Good GPU to go with core i7 7700k?

[wildcardcharlie]

Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade my system and I decided on the 7700k as my CPU, as it seems good and relatively low cost. When I looked into GPUs though, everyone was suggesting the GTX 1080 or 1070 SLI. The 1080 in particular seems pretty pricey compared to the CPU, almost double the cost.

I currently have an R9 280x, and I don't want to pair my brand new CPU with a mediocre card, but I'm also not looking to spend a thousand dollars right now. Is it worth it to pair the 7700k with my current card or at least something cheaper than the 1080 or 1070 SLI? Or should I just not bother?

Or alternatively, is the 7700k just maybe too high end for me? I'm not really planning on doing anything crazy with this rig, just would like to be able to play new games on decent settings for awhile before needing to upgrade again.

 

[eli_harper13]

Well what resolution will you being playing at? That is what will really decide on what card to get. And if you're mostly going to be gaming, perhaps consider the 7600k to save a few bucks or put towards a better GPU? It will be able to game no problem and would pair nicely with a 1070 or 1080 (depending on what resolution you will be gaming at). You could even settle for the 6600k is it is very much cheaper. Skylake is pretty much just as powerful as Kabylake when ran at the same clock speeds. The only real advantage to Kabylake is it seems to be able to overclock better than Skylake. So if you aren't going to be pushing this CPU to its limit, you probably wouldn't really notice a performance difference between Kabylake and Skylake.

 

[elbert]

A single 1070 would be good. Get a second when you can for SLI.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card ($375.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $375.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-24 22:04 EST-0500

 

[The Paladin]

do you have A Z170 or Z270 board to match that unlocked Cpu ? if not then settle for the I7-6700 and save a lot of money for little performance changes.
saved monies redirected to a modern card, many swear by the 1080 but the 1060 6gb is a most valid video card to game, it all depends on your monitor max resolution to be honest... no point of having a Ferrari engine in a VW beetle if you get my meaning.

maybe you need to list what cpu, motherboard, ram and power supply you have, upgrading the CPU is not always needed and then you can invest into a powerful video card, the cost of video cards are astronomic of late but that is the price to pay for performance.

I still play on I5-4570 with a GTX 970, and I only intend in investing this year in a more powerful I7 chip nothing more. but I don't play battlefield 1 so all the gaming I play is at 100fps which is more than I need for my 1080p vision

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SSC GAMING Video Card ($269.77 @ Amazon)

 

[wildcardcharlie]

Well what resolution will you being playing at? That is what will really decide on what card to get. And if you're mostly going to be gaming, perhaps consider the 7600k to save a few bucks or put towards a better GPU? It will be able to game no problem and would pair nicely with a 1070 or 1080 (depending on what resolution you will be gaming at). You could even settle for the 6600k is it is very much cheaper. Skylake is pretty much just as powerful as Kabylake when ran at the same clock speeds. The only real advantage to Kabylake is it seems to be able to overclock better than Skylake. So if you aren't going to be pushing this CPU to its limit, you probably wouldn't really notice a performance difference between Kabylake and Skylake.

do you have A Z170 or Z270 board to match that unlocked Cpu ? if not then settle for the I7-6700 and save a lot of money for little performance changes.
saved monies redirected to a modern card, many swear by the 1080 but the 1060 6gb is a most valid video card to game, it all depends on your monitor max resolution to be honest... no point of having a Ferrari engine in a VW beetle if you get my meaning.

maybe you need to list what cpu, motherboard, ram and power supply you have, upgrading the CPU is not always needed and then you can invest into a powerful video card, the cost of video cards are astronomic of late but that is the price to pay for performance.

I still play on I5-4570 with a GTX 970, and I only intend in investing this year in a more powerful I7 chip nothing more. but I don't play battlefield 1 so all the gaming I play is at 100fps which is more than I need for my 1080p vision

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SSC GAMING Video Card ($269.77 @ Amazon)

Thanks for the info. I was planning to get a new motherboard to go with the CPU.

My current CPU is an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, which is already behind my current GPU.

Not sure on the RAM and PSU (on my laptop right now) but none of it is very high end stuff. The PSU is relatively new (last two years or so), I believe 750w or somewhere around there.

Do you know where I could find the I7-6700 for cheaper than the 7700k? The places I looked had them at pretty much the same price.

 

[The Paladin]

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($344.75 @ OutletPC)

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)

just to muddle it all the 7770 no K cpu
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.69 @ SuperBiiz)

 

[DSzymborski]

The PSU's specifics would definitely be helpful. There are dreadful 750W PSUs. And excellent 450W ones.

 

[wildcardcharlie]

The PSU's specifics would definitely be helpful. There are dreadful 750W PSUs. And excellent 450W ones.

Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RJZQSW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[eli_harper13]

The PSU's specifics would definitely be helpful. There are dreadful 750W PSUs. And excellent 450W ones.

Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RJZQSW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A CX750 almost fried one of my PCs... I would personally upgrade that. Seasonic makes really good PSUs. And if you're mostly gaming, the GPU will do most of the work, but it still depends on what resolution and how high refresh rate.

 

[elbert]

The PSU's specifics would definitely be helpful. There are dreadful 750W PSUs. And excellent 450W ones.

Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RJZQSW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If it powers the 280x it can easily handle any of the Nvidia's upto the 1080. The 1070 only needs a 450~500w PSU so they really dont require much power unlike a few years ago.