1660 ti (same perfomance as a gtx 1070 or better).

I get som tax money back and when i sell my cpu or gpu the upgrade doesn't cost me to much 40-50% of the price of the cpu,gpu.

I kind of think a RTX 2060 is a bit to expensive (live in europe).

perfomace gain in games should be around 20% with a gtx 1660 ti and im limited to 3.8'is ghz with my i5 8400.

Personally i think a cpu since i get bennefit from a higher oc'ed cpu when not gaming, open zip files,installing games, multitasking tv, cam chat, 2x twith,facebook that sort of things, a higher tier,performing gpu i would only benefit from when i play new games. (atm i only play grid 2 and project cars 2)
 
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I'd say a K myself, always fun with a K, and GPU's do like faster a faster CPU.
 
Sell your RX580 and buy GX 2060, cpu is OK just overclock it a bit with bclock until is stable.

Performance with 2060:


Overclocking 8400:

 
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I would go GPU, a K series chip overclocked will likely net you 0 performance difference. I also agree with selling your 580 on ebay and grabbing a 2060 if you can find one near msrp. Even a potato cpu will be fine doing all those other things you listed.
 
depends what you're playing and what you need the upgrade to do.
if those are some not very gpu heavy games and you're trying to achieve +120 fps but the 8400 isn't pushing the gpu well enough you may find a cpu upgrade more suitable for your needs (though I wouldn't call it better than getting a 1660Ti, it smashes rx580 in every possible way).
I see you're already running that 8400 on z370 and 3200 cl14 ram,chanes are it's doing just fine.rx580,while a decent 1080p card,has very inconsistent performance,excellent in some but measly in some too. turing cards do well across the board,regardless of game engine or api. oc vs oc you'll find it even faster than +20%.
 
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Sell your RX580 and buy GX 2060, cpu is OK just overclock it a bit with bclock until is stable.

Performance with 2060:


Overclocking 8400:


To expensive
 
I'd save up for the 2060. +20% is what you get with 1660ti, with 2060 it's 1.5x while the price difference ain't that much,believe me.
look how much it costs to get 1.5x performance over 2060,you gotta get a 2080 for additional $350.2060 is a sweet deal.
 
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Yeah, the 1660 ti performs nicely for its price but you're only moving up 1 tier of gpu. I would be looking for a 40-60% upgrade or else you may be here next year asking about a 3060 lol.
 
I'd save up for the 2060. +20% is what you get with 1660ti, with 2060 it's 1.5x while the price difference ain't that much,believe me.
look how much it costs to get 1.5x performance over 2060,you gotta get a 2080 for additional $350.2060 is a sweet deal.

I live in europe, lets compare and convert in to $

Im expecting to get $181 for sapphire rx 580 nitro + 4gb.

I think we have to use cards with 2 fans since i want good cooling.

Cheapest non asus,evga,msi i could imagine buying is a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 OC rev. 2.0 less than 1 week delivery $447

Cheapest 2 fan card i could imagine i would buy is a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti WINDFORCE OC 6G or ASUS DUAL-GTX1660TI-O6G for about $364 (gigabyte a little cheaper)

Difference between Gtx 1660 ti and RTX 2060.

wolfenstein 2 20 fps
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_1660_Ti_Gaming_X/27.html

Difference in Shadow of the tomb raider 20 fps
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GeForce_GTX_1660_Ti_Gaming_X/24.html

is it worth spending $70-80 on a RTX 2060 instead of the the Gtx 1660 ti?

I did se the i5 8400 in the first video in #4 being used sometime more than 90%

Here in 2560x1440 the difference is less than 20 fps

Here the difference is often around 10-15 fps in about half of the games in 1080p

If i can find a used i5 8600k or even i7 8700 and buy a new gtx 1660 ti would cost about the same as a only upgrading to a RTX 2060 (i would of course sell my cpu/gpu if i upgrade both, if i only upgrade one thing i would of course only sell my cpu or gpu)
 
$80 between 166ti and 2060,not even debatable,2060 is a much better buy.
$80 for 20% performance,in this segment,is a good deal.

the point I'm trying to get across to you is:
look how much +20% performance will cost you now that you're selling this 580 for a 1660ti.when you find yourself in a similar situation in the future,you'll regret not getting 2060 and that 20% performance for $80 more.

btw you're comparing the fastest aib 1660ti to 2060fe, aib vs aib it's +20% performance + rtx,which is doable on 2060 at 1080p.
 
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If you have 70-80$ more to spend on a 2060 then yes I think it's worth it. If you don't then you're left with a hard decision of either waiting/saving or buying a card that is only a tier above yours in performance. Only you can really answer that question.
 
Look for cheap vega's, new or used (with warranty)
You could probably get a much better deal than on a gtx/rtx
 
$80 between 166ti and 2060,not even debatable,2060 is a much better buy.
$80 for 20% performance,in this segment,is a good deal.

the point I'm trying to get across to you is:
look how much +20% performance will cost you now that you're selling this 580 for a 1660ti.when you find yourself in a similar situation in the future,you'll regret not getting 2060 and that 20% performance for $80 more.

btw you're comparing the fastest aib 1660ti to 2060fe, aib vs aib it's +20% performance + rtx,which is doable on 2060 at 1080p.

I do have a 6 core 6 thread cpu which do compare to a i7 7700k in multi thread BUT not in gaming, single core perfomance and i know that alot of people who have an older i7 k cpu have upgraded there gpu 2-3 times without noticing any performance degradation, im not shure if a cpu upgrade relative to what have to pay on top of the price for my i5 8400, would be better to upgrade, i am limited to max 3.9ghz.

There is also ryzen 3 to consider, when ever they are releasing ryzen 3

I should in theory be getting less stuttering,framedrops,lagg when i upgrade to a mor powerfull cpu (i5 9600 or i7 8700) right?

My cpu runs 3.8-3.9ghz on all core (a few mhz under those its not 100% 3800/3900mhz)
 
are you experiencing stuttering now ?
 
Don't know about the only 1 tier higher gtx 1660 ti since the don't have the rx 590 (performance of my oc'ed 580) and the new gtx 1660 ti and rtx 2060 on the gpu Hierarchy

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

Vega gets to hot and uses to much power, had one that was noisy (asus strix), i couldn't get it reasonable quiet, didn't have any succes under volting it.
 
Look for cheap vega's, new or used (with warranty)
You could probably get a much better deal than on a gtx/rtx
get a better deal on a used card than a new one ? really ?
 
Low quality post by ShieldHead
are you experiencing stuttering now ?

A bit with an older game but not when i start racing, it just that as i remember framedrops, mimimum fps,stutter lag would be less when going from an non k cpu to a k cpu i would run as fast as the cpu and my cpu cooler (scythe mugen 5) allows without any noise and temps under 75-80c, atm max 64c with low rmp and prime 95.
 
I don't think it's an issue with 8400 running on 3200 cl14 ram. you'll be wasting money getting a faster cpu than that for rx580 in most cases,unless it's what I pointed out in my first post -you're playing shooters at medium quality to get the best framerate and you're seeing your gpu underutilized already.

it's either 1660ti at $180 for 1.31x of rx580 performance or 2060 for $260 for 1.55x of rx580 performance,you decide.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Nvidia-Geforce-Grafikkarte-255598/Tests/GTX-1660-Ti-Test-1275780/3/

a used 1070/70Ti would not be a stupid option at all too.
 
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You're trying to go from 580/1060 performance to 1660 ti/1070 performance it's one gpu tier and imo not worth it. If you end up picking up a 1660 ti I hope that works out for you, but even for me a 2080 ti is not worth an upgrade over my Titan XP 30-35% performance increase for about twice what I could sell my card for so a similar situation to you. I'd never recommend going up less than 30% in performance especially if its costing you twice as much or more than what you can sell your card for. The 2060 barely meets the 30% so personally that is the slowest card I would recommend.


As far as your cpu goes unless you love playing at medium to low settings none of these gpu should be limited by it, at 1080p ultra with a GTX 1080 ti you get 5-6% more performance going to a 9900k lol frame times will obviously be better but I doubt by much with a 2060 or lower class gpu.
relative-performance-games-1920-1080.png
 
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I don't think it's an issue with 8400 running on 3200 cl14 ram. you'll be wasting money getting a faster cpu than that for rx580 in most cases,unless it's what I pointed out in my first post -you're playing shooters at medium quality to get the best framerate and you're seeing your gpu underutilized already.

it's either 1660ti at $180 for 1.31x of rx580 performance or 2060 for $260 for 1.55x of rx580 performance,you decide.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Nvidia-Geforce-Grafikkarte-255598/Tests/GTX-1660-Ti-Test-1275780/3/

a used 1070/70Ti would not be a stupid option at all too.

Used prices are still the same for a gtx 1070 as for a gtx 1660ti the gtx 1070 ti as expensive as a new cheap rtx 2060 gtx 1080 as expensive at the good Rtx 2060 like the gigabyte,asus cards with 3 fans or msi with 2

You're trying to go from 580/1060 performance to 1660 ti/1070 performance it's one gpu tier and imo not worth it. If you end up picking up a 1660 ti I hope that works out for you, but even for me a 2080 ti is not worth an upgrade over my Titan XP 30-35% performance increase for about twice what I could sell my card for so a similar situation to you. I'd never recommend going up less than 30% in performance especially if its costing you twice as much or more than what you can sell your card for. The 2060 barely meets the 30% so personally that is the slowest card I would recommend.


As far as your cpu goes unless you love playing at medium to low settings none of these gpu should be limited by it, at 1080p ultra with a GTX 1080 ti you get 5-6% more performance going to a 9900k lol frame times will obviously be better but I doubt by much with a 2060 or lower class gpu.
View attachment 119333

In some games a gtx 1660 ti makes a surprisingly difference

wolfenstein-2_1920-1080.png


Theres is a little bonus information i didn't mention

Theres a triple threat bundle with asus gpu's Battlefield V , Anthem or Metro EXODUS

RTX 2080 and 2080 ti you get all 3 games

Question i have 3-4 bf games bf1 i haven't been close to finish, i have the 2 older metro games, anthem i don't know

What would you suggest to choose

Cheapest is ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 Phoenix (1 fan) noise (fan and coilwhine) heat? It's sort of a itx or mini itx card $374 no reviews only 1 display port i need 2 (i use 2)

Next is turbo you know the old blower style, not gonna happen, they are always noisy normal length 268mm

3 cheapest card Asus RTX dual advanced with 2 fans, the old 10.. dual cards where often white, not this one £399 no reviews 2x display ports, is it the one im gonna go for ?
 
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Yeah, if all games start using Vulkan you'll he golden. I'm guessing saving up money for the specific 2060 you want isn't ideal considering you're listing the cheapest models. If you think the 1660 ti performance will make you happy go for it just have some expectations that with next years games it may no longer cut it especially with something like Cyberpunk 2077. I'm personally waiting for the 3000 series because the 2000 series isn't overly impressive to me coming from Pascal. Although I may unfortunately have to stick a 2080 in a ryzen 3000 system I'm doing in the around it's launch.
 
I don't play alot of old games i got grid 2 (2013) last weekend from humble and play project cars 2 (also have latest tomb raider and wolfenstein)

I can see a cpu upgrade doesn't give to much atleast in games

When and how much ryzen 3 wil give we yet have to see.

One thing i just noticed is that a ASUS GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Phoenix OC has 2 dispaly ports where the ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 Phoenix only has 1 display port

Why ?

There is no 1 fan oc version of the 2060 could that be the only reason?
 
On the product page both the 1660 ti/2060 Phoenix have 2 Hdmi 2.0 and only 1 displayport. I would be looking at a dual fan setup for either card honestly.
 
I don't play alot of old games i got grid 2 (2013) last weekend from humble and play project cars 2 (also have latest tomb raider and wolfenstein)

I can see a cpu upgrade doesn't give to much atleast in games

When and how much ryzen 3 wil give we yet have to see.

One thing i just noticed is that a ASUS GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Phoenix OC has 2 dispaly ports where the ASUS GeForce RTX 2060 Phoenix only has 1 display port

Why ?

There is no 1 fan oc version of the 2060 could that be the only reason?
https://www.purepc.pl/procesory/tes..._i9_9900k_bezkompromisowa_wydajnosc?page=0,40
 
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