question about upgrading

[Rob]

i7 6700k
gtx1080
32gb ram


I'm looking to upgrade my current graphics card to one of the 30 series cards sometime in the beginning of next year. my question is should i look to upgrade my cpu to a better one also? like to one of the newer i9 ones (im pretty sure there the same socket so i wouldnt have to get a new motherboard) is it worth it?
i use a 1920x1080p 240hz monitor but also want to get a 1440p ultrawide in the near future

[Wichtelman]

if you want to play the newest aaa games it is worth it to upgrade to lets say an i9 9900k...
(socket 1151)

[Cathulhu]

A new mainboard is definitely need as the new CPU will not physically fit into the socket. Even if, the mainboard can not support it.
Only Gen 6 and Gen 7 Core CPUs are supported.

[Rob]

Originally posted by Kasper Skywalker:

Im not sure if Intel 100 series chipsets can handle 9th gen cpus, if you want to upgrade to new generations of cpu, you would need a new generation of motherboard as well

how much budget do you got by the way?

oh i didnt know that, i just saw it said lga 1151 and thought it would be compatible. good to know.
uhhh don't really have a budget, just looking to upgrade my pc since its been like 4 years since i built this(and because i want to get an ultrawide)
so lets just say i have enough to be able to do all that. planning on getting the rtx3080, don't really know cpus all that well. should i look at amd also? or stick with intel

[Wichtelman]

depends on how much you want to spend and what for you use your system... i would say if you get a rtx 3080 you should pair it with at least ryzen 7 3700x or i7-10700k or ryzen 5000...

[Jotun]

Originally posted by Rob:

Originally posted by Kasper Skywalker:

Im not sure if Intel 100 series chipsets can handle 9th gen cpus, if you want to upgrade to new generations of cpu, you would need a new generation of motherboard as well

how much budget do you got by the way?

oh i didnt know that, i just saw it said lga 1151 and thought it would be compatible. good to know.
uhhh don't really have a budget, just looking to upgrade my pc since its been like 4 years since i built this(and because i want to get an ultrawide)
so lets just say i have enough to be able to do all that. planning on getting the rtx3080, don't really know cpus all that well. should i look at amd also? or stick with intel

Oh yeah! The amd 5000 series is amazing according to benchmarks. Have a look at the 5600x benchmarks and maybe go for a b550 motherboard. I'm not a fan (huhuhu) of the fan on the x570 MoBo. Although b550 doesn't have a chipset supporting PCIe 4 the CPU will, which means your GPU and one NVMe (M.2 SSD) can use PCIe 4... which is all you need, really. If you absolutely need a second SSD running in PCIe 4, then you'll need the x570 motherboard.

[hawkeye]

If you aren't upgradng until next year the intel 11th gen cpus should be out. They should be faster than Zen 3. Plus maybe firmer info about a 3080ti.

However the way things work is -

Monitor specs + type of game determines gpu required.
The gpu determines the cpu.

So 1440p UW = rtx 3080 (or 3080ti if available) as going UW will reduce non-UW fps scores by around 20%. (33% more pizels.)

rtx 3080 at 1440p UW runs fastest with a 10900k. Although Zen3 wins at 1080p, at least one review gives the nod to 10th gen at 1440p. So UW might mean it's further in 10th gen's favour. Bear in mind the fps difference depends on memory speed, graphics settings, overclocking etc. And the difference might not be great. Check benchmarks.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-amd-ryzen-5900x-ryzen-5800x-review?page=2

The upgrade strategy would be to buy the gpu and monitor and see how things turn out. High resolutions put load on the gpu more than the cpu.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-9-5900x/17.html

I would only go 5700x/5800x or 11th gen if upgrading the cpu.

[Jotun]

11th gen will probably be crap though. Probably a marginal gain on a old architecture that Intel is trying to extend way past its limits. It'll most likely be 14nm once again, so crazy TDP and wattage required.

[Illusion of Progress]

11th generation is going to be Sky Lake refresh yet again, so it won't be until what comes after that there's really anything new, and yes 10nm didn't work out so they had to backport it to 14nm++. Will be interesting to see how much the get out of it considering they've already been going full Netburst on Sky Lake as of late to stay competitive.

The mainstream desktop Core i7 from the 2nd through 7th generation were all 4 core/8 thread CPUs, and your mainboard won't support 8th generation or newer despite being the same socket as what's in the 8th and 9th generation. Unless you can get a 6 core CPU in your current platform (not familiar if you can but I don't think you can) then don't bother with a CPU change.

That being said, quad cores are aged and not worth buying anymore, but if you already have one, the ones with SMT namely are still largely hanging on. So if you're not seeing 100% use on all threads and limited performance because of it, I say stay with it and upgrade GPU only unless you just have an upgrade itch to scratch. Newer will be faster, but unless you're running into thread limitations (or minimum frame rates aren't keeping up to your expectations), the gains won't be worth the cost of a platform change IMO. Really depends on what you play.