[SOLVED] Is it worth upgrading my i7 6700k?

[Five5hot]

As the title suggests I've had the CPU for about 4 years so far and was wondering if it's due an upgrade. I have a 1060 6gb SCC and wondering if it's more reasonable to upgrade that instead. I have yet to overclock the CPU.

CPU: i7 6700k
Motherboard: Z170A Krait Gaming
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum (2 x 8GB)
GPU: EVGA 1060 6GB SCC

 

[vapour]

nope, CPU and GPU good match so far, I will upgrade gpu before CPU.

 

[Five5hot]

nope, CPU and GPU good match so far, I will upgrade gpu before CPU.

What kind of GPU would you recommend getting?

 

[vapour]

budget on the upgrade and country?
psu model?
what monitor is it?

 

[Five5hot]

budget on the upgrade and country?
psu model?
what monitor is it?

No budget really and I live in the states. I was thinking of getting a 2080 by the end of the year.
PSU is crap. It's a 500W that I've been meaning to replace whenever I upgrade.
The monitor is an MSI 144hz 24inch. I can give you the model # if you need.

 

[vapour]

if 1080p 144hz, 2060 is good enough. But feel free to get better if you plan to go 1440p 144hz route.

 

[geofelt]

Worth is something only YOU can determine.
Sounds like you have the itch.

In what way is your current pc not doing the job?

If it is for gaming, here are my canned questions:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

If you think you need more cpu power, try to overclock.
As of 12/04/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.4v Vcore.

I7-6700K
4.9 5%
4.8 21%
4.7 64%
4.6 96%

If you think you need a stronger graphics card, make it a significant jump or you may be disappointed.
Something in the GTX1660ti class or higher.

While your 500w psu may run such a card, upgrade the psu if you can.

Do you have a ssd for windows?
ssd prices are down. A Samsung 860 evo 1tb is $140 or so.

 

[Five5hot]

Worth is something only YOU can determine.
Sounds like you have the itch.

In what way is your current pc not doing the job?

If it is for gaming, here are my canned questions:

Some games are graphics limited like fast action shooters.
Others are cpu core speed limited like strategy, sims, and mmo.
Multiplayer tends to like many threads.

You need to find out which.
------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.



It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system,
and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

If you think you need more cpu power, try to overclock.
As of 12/04/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.4v Vcore.

I7-6700K
4.9 5%
4.8 21%
4.7 64%
4.6 96%

If you think you need a stronger graphics card, make it a significant jump or you may be disappointed.
Something in the GTX1660ti class or higher.

While your 500w psu may run such a card, upgrade the psu if you can.

Do you have a ssd for windows?
ssd prices are down. A Samsung 860 evo 1tb is $140 or so.

Thanks for the advice and will definitely do what you told me. I haven't had troubles with modern games. I usually play FPS games on low so I maximize my FPS anyways. I do have a 500gb SSD but my OS is not on it, it's on an HDD. I did recently got a NVME from my roommate and was thinking of putting my OS on that. I definitely will upgrade my PSU once I do upgrade, just trying to figure out what I need to upgrade. I heard that 4 core CPU's are near its end and I was just curious. So from what I am getting and what I googled my CPU is still in good shape and I am looking to upgrade my GPU.

 

[geofelt]

If you play fps games, the graphics card will be all important.
FWIW, here is a study showing little advantage past 4 cores:

Report: Despite Claims, Most PC Games Are Still Unable To Take Advantage Of More Than 4 CPU Cores

Well, you gotta love developers. This past year, we’ve been hearing from a lot of teams that their games were taking advantage of more than four CPU cores. And you know what? We decided to put a lot of CPU-bound games to the test. The results are a bit disheartening – to say the least – …...

www.dsogaming.com