P3DV4 and a Hardware Dilemma on a Lower Range System

[okupton 308]

Good Evening All,

I have two issues that I'd like advice on, both involving P3DV4 and hardware.  I currently use P3DV3.4 on a i7 3770 (not K), 16gb ram, and a GTX 760.  Obviously the system is aging, but I also have a faulty motherboard that while still works, who knows for how much longer.  P3DV4 runs modestly well on my system (smooth 20 FPS at FT EHAM for example) with sliders around mid range or a little higher with rare OOMs.  So, my dilemma is two things: Upgrading hardware.  From what I've read, it sounds like it might not be a bad idea to wait several months until the i7 8700K and NVIDIA current gen GPUs drop in price before upgrading to a more formidable system.  Would it be worth it to drop money on a new MB to replace my failing one and a 1070 or 1080 GPU now while hanging on to my i7 3770 a bit longer and move to V4, or will the processor bottleneck make the new GPU a 'waste' of money until I upgrade the CPU, RAM, SSD, etc as well?.  Second dilemma is, if P3DV3 runs well (for my needs at least) on my current system, is it worth moving on to V4 now before upgrading any hardware or better to wait?  I get that my current rig won't deliver all of the bells and whistles V4 has to offer, but could I potentially see visual benefits without losing performance?  I do understand that sliders in V3 and V4 are not the same with autogen draw distance and all. Thanks for your time!

 

  Orman

[ryanbatc 12,812]

A new GPU would help a bit - a GTX 1060 or 1070.  I've got a 970 with my 2500K 4GHz and it's ok.  But the video ram is definitely maxed most of the time.

If I were you I'd save and wait for a completely new build.

[okupton 308]

Thanks for the input, Ryan.  Really appreciate it!