Best "Bang for your Buck" Gaming CPU?

[Quiltslayer]

Planning on building a PC right now and I have a GTX 1070 8GB mini, I plan on keeping things to about 1440p, give or take, and i'm looking for the best "bang for your buck" cpu to go with that, cost is a factor, but I would also like to future-proof as much as possible. Should I get the i5-7600k for about $220 or the i7 7700k for about $320? Is it worth the extra hundred and help me future proof or will it just be diminishing returns? or go for something else entirely? Keep in mind that I don't care much about frame-rates, as long as they are 60 or above I don't care about them that much.

 

[Supahos]

I'd get an r5 1600, b350 motherboard and 16 GB of 3000 MHz ram. Would be perfect for what you're wanting

 

[GamingEnthusiast420]

Getting a 7600k will keep you in the 50-70fps range for today's games. But at this time, based on your GPU, getting a 7700k wouldn't get you huge performance boosts, and probably won't raise your minimum FPS to 60.
Is the 1070 the only thing you own, or are you planning on upgrading? Changing platforms is a concern if you are upgrading.
As for RyZen, you could get an R5 1600x or 1600, but it probably won't outshine a 7600k for the price. Not to mention the ~10 extra dollars that you may or may not want to spend to get a RyZen ready RAM kit to avoid issues.

 

[Quiltslayer]

I'd get an r5 1600, b350 motherboard and 16 GB of 3000 MHz ram. Would be perfect for what you're wanting

isn't the i5-7600k faster though?

 

[Quiltslayer]

Getting a 7600k will keep you in the 50-70fps range for today's games. But at this time, based on your GPU, getting a 7700k wouldn't get you huge performance boosts, and probably won't raise your minimum FPS to 60.
Is the 1070 the only thing you own, or are you planning on upgrading? Changing platforms is a concern if you are upgrading.
As for RyZen, you could get an R5 1600x or 1600, but it probably won't outshine a 7600k for the price. Not to mention the ~10 extra dollars that you may or may not want to spend to get a RyZen ready RAM kit to avoid issues.

I'm actually looking at that graphics card on amazon right now because it's on sale for $340, but I don't have it yet, and that said I won't turn into a rage monster if my frames drop below 60, its not the end of the world tbh, as long as I'm not looking at the 30-40 range

 

[Supahos]

Not always and the newer games less and less often it is. There aren't titles that drag a 1600 under 60 fps. And games are already using more and more cores.

 

[Thunderballs]

7770k is not remotely best bank for buck.

If you are considering it, you dont need to get best bang for your buck, you are looking at a high end machine.

Forget "future proofing".

You should be looking to upgrade when technology advances and prices are attractive, selling your gear when you can minimise depreciation whilst replacing with newer tech when it makes sense for what you need/want.

If I was you id be inclined to see if you can pick up a second hand i7 6700k for a lot less than the Kaby lake new too.

Most of us are not going o0t be doing 4k gaming for a while yet and 1440p is the sweet spot.

You might consider spending a lot more cash on a monitor if you are a gamer.. that with a reasonable 4 core processor and your current card will give you a lot more for your $ than getting a new i7 and playing on a relatively poor quality 1440p monitor (if that is the case)

I have to say that 144hz at 1440p on a gsync monitor is a dream and it isnt my cpu thats being taxed ( I run 1080s in SLI)

You can ad another 1070 down the line or sell and upgrade.

If you do have a limited budget, in my experience second hand cpus , ram and graphics cards are all fine and perform for years. I wouldn't ordinarily buy a second hand motherboard or power supply. Very dubious paying a lot of second hand screens too. Obviously buying from sites like ebay where you can return for 30 days gives you an opportunity to test what you buy, relatively risk free.

I would have though for example, that you could get a 1080 for a new 1070 price (and an evga one too with the transferable manufacturers guarantee) a 6700k for $100-150 less than the new Kaby Lake.

 

[Quiltslayer]

Not always and the newer games less and less often it is. There aren't titles that drag a 1600 under 60 fps. And games are already using more and more cores.

One more question, what about the issues with RAM incompatibility with the RyZen cpu's that I have been hearing about, will I need to buy a kit and do some bodging?

 

[Supahos]

The newer bioses are getting better. Certainly update your bios before trying to run the ram @3000mhz. MSI and Asus are both making pretty good strides from what I've seen and built in the past month

 

[GamingEnthusiast420]

Not always and the newer games less and less often it is. There aren't titles that drag a 1600 under 60 fps. And games are already using more and more cores.

One more question, what about the issues with RAM incompatibility with the RyZen cpu's that I have been hearing about, will I need to buy a kit and do some bodging?

Some RAM frequencies have been incompatible with RyZen, meaning that the real performance is less than the advertised frequency. There are specialized kits such as G.Skill Flare X RAM kits that are specially designed to co-operate with the new RyZen chips.
As for your other question, you probably won't be seeing 30-40fps with a 7600k and a 1070.

 

[Quiltslayer]

7770k is not remotely best bank for buck.

If you are considering it, you dont need to get best bang for your buck, you are looking at a high end machine.

Forget "future proofing".

You should be looking to upgrade when technology advances and prices are attractive, selling your gear when you can minimise depreciation whilst replacing with new.

If I was you id be inclined to see if you can pick up a second hand i7 6700k for a lot less than the Kaby lake new too.

Most of us are not going o0t be doing 4k gaming for a while yet and 1440p is the sweet spot.

You might consider spending a lot more cash on a monitor if you are a gamer.. that with a reasonable 4 core processor and your current card will give you a lot more for your $ than getting a new i7 and playing on a relatively poor quality 1440p monitor (if that is the case)

I have to say that 144hz at 1440p on a gsync monitor is a dream and it isnt my cpu thats being taxed ( I run 1080s in SLI)

My monitor isn't the best of the best, and that's proabably not going to change, I'd just like to have 1440p, 60 fps, and max-ish settings, BUT I don't want to be back here wondering the same thing in a year or two, I'd like to be able to use this processor for a bit

 

[GamingEnthusiast420]

If you get a 7600k and a 1070, you will be fine for the next couple years.

 

[Thunderballs]

There is almost no benefit to a 7600k over a 6700k.

None whatsoever.

Spend the extra on a better graphics card for which there is lots of ongoing benefit.