If you had 1000 budget, what CPU and Mobo would you get (upgrade question)

Hi All-

I've decided to wait on upgrading my GPU for the moment, and to just go for a CPU upgrade. Was wondering what you folks would get if you set your budget to 1000 USD. Please keep in mind that is my max, so I don't have to spend it all, and I would also like to throw 16 GB of memory in there as well if it fits.

My current setup:

i7 4790K processor
ASRock mobo
16 GB memory
Geforce 980 video card

I am thinking about getting an i7 9700K, which requires a new mobo and new memory. But I am not sold on it yet, totally open to suggestions.

Cheers, and thank you very much.

@mrbojangles25: depends if just gaming then 9700K, if creativity and productivity tasks plus gaming then 9900K. if wanna save more out of the 1000 then 2700X. if can wait some more see what first quarter next year holds amd should a have better consumer cpu, if they stick to their recent announcements and intel might respond soon after.

9700K, 16GB 3600MHz CL15(or CL16) RAM... And any decent Z390 mobo.

I would grab a Ryzen 2700x.... The i7 9700k being almost $500 and only have 8 cores and threads.... It not worth it imo. Especially if your only at 60hz. Also we know that AMD plans on keeping the AM4 platform upgrade option viable until 2020. So you can upgrade again when AMD releases more Ryzen cpus on AM4 using same board you bought for current cpu generation.

As long as you get low latency high clocked ddr4, ryzen performs quite well.

@mrbojangles25: Unless you need a better CPU for production tasks, I would upgrade that 980 instead. 4790K is still a fairly good CPU and will push most games well. The 980 is showing its age and you can buy much better GPUs that will have a large impact on gaming performance.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Any motherboard preference with the AMD (AM4) processors @04dcarraher?

Yeah I wasn't sure if it was my processor that was slowing me down or my GPU. My GPU is definitely getting on in age, but it's only recently I've noticed a bit of slowdown in game (AC Odyssey, in particular). Everything else still looks good, still runs well.

I do plan on upgrading my GPU in the next 6 months, I just wanted to see what was going on. AMD just released their "commercial" 7nm GPUs, so I imagine Nvidia won't be far behind with their consumer models, but who knows *shrug*

@mrbojangles25:

For AM4 boards if you dont need more than one pci-e 16x or m.2... Any name brand B450 based board will work just fine now and in the future with newer cpus. X470 will also work.

Agree with this. Hardware requirements have been pretty stagnant the last 3 years. New processors have gotten incredibly fast but the games don't require it. Even a 4.5 year old 4790k is still like 4x faster than the CPU in the consoles.

Since where so late into this generation I would just keep it and upgrade to a new GPU. It might hold you back a little in a few games but then you have to yourself "is spending $600-700 on CPU/ram/motherboard worth maybe gaining an extra 15-20% in some games" ?

Sound advice.

I think I will just hold off on an upgrade entirely, then. My GPU still manages to push things to high at 1080p first.

It's a tough path for me, because I'd like to jump to 4K but I feel I need almost an entirely new build plus a fancy new monitor.

At 4k the CPU matters alot less so you could easily get away with keeping your base system the same and just add a highend GPU.

If you wanted something a little cheaper you could go rtx 2070 with a 1440p monitor

@mrbojangles25: You'll be benefiting more with new GPU rather than new CPU. Upgrade to 1080Ti / 2080 or 2080Ti.