Is it worth upgrading GPU without upgrading CPU?

[falkenn]

I currently have a 970 I want to upgrade to a 1080Ti. But is it worth doing without upgrading my i7-4790k 4.0GHz?

 

[constantine_99]

your CPU is still pretty capable on handling the 1080ti, although on CPU demanding games the CPU might bottleneck it a bit (not too much, but should be viewable)

it is however, a worthy upgrade imo

if u're still planning on using the GPU for 1080p gaming, the old 970 is still sufficient
however, for 1440p 144hz / 4k though, the 1080ti is the way to go

Edit: by viewable i meant that fps difference between kabylake and haswell is noticeable at some point, but nothing too worrying imo XD

 

[OddyTrapKing]

hasewell cpu wont bottleneck pascal gpus man go for it also k series has its own kind of performance.
also u should oc it to 4.5 ghz to get its best performance.

 

[ben5768]

i upgraded to the 1080 with that cpu I'd say it's a good experience obviously the 1080ti is quite a bit more powerful but I'd say get the gpu then a new cpu whenever you feel it's the right time to do so

 

[mdd1963]

Yes, if planning 4K, or, 144 hz refresh...

 

[falkenn]

Thank you everyone for the quick answers, I appreciate it

 

[Karadjgne]

The 4790k might not be as capable as a 7700k, but it's still more than enough cpu to get the job done with a 1080ti. Depending on circumstances, you can bottleneck any cpu, amd or Intel, but for gaming purposes that's pretty much a non-issue for this i7.
The i7-4790k is 4.0GHz only at base stock speeds. In turbo setting (default for the bios) the cpu will run 1-2 cores at 4.4GHz, 3 cores at 4.3GHz and the 4th at 4.2GHz. So you are actually under factory OC conditions, not the base speeds.
As said, a 1080ti is really only going to be of any use for a 144Hz or 4k monitor, anything less and you can get the same performance out of a 1080 for a bunch less cash. In that case, the monitor itself will be the bottleneck on a 1080ti, refresh/resolution caps.