[SOLVED] i7 6700K + RTX 3070 - Time to upgrade CPU for 1440p 165Hz?

[HeleniusTG]

Hi all,

My current set up:
Zotac Geforce RTX 3070 Twin Edge OC (got lucky with a random stock check!)
Intel Core i7 6700K @ 4.0 GHz (Not OC'ed)
Gigabyte Z170 Gaming K3 Motherboard
16GB 2400 MHz RAM
1TB Samsung 970 EVO SSD (M.2)
120GB Sandisk Extreme SSD (SATA)
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD (SATA)
Gigabyte G27QC-EK 27" 2560x1400p 165Hz Monitor

So... the thing is, say for example I'm aiming for a minimum of 70fps in modern AAA games with settings maxed out, having played Assassins Creed Origins recently, it disgusts me to see the level of CPU bottlenecking (CPU at 100% with GPU at only 60ish %) occurring with V-Sync disabled, capping me to around 65-70fps on average, with drops to around 45-50fps in the worst spots... Whilst I appreciate AC is particularly guilty of this, I was just wondering to what extent a more recent 6-8 core CPU would benefit me in combatting this issue going into the future, as presumably games now start to become more specifically optimised for high core counts with the recent release of next-gen consoles, and whether it would be worth the price of the new CPU, motherboard and most likely RAM to boot at this point in time, or whether to hold out for a year or two more..

For the record, I realise overclocking is always an option, but I try to steer clear mostly for the fact that it makes the CPU much harder to sell on after I'm done with it! Plus my motherboard is one of the cheaper options and would probably melt/spontaneously combust. Feel free to discuss this too however

Cheers guys!

 

[Eximo]

If K assume overclocked when buying used...I wouldn't take a seller's word for it.

I say go for it, can get that thing up to 4.5-4.6Ghz without a huge amount of effort, long as you have a decent heatsink.

Worst case, you are looking at purchasing hardware anyway. I would say new CPU, Motherboard, RAM at the least. (You could also try overclocking the memory a tad, 2400Mhz is a bit slow even for that CPU.

Certainly a lot to be gained with a 6 or more core CPU, 25% minimum IPC gain in the last few generations from Intel. And the latest Ryzen 5000 chips have Intel beat, at least until 11th gen comes out.

I think I will hold out for DDR5 if I can stretch it. Was really tempted to pick up an I7-10700KF though, Amazon briefly had them for the price of $260 yesterday...

 

[Flayed]

DDR5 with decent timings will be a while yet, two years I would guess

 

[Eximo]

Early specs show DDR5 3200 at CL of 22. Not terrible, not great. But that is only the standard, not what the memory companies will necessarily produce.

Still, I'm an early adopter from way back. Jumped onto DDR3 when it was new. Paid $300 for DDR3 1600 when 1066/1333Mhz were the launch speeds. Pretty sure it burned out that motherboard actually, still kind of works though, can still get dual channel working.

 

[HeleniusTG]

Hey all,

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you all! Thanks for your help!

To update you, I tried to do some very basic overclocking with no success... I've never done it before and watched some videos on it, but my BIOS didn't seem to have some of the settings people were telling me to fiddle with and I just couldn't be bothered with it after all (though I must admit I hadn't updated the BIOS for a long time)...

Long story short, I took the plunge and upgraded to Ryzen 5000, more specifically the Ryzen 7 5800X with some swanky new 3600MHz RAM to boot, so I hope that lasts me for many many years to come. Though I've had an absolute mare so far with BIOSes and the flashback feature... it'll be sorted as soon as I get my replacement mobo (went for the MSI MAG B550 Mortar in the end).

The i7 is now on Ebay and will hopefully bring joy to an overclocker with more experience!!

Cheers again!
Sam.