[SOLVED] Should I be upgrading my CPU for 1440p 144hz?

galon

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Dec 21, 2017
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I have an Intel Xeon e3 1231 v3,
Clockspeed: 3.4 GHz
Turbo Speed: 3.8 GHz
No of Cores: 4

I currently have a gtx 970 and a 1080p monitor, I was thinking of making the jump to a 2080 1440p 144hz, but was wondering if my CPU would be too much of a choke, my motherboard is limited to gen 5 CPUs so id have to upgrade the motherboard too so the cost is starting to add up.

tl;dr worth upgrading to 1440p without upgrading my cpu or not?
 
Solution
if you want a faster system and can wait.. I would really wait at this point until next year. but if you need a faster system https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/jTs3mq would be a good start. though its not like night and day faster.. I would really wait untill the new CPUs come up next year as the speculation on it sounds like they will be faster and the same cost etc.. if you go AMD Ryzen. I have a Ryzen 1800X and I am really hoping that what I have been reading is correct as if it is I will be getting a new CPU next year :) we should know all the details at CES 2019
I would guess that you would be limiting the performance of the RTX 2080 to some degree. I don't think it would render gaming to unplayable conditions.

But on the other hand you can always upgrade the motherboard, CPU, and RAM later on.

What power supply do you have?
 


I agree with Rob. The 2600 and 2600x are superb chips, but for 4K gaming they might lack a little. A Ryzen 7 might be better,
 

galon

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I cant remember and opening my case up doesnt tell me, id have to take it out properly to see the label but off the top of my head 500, maybe 550?
 

galon

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Thats the other issue, i have ddr3 ram right now and it'd be expensive to upgrade.
 


There’s some $60 solutions of 8gb of DDR4, I can provide some links if you want.
 

galon

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I'm in australia and the cheapest 8 gb ram i can find is $95 dollars, and thats from a brand I've never heard of. "Team T-force" i have corsair ram at the moment
 


I had Team T-force ram and it’s actually very high quality! I would recommend.

 

boju

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Imho, really you should be fine running a 2080 if not too crazy on fps. Your xeon is equiv to an i7 4770 and they dont bottleneck a 1080Ti in higher resolutions. 2080 is only a smidge faster.

Problem will be higher cpu usages with high frame rates of 100+ as the cpu has to pre-render each frame so you can keep that in check by monitoring cpu usage vs frame rates and limit fps if need. Hyperthreading will also be a help with that.

Newer cpus have better ipc so they are able to keep up better with demanding gpus but even at 1440p where these powerful cards are pushing high enough fps are giving even an 8700k a workout.

I think your system is good enough to hang on to until 2020 when ddr5 platforms are close enough to being released.

How much ram do you have atm? For gpus today it's recommended having atleast 16GB to help keep more game data flowing in memory rather than use swap file (virtual memory) since youll have more vram and probably use more of it to increase details to lower the frame rates a bit. :)
 

Doctor Rob

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Jul 21, 2008
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if you want a faster system and can wait.. I would really wait at this point until next year. but if you need a faster system https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/jTs3mq would be a good start. though its not like night and day faster.. I would really wait untill the new CPUs come up next year as the speculation on it sounds like they will be faster and the same cost etc.. if you go AMD Ryzen. I have a Ryzen 1800X and I am really hoping that what I have been reading is correct as if it is I will be getting a new CPU next year :) we should know all the details at CES 2019
 
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