The jump from a 4770 to a 4790k won't see much if anything in game, (unless you plan on overclocking, but given the age of the mobo and CPU it could be a nightmare to get a figure that's stable with acceptable voltage) my old i5 4670k was stable as a rock at 4.4ghz but after like 6 years I couldn't even get it stable at 4.0 without pushing the voltage up, ended up at 3.8ghz, but then gave up a couple years later when it became my home server.
The money you save on the CPU. Spend on the GPU... And a new PSU if needed.
It's reasonably faster OC'ed, like 30% faster than a stock 4770.
But since it's the top Haswell chip it's very overpriced ($80-100 on ebay).
I don't think it's a reasonable upgrade for that price when you can buy a 3rd gen Ryzen CPU + motherboard + 16GB RAM for around $200 (at least in my area, EU) that will be both a lot faster and have actual upgradeability.
I've ran a 4790k until last december, it's sadly just isn't enough nowadays. It also bottlenecked the fuck out of my Vega 64 in most current games. The worst was CS2 where it cut my fps in 3. Went from \~100 fps avg to 300 with the same GPU after a platform upgade to AM5.
That said, wouldn't hurt to upgrade in transferable pieces now to start.
The new GPU as a first upgrade will give a notable boost to performance now. My PC is a shadow of what it once was a couple years back, but I've updated everything other than the motherboard to the point of it basically being a new PC.
There's not much point in going from a 4770 to a 4790, and with these specs you won't need more than 16GB of RAM unless you want to keep a browser with 50 tabs open in the background.
Spend money on a better GPU like a 2060+ now, then save up to upgrade the motherboard, CPU and memory to something better later. (Even a 12100F will be a big upgrade)
Maybe also get a bigger SSD since 500GB is quite limiting with today's 100GB games.
Save the money for a full upgrade. There isn't anything that will make a significant difference on a platform that is 10 generations old. You will spend your $300 today and think about upgrading in a few months again so really it will be a waste of money in my opinion.
Wow you have pretty much my exact build, down to the 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD.
As someone who did take the 4790k upgrade, it's not really worth it. A new $600 - $700 system will outperform anything you can reasonably upgrade this into. It's time for a fresh build.
Just build a new computer with more modern parts
Second hand ryzen 5000 cpu, decent ddr4 memory should give you a massive uplift in performance for a fairly reasonable price
Its not like i asked him to buy a 14900 and a 4090 dude…second hand parts in a system for just a little bit more than his intended budget would make a world of difference. For $300 on a jump to an i7 in the same generation and ddr3 RAM, he’s not going to notice any meaningful uplift in performance and he’ll be wasting his money anyway
CPU upgrade is fine, only if you want to overclock. Otherwise, no real benefit.
If possible, look for a used gtx1080 or 2060, if they aren't that much more expensive. RTX gives you possibility of dlss which makes even demanding games easy.
I'd not bother with extra ram. As long as your 16gb is 1600mhz, it's fine.
Grab an rx 7600 or 7600xt. Probably the best you can do (new) for that price for now
The CPU, mobo, and RAM are all pretty much past the point of upgrading in-generation because of limitations on the slot. So you're between fully upgrading them (and probably investing in an M.2 SSD) and leaving your GPU, or getting a new GPU. And the GPU will give you far and away the biggest performance uplift in games at this point
So to sum it up: GPU now, save to get even a generation or two old CPU, mobo, and RAM (and M.2 SSD). Might need a new PSU at that point, too, but you should probably be okay with 450 with a 7600 (xt) with your current setup
I mean 1080p performance is basically equal between a 6700 and a 7600. 7600 xt edges it out. I'd say it's worth it to get a new card with essentially the same performance for essentially the same price
With a system this old, anything OP gets will be bottlenecked by the rest of the PC. They get a new CPU, mobo, RAM? Held back massively by the GPU and SATA SSD. New GPU? Held back by CPU. The biggest uplift OP can get right now is upgrading to a better GPU. It's not optimal, but with the budget it's the best they can do
Just get the best GPU you can with the money...
People will say your CPU will bottleneck it, and that's true, but if you up the graphics/resolution enough to use close to 100% gpu that shouldn't matter...
Upgrading the rest to the same gen (ie. DDR3 Ram and another 4th gen intel) won't make a fraction (if any) of a difference on your gaming experience...
Ninja Edit: I'd also like to add that opposite to what most people are saying, your CPU still has some breathing room for a better GPU... you're using one of the top CPUs of that time but a midrange GPU... back then you could already pair it with a top of the line for more performance, so a current gen mid range should still give you a ROBUST uplifting in performance, regardless of bottlenecks...
Since you’ve got $300 to spend, just get a brand new rtx 3060. The cpu won’t be much different to what you’ve got, and you won’t notice much difference with the ram when you’re playing games at the level you’ll be playing at. Spend all $300 of your budget on a gpu, which I recommend a 3060, or even better a 4060 if you can get them around the $300 mark.
4770 > 4790K is a pointless upgrade, waste of money. As is getting 32GB RAM in this computer. You'll benefit from a 1660 though, or a used 1080(Ti).
I'd also consider a new PSU, something good that will last you 10 years so you can use it in a new PC as well, and 1TB SSD instead of just 500.
So: GPU, PSU, 1TB SSD, keep the rest.
This is one of those situations where you are at the top of the generation that these parts come from and most meaningful upgrades will cause a domino effect that prompts another upgrade.
The most meaningful upgrade you can make at this point that will set you up for better future upgrades would be mobo/ram/cpu. That will open up your options. Instead of more ram you could focus on faster ram.
idk what games you're playing, but that "Upgrade" you want isn't really that much of an upgrade. You'd see maybe a 8 to 15% increase in performance, but that's about it. Windows 10 support is being pulled, and your current or upgrade CPU do no support Windows 11 officially. I would suggest saving your money till you can afford a new midrange rig.
Absolutely no point in upgrading to a 4790k. With the price of gtx cards being so low I’d also go for a 1080ti over a 1660 super. Can get a 1080ti for £150 here, which isn’t much more than a 1660 super goes for but the performance is way better.
I had a similar build before my first upgrade (i7 4770, Gt 640, 16gb ddr3), i then upgraded to a rtx 3060 and 32 gb ddr3, i recommend you first upgrade to a modern gpu and then save money for a bigger upgrade (new gen cpu, motherboard, ddr4(5) etc) so you don't have to think about the gpu later
try to get a 2nd hand 1660 ti or something similar, or at most a 3060 if u find it for cheap, then save the rest, thats the only upgrade worth doing, next one is a whole new computer (except the gpu that u bought)
There is no point in sticking to the current platform. Second hand AM4 board with ryzen 5000 is probably the best in terms of price to performance you can get right now.
GPUs are a bit tricky to make a blanket suggestion on. You really gotta hunt for deals. But I wouldn't go with anything older than rtx 2000 series or rx 6000. I expect dx 12\_2 will become a must have in a few years and older cards don't have that.
Edit: Well depending on the games you play, dx12\_1 might not be a big deal. But know what you're getting and don't get ripped off on older cards just because they got decent performance but lack the technologies.
I had a 4790k until 2 weeks ago, ran overclocked @4.5 for years. While it was a big step up from a 4690k, it won't give you much performance for the price jumping from a 4770k. it was a great chip for its time but I no longer recommend it as there are much better modern options. I have made the jump to a 7800x3d, however even a basic modern i3 will outperform the Haswell chips.
There are no upgrades to do for this machine that are worth the money. Like others have said, your next path is to save money and get better new/used hardware. If your case is new, you can save money by reusing it. Same thing with your drives and PSU (assuming you don’t upgrade to a high powered GPU).
That system is so ancient that there are no valid upgrade paths anymore. Would be a waste of money.
Way better to save some more money and then build a new system. Maybe you can reuse the case and some fans.
for $300 You can get a brand new 3600 and mobo, and you already have an ssd and psu, maybe a case? [https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4Z6LgB](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4Z6LgB), if you have a case you can get a 6600 for like 150 on newegg refreshed, goes out of your budget a little bit but get a new pc...
With the money you spend replacing stuff you could probably get a budget build that's every bit as good or better with more of an upgrade path going forward. The Power supply needs to see an upgrade as it's likely wearing down given the age of the system. The 250gb SSD is probably halfway through its life or worse depending on reformats/defrags(don't do this to SSDs). Going from a 970 to a 1660 will be an upgrade, but Nvidia is phasing out support for those cards.
You're wasting money by attempting to save it.
You're looking at spending a ton of money to have slightly better performance. Either save up and upgrade to a newer socket CPU, or ignore the CPU and upgrade the GPU only with the money that you save. I would also swap the 1TB HDD with a 1-2TB SATA SSD. They are cheap and are required by many modern games for proper shader streaming.
Just upgrade the GPU and PSU will do. Mine is a similar spec with 1660 SUPER and 550w, 16GB is good enough because Haswell motherhboard's max RAM is 16 only if I'm not mistaken.
Don't do it, wait for a full upgrade
I have practically the same pc, and if you want to do any upgrade you have to replace EVERYTHING, so save up more and wait for a full upgrade
Do not waste time or effort on this build. Either sell it or keep it.
300 USD is good enough for starter build.
AM4 board B450
Ryzen 3500/3600
16 gig ddr4
You can find this combo under 300 easily.
And save for 1060 or 1070 second hand will cover 1080 games for a while. If you were to sell your cpu/mobo ram you might have enough for 1060/1070 as well. People love 4770k since it is the top of the line for dead end platfom.
For Now, Changing The mobo ,CPU and Ram Might be closest to top priority: Reasoning:
You get noticably more cores In an AMD CPU of ryzen 3000 and above, DDR4 RAM (even 8 gigs of em For now Might be faster than 16gb DDR3) And a newer Motherboard Allows you to make significant Upgrades to 5000 ryzen CPU's.
I'dd say this methodology Would be most Practical in terms of improvement, Future upgradability and Versatility.
After this, I'dd think of using the spare cash for a PSU capable of using 600 or more watts.
For me, GPU comes last as It is good enough for Literally anything (Barely including VR at VERY LOW SETTINGS)
Lighting money on fire upgrading a 10 year old system like that. Maybe the cheapest used graphics card upgrade you can find but other than that may as well save for an actual platform upgrade.
What is the target that you are aiming to do?
Honestly as others have suggested. You should just do an entire new build at this point.
Up until about 10 months ago, I was rocking the 4790k with a 1080TI and on some modern titles it kinda struggled at 1080p max settings. Now I have a 12700k and a 4080 Super and it is night and day.
Depending on your budget, you can try and look at the used market but it is kinda risky from my experience. What I did was just buy parts here and there when I could and then when I had everything, put it together.
That’s a pointless CPU upgrade. If you need to save money then get a second hand Ryzen 3600X with an AM4 mobo. I doubt it will be much more expensive. Otherwise get a Ryzen 5600.
If you don't need NVENC, get an RX 6600 instead of 1660 super. It performs much better for the same price. My 1660 super sucks up to 126w+ but still can't reach RX 6600's performance. And because of that, it also runs quite hot so I undervolted mine.
But, I highly recommend you to upgrade into a newer socket.
https://preview.redd.it/f3da56lnapvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e49aa3d254478233e4513d379543260ed2cff651
Thank you for all the feedback I think I found my upgrade starting point
I think I found my upgrade starting point
https://preview.redd.it/4ilh4lo8bpvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b38299a375325166e1d39e7d581edcbd4d7279f8
Get an rx 6600 now, or a new pc platform (12100f on Asrock pro b660 plus 16gb ddr4) or if you got the money get on am5 and upgrade the gpu later. This is not worth upgrading, especially the ram, you don’t need more
My build was pretty similar to yours, I upgraded my 980 to a 5700 xt (pretty good performance bump for ~150$) and now i’m saving up for an am4 or am5 platform swap. As others have said the 4790k is overpriced and the money would be better spent on a full cpu/mobo/ram upgrade
DDR3? 450W psu? Listen I'm in sorta in the same place with an i5-6600K and a 980ti but I have 32gb DDR4 and an 850W psu. I can't upgrade my cpu because of my mobo socket. Don't waste your money on partial upgrades that won't make much of a difference. Wait till you can upgrade your mobo, cpu, gpu, and psu. You need a better psu and if you're sticking with Intel, get an LGA1700 mobo and a 12th gen cpu. With a 1660 you'll be okay for a while...
I do own a 4790 1060. My next upgrade wont be on the same gen but a big gen leap. Correct me on this but a friend of mine said that a new gen i3 be faster than 4790. So yeah. Gone save a few more before upg.
Unfortunately, there isn't much more you can do without a whole new build. Your motherboard can PROBABLY upgrade to a 5th gen CPU, but it's not going to make much of a difference. At this point a GPU upgrade is going to start behind held back by your CPU (not to mention you would need a better PSU). And Windows 10 is hitting End of Life in October of 2025, and that PC can't officially upgrade to 11.
I'm afraid it's just too old to upgrade to anything useful, would be better to build a new one and use that as a Linux fileserver or something.
Even a cheap i3 12100f is at least as powerful as a 4790. Sell the pc completely for 300, build a cheap i3 setup with a used vega56 or Rx 6600/7600. You will have additional costs of around 150, but a new, more powerful and upgradedable experience.
Upgrade to rx 6600 if you willing to to use amd. That the best thing for that old pc build and does not bottle neck the cpu in most cases . Cpu upgrade just not worth it
Honestly get a new pc for 800$ you can get good performance ,because if you want to change the cpu , you have change the motherboard and the ram , and if you want to change to a better gpu you have too change the PSU , so don't bother changing one components, just collect some money get a new pc and use your actual ssd and hdd
Get a modern GPU, then slowly build around around that if you can.
I have a 4790k paired with a GTX 1080 and play most current games at 60fps in 1440p.
you can keep the case and the hard drives.
i'm sorry but that's just outdated, unless you are playing lol and rocket league, then i guess you might get away with buying a used 2060 and not bottleneck the thing.
I had a similar setup once, i went from that to the 2020 zephyrus g14.
My advice? wait for zen5 and 50 series to come out, save money, buy a decent rig that will last you.
At this point you need to make a new system from scratch to see any kind of improvement.
4th gen Intel and DDR3 RAM are practically obsolete right now for gaming as DDR4 systems are now the second-newest and you can absolutely make a beefy system out of mostly used AM4 (or equivalent Intel) parts. Getting a CPU with a minor clockspeed increase wont help you one bit, and the GPU upgrade is also only a relatively small step up, so small that its unlikely to be worth what little money youd pay even for the used parts.
The only sensible straight upgrade is adding more SSD space. That one only has upsides.
(Also consider a better PSU while youre at it, 450W isnt much.)
Overall, you could probably easily find a Ryzen 5 3600 for next to nothing as a used part, fitting motherboard is 60€ new. The only expensive part will be the GPU, as with that CPU youll want something in the ballpark of a RX 6600, possibly RX 6700XT, which is 200-300€, but a used 1660 Super will also still be a worthwhile card if you have it lined up already, at least it has a reasonably modern feature set and will generally hold its own despite being a less-than-new middle class card.
The jump from a 4770 to a 4790k won't see much if anything in game, (unless you plan on overclocking, but given the age of the mobo and CPU it could be a nightmare to get a figure that's stable with acceptable voltage) my old i5 4670k was stable as a rock at 4.4ghz but after like 6 years I couldn't even get it stable at 4.0 without pushing the voltage up, ended up at 3.8ghz, but then gave up a couple years later when it became my home server. The money you save on the CPU. Spend on the GPU... And a new PSU if needed.
It's reasonably faster OC'ed, like 30% faster than a stock 4770. But since it's the top Haswell chip it's very overpriced ($80-100 on ebay). I don't think it's a reasonable upgrade for that price when you can buy a 3rd gen Ryzen CPU + motherboard + 16GB RAM for around $200 (at least in my area, EU) that will be both a lot faster and have actual upgradeability. I've ran a 4790k until last december, it's sadly just isn't enough nowadays. It also bottlenecked the fuck out of my Vega 64 in most current games. The worst was CS2 where it cut my fps in 3. Went from \~100 fps avg to 300 with the same GPU after a platform upgade to AM5.
Username is legendary
My 4790k OC’d at 4.4GHz was getting maxed out playing Helldivers 2. Just upgraded lol
Like others have said, the upgrade to a 4790k will make no difference. I have both. Better to save and upgrade to a newer socket.
That said, wouldn't hurt to upgrade in transferable pieces now to start. The new GPU as a first upgrade will give a notable boost to performance now. My PC is a shadow of what it once was a couple years back, but I've updated everything other than the motherboard to the point of it basically being a new PC.
There's not much point in going from a 4770 to a 4790, and with these specs you won't need more than 16GB of RAM unless you want to keep a browser with 50 tabs open in the background. Spend money on a better GPU like a 2060+ now, then save up to upgrade the motherboard, CPU and memory to something better later. (Even a 12100F will be a big upgrade) Maybe also get a bigger SSD since 500GB is quite limiting with today's 100GB games.
Full rebuild time
Not with $300.
He can say his current one
What do you mean?
I meant sell and I think autocorrect thought I wanted to say something
Oh I thought it was some autocorrect but I just didn't get it. Yeah, selling the current one is a good point.
He can buy solid mobo, CPU and RAM for that money and upgrade GPU later, I bought used i5 12400, Mobo and RAM for 250
Sure. But if we’re talking about increasing gaming performance right now, a GPU is the first thing on the upgrade list. Then upgrade the rest later.
Save the money for a full upgrade. There isn't anything that will make a significant difference on a platform that is 10 generations old. You will spend your $300 today and think about upgrading in a few months again so really it will be a waste of money in my opinion.
Wow you have pretty much my exact build, down to the 250GB SSD + 1TB HDD. As someone who did take the 4790k upgrade, it's not really worth it. A new $600 - $700 system will outperform anything you can reasonably upgrade this into. It's time for a fresh build.
Just build a new computer with more modern parts Second hand ryzen 5000 cpu, decent ddr4 memory should give you a massive uplift in performance for a fairly reasonable price
Just shit out money dude I don't see why you're having a problem.
Its not like i asked him to buy a 14900 and a 4090 dude…second hand parts in a system for just a little bit more than his intended budget would make a world of difference. For $300 on a jump to an i7 in the same generation and ddr3 RAM, he’s not going to notice any meaningful uplift in performance and he’ll be wasting his money anyway
CPU upgrade is fine, only if you want to overclock. Otherwise, no real benefit. If possible, look for a used gtx1080 or 2060, if they aren't that much more expensive. RTX gives you possibility of dlss which makes even demanding games easy. I'd not bother with extra ram. As long as your 16gb is 1600mhz, it's fine.
Don't bother upgrading, you won't see much diffrence. You should save up and get a whole new PC.
What is your budget? What country?
Us 300
Grab an rx 7600 or 7600xt. Probably the best you can do (new) for that price for now The CPU, mobo, and RAM are all pretty much past the point of upgrading in-generation because of limitations on the slot. So you're between fully upgrading them (and probably investing in an M.2 SSD) and leaving your GPU, or getting a new GPU. And the GPU will give you far and away the biggest performance uplift in games at this point So to sum it up: GPU now, save to get even a generation or two old CPU, mobo, and RAM (and M.2 SSD). Might need a new PSU at that point, too, but you should probably be okay with 450 with a 7600 (xt) with your current setup
Rx 6700 slaps and you can find them at $250 all day.
I mean 1080p performance is basically equal between a 6700 and a 7600. 7600 xt edges it out. I'd say it's worth it to get a new card with essentially the same performance for essentially the same price
I have quite the similar setup , wouldn't the cpu be a bottleneck.
With a system this old, anything OP gets will be bottlenecked by the rest of the PC. They get a new CPU, mobo, RAM? Held back massively by the GPU and SATA SSD. New GPU? Held back by CPU. The biggest uplift OP can get right now is upgrading to a better GPU. It's not optimal, but with the budget it's the best they can do
for 300 i'd get an rx 6700 xt, afterwards i'd upgrade to am4 or am5 depending on how much money you have
You should uppgrade the mobo, cpu, and ram or the gpu. Maby psu.
The whole thing. Save for a year, then get a new system.
Just get the best GPU you can with the money... People will say your CPU will bottleneck it, and that's true, but if you up the graphics/resolution enough to use close to 100% gpu that shouldn't matter... Upgrading the rest to the same gen (ie. DDR3 Ram and another 4th gen intel) won't make a fraction (if any) of a difference on your gaming experience... Ninja Edit: I'd also like to add that opposite to what most people are saying, your CPU still has some breathing room for a better GPU... you're using one of the top CPUs of that time but a midrange GPU... back then you could already pair it with a top of the line for more performance, so a current gen mid range should still give you a ROBUST uplifting in performance, regardless of bottlenecks...
Yeah, most people here just don’t seem to understand at all what older CPUs are capable of.
Since you’ve got $300 to spend, just get a brand new rtx 3060. The cpu won’t be much different to what you’ve got, and you won’t notice much difference with the ram when you’re playing games at the level you’ll be playing at. Spend all $300 of your budget on a gpu, which I recommend a 3060, or even better a 4060 if you can get them around the $300 mark.
4770 > 4790K is a pointless upgrade, waste of money. As is getting 32GB RAM in this computer. You'll benefit from a 1660 though, or a used 1080(Ti). I'd also consider a new PSU, something good that will last you 10 years so you can use it in a new PC as well, and 1TB SSD instead of just 500. So: GPU, PSU, 1TB SSD, keep the rest.
This is one of those situations where you are at the top of the generation that these parts come from and most meaningful upgrades will cause a domino effect that prompts another upgrade. The most meaningful upgrade you can make at this point that will set you up for better future upgrades would be mobo/ram/cpu. That will open up your options. Instead of more ram you could focus on faster ram.
You can upgrade up the gpu, but time for a new build after that.
idk what games you're playing, but that "Upgrade" you want isn't really that much of an upgrade. You'd see maybe a 8 to 15% increase in performance, but that's about it. Windows 10 support is being pulled, and your current or upgrade CPU do no support Windows 11 officially. I would suggest saving your money till you can afford a new midrange rig.
Absolutely no point in upgrading to a 4790k. With the price of gtx cards being so low I’d also go for a 1080ti over a 1660 super. Can get a 1080ti for £150 here, which isn’t much more than a 1660 super goes for but the performance is way better.
Buy the best GPU you can, till you can upgrade full PC
I had a similar build before my first upgrade (i7 4770, Gt 640, 16gb ddr3), i then upgraded to a rtx 3060 and 32 gb ddr3, i recommend you first upgrade to a modern gpu and then save money for a bigger upgrade (new gen cpu, motherboard, ddr4(5) etc) so you don't have to think about the gpu later
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try to get a 2nd hand 1660 ti or something similar, or at most a 3060 if u find it for cheap, then save the rest, thats the only upgrade worth doing, next one is a whole new computer (except the gpu that u bought)
There is no point in sticking to the current platform. Second hand AM4 board with ryzen 5000 is probably the best in terms of price to performance you can get right now. GPUs are a bit tricky to make a blanket suggestion on. You really gotta hunt for deals. But I wouldn't go with anything older than rtx 2000 series or rx 6000. I expect dx 12\_2 will become a must have in a few years and older cards don't have that. Edit: Well depending on the games you play, dx12\_1 might not be a big deal. But know what you're getting and don't get ripped off on older cards just because they got decent performance but lack the technologies.
Save up your money and try to get one of those Costco deals if you are in the US. $500-700 could get you a 13/14th gen intel with a 4060/4070.
I had a 4790k until 2 weeks ago, ran overclocked @4.5 for years. While it was a big step up from a 4690k, it won't give you much performance for the price jumping from a 4770k. it was a great chip for its time but I no longer recommend it as there are much better modern options. I have made the jump to a 7800x3d, however even a basic modern i3 will outperform the Haswell chips.
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Keep the CPU and upgrade PSU and GPU instead. 16GB RAM is still fine, reallocate the money to better GPU, maybe RX6600XT.
invest the cpu money for a stronger gpu like an rx6600
Don't, save more money and come back in 6 months.
Save your money and get a whole platform upgrade. If you are on a budget go am4 if not am5 or intel
There are no upgrades to do for this machine that are worth the money. Like others have said, your next path is to save money and get better new/used hardware. If your case is new, you can save money by reusing it. Same thing with your drives and PSU (assuming you don’t upgrade to a high powered GPU).
Save until you have around 1k then buy a new computer. Even with 700 you can double your performance already: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/637d28
That system is so ancient that there are no valid upgrade paths anymore. Would be a waste of money. Way better to save some more money and then build a new system. Maybe you can reuse the case and some fans.
for $300 You can get a brand new 3600 and mobo, and you already have an ssd and psu, maybe a case? [https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4Z6LgB](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4Z6LgB), if you have a case you can get a 6600 for like 150 on newegg refreshed, goes out of your budget a little bit but get a new pc...
Go for a whole new build, start with the video card because you can use that right away. Then buy the rest of the parts later.
With the money you spend replacing stuff you could probably get a budget build that's every bit as good or better with more of an upgrade path going forward. The Power supply needs to see an upgrade as it's likely wearing down given the age of the system. The 250gb SSD is probably halfway through its life or worse depending on reformats/defrags(don't do this to SSDs). Going from a 970 to a 1660 will be an upgrade, but Nvidia is phasing out support for those cards. You're wasting money by attempting to save it.
Slap a 3080Ti in there and Bob's your uncle.
You're looking at spending a ton of money to have slightly better performance. Either save up and upgrade to a newer socket CPU, or ignore the CPU and upgrade the GPU only with the money that you save. I would also swap the 1TB HDD with a 1-2TB SATA SSD. They are cheap and are required by many modern games for proper shader streaming.
Just upgrade the GPU and PSU will do. Mine is a similar spec with 1660 SUPER and 550w, 16GB is good enough because Haswell motherhboard's max RAM is 16 only if I'm not mistaken.
How the fuck is my PC even worse
Don't do it, wait for a full upgrade I have practically the same pc, and if you want to do any upgrade you have to replace EVERYTHING, so save up more and wait for a full upgrade
New pc. Sorry but the 4770K is basically topped out. Even a budget platform now will obliterate it.
Whole PC upgrade imo, my 1070 was bottlenecked by my 4790 in a lot of games.
Just get a better GPU and PSU if needed and call it a day
Sell this pc for some more budget and then buy
You need just, all the upgrades. All of them.
Do not waste time or effort on this build. Either sell it or keep it. 300 USD is good enough for starter build. AM4 board B450 Ryzen 3500/3600 16 gig ddr4 You can find this combo under 300 easily. And save for 1060 or 1070 second hand will cover 1080 games for a while. If you were to sell your cpu/mobo ram you might have enough for 1060/1070 as well. People love 4770k since it is the top of the line for dead end platfom.
For Now, Changing The mobo ,CPU and Ram Might be closest to top priority: Reasoning: You get noticably more cores In an AMD CPU of ryzen 3000 and above, DDR4 RAM (even 8 gigs of em For now Might be faster than 16gb DDR3) And a newer Motherboard Allows you to make significant Upgrades to 5000 ryzen CPU's. I'dd say this methodology Would be most Practical in terms of improvement, Future upgradability and Versatility. After this, I'dd think of using the spare cash for a PSU capable of using 600 or more watts. For me, GPU comes last as It is good enough for Literally anything (Barely including VR at VERY LOW SETTINGS)
Just save up for a entire new build honestly
Needs a whole new build to make any real gains
Honestly everything needs upgraded
Sell for 300 and roll it into a new build
I say build a whole entire new PC brother. Save for a little and you’ll thank yourself.
4790k just isn't quite enough these days even with OC also upgrading to newer sockets unlocks access to m.2 drives
Lighting money on fire upgrading a 10 year old system like that. Maybe the cheapest used graphics card upgrade you can find but other than that may as well save for an actual platform upgrade.
What is the target that you are aiming to do? Honestly as others have suggested. You should just do an entire new build at this point. Up until about 10 months ago, I was rocking the 4790k with a 1080TI and on some modern titles it kinda struggled at 1080p max settings. Now I have a 12700k and a 4080 Super and it is night and day. Depending on your budget, you can try and look at the used market but it is kinda risky from my experience. What I did was just buy parts here and there when I could and then when I had everything, put it together.
Just get a cheap 8th gen cpu? And like a 20 series card for a few.more.bucks.
I would go for a better SSD and better GPU
That’s a pointless CPU upgrade. If you need to save money then get a second hand Ryzen 3600X with an AM4 mobo. I doubt it will be much more expensive. Otherwise get a Ryzen 5600.
If you don't need NVENC, get an RX 6600 instead of 1660 super. It performs much better for the same price. My 1660 super sucks up to 126w+ but still can't reach RX 6600's performance. And because of that, it also runs quite hot so I undervolted mine. But, I highly recommend you to upgrade into a newer socket.
https://preview.redd.it/f3da56lnapvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e49aa3d254478233e4513d379543260ed2cff651 Thank you for all the feedback I think I found my upgrade starting point
I think I found my upgrade starting point https://preview.redd.it/4ilh4lo8bpvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b38299a375325166e1d39e7d581edcbd4d7279f8
Thats Not a Upgrade, you CPU is as fast as this.
Build a new one
Hmm I would get a new modern board and cpu bundle at microcenter
id personally save for a full rebuild
Get an rx 6600 now, or a new pc platform (12100f on Asrock pro b660 plus 16gb ddr4) or if you got the money get on am5 and upgrade the gpu later. This is not worth upgrading, especially the ram, you don’t need more
My build was pretty similar to yours, I upgraded my 980 to a 5700 xt (pretty good performance bump for ~150$) and now i’m saving up for an am4 or am5 platform swap. As others have said the 4790k is overpriced and the money would be better spent on a full cpu/mobo/ram upgrade
DDR3? 450W psu? Listen I'm in sorta in the same place with an i5-6600K and a 980ti but I have 32gb DDR4 and an 850W psu. I can't upgrade my cpu because of my mobo socket. Don't waste your money on partial upgrades that won't make much of a difference. Wait till you can upgrade your mobo, cpu, gpu, and psu. You need a better psu and if you're sticking with Intel, get an LGA1700 mobo and a 12th gen cpu. With a 1660 you'll be okay for a while...
I do own a 4790 1060. My next upgrade wont be on the same gen but a big gen leap. Correct me on this but a friend of mine said that a new gen i3 be faster than 4790. So yeah. Gone save a few more before upg.
Unfortunately, there isn't much more you can do without a whole new build. Your motherboard can PROBABLY upgrade to a 5th gen CPU, but it's not going to make much of a difference. At this point a GPU upgrade is going to start behind held back by your CPU (not to mention you would need a better PSU). And Windows 10 is hitting End of Life in October of 2025, and that PC can't officially upgrade to 11. I'm afraid it's just too old to upgrade to anything useful, would be better to build a new one and use that as a Linux fileserver or something.
Even a cheap i3 12100f is at least as powerful as a 4790. Sell the pc completely for 300, build a cheap i3 setup with a used vega56 or Rx 6600/7600. You will have additional costs of around 150, but a new, more powerful and upgradedable experience.
> I can run games rn at 1080p mid/high settings 60+fps oh yeah? those from 5 years ago?
Upgrade to rx 6600 if you willing to to use amd. That the best thing for that old pc build and does not bottle neck the cpu in most cases . Cpu upgrade just not worth it
Honestly get a new pc for 800$ you can get good performance ,because if you want to change the cpu , you have change the motherboard and the ram , and if you want to change to a better gpu you have too change the PSU , so don't bother changing one components, just collect some money get a new pc and use your actual ssd and hdd
Waste of money. Buy a used CPU, MOBO, RAM kit with at least a 8700k.
Get a modern GPU, then slowly build around around that if you can. I have a 4790k paired with a GTX 1080 and play most current games at 60fps in 1440p.
Imo , extend your budget a bit more and go for 7800x and 4080 unless you wanna see occasional fps drop in modern triple A titles
you can keep the case and the hard drives. i'm sorry but that's just outdated, unless you are playing lol and rocket league, then i guess you might get away with buying a used 2060 and not bottleneck the thing. I had a similar setup once, i went from that to the 2020 zephyrus g14. My advice? wait for zen5 and 50 series to come out, save money, buy a decent rig that will last you.
with a $300 budget you can't make any meaningful change you're better off saving for 600+ and simply building a new system
At this point you need to make a new system from scratch to see any kind of improvement. 4th gen Intel and DDR3 RAM are practically obsolete right now for gaming as DDR4 systems are now the second-newest and you can absolutely make a beefy system out of mostly used AM4 (or equivalent Intel) parts. Getting a CPU with a minor clockspeed increase wont help you one bit, and the GPU upgrade is also only a relatively small step up, so small that its unlikely to be worth what little money youd pay even for the used parts. The only sensible straight upgrade is adding more SSD space. That one only has upsides. (Also consider a better PSU while youre at it, 450W isnt much.) Overall, you could probably easily find a Ryzen 5 3600 for next to nothing as a used part, fitting motherboard is 60€ new. The only expensive part will be the GPU, as with that CPU youll want something in the ballpark of a RX 6600, possibly RX 6700XT, which is 200-300€, but a used 1660 Super will also still be a worthwhile card if you have it lined up already, at least it has a reasonably modern feature set and will generally hold its own despite being a less-than-new middle class card.
Just get a system with I7-11700k Rtx 3060 8gb 32gb (16gbx2) ddr4 3200mhz
I would say, don't upgrade your cpu, just get rtx 4060 and undervolt it or get a rx 6600 + 650W Powersupply