PC Upgrade Question

[chocolatemilk]

Hey, new to the forum and looking for some upgrade advice:

My current system, bought about 3 to 4 years ago is:

Intel i5 9400F @ 2.9 GHz
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16gb (2 x 8gb) 3200MHz C16
ASUS ROG-STRIX GeForce 1660 Super 6gb
ASUS TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING
Antec VP500PC 500w PSU
HIKVISION M.2 NVMe SSD 512gb

It runs most (older) games at 1080p quite fine, though noticing some frame rate drops now and then.

I am looking to upgrade to something that can also play now at 1440p. I was looking at a completely new system, but don’t think I’ll be able to drop the amount needed to get something that will last another few years at this stage.

I was considering just upgrading the GPU, hoping for a 6700/6800 XT (and upgrading the PSU). But would I get significant CPU bottleneck when playing? Would it make a big difference getting say a i7 9700 CPU? I think that can just slot in on my current motherboard. Or should I just get the GPU, deal with lower performance now, and save the money for a new motherboard/CPU combo in a few months/1 years time?

Any advice or suggestions appreciated.

 

[Areola Grande]

As you go to higher resolutions, the load shifts from CPU to GPU. There may be some degree of bottleneck; but not as much as your current GPU is bottleneck if your CPU.

Get the PSU and GPU as a start. If you decide to upgrade later, you’ll at least be ready.

 

[goldfritter]

Upgrading from a 9400 to a 9700 would make very little difference:

The chart doesn't have the 9400 but you can extrapolate that even at 1080p the difference is a handful of percent on average at most.

The 6700XT is good, 6800 or 6800XT even better; see what you can budget for.

 

[chocolatemilk]

Ok cool thanks for the advice. I see even the 9900k wouldn't make much a difference for the price. I assume even overclocking wouldn't make a huge difference on those numbers? Probably better to spend the money on a new CPU / MOBO combo...

A follow up question, what size PSU would be recommended for the 6800xt, and with the consideration of a possible further upgrade in a year or so of the CPU / MOBO?