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[SOLVED] What is a sufficient CPU for the RTX 3080

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Budrussell

Sep 20, 2020
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I have an I7 7700k and was looking into buying an RTX 3080 for 1440p 144hz gaming, i'm just not sure what would be the best CPU for me. I have an ASUS Maximus IX Hero and 32gb of ram. Any suggestions?
 
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Karadjgne
Going in circles. And the 3000 series gpus throw a money wrench in the works. Traditionally, the cpu pre-renders all frames. It sets the maximum amount of frames you could possibly get, according to some in-game settings and the game code itself. The gpu just has to live upto that limit, or fail, according to resolution and detail levels.

At 1080p, the workload weight is on the cpu (when paired with a powerful gpu). At 1440p, more weight is applied to the gpu which has to deal with 1.7x as many pixels as 1080p. At 4k, the gpu has almost all the weight, 4x as many pixels to paint as 1080p. Doesn't change the cpu output.

The 3000 series changes that. It's equipped with direct rendering, basically many frames will bypass any cpu...
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I think the OP wants to know whether his current CPU will substantially frustrate the operation of a 3080 gpu. In my opinion, it will not. If the question is more general: what is the least powerful CPU such that a more powerful CPU will not gain additional performance at a given resolution, then it remains to be seen how each given game engine responds to various system variables.
 
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gtarayan said:
I think the OP wants to know whether his current CPU will substantially frustrate the operation of a 3080 gpu. In my opinion, it will not.
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This is why I said the OP needs to check out as many reviews as they can, because it depends on the kinds of titles they play, or think they will play.
The gains at 4K are more impressive than they are at 1440p; it swings a lot.
 
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gtarayan said:
I think the OP wants to know whether his current CPU will substantially frustrate the operation of a 3080 gpu. In my opinion, it will not. If the question is more general: what is the least powerful CPU such that a more powerful CPU will not gain additional performance at a given resolution, then it remains to be seen how each given game engine responds to various system variables.
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Yea what I was basically asking was what is the least expensive CPU that I could get that wouldn't bottleneck the 3080. But now i've been informed at without a motherboard upgrade the 7700K is the best I can get
 
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RodroX said:
You already have the best CPU your motherboard can handle. Are you asking for a new system question?
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I was wondering what the cheapest CPU I could get to run games such as warzone in 1440p at high fps without bottlenecking the 3080. But I wasn't aware that my motherboard doesn't allow for upgrades. I'll have to look into some new motherboards I guess 🙁 Thanks!
 
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Phaaze88 said:
It depends on the games themselves. Check reviews.
1440p sees much bigger swings than 4K. From 80%, to as low as 20% - comparing to a 2080, that is.

This card is more worthwhile at 4K - not saying that it's bad at 1440p - no, far from it.
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No hard core AAA title gamer is going to be happy wtih 4k@60fps. The pros play at 1080p and 1440p and just use AA methods so theres no jaggies. 4k is great for desktop but for games it just makes things really small and cuts your FPS in half if not more. Were not there yet and the 3090 is going to be only 10 to 15 percent faster then the 3080. Then you have Gigabyte releasing 20GB cards. Bottom line 75 percent gamers have gaming monitors which are 144hz. So 4k@60fps or 60hz would be smooth but would be laggy. Maybe the 4080Ti or 5080Ti can do 4k@144fps locked.🙈🤷‍♂️✝👩‍🦲💯
 
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Phaaze88 said:
It depends on the games themselves. Check reviews.
1440p sees much bigger swings than 4K. From 80%, to as low as 20% - comparing to a 2080, that is.

This card is more worthwhile at 4K - not saying that it's bad at 1440p - no, far from it.
Click to expand...
Yea I know the 3080 is a little overkill for 1440p on some games but i'm just getting the best card rn for the money so I can utilize my 1440p 144hz monitor. My 1080 just cannot handle it
 
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I plan on getting the 240hz predator 1440p monitor so I guess the 3080 is the best choice for new games ultra graphics and e-sports FPS, over the 3070 then. Screw 4k gaming im a real gamer, still not enough frames in it for me ^^
 
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Budrussell said:
I have an I7 7700k and was looking into buying an RTX 3080 for 1440p 144hz gaming, i'm just not sure what would be the best CPU for me. I have an ASUS Maximus IX Hero and 32gb of ram. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Lets see this the other way around: Do you have a powerfull PSU that can handle the RTX 3080?

If the answer is YES, then I would say go ahead and buy the card and tried it out with your current 7700K (be carefull not to over pay for it, remember the founders edition has a MSRP of U$700).

For many games the 7700K is still a vialble choice, it has 4 cores + HT so it should handle most titles well. Specially if you are playing at 1440p

But remember be carefull your PSU has enough power to handle the RTX 3080.

Cheers
 
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Budrussell said:
Yea I know the 3080 is a little overkill for 1440p on some games but i'm just getting the best card rn for the money so I can utilize my 1440p 144hz monitor. My 1080 just cannot handle it
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Well, with the 7700K, you would be cpu limited in Warzone. It's one of those rare titles - at the moment - that can utilize up to 12 cpu threads. The 7700K has 8.
No, I'm not saying it's unplayable - far from it, but if you're looking to min/max, then it could be a problem.
 
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Going in circles. And the 3000 series gpus throw a money wrench in the works. Traditionally, the cpu pre-renders all frames. It sets the maximum amount of frames you could possibly get, according to some in-game settings and the game code itself. The gpu just has to live upto that limit, or fail, according to resolution and detail levels.

At 1080p, the workload weight is on the cpu (when paired with a powerful gpu). At 1440p, more weight is applied to the gpu which has to deal with 1.7x as many pixels as 1080p. At 4k, the gpu has almost all the weight, 4x as many pixels to paint as 1080p. Doesn't change the cpu output.

The 3000 series changes that. It's equipped with direct rendering, basically many frames will bypass any cpu involvement, rendered directly by the gpu. So traditional thinking doesn't apply. The 3080 will be taking some of the 7700k workload, so increasing the fps possible limit. Being a 4k card, it's somewhat slightly more than what's needed at 1440p for many games, so further increasing the ability to live upto the cpu set limit without detriment by using direct rendering.

Take the thought of bottleneck and throw it out of the window. You'll be getting the maximum possible fps that a 4c/8t cpu can supply. But the only number that has any bearing is the average minimums, not the maximums. If minimums are anything close to refresh, with maximums being well over, then the exact number over is moot. Doesn't matter if you get 200fps max or 500fps max, you only get 60, or 144 etc.
 
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