i7 3770 full potential with GTX 960 2GB GDDR5 FTW?

[Bananimal]

Hello all, I'm fairly new to pc gaming (around 1 in a half year now) and I'm learning more as I go. I've been researching this but can't seem to find any good answers and the last time that happened I came here and got all the answers needed so here we go....

I've just made the move to get a GTX 960 FTW, this card is amazing for the price especially for newer pc gamers in my opinion. With this card I've been playing in 1080p and running every game I throw at it at max settings. Now the FPS isn't perfect but it is deffinately clear and playable, to give you an example I ran The Valley benchmark test in 1080p all settings maxed and my final score was 36.4 fps/1523 score/20.2 minimum frame drop/66.5 max frame.

My question is just straight curiosity... am I reaching the potential of this card with my current CPU (i7 3770 3.4 ghz) or how much more can I get out of this GPU with a better CPU? Would it actually be worth it to upgrade to a better CPU?

My specs: http://valid.x86.fr/2ctczx

[rotNdude]

The GTX 960 isn't a high end card, so yes you're getting good potential. If you want to stress the i7 3770, get a GTX 970/980.

[Kuban]

Yeah GTX 980 !

[vadim]

ReadEMnWeep님이 먼저 게시:

am I reaching the potential of this card with my current CPU (i7 3770 3.4 ghz) or how much more can I get out of this GPU with a better CPU? Would it actually be worth it to upgrade to a better CPU?

1. Yes, i7-3770 has more than enough performance to get everything possible from EVERY video card.
2. Your rig will be really slightly unbalanced - top-end gaming CPU and middle-end graphics. Thus, if you want to get more FPS you need to upgrade GPU, not CPU.
3. There is CPU to upgrade your i7-3770. Any replacement will be prohibitively expensive, and productivity gains will be negligible. You have an excellent processor and it will last you a long time.

[˜lokkandload˜™]

I gave my son the GTX 960 SSC 2Gb, it runs pretty much al lhis games at 1080p @60hz quite well with decent frame rates. I switched to a FTW 980 to be able to game, record in shadowplay and stream via twitch without taxing the card or game.

[Bananimal]

Thanks Vadim that helps and relieves my thought process on the situation. I'm honestly very happy with my 960, going from a gt 630 I'd be happy with any gtx card haha. 960 runs everything to the point that I wanted - that being said it has also made me hungry for more performance haha so as much as I want the 980 (I actually have contemplated getting it and just building another rig for my nephew and putting the 960 in that) my plan right now is to use this card until the next "980 type card" is released in a couple years and upgrading to that.
Thanks everyone.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Overclocking the i7 would help some as well, though as its not unlocked the Turbo should be good enough.