Info on bottleneck video card vs CPU

[Eagler]

The upgrade above made it possible to run graphics maxed that doesn't drop frames at the busiest of action in AH

Eagler

[Bizman]

It actually makes sense with the reaction time etc.
I still keep my i5-4670k until I can get a full set, including graphics card, but I noticed -> After I heavily overclocked my processor, reaction times in USB connected equipment (read- joystick,rudder pedals) improved, frame rates with my GTX-1080 was just about the same as before though.

Now that's some interesting piece of information! Sadly though my i7-4790 doesn't allow overclocking.

[hazmatt]

Any of you guys have a recommendation bang for the buck motherboard/cpu/mem combo and a video card that would be a major step up from a 1070 that wasn't  overpriced?

[Bizman]

hazmatt, as already has been posted the lack of semiconductors is one of the main reasons the prices now are stellar so getting anything high powered for a decent price is difficult.

The GTX1070 is still a pretty strong card, better than my 980 which also is plenty good for modern games. It's been a common rule of thumb that doubling the performance is what one should be looking for when upgrading. If benchmark scores can be used as a measure, according to https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html there's only two cards scoring roughly double the 1070, with a margin the top 10 could be considered close to doubling the performance. If we lower the requirement to 40% better that will bring us to top 20 on that chart, starting from RTX 2080. Note that the benchmarks can evaluate features that aren't applicable to all cards. Like, the 1070 doesn't really support ray tracing which is a built-in feature in the RTX 2### and 3### cards.

It seems that at the moment the best bang for the buck gaming rigs are ready made by big manufacturers who have bought the components for the "old" price before the availability issues.

[hazmatt]

So my best bet currently would be to buy a pre-built rig and not DIY upgrade?

My concern is what if the prices don't go back down in the reasonable future.

My frame rate have gotten down to unacceptable levels a few time recently in some areas so I'm considering "biting the bullet" depending on how much that bullet ends up costing?

[Bizman]

The prices will go down. There's already new manufacturing plants under construction all over the world so that the world doesn't have to rely on a single location of production. And the current factories have got their production running, it's only a matter of time until the extra demand has been fulfilled.

A pre-build rig can be as good as a DIY with a couple of caveats. First, the bigger the brand the more dedicated many components may be. CPU, RAM and GPU are generic and interchangeable. The motherboard connectors and the power supply may not be easily changed. Second, some manufacturers limit the brands and versions of upgradeable components through a whitelist coded in the BIOS. At least HP has been known not to allow video card upgrades higher than the next generation, and I've also seen some WiFi cards not being compatible with some HP laptops. It's really annoying to find it out the hard way when you get a new component and the computer refuses to boot!

[hazmatt]

Oh boy. I didn't know that. Thanks for the info!

I will defiantly steer clear of HP.

[Max]

The last computer I bought was an Apple G3 ~ /JS

.....and Bizman has spent about 1,500 hrs helping me through my homebuilds   

[Bizman]

I will defiantly steer clear of HP.

I wouldn't. First, the GPU upgrade issues I mentioned were from the GTX6### era so we can't be sure if they still do that. As I said the biggest issue with a brand name build is that you can't swap many of the components at will. That should be no problem if you know it beforehand and act accordingly. They're solid builds and if you get a rig that's powerful enough for your needs for a number of years to come there should be no issue during the lifespan of the computer. Getting a slightly underpowered system to start with and beefing it up every Black Friday and other Big Sale seasons is the most expensive way.

Regarding the lack of semiconductors, in May our leading PC magazine tested pre-built brand name gaming PC's. They couldn't get half of the brands they wanted since there wasn't any applicable models available at the time. So although I earlier said that the big names may have been better prepared to the situation, even they suffer. The best option is to stick with your old system until the situation gets back to normal.

[Drano]

Like a lot of things that have big spikes in price the prices are coming down on these things for a number of reasons. Crypto currency is dropping. The Chinese gubment cracking down on the miners there, etc. This affects the crazy ammount of demand. But like everything else, once the price goes up like that there's almost never a corresponding sharp drop in price. It's always like a leaf slowly drifting to the ground. In this case drifting down from sub-orbital levels! Still, that price may never bottom out to what it should be @MSRP. It'd be nice. I'd like to complete my build from 3/19 finally!

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