Or overclock his current one.

How do I go about doing that? Ive never done it.

there are great guides online to help you
basically you want something stable above anything else
if its not stable, its not worth overclocking so turn it down until its stable
i dont think you can overclock intel cpus unless they have a K in the name tho

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262992-29-overclocking-asus-sabertooth
http://www.forums.pureoverclock.com/cpu-overclocking/5736-core-i7-4ghz-club-overclocking-guide.html

I think I will just buy a new processor for sure.

Do I need a new motherboard? If Im going to get both I should probably assemble it all at the same time, not keep building on my old motherboard and have to switch everything.

What do you guys suggest? Is my motherboard good enough? Its very old. I dont know anything about this, but want to use my new GPU even a little bit. Im getting terrrrible frames even at lower settings.

If you buy any recent processor, then yes you will need a new motherboard. A new CPU will help you immensely in other games as well.

I'll ask the Setsul questions: Overclocking yes/no?
Budget?
Any games besides TF2?

I recommend we move to the PC Build Thread so not to hijack this thread.

I dont really have a budget. Its just a matter of saving for it. I would never spend more than 400 on either, though.

Im not trying to overclock my current one, now that Ive thought about it. And I only play TF2. I just want to have huge FPS for my 144hz monitor.

I sent you a friend invite on Steam to help you out, but you didn't accept. Guess I'll continue posting here!

Man, a 1070 is a lot of money down the drain for only playing TF2.

I forgot to ask what case you have. I'll go with mATX for now!

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/rRzg99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/rRzg99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($213.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $343.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-25 23:50 EDT-0400

i5 6600 since clock speed in TF2 matters and you don't have a tight budget. New RAM because DDR4 on Skylake, and unless if you have a valid reason for more than 8GB of RAM then it's best to save the $30-40.

Get the K series and a decent cooler and overclock it for reallly good frames. Should be within that $400 budget.

Yeah

Just so you don't misunderstand, your issue is very specific to TF2 and certain other CPU intensive games. My own GPU utilization for the benchmark1.dem on the 1070 is averaging at 30% throughout the bench. That's on an OC'd i7 2600k 4.5 GHz.

http://i.imgur.com/GPAeEG1.png

It matters a lot. Your build will likely get far better performance in modern games as it utilizes more of the GPU. You'll still in time get bottlenecked a bit with that CPU though. Intel Core i5-6600 or K variant that others suggested are probably the best for you. You don't need an i7 for gaming generally and the highest clock on Quad-Core is the way to go for gaming right now.

Just so we're 100% clear. Your motherboard is a LGA1366 socket chipset. The I5-6600 will not fit.

what is strange though, is that the i7 950 seems to have worse fps than my i7 860, eventhough it should outpreform it
60 fps is really low....

2639 frames 20.278 seconds 130.14 fps ( 7.68 ms/f) 9.421 fps variability

Check the temperatures. I wouldn't be suprised if the thermal paste isn't quite what it used to be 7 years ago.

Thank you all for your help and advice!

I bought some new things and will post results when I put together my new computer! I appreciate the help a lot!!

I'm waiting for an RX 480 to arrive, which will replace my R9 280X. I'm expecting a good improvement in other games but I'm actually interested in how it does impact TF2, for anyone wondering. Will upload the benchmarks here :)

As promised.

Quick background:

1. Current hardware: Intel Core i5-3350P, 8GB RAM, Radeon R9 280X running on Windows 10
   
2. Replacing the current graphics card with Radeon RX 480
   
3. Tested on two situations. First one: customized comanglia's cfg. Second one: no AA, AF x8, no HDR and V-Sync, all else maxed out/enabled. Shared settings: 1680x1050 resolution, dxlevel 95

First situation, old GPU vs new GPU:

2639 frames 23.632 seconds 111.67 fps ( 8.95 ms/f) 6.561 fps variability

2639 frames 20.597 seconds 128.12 fps ( 7.80 ms/f) 8.144 fps variability

And a second one, old GPU vs new GPU:

2639 frames 30.120 seconds 87.62 fps (11.41 ms/f) 4.648 fps variability

2639 frames 27.595 seconds 95.63 fps (10.46 ms/f) 5.487 fps variability

So yeah, it just confirms what was already mentioned - if you need more frames in TF2, invest on your CPU instead. Getting a Core i7 would surely provide a much higher boost, as shown by previous results on this thread.

i5 6600K (4.5 GHz)
AMD Radeon 6850
8 GB DRR4 2800 MHz
tf2&win on ssd

dxlevel: 98
gfx http://pastebin.com/y7fpD4ak (mix of chris' high quality and dx9frames)
fullscreen, 1920x900

dxlevel: 81
gfx: commanglias
fullscreen, 640x480
nohatsmod

2639 frames 20.589 seconds 128.17 fps ( 7.80 ms/f) 17.590 fps variability

CPU and overclock: i5-6600 @ 3.3 GHz
Graphics Card: Radeon RX 470 8GB

Driver version: 16.10.3
dxlevel (default is 90): 98
Resolution: 1920x1080
Full-screen or windowed: Borderless windowed
FPS configs enabled: Comanglia
Shadows enabled/disabled: disabled

2639 frames 32.864 seconds 80.30 fps (12.45 ms/f) 5.696 fps variability

CPU: AMD FX 6300 @ 4GHz
GPU: AMD R7 360
Resolution: 1680*1050
Fullscreen

UBUNTU 14.04 - AMD Proprietary Driver v15.2

Comanglia's Config

Shadows on (medium)
Gibbs off
Ragdolls off

No explosion smoke script - http://www.teamfortress.tv/25647/no-explosion-smoke-script
Bullet dust removal script - http://pastebin.com/tWMVynL2

2639 frames 23.839 seconds 110.70 fps (9.03 ms/f) 7.306 fps variability
2639 frames 24.019 seconds 109.87 fps (9.10 ms/f) 6.573 fps variability
2639 frames 24.214 seconds 108.98 fps (9.18 ms/f) 6.014 fps variability

AVERAGE 2639 frames 24.024 seconds 109.85 fps (9.103 ms/f) 6.631 fps variability

-default -autoconfig (Explosion and bullet dust scripts disabled, fps config disabled)

2639 frames 30.531 seconds 86.44 fps (11.57 ms/f) 5.359 fps variability
2639 frames 31.061 seconds 84.96 fps (11.77 ms/f) 4.945 fps variability
2639 frames 30.853 seconds 85.53 fps (11.69 ms/f) 5.114 fps variability

AVERAGE 2639 frames 30.809 seconds 85.643 fps (11.677 ms/f)

Additional notes: running on an SSD

Windows 7 AMD Crimson Driver v16.11

Comigilas Config
Shadows on
Gibbs off
Ragdolls off

No explosion smoke script - http://www.teamfortress.tv/25647/no-explosion-smoke-script
Bullet dust removal script - http://pastebin.com/tWMVynL2

2639 frames 25.138 seconds 104.98 fps (9.53 ms/f) 6.731 fps variability
2639 frames 25.040 seconds 105.39 fps (9.49 ms/f) 6.530 fps variability
2639 frames 24.985 seconds 105.63 fps (9.47 ms/f) 6.580 fps variability

AVERAGE 2639 frames 25.054 seconds 105.333 fps (9.497 ms/f) 6.6137 fps variability

-default -autoconfig (Explosion and bullet dust scripts disabled, fps config disabled)

2639 frames 34.209 seconds 77.14 fps (12.96 ms/f) 6.193 fps variability
2639 frames 33.300 seconds 79.25 fps (12.62 ms/f) 5.780 fps variability
2639 frames 33.479 seconds 78.83 fps (12.69 ms/f) 5.670 fps variability

AVERAGE 2639 frames 33.663 seconds 78.407 fps (12.757 ms/f) 5.881 fps variability

Additional notes: laptop HDD, reasonably new install (2 months)

CPU and overclock: i5-7600K @ 4.5 GHz
Graphics Card: MSI GTX 970

Driver version: 376.33
dxlevel (default is 90): 81
Resolution: 1920x1080
Full-screen or windowed: Full
FPS configs enabled: Comanglia high quality pc
Shadows enabled/disabled: disabled

Additional notes: feelsgoodman

CPU and overclock: i5 3570k @ 4.4GHz
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 660 Ti OC'd @ 1267MHz

Driver version: 368.22
dxlevel (default is 90): 81
Resolution: 1920x1080
Full-screen or windowed: windowed with no borders
FPS configs enabled: Comanglia stability (with textures set to very high and 4x MSAA)
Shadows enabled/disabled: disabled

Additional notes: also using nohats mod and the minimal blue sapper explosions thing

has anyone done any benchmarks with ryzen ?
i know tf2 is clock hungry but im curious to know how this new architecture translates to old source engine games

A rough guess a Ryzen @ 4GHz full time it would probably be in the ball park of 170-190 on this benchmark with my cfg and 16:9 aspect ratio.

2639 frames 13.483 seconds 195.73 fps ( 5.11 ms/f) 14.388 fps variability

CPU: i5-6600k @ 4.3GHz
GPU: MSI GTX 970 Twin Frozr V (not OC)
Config: Comanglia's Config (with muzzle flash and visible hitscan bullets on)
Launch options: -dxlevel 90 -sw -w 1920 -h 1080 -console -noborder -novid -useforcedmparms -noforcemaccel -noforcemspd -heapsize 4194304 -high
RAM: 8GB of EVGA DDR3 SuperSC @2400mhz

Extra: Worth mentioning that before I had 2400mhz duel channel ram I had 1600mhz single channel. After upgrading I feel like I have a higher framrate, but I don't have numbers to back it up. Could just be in my head. I run two monitors.

windows 10 pro

1680x1050 resolution, fullscreen. extra monitor running off the card at 1280x1024

CPU: Ryzen 1700 (no overclock)
GPU: GTX 1060 3gb (no overclock)
RAM: 16 (2x8)gb @2133mhz DDR4
dxlevel: 95

no config or other graphics mods like no hats mod, graphics settings here: http://i.imgur.com/Rwg4Q7F.jpg

edit: dunno if its worth noting but it's able to stream pub tf2 while retaining around 150-250fps with those same settings. im still messing about with the computer as i just built it, but i think a decent amount of fps could be gained from an overclock. ill update this later with more solid numbers, but i think the 1700 was running at around 3.2 ghz

edit:
same specifications as before, but with the 1700 at 3.7ghz

Here's some results with my Ryzen 1700x.

Full build:
CPU: Ryzen 1700x @3.85Ghz
GPU: RX 480 4gb
RAM: 16gb 2400Mhz DDR4
Resolution: 1920x1080
Launch options (minus windowed/fullscreen and dxlevel): -high -noipx -w 1920 -h 1080 -novid

Fullscreen dxlevel 95 no graphics config (video settings)

2639 frames 23.283 seconds 113.34 fps ( 8.82 ms/f) 6.611 fps variability

Window no border dxlevel 95 no graphics config (video settings)

2639 frames 23.794 seconds 110.91 fps ( 9.02 ms/f) 6.573 fps variability

Fullscreen Comanglia's Max FPS for High Quality PCs dxlevel 81

2639 frames 14.817 seconds 178.11 fps ( 5.61 ms/f) 12.399 fps variability

Window no border Comanglia's Max FPS for High Quality PCs dxlevel 81

2639 frames 15.218 seconds 173.41 fps ( 5.77 ms/f) 12.044 fps variability

I hope this helped anyone interested in Ryzen. Let me know if you want me to test any other configuration with it. Currently sticking to the 3.85Ghz overclock, as I want to keep my core voltage at 1.35V and want to be stable.

thanks for the benchmarks
was this with the precision boost enabled or with the frequency locked ?

Precision boost is disabled, as I did a manual overclock. I'm going to take the guess that if I had left precision boost on by not overclocking it would be much worse. This is because the base frequency for all cores would now be 3.5, and one core would go up to 3.9.

Considering that TF2 produces full load on 1 core and about 30% on another (+30% on a 3rd for GPU driver) that would not have changed much.

Have you tried it with SMT disabled / core affinity set?

Can't disable SMT within my bios on the ASUS Prime x370, so I did core affinity.

Fullscreen Comanglia's Max FPS for High Quality PCs dxlevel 81 (core affinity - Cores 0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14)

2639 frames 14.340 seconds 184.03 fps ( 5.43 ms/f) 10.874 fps variability

Fullscreen Comanglia's Max FPS for High Quality PCs dxlevel 81 (core affinity - Cores 0-7)

2639 frames 14.639 seconds 180.27 fps ( 5.55 ms/f) 10.223 fps variability

Fullscreen Comanglia's Max FPS for High Quality PCs dxlevel 81 (core affinity - Cores 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15)

2639 frames 14.392 seconds 183.36 fps ( 5.45 ms/f) 10.724 fps variability

Fullscreen Comanglia's Max FPS for High Quality PCs dxlevel 81 (normal run to show difference)

2639 frames 14.108 seconds 187.05 fps ( 5.35 ms/f) 11.664 fps variability

Looks like it doesn't make it any better, and it might even be a little worse. (I did run each test a few times to make sure there wasn't a fluke)