Will an i5-7600K bottleneck a 1080 (Strix)?

[Stan the goldfish]

Im building a pc this june and first I was going for a 1080 and i5 duo.
But I was scared that it would bottleneck for some reason, so now Im going for an i5 and 1070.
Btw this is the first pc I will be building myself.

 

[jdcranke07]

Im building a pc this june and first I was going for a 1080 and i5 duo.
But I was scared that it would bottleneck for some reason, so now Im going for an i5 and 1070.
Btw this is the first pc I will be building myself.

No, it will not.

 

[atomicWAR]

Most games no it will be fine. However CPU heavy games are another story. Some new games like BF1 can bottleneck i5s in general because they take as many threads as you can trow at it. In BF1 multiplayer I have heard complaints of 95-100% CPU ulitization with 50FPS regardless of settings with even the newest of i5s. A couple more like Ghost Recon Wildlands and watch dogs 2 also use as many threads as you have but generally speaking your CPU should not bottleneck a gtx 1080. I would however think about moving to more threads/cores in the somewhat near future.

 

[Stan the goldfish]

Im building a pc this june and first I was going for a 1080 and i5 duo.
But I was scared that it would bottleneck for some reason, so now Im going for an i5 and 1070.
Btw this is the first pc I will be building myself.

No, it will not.

Most games no it will be fine. However CPU heavy games are another story. Some new games like BF1 can bottleneck i5s in general because they take as many threads as you can trow at it. In BF1 multiplayer I have heard complaints of 95-100% CPU ulitization with 50FPS regardless of settings with even the newest of i5s. A couple more like Ghost Recon Wildlands and watch dogs 2 also use as many threads as you have but generally speaking your CPU should not bottleneck a gtx 1080. I would however think about moving to more threads/cores in the somewhat near future.

The thing is I wont be upgrading in like a long time this pc will stay with me for really long.
So I should go for an i7?

 

[atomicWAR]

If you plan on keeping it a long time yeah I would go for the i7 or by that time you build R5s should launch and a 6C/12T CPU would be even better and less expensive then an i5/i7 build.

 

[Froggystylexz95]

I have a 7600k and a 1080 GTX, so I can answer this question. It works fine for most games, but I have to limit the FPS in Battlefield 1, or else I get 100% cpu usage and it eats my inputs. Mafia 3 and Ghost Recon Wildlands also gets the same thing. 100% cpu and it sometimes eats my keyboard inputs or stutters.

Don't even get me started on streaming. I can't stream for crap with this 7600k. Even some crappier games have problems streaming with it, although those might be more due to optimization. I can stream Doom(2016) just fine, but I cannot stream BF1, because it eats inputs and basically destroys the CPU, even at low settings. I ordered a 7700k, because screw this.

Take it from me, if you play some of these more demanding games, a 7600k will definitely bottleneck the 1080 GTX.

I am running at 2560 x 1080 resolution, with 16 gb of DDR4 3000 ram and a hybrid cooled 1080 GTX. Also overclocked the 7600k to 4.8 Ghz, and it doesn't alleviate the problem at all.

 

[jdcranke07]

I have a 7600k and a 1080 GTX, so I can answer this question. It works fine for most games, but I have to limit the FPS in Battlefield 1, or else I get 100% cpu usage and it eats my inputs. Mafia 3 and Ghost Recon Wildlands also gets the same thing. 100% cpu and it sometimes eats my keyboard inputs or stutters.

Don't even get me started on streaming. I can't stream for crap with this 7600k. Even some crappier games have problems streaming with it, although those might be more due to optimization. I can stream Doom(2016) just fine, but I cannot stream BF1, because it eats inputs and basically destroys the CPU, even at low settings. I ordered a 7700k, because screw this.

Take it from me, if you play some of these more demanding games, a 7600k will definitely bottleneck the 1080 GTX.

I am running at 2560 x 1080 resolution, with 16 gb of DDR4 3000 ram and a hybrid cooled 1080 GTX. Also overclocked the 7600k to 4.8 Ghz, and it doesn't alleviate the problem at all.

This is because you are gaming at an abnormal resolution and because BF1 is one of the newest games that incorporates more cores than previous AAA titles. You would benefit from an i7 like the 7700K in this case. For the mass majority of games you will not run into that issue. However, if you plan to game and stream at the same time, which was not stated in the OP, then you need to seriously look into the i7-7700K, the i7 extreme CPUs (your best bet), or even go for Xeons. If you just plan on gaming and not streaming, then just going with the 7600K will be better for you since the 7700K will only give you good head way and be worth every penny, if you plan on streaming and gaming or doing multiple tasks all at the same time.

 

[Ecky]

Resolution has nothing to do with CPU load.

 

[jdcranke07]

Resolution has nothing to do with CPU load.

It has everything to do with GPU load, which GPUs get their info from the CPU, which pulls it from the RAM and drives. There is no point splitting hairs.

 

[atomicWAR]

I have a 7600k and a 1080 GTX, so I can answer this question. It works fine for most games, but I have to limit the FPS in Battlefield 1, or else I get 100% cpu usage and it eats my inputs. Mafia 3 and Ghost Recon Wildlands also gets the same thing. 100% cpu and it sometimes eats my keyboard inputs or stutters.

Don't even get me started on streaming. I can't stream for crap with this 7600k. Even some crappier games have problems streaming with it, although those might be more due to optimization. I can stream Doom(2016) just fine, but I cannot stream BF1, because it eats inputs and basically destroys the CPU, even at low settings. I ordered a 7700k, because screw this.

Take it from me, if you play some of these more demanding games, a 7600k will definitely bottleneck the 1080 GTX.

I am running at 2560 x 1080 resolution, with 16 gb of DDR4 3000 ram and a hybrid cooled 1080 GTX. Also overclocked the 7600k to 4.8 Ghz, and it doesn't alleviate the problem at all.

I have an i5 4670K backup/streaming/server build myself and you are very much correct. My earlier post pretty much said the same as yours but with a hair less detail. I can't tell you how many posts I see where folks are complaining about i5s in the games you mention or when streaming is involved. Then you get a ton of fools who think every review site is right and an "i5 is all you need for gaming and streaming". While there are plenty of titles where 4C/4T are "enough" right now, more and more launch that will eat threads and therefore i5s for breakfast. 4C/4T is the new 2C/4T for gaming. Just enough, even for a high end GPU, for most games but the number of C/T is starting to show it's age. Personally I believe by the end of the year 4C/8T will be entry level as more games like BF1, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2 are using as many threads as you can give them. Even now the sweet spot is 6C/12T for gaming. Once the R5s launch on the 11th I think intel will really have there hands full with a even larger price war and consumers/gamer's will be the winners.

Sadly I still see so many reviews or posts in the forums were folks recommend i5s for new gaming builds saying 4C/4T is all you need and it makes me want to beat my head against a wall. Even when you present them with proof an i5 is not future proof or even the best choice now for gaming, they insist the reviews/benchmarks they have read say otherwise. Unfortunately reviewers are part of the problem. The benchmarks they run typically show the maximum frame rate and the average which only tells a small part of the story. With 2C/4T and 4C/4T it is the minimum frame rate and frame latency that becomes the issue. Yeah they may hit 100FPS max FPS and 64FPS average in game X vs an i7 with 115FPS max with 65FPS average. Looks great in a graph when you don't include the 2C/4T|4C/4T CPUs minimum frame rate/latnecy that is much worse. Say 24FPS min vs 56FPS min going from a 4T CPU to a 8T CPU or better. For me it those lows that ruin the experience for me and reviewers are all to happy to leave them out then say save your money get a better GPU and just buy the 2C/4T|4C/4T part. While there is some truth in that the fact is games are finally becoming well threaded and it seems like some of the gaming community is in denial over it. Rant over...

Regardless for the OP a GTX 1080 will help in many games but as stated earlier getting more cores and threads for your gaming rig is highly encouraged.