Should i upgrade my GPU or CPU?

[clairvoyance]

I have a GTX 980 and a 4790K 4.00 GHz.
My PSU is a Corsair 650W.

I'm debating if i upgrade my GPU it might bottleneck my CPU or the other way around.

[hawkeye]

The 4790k is better than the 980 by a big margin.

[clairvoyance]

So upgrading my GPU is the better option?

[[☥] - CJ -]

CPU still does very well, so yeah an upgrade to a 1070 or 2070 at the least would be the way to go.

If you are able to OC the CPU that would be of help as well.

[Samadhi]

GPU.

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by Forage:

I have a GTX 980 and a 4790K 4.00 GHz.
My PSU is a Corsair 650W.

I'm debating if i upgrade my GPU it might bottleneck my CPU or the other way around.

Both are good, even for modern games, you just won't be able to play max settings.

CPU is great, if you can overclock it, even if it's a light overclock.
GPU is a little lacking these days, but my 970 holds up fine, so your 980 would be alright too.

If it was me, I'd save up for a bit more, wait for an actual improvement in the GPU market.
But I guess it depends what you'd want it for.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Your current GPU is about same performance as GTX 1060 6GB so keep that in mind when upgrading.

[EnclaveEyebot]

oh yeah gpu! the 4790k is still a capable processor, but the 980, much like my old 970 is lacking, especially if you want higher resolution, my 8700k sleeps when things crank to 4k if I so choose. When things get to 1080p at much higher refresh rates, 120-144hz you may experience a bottleneck depending on the card you are thinking of buying. I run a 1080ti, and with some adjustment I can hit 120 fps in most games (Cod ww2, Destiny 2, etc) with some small compromises.

You may need to upgrade both if you want to hit high refresh rate gaming at 1080p, but otherwise, the higher the resolution, the less cpu power you will need. Just look at the xboxone X, its cpu is gimped, but the extra horsepower from the gpu can render 'mostly' 4k at 30+ fps

[hawkeye]

Here is a chart of gpu performance so you can compare 980 against other gpus. To see a performance increases add 25% to the 980 score and look for something suitable. If you have the cash buy the best you can afford as it will last longer.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

The right gpu depends on your budget and the games you want to play.

rtx2070/2080 are new releases which have ray-tracing and DLSS support.

A 4790k will work well with any gpu. Many websites and youtube have performance benchmarks for games.

[Sólstafir]

I would keep both of them. Your CPU has years of good performance left, Intel hasn't made much progress since the 4790K and a modern 7700K is only slightly better. The CPU you'd upgrade ot would have similar performance, only spread over more cores. Useful for streaming, but not really worth what Intel charges.

An AMD Ryzen conversion would be more of a side-grade, again you'd hugely improve multi-tasking but I'm not sure you'd gain any FPS.

A GPU upgrade would make a big difference, but it won't come cheap. Your 980 holds up well, it'll match a present-day 1060 6GB. Which means your only options are the 1070 and above, which are very expensive. They would allow you to run a higher screen resolution which gives much better graphics, but all-told you may be looking at $1000 upgrade.

[InfinityJosh]

Why? What resolution do you play?
For 1080p is enough what you actually have.
Wait for upgrade.

Originally posted by EnclaveEyebot:

oh yeah gpu! the 4790k is still a capable processor, but the 980, much like my old 970 is lacking, especially if you want higher resolution, my 8700k sleeps when things crank to 4k if I so choose. When things get to 1080p at much higher refresh rates, 120-144hz you may experience a bottleneck depending on the card you are thinking of buying. I run a 1080ti, and with some adjustment I can hit 120 fps in most games (Cod ww2, Destiny 2, etc) with some small compromises.

You may need to upgrade both if you want to hit high refresh rate gaming at 1080p, but otherwise, the higher the resolution, the less cpu power you will need. Just look at the xboxone X, its cpu is gimped, but the extra horsepower from the gpu can render 'mostly' 4k at 30+ fps

Xbox One X CPU is worse than Intel pentium G4560.
4K isn't real in consoles, it is 1080p with artifacts rended fake 4k.
Anyway 30 fps aren't enough to play some kind of games.

[_I_]

4790k is fine yet if you have a z board and good cooler
oc it to 4-4.5+ghz and it will keep up with current i5/i7 cpus

gtx 980 is stronger than gtx1060 3g

upgrade would need new cpu/mobo/ram which would be alot to spend for a small step

[Samadhi]

Originally posted by _I_:

4790k is fine yet if you have a z board and good cooler
oc it to 4-4.5+ghz and it will keep up with current i5/i7 cpus

gtx 980 is stronger than gtx1060 3g

upgrade would need new cpu/mobo/ram which would be alot to spend for a small step

+1. In a nutshell. OP.

[clairvoyance]

Thanks for all the replies, has helped me a lot.