Upgrade: Video Card or Monitor

[johnebuisii]

So this is opinion based! I am itching to upgrade my monitor. I am set on 27 inches and 2k resolution. I have only ever gamed at 60fps so I would like a 120hz+ monitor. I mostly play CS:GO and Diablo III. No other new games really.

I would think to just upgrade my monitor first. I can get more screen real estate when not gaming. After this I could do an RTX 2070 Super (even with my not recommended 550w power supply) down the road for something like Cyberpunk 2077.

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pcpartpicker.com

Questions
Will my i5 be a choke point for graphic settings?
Has anyone ran a 2070 Super or higher on only 550w?
In your opinion should the graphics card (@$500) be upgraded before a monitor (@300)?

 

[Zoid]

Your initial intuition is correct - you should upgrade your monitor before your graphics card. You don't say what graphics card you have currently. What are you using now?

Depending on what it is, you may well be able to push CS:GO and Diablo III at an upgraded resolution with your current card. It is always better to test what performance you get on a new monitor and then upgrade your GPU as needed rather than upgrading based on speculation.

No, your i5 CPU will not hold you back at higher resolutions. Resolution scales on the GPU with almost no CPU impact. If your CPU isn't holding you back now then it won't be holding you back on your new monitor.

What power supply do you have? A 550W PSU can handle a 2070 Super, as long as it isn't a super sketchy, low quality unit.

 

[johnebuisii]

I linked my build in PC Partpicker. I guess links can be fishy from time to time.

I got a Cougar 550w gold rated PSU and a MSI GTX 1060 (6gb).
CS:GO should not be an issue. Cyberpunk might demand more.

PC partpicker shows wattage usage should suffice for a 2070 super but it is nice to hear from real people than just calculations.

 

[Zoid]

My bad, I might have just not seen that link. A Cougar GX-S 550 is a decent PSU. You shouldn't have a problem running a 2070 Super.

My recommendation is that you start by getting the new monitor you want, and then keep going with the GTX 1060 until it starts to not be able to deliver the performance you want, then you can determine what the best GPU would be for whatever game you're targeting. If that game is Cyberpunk, I'd wait until it's actually out and we have actual benchmarks before buying a new GPU.

 

[Oussebon]

My bad, I might have just not seen that link. A Cougar GX-S 550 is a decent PSU. You shouldn't have a problem running a 2070 Super.

My recommendation is that you start by getting the new monitor you want, and then keep going with the GTX 1060 until it starts to not be able to deliver the performance you want, then you can determine what the best GPU would be for whatever game you're targeting. If that game is Cyberpunk, I'd wait until it's actually out and we have actual benchmarks before buying a new GPU.

This. All of this.