My PC is getting on a little, it’s running on an i7-4790k, 16gb ddr4, and a GTX 970. right now, it’s struggling some in most games even though I don’t play any triple A titles. What would be a sensible upgrade that wouldn’t get totally bottlenecked by the CPU?

In most games I’m playing the CPU is pinned at around 25% while my card is maxed at 100% 3d and vmem usage so I’m fairly sure it’s just my card that’s the main limiting factor.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    61·
    3 months ago

    Don’t worry about getting bottlenecked by the CPU. If you’re using maximum capacity, you’ll always be bottlenecked by something.

    • DrownedRats@lemmy.worldOP
      4·
      3 months ago

      Not that I’m worried at all, I understand you’ll never get anything perfectly balanced. I’m more concerned by trying to closely match price and performance. I could buy a top of the range graphics card for £800 but it won’t even sweat at the CPU desperately trying to keep up. I’d rather buy a cheaper card that’s going to let me stretch my CPU without breaking the bank

      I know I can get a better card that will let me better utilise my CPU and that my card is what’s limiting me right now so as long as I can bridge that gap as best I can I’d be very happy

      • PlantJam@lemmy.world
        3·
        3 months ago

        I wouldn’t worry too much about going overkill on the GPU. You could go for a $200-400 GPU and be in a great place for when you decide to upgrade the CPU. I wouldn’t go crazy and get something like a 4090, though.