How bad is an idea to put 3070 with the i7-4790?

[Drexl]

Hello, I bought my PC with the i7-4790 long time ago. It originally had a 960 which I upgraded to a 1070 several years ago. It was all good and enough for a 1080p TV but now I have a 4K one and would like to play older games at 4K medium/2K high. Like Batman Arkham Origins, Arkham Knight, Tomb Raider Trilogy. Would 4790 be a terrible bottleneck for a 3070? I've read that with increase in resolution you mostly need a better GPU only. Another thing is the RAM. I can't play Assassin's Creed Origins at a locked 60 FPS at 1080p because of stuttering in the cities. I've read that's because of slow RAM. I have 16 GB DDR3. Would the RAM be even a worse bottlenceck? All in all, is it even worth it to upgrade this PC at all? Again, I'm not expecting to play the latest games with it but to clean up my Steam library . A 3070 would cost around 330 Eur here while if I was to buy a new PC I would buy it for several years ahead and would need to spend at least 1500 Eur.

 

[Colif]

You would be better off buying a new PC than to try to use a PC that is close to 9 years old. 3070 would be held back by CPU.

I had a 4690k with a 960 and then I got a 4k monitor for my birthday... 8 years ago. So I had to upgrade to a 980 just to keep monitor from turning off from lack of signal... 960 couldn't supply 60fps.

16gb wouldn't be a bottleneck really, most new systems still only have that. New DDR5 systems might have more but not sure they really need it... a lot have 64gb but I feel that was just an upsell as very few programs need that much. Just because system can install something, doesn't make it a smart idea. I have 32gb, rarely use more than 20gb and I have to try to use that much.

 

[D10S]

if it's older games, 4790 might not hold the card back that much, especially at 4K.
But I would prefer to get a 3060ti, or even a 2080, you'll not use 100% of 3070.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Or grab a 3070, then if CPU holds you back keep that and upgrade everything else.

PSU might also be an issue, if its very old even if its very good quality I'd be looking to replace that as well.

 

[D10S]

12400f+b660+ddr4 would be a huge upgrade (about 5800x performance), and it really doesn't cost a lot

 

[Drexl]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I forgot to mention that I upgraded my PSU when I bought the 1070. it's a Be quiet! System Power 9 - 500W, 80Plus Bronze. I now see that 3060 Ti would need at least 600 W so I would need to upgrade the PSU as well. Oh well I think I need to save up for a new PC

 

[D10S]

a good 500w psu is fine for a 3060ti, those requirements are made so that even crappy units work.
this is a good reference. a 3800xt/3060ti OC system doesn't even pull 400w during stress tests.

https://www-purepc-pl.translate.goog/test-karty-graficznej-nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-wydajny-maluch?page=0,24&_x_tr_sl=pl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

 

[Drexl]

Thanks, will have it in mind

 

[DXCHASE]

Just wanted to add that i had a 3070ti in a 4790k machine before i upgraded it for a few months. It didnt really seem to bottleneck any games unless they were heavy on CPU power anyways (like Far Cry). It gave me better frames than when i had a 1080ti in it, but ive since moved it out of there and yes theres a huge difference in the CPU with how the game handles, but i didnt have problems running a 3070ti/4790k combo for a bit.