Just after some advice. This is my current PC: ht tps://www.pccasegear.com/wish_lists/1015367/Purchased%20-%20From%20Wishlist%20New%20PC
Running on a 2560x1080x75Hz but I’d like to upgrade to be able to run 3440x1440x144Hz at max settings and hit >100fps. Currently in retail, most of the time while max settings I’m hitting about 60-75fps even with uncapped fps.
I’m not sure what to upgrade either CPU or GPU or something else? My CPU (whilst only 8c8t) is oc to 5Ghz. Any advice would be appreciated
When are you experiencing low FPS? If you have GFE installed, press CTRL + R and take note of your GPU utilization when you have low FPS drops. If your GPU utilization is still above 90% when you hit low FPS, then it is a GPU limit. If your GPU is <90% when this occurs, then you have CPU limitation. CPU utilization as reported from software can be deceiving if the game you’re playing isn’t able to leverage all of its resources, but is dependent on just a handful of cores, so measuring off of GPU utilization is a better method.
In either case, a 9700K and 2070 Super are getting a bit long in the tooth these days. At that resolution, you are probably GPU limited most of the time, so a GPU upgrade would help you there. But to get the frames you want (144) then in many zones and scenarios you’ll also need a better CPU to feed the GPU.
obviously scenario dependent based on the number of other players, spells, etc., but in my opinion a still capable CPU especially when OC.
just be glad you are not playing LOTRO when people with with Ryzen 5xxx series CPUs and RTX 3080 watch their FPS hit the low 20’s in some cities…and all their servers suffer from server lag. Easily the best temperament of any MMO player base, WoW community would literally be in Irvine with torches and pitchforks if Blizzard ran their servers that poorly.
Thanks for the reply. I think for longevity I’d be willing to save and buy a top end card. Part of me is just considering saving the money and buying a high end 40xx
I was more concerned it was my CPU not being hyper threaded. Which would be annoying being I’d have to mobo upgrade now days as well.
I think my budget would be around the $1500 (ideal) to $2000 range but I’m not usually one to settle for anything less than so whatever is required. I just wasn’t sure whether it would be CPU (because my speed isn’t small) or GPU
the WoW engine still relies on the “one big core”, hence Sal’s comments about his 13700k, it just does a better job of tossing draw calls out onto other cores in recent patches but really doesn’t take advantage of more than four cores. Obviously the extra performance in a strong multi thread CPU helps with other things during the game and the CPU won’t bog down as much as a CPU with limited multi core performance.
If you look at performance, the 8700k, 9700k, 10600k are identical CPUs in performance for single and multi core especially when set to the same core speed. For WoW, the 9700k offers plenty of multi core performance even without hyper threading. As stated by Sal, compared to modern CPUs the single core performance is starting to trail behind but it’s still viable.
At that budget, you are looking at a new build which is fine.
If you want to play with ray tracing off, I would say something like the RTX3070/ti (or AMD equivalent) would do the job and give you close to 100 FPS (or better) in most WoW activities.
If you wanted to turn ray tracing on, look for something like the RTX 3080/ti
If you wanted to push FPS closer to 144 or wanted to get a card above the RTX3080, like the 4070ti, I would say you would need a more powerful CPU at that point and do a new build which you have a stated a budget for.
There is no right or wrong answer just simply what kind of performance you want. WoW gives out no extra loot at 120 FPS as opposed to 80 FPS and ray tracing does not make your mount go any faster. Doesn’t mean it’s not nice to have the extra FPS and ray tracing just means it’s your decision.
Thanks for that.
This all started because I was like “I love eye candy, I wonder what WoW looks like in 4K/1440.
Currently I have a 2560x1080x75Hz monitor and I pull about 50-75 Hz (retail) depending on the situation, but I’ve never had anything above 1080 anyway and that’s been fine for me… until I started wondering about 4K and went down the rabbit hole. So there’s no real need for me to even do it other than boredom lol
Thank you tho, you guys have helped me have a direction to head at least haha
For eye candy, you’re better off going the GPU route. When it matters (eye candy), it’s usually when you’re out questing in the world, flying around the isles and soaking in the immersive experience. In those scenarios, they tend to lean GPU.
CPU starts to be more of an issue when you are hanging around Valdrakken, or engaged in heavily populated world bosses/pvp. But in those cases, eye candy is probably not the thing that you’re going to be worried about anyway.
I would definitely consider a good, solid display to start. Even if you can’t get the FPS target you want, the visual experience is going to be night and day between a lesser display and a good one.
In your case both the CPU and GPU upgrade would benefit.
A 5800X3D is king. If you raid or do epic bgs no other CPU will come close until maybe the 7800X3D comes out. The newest Intel CPUs aren’t bad either but the 5800X3D is on a tier of it’s own.
We’re finding the newer AMD cards are about 25% faster than Nvidia ones. Nvidia’s driver overhead for DX12 won’t matter for GPU bound games. For WoW the CPU overhead is no joke.
5800X3D/7900xtx with Raytracing at 4K on heavy load:
https://youtu.be/QrW8nGQXNrw
Here’s a 4090 with a 7950X at 4K Raytracing:
https://youtu.be/5msEsqLXYRU
Above 2 vids are datapoint and not a comparison.
As you can see there’s upwards of 18 CPU threads that burst use. You need both single core and multi-core performance (unless you’re talking about WoW classic).
Awesome, thanks for that. Thank you to all the responses. This has been an amazing help as I’ve been getting into a confusing mess of which direction to take and over thinking everything.
WoW is more of a CPU based game. So if you are playing on anything less than 4k? Your CPU and RAM speed will have more of an effect on average FPS than GPU choice.
Check what I mean here. This guy covers wow pretty well.
Honestly though any modern CPU is pretty comparable when it comes to average FPS. Where they differ is your 1% lows. Frame drops are what give you the “non smooth feel”. CPU choice and ram speed like I said will have your biggest impact on 1% lows. So id focus more on trying to get les frame drops than average FPS. Aka your 1% lows
The 13700k is a phenomenal chip bang for your buck wise. Id wait to see the gaming performance of the 7900x3D though before buying. Reviews should be out in a few days on Feb 28th. If you are already on AM4 than the 5800x3D would probably be the route Id go because its a drop and swap.
Everything said here changes at 4k though. Its almost completely GPU choice at that point. Whatever you decide it would be smart to wait for the 7900x3D reviews on Feb 28th before buying anything.
Turns out only 1/2 of the chip of a 7900X3d and 7950X3D will get vcache. IMO the software isn’t ready to handle this kind of setup.
For gaming the 7800X3D is looking more attractive til we see how Windows handles gaming.
I agree but according to AMD it will be the bios that handles it. Only time will tell. Im ignoring all “leaked benchmarks” and waiting for both Gamers Nexus and Jared’s Review to make a choice.
Either way I still think op should wait to buy anything till we have proper benchmarks. I believe its best to go into any investment purchase armed with as much info as possible.
TBH, I’m in no rush. there’s nothing “wrong” with my setup, like I said I only started thinking about upgrades when I went looking at 1440/4K monitors. 1080, I’m good at 90+ fps. I will probably wait until post tax time and see what’s available.
