I'm looking to upgrade my gaming PC, but I'm on a tight budget as a newly educated teacher. Here's my current setup: I have an Intel Core i7-6700K, 16GB of Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM, a Samsung 500GB SSD, a 932GB HDD, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card, and an ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING motherboard. I've been playing games like ARC Raiders, and I'm starting to feel like my system is getting outdated. I'm especially concerned about the CPU and RAM since they seem to be bottlenecking performance. I'm seeking advice on what components to upgrade that will give me longevity for newer game releases without breaking the bank.
2 Answers
First off, what's your budget? Knowing how much you can spend will really help narrow down the options. Also, do you prioritize graphics quality or higher FPS? That will shape what components you should look for. If FPS is your goal, you might want to focus on the graphics card and CPU first.
It really depends on your gaming needs! I’d start by checking if your GPU is what's holding you back; if it’s running at 100% during gameplay, it might be time for an upgrade there. But if your CPU is maxed out while the GPU isn’t, that’s your bottleneck. I suggest keeping an eye on your CPU usage in Task Manager to see if it's struggling on single cores, as this can indicate a need for a CPU upgrade. Consider moving to a newer LGA1700 CPU, like the 13400F or 12600KF, which supports DDR4 and should give you a boost. Also, your SSD is a bit small, so maybe think about getting an M.2 one soon before prices go up!
I've read that checking for CPU bottlenecks can be tricky since they don't always show high usage if they're being stressed on one core. Seems like upgrading to a more modern CPU could really help your performance.
Thanks for your advice! I think I'd prefer higher FPS over graphics quality, so I’ll focus on upgrades that enhance performance in that area.