Is a 1080 overkill for 1080p/1440p

[JJ48_24]

So i am planing a 1600x and 100 build but i was wondering if i should upgrade to like a 1700x and do a 1070 for the gpu. My budget is $1250.

 

[Barty1884]

I wouldn't even bother with the 1600X, the R5 1600 is a much more appealing "value", and should rival the 1600X when OC'd while saving a solid $20 / 10-15% in price.

Got 1080p/1440p, a 1080 *might* be overkill - unless you're looking at a higher >120Hz refresh rate 1440p.
Really depends on the game(s) though.

A 1070TI would save you ~$50 / 10% vs a 1080, and is within a couple of % points once OC'd

 

[volkgren]

For 1440p it's fine. 1080p you will see some CPU limitations with Ryzen and a GTX 1080, depending on the game it may not be enough to be of concern. You can check YouTube for gameplay videos that show CPU and GPU usage.

 

[JJ48_24]

So would you say it would be worth the $ to get a 1700x and like a 1070ti over the 1600x

 

[Barty1884]

For a gaming rig? No, I don't see any justification for it. 6C/12T is more than enough. 8C/16T in the 1700X is nice enough, but really unneeded IMO.

 

[JJ48_24]

IDK sometimes I do some content creation

 

[volkgren]

[When spending $400+ on a GPU] Either go 1440p on your monitor or go with Intel and 144Hz. That's my advice. At 1080p Intel is for the most part much faster.

 

[Barty1884]

On an IPC basis, yes - Intel's offerings do offer a bit of an advantage - but it's not dramatic differences, and there's a pretty decent price delta for similar core/thread count.

As for content creation, for a hobby "sometimes", 6c/12t seems more than sufficient.
If you were building a dedicated, 24/7 content creation machine - then the additional cores/threads might make sense.

 

[volkgren]

I can't come to a definitive conclusion because I see conflicting evidence on gameplay videos due to different scenarios. I don't own Ryzen but I've seen it holding back a GTX 1080 in certain games. But even then it performs just fine unless you're obsessive compulsive when it comes to maxing out performance.

To answer the original question, a GTX 1080 is only overkill at 1080p if your monitor is 60Hz.