Does downgrading a bottle necked CPU increase performance?

[Gary LeCheers]

If a GPU is pretty heavily bottlenecked by a CPU, will downgrading the GPU to a worse one actually increase performance or would it make no difference. For example, I have a GTX 1070 which on some games is heavily bottlenecked by my i5 4460, and so if I sold the 1070 and bought a 1060 would performance in general be better as there is less bottleneck? Or would the lessened power of the 1060 just mean that nothing changes/performance gets worse?

 

[Aeacus]

Downgrading your GPU from GTX 1070 to GTX 1060 or RX 580 does relieve the load on CPU. Though, do note that while with GTX 1070, you can play @ 1440p (2K), with GTX 1060 or RX 580, you can play @ 1080p.

Rather than downgrading your GPU, run your games @ 1080p not @ 1440p and look if you get better performance. Playing @ 1080p makes the same end result as if you'd had GTX 1060 or RX 580 in your system.

Lowering graphics may also do the trick. Though, bloatware is something that can hog all the resources of your CPU. To know which applications hog your CPU resources, use Process Explorer,
link: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx

Just to see how much difference the background CPU usage makes on system performance, i did some benches about a month ago. Here's two benches of my Skylake build (full specs in my sig),
background CPU usage 10%: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/3416525
background CPU usage 0%: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/3416648

Without some background programs running (e.g MSI Gaming App, NZXT CAM, Corsair CUE, Skype, Firefox), the gain is small. Only 4% in gaming and desktop and 2% in workstation. If my CPU would've been used up more (e.g 32%, instead of 10%) the gain in performance would've been bigger.

If you do want to change your hardware, then rather than downgrading GPU, upgrade your CPU. For CPU upgrade, i suggest i7-4790,
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4460-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790/2310vs2293

But if you have Z-series MoBo then i7-4790K, which you can overclock and get more juice out of it,
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4460-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790K/2310vs2384

pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/BRjG3C,6vzv6h/

 

[Gary LeCheers]

I'm only playing at 1080p currently cause I don't yet have a 1440p monitor. Would it be worth upgrading to an i5 4690k instead of downgrading my GPU? Its quite a lot cheaper than an i7.

 

[Aeacus]

Going with i5-4690K is worth it since new CPU is about 24% better than the old one,
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4460-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4690K/2310vs2432

If the new CPU would be only about 10% better then the upgrade wouldn't be worth the money.

Since CPU is K-series and if you have Z-series MoBo (e.g Z97 chipset) then you can OC your CPU to get even more juice out of it.

Did you also check if you have any applications hogging the system resources?

 

[Gary LeCheers]

Yeah I checked and there is nothing else using any significant CPU, all other programs are using like 5% total. I have a Gigabyte Z97P-D3 so should be able to overclock. I think I'll get the i5 4690k which should improve bottleneck. Thanks for your help.