Looking for Recommendations on a Hardware Upgrade

[Judge_Holden]

Stalingrad and Moscow run fine but Kuban runs in slow motion and is unplayable, especially with other planes in the area (Single Player). Eventually I'm going to upgrade my entire rig but at the moment I can either afford new GPU (probably a 1080) or a new CPU like the 8700k with a new motherboard. Whichever one I get now I'll probably get the other in about 4-5 months. What should I get first that will make the most difference? This is what I have now:

 

i7-4770k @3.5 Ghz

gtx 970

16 GB RAM

Windows 10 64bit

 

Thanks chaps

[TheOldCrow]

If you're having problems with multiple planes in the area a CPU would probably be best to get. 

[Dakpilot]

Get a 1080 and overclock that CPU

 

I have used the motherboard software to 'one click' overclock to 4.4 ghz, 24 hour 365 days stable, it does not have to be intimidating. 

 

Later you could upgrade the CPU and MB, a 1080 I find quite adequate, (and prices are coming down right now) also my old 3570k copes well at higher frequency. 

 

I upgraded from 970 to 1080 and found good improvements (see sig) 

 

Currently you are more limited by GPU especially as there is more performance available from your current CPU 

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[dburne]

Yes agree, you should have some good headroom to overclock your current CPU. Those K processors are easy to overclock.

[Judge_Holden]

Thanks for the advice. I one clicked my overclock to 4.0 and noticed results. I'll dig into it and see how far I can push it comfortably.

[Dakpilot]

I never looked back after getting a closed loop watercooler, simple to install and has worked flawlessly for many years, as far as bang for buck re over clock head room it's cost was trivial compared to upgrade to get a similar boost in performance. The software that came with it made controlling/monitoring temps very intuitive and easy. 

Was a now outdated H100i. 

Advantage also is it will be transferable with CPU upgrades, my now ancient 3570k has run at 4.45 ghz for years

 

Cheers, Dakpilot