Question i5 6600K possible upgrade path!

[MachoFantastico]

Hello folks,

So I need some reliable advice regarding the i5 6600K and a possible upgrade path for me. Now my system is a few years old now and I'm running an Asus Z170-A motherboard with a i5 6600K CPU, 16GB's of ram and a GeForce 1070. Now this setup as served me well for a long time but recently I've been considering the need to possible upgrade my processor to something that will work better with the 1070. I'll admit I haven't followed components for some time and would prefer a setup where I might be able to still use my current motherboard but willing to listen to any suggestions.

The main purpose of my PC is for gaming at 1080p and I do use Nvidia DSR for some games. I'm worried that my current CPU bottlenecks my GPU which results in poorer performance. The i5 6600K is overclocked as is my 1070 card and while this helps, there's definitely a limit to what I can currently achieve when gaming. Possibly the bigger issue is the limited cores and threads on the 6600K and in some games I do believe this might be a factor in poorer performance. For example say Assassin's Creed Origins, a game I've owned for a long time but never really been able to play due to performance issues. Trouble is there are so many CPU's out there, with so many names that it's easy to lose track of everything. It's hard to know what benefit I'd get from upgrading to a new CPU and whilst I can read as many comparison charts as I want I still don't know for sure. I know AMD have Ryzen know but that would require a new motherboard.

So I'd greatly appreciate some thoughts on this, what advice would you have for me that would benefit my gaming experiences on my PC. Would a CPU upgrade help my performance in games or are there possibly other options. I did take a look at the i5 8400 but it's still early. I'm looking for good value for money in a CPU.

 

[InvalidError]

True even though games favor single core performance.

A growing number of games can make use of 4-8 threads and once you throw in all of Windows' background processes, game launchers, browsers, etc., having extra threads become very handy for reducing the frequency and severity of frame rate dips.

 

[reaper12474]

True, but as a 7700k owner I can tell you I have watched a lot of different reviews by more Reviewers then I care to mention. Everyone has shown that the 3600 is faster (at worst the same ) as the 7700k. I personally will be upgrading to a 3700k ( or better) next spring.

 

[MachoFantastico]

Sorry I haven't replied in this thread for a while. Been doing a fair bit of research and to be honest I'm still not entirely sure on what action to take. The main option is to go with the Ryzen 3600 with new motherboard and 3200 ram. Thing is I'm not entirely sure how much of a performance increase this combination will have with a GTX 1070. Read a lot of articles, reviews and posts regarding how impressive the Ryzen 3600 is, but as someone who doesn't do a lot of heavy workloads on my PC I'm not sure how beneficial the extra threads will be to be. Viewing some benchmarks I'm surprised how the likes of Assassin's Creed Origins (a game I was told benefited from more core/threads) still struggles with familiar performance issues that I have already.

I'm looking to increase game performance mainly and given what I've read and seen it's hard to tell if going with a Ryzen 3600 would be that big of a change to what I have now (i5 6600K/GTX 1070). I'm no computer expert but I've wondered if I'd benefit more from upgrading my GPU rather than my CPU.

Would the Ryzen 3600 make a noticeable difference in games or would I be better thinking of another option.

 

[InvalidError]

Would the Ryzen 3600 make a noticeable difference in games or would I be better thinking of another option.

How much of an improvement it might be would be heavily dependent on the specific present and future games you want to play and what your actual expectations are.

If upgrading is such a dilemma for you, then perhaps you are happy enough with your current system and aren't ripe for an upgrade at all. Upgrading for upgrading's sake is a wasteful use of cash that you probably can't spare if you have to think so hard about it.

 

[MachoFantastico]

Thanks for your input InvalidError. I do intend to go overboard in my research into these things, which I know isn't always a good thing. I know having done some testing with a few games that my CPU is bottlenecking my GPU, for example with the previously mentioned Assassin's Creed: Origins benchmark all my cores run at 100% whilst my GPU only reaches 30-50% usage which I believe is a sign of the CPU restricting my graphics card. But that's only with certain games not all.

There's also the issue of possible future proofing, already a lot of games are starting to take adventure of more powerful CPU's and with next-gen games it seems 4 cores probably won't be enough. Hopefully the Ryzen 5 3600 will most likely age pretty well and with the AM4 motherboards it means there will potentially be more options for me in the future without having to buy a brand new motherboard for a new CPU.

Thanks again InvalidError.

 

[InvalidError]

my GPU only reaches 30-50% usage which I believe is a sign of the CPU restricting my graphics card. But that's only with certain games not all.

As long as you are still getting frame rates you are happy with, GPU usage does not really matter since a more powerful CPU to push the GPU harder wouldn't improve your actual overall in-game experience all that much. (Unless your definition of what you can be happy with is awfully low... I used to be happy with 25-30fps back when I was in high school, now even 40fps is barely tolerable.)

Preemptive future-proofing does not make much sense either: if you are still happy with your current PC, upgrading now locks your money away in current tech that you don't need yet. If you upgrade when you actually need to, you can get the most recent tech available when you need it or (at least in AMD's case) significantly discounted previous-gen tech.

 

[Karadjgne]

In a nutshell, you already have the best cpu you can. The 7700k isn't really an upgrade, it's a lateral move, a few extra fps you won't see anyways.

Which leaves you with 2 choices. Live with what you have, which is plenty for almost every game on the planet, or

Scrap the whole platform, cpu/mobo/ram, and spend a lot of money for performance increase you'll only get to see 5 years from now when it becomes a minimum standard, not a currently over the top one.

Humans can't physically tell the difference in any cpu/gpu combination that's above the refresh of the monitor. Doesn't make a difference if you get 200fps with your current setup, 210fps with a 7700k or 300fps with a i9 9900k. The most you can see is 60/120/144/165. Which is identical to you. Only a synthetic benchmark can tell the difference.

So you'll have to decide if sinking $400-$1200 into a revamp is really worth some numbers on a piece of paper.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

I recently "upgraded" from a 6600k to a 7700 as my work was recycling old PCs. So zero cost to me, figured why not. The difference in overall average fps was near none, but the playability of certain titles increased quite a bit. Where I would get stutters or micro freezes were all but gone and all games played much smoother, imo.

So the jump from the 6600k to an r5 may not be a huge fps increase, it should make a large difference in 1% and .1% lows. Whether or not that difference is worth the price is another question entirely. If you're happy with current performance, making a core upgrade makes little sense.