144hz monitor or CPU/MOBO/UPGRADE?

[Jooster]

I'm trying to decide what will improve my gaming experience more between the two options. I'm hearing a lot about having 144hz is night and day while a CPU upgrade might not be as noticeable although I am many gens behind now...

Current rig is still on DDR3 RAM (i7 3rd gen) with a 1070 in there. Games still run great apart from the odd CPU intensive title.

With that in mind, do you think I would see a more noticible difference upgrading to Ryzen 3rd gen or hooking up a 144hz monitor? The games I'm playing a lot of I can achieve 100fps pretty consistently.

Any advice for me on this one? I'm thinking I will need to upgrade my CPU etc. next year either way but I've got some bucks now to take care of one of these options.

Thanks!

 

[Chicken Licken]

If i'm not mistaken you will only see a difference if your pc pushes more then 144fps, so I rate the upgrade kit will be a much better option

 

[Jooster]

If i'm not mistaken you will only see a difference if your pc pushes more then 144fps, so I rate the upgrade kit will be a much better option

Thanks for the reply. From what I've read you can set the refresh rate to other increments below 144hz. I would need to get a 1080ti or something better to get over 144 fps in games which is something else I will have to consider. Sheesh! Maybe this 144hz will have to wait.

 

[Greekking]

What games do you play and which 3rd gen cpu is it ?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[RandomSheepZA]

My 2c is go for the upgrade and then get a monitor.
That hardware is now old and definitely a bottleneck for your card.

 

[Born2Fish]

A 1070 on most games at 1080p with lower graphics settings will easily see you 120 to 200fps+ in a lot of the "competitive" games these days (PUBG, CS:GO, Apex Legends, Fortnite etc) . So the GPU is not a problem. The problem will more than likely be whether your CPU is fast enough to not bottleneck, which yours may not be. Either way, you say you can achieve 100fps so you will still see a noticeable difference with a 144hz monitor vs a 60hz monitor. If you only upgrade your CPU and you're already getting more than 60fps in the games you play then you will see no difference in your gaming experience yet as your 60hz monitor will be holding you back.

So in short you need both upgrades and if CPU is really struggling now then it doesn't make much difference which one you start with as neither will see you a massive improvement without the other. Perhaps do some fiddling with your games and graphics settings to make sure exactly what kind of average FPS you can get is. If it's consistently more than 90 to 120fps then I would say start with monitor now and upgrade CPU later. If your fps is generally more in the region of 60 to 80 then it would probably make more sense to upgrade CPU now and try get a 144hz monitor as soon as you can manage after that. A CPU upgrade will improve quality of life in other ways even if it doesn't improve your gaming until you get the monitor so also something to consider.

High fps gaming, especially if you play a lot of first person shooters, is awesome and definitely makes a difference. I could never go back to 60hz.

 

[Mzekezeke]

i would go for a monitor, specailly with all the up and coming releases on hardward it would in my opinion be more beneficial to go that route until you can invest in your machine and get the upgrade for the next couple years.

 

[Dollos]

get the cpu mobo upgrade , keep the 1070 and save up for a 144hz screen next... that rig of yours is way too old for high fps gaming which you need for 144hz....

 

[luke.peter88]

Same boat as you, but with a 2600k (still such a trooper at 4.4ghz, this is the little chip that could... ) and a 1080.

Core upgrade happening before monitor upgrade, specifically because bfv is cpu thirsty, and its what I am playing the most of at the moment.

Pretty much everything else I play would already benefit from the gsync 144hz display, but I want to hit over 100fps in bfv before getting a suitable monitor (averages 85 now).

My gpu is running at 40% usage while cpu is maxed, its a no brainer for me, maybe your cpu is still only gently tasked though... Make the call based on what you play.

 

[Jooster]

Guys, you are the best. I really appreciate all of your replies. This is all very helpful!

Yes, the i7-3770k is at it's limit as is DDR3 in a lot of modern titles. I'm hammering Apex at the moment which doesn't kill the CPU and seems GPU locked at over 100fps with the settings I'm currently using. However, games like BFV and some new single player titles makes it really struggle. I've ended up uninstalling BFV because the CPU bottleneck on that destroyed my experience.

I'm starting to feel like 144hz is best avoided for the time being as it seems to be a slippery slope. Once you experience it there ain't no going back kind of thing and if I get the 144hz monitor and I'm only hitting 100 fps I'm going to be sweating until I get everything else upgraded so that I can hit pure 144hz. Welcome to CUD, I hear you say - ha ha!

Have a great night all!
Cheers