Question 1070 inbound, build or upgrade?

[lakedude]

A friend is sending me a GTX 1070. I can plunk it in an Ivy Bridge i7 system but I'd need a new SSD and Windows 10 or 11.

The other option is to build a whole new system around the card, eventually replacing it with an RTX 3070 or 4070 or something like that.

Mostly the only thing I need more graphics power for is HL Alyx VR.

My current best system is a laptop with a 1660ti MQ and a modernish 10th gen i5.

 

[fralexandr]

The ivybridge i7 might hold it back a bit, since half life alyx is pretty cpu demanding due to VR and physics. What refresh rate and headset are you planning on playing with? Based on some reviews, the 1070 should be ok for med-high settings with a few dropped frames.

 

[lakedude]

The ivybridge i7 might hold it back a bit, since half life alyx is pretty cpu demanding due to VR and physics. What refresh rate and headset are you planning on playing with? Based on some reviews, the 1070 should be ok for med-high settings with a few dropped frames.

Quest 2 headset, 1832 by 1920 per eye at 72 HZ, wireless, which I expect runs at lower or variable res.

 

[fralexandr]

The ivybridge i7 will probably be ok at 72Hz.

 

[lakedude]

Oh cool, I found a bottleneck website that says at 4k my Ivy Bridge will hold back a GTX 1070 by 8% or 13% at 1440.

 

[lakedude]

Looks like a 3950x is headed my way after all. So it us going to be GTX 1070 with the 3950x until the 3070 ti comes down at least another $100.