Will my 4770k bottleneck the new 1080 Ti?

[K1llrzzZ]

Hi!

I'm planning to get the new 1080 Ti that was just announced. I know the card is not out yet,but since it is very similar to the Titan X(pascal), and the specs are already out, It's not so hard to speculate just how much CPU power this card needs. So as you guys can see in the title I currently have a 4770k,and my monitor has a resolution of 1920x1200(So slightly higer then 1080p). I planned to get a 4K one,but I can only afford that later. So until then in this resolution with this CPU and GPU will I experience any serious CPU bottleneck? I'm going to max out every setting with this card of course. Thank you guys for the help and have a nice day!

 

[herrwizo]

This is a very powerful CPU, especially when overclocked. No worries at all regarding bottlenecks.

 

[K1llrzzZ]

This is a very powerful CPU, especially when overclocked. No worries at all regarding bottlenecks.

Thank you for your quick reply That's good to hear,I really didn't want to buy a new CPU now,the card is enough spending as it is. And from what I saw the 7700K is only about 10-15% faster then my CPU,Basically as fast as the 6700K. The new AMD CPUs are looking good(ryzen),but buying a new mobo,CPU,RAM... It's just not something i wanted to do right now. Buying a 4K monitor would be cheaper and at that resolution it would definitely be GPU limited,so I'll probably do that later this year,but it's good to know that my CPU will do just fine until then.

 

[herrwizo]

It will, most certainly.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Wrong... It can and probably will. My 6700k bottlenecks sometimes with my 1080. A 6700K OVERCLOCKED TO 4.6GHZ BOTTLENECKS A 1080.

It can and it will. Any game with crappy optimization will bottleneck the CPU. Many MANY games benefit more from single core speed rather than multiple cores. WoW for example mostly uses 1 core, and 3 cores somewhat, and the other 4 cores/threads not at all, but when I upgraded from an overclocked 3770K to a stock 6700K I got about 20FPS increase in WoW. And when I overclocked it to 4.6GHz, I got about another 15fps. All the while I had the same 1080 without changing settings, my GPU usage in WoW is still mostly 40-50%, whereas Tomb Raider (2013) runs it at 99% the entire time.

My point is you should check your SOFTWARE. If the game is GPU-dependendant you should be fine, but if the game is CPU-HEAVY, you're ARE going to bottleneck.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Secondly, you don't need anything close to a 1080 Ti to run that resolution. Unless you are running at 2560x1440 @144Hz, 3440x1440 @100Hz, or 4k, you don't need a 1080 Ti. Anything less a 1080 will run perfectly fine save for the most extremely graphics heavy games like DOOM and Battlefield 1. At your resolution a 1070 will give just as great performance as a 1080 Ti, especially considering the 1080 Ti will probably render FAR beyond your refresh rate and make your game tear.

So unless you are also planning on upgrading your monitor, there's no reason to get a 1080 Ti.

With the exception of Battlefield 1 I run every single game at Ultra 3440x1440 at 100fps and I have a 1080, the only reason I am getting a 1080 Ti is because of BF1.

 

[K1llrzzZ]

Wrong... It can and probably will. My 6700k bottlenecks sometimes with my 1080. A 6700K OVERCLOCKED TO 4.6GHZ BOTTLENECKS A 1080.

It can and it will. Any game with crappy optimization will bottleneck the CPU. Many MANY games benefit more from single core speed rather than multiple cores. WoW for example mostly uses 1 core, and 3 cores somewhat, and the other 4 cores/threads not at all, but when I upgraded from an overclocked 3770K to a stock 6700K I got about 20FPS increase in WoW. And when I overclocked it to 4.6GHz, I got about another 15fps. All the while I had the same 1080 without changing settings, my GPU usage in WoW is still mostly 40-50%, whereas Tomb Raider (2013) runs it at 99% the entire time.

My point is you should check your SOFTWARE. If the game is GPU-dependendant you should be fine, but if the game is CPU-HEAVY, you're ARE going to bottleneck.

Secondly, you don't need anything close to a 1080 Ti to run that resolution. Unless you are running at 2560x1440 @144Hz, 3440x1440 @100Hz, or 4k, you don't need a 1080 Ti. Anything less a 1080 will run perfectly fine save for the most extremely graphics heavy games like DOOM and Battlefield 1. At your resolution a 1070 will give just as great performance as a 1080 Ti, especially considering the 1080 Ti will probably render FAR beyond your refresh rate and make your game tear.

So unless you are also planning on upgrading your monitor, there's no reason to get a 1080 Ti.

With the exception of Battlefield 1 I run every single game at Ultra 3440x1440 at 100fps and I have a 1080, the only reason I am getting a 1080 Ti is because of BF1.

You're playing at 4K and your overclocked 6700K bottlenecks your 1080? At 4K games are VERY GPU heavy,you shouldn't have any serious bottleneck at that resolution with that CPU and GPU,maybe in some where poorly optimised game,but not in any new AAA games like the ones you mentioned (Battlefield 1, Doom). Those to are actually very well optimised,Doom looks nice but in 1080p 3-4 year old cards can run it just fine, and Battlefield 1 has 64 player multiplayer matches,amazing graphics and huge maps and still runs just very well even on not high-end systems,but yeah at 4K it will of course need a brutal config to run at at maximum settings.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Wrong... It can and probably will. My 6700k bottlenecks sometimes with my 1080. A 6700K OVERCLOCKED TO 4.6GHZ BOTTLENECKS A 1080.

It can and it will. Any game with crappy optimization will bottleneck the CPU. Many MANY games benefit more from single core speed rather than multiple cores. WoW for example mostly uses 1 core, and 3 cores somewhat, and the other 4 cores/threads not at all, but when I upgraded from an overclocked 3770K to a stock 6700K I got about 20FPS increase in WoW. And when I overclocked it to 4.6GHz, I got about another 15fps. All the while I had the same 1080 without changing settings, my GPU usage in WoW is still mostly 40-50%, whereas Tomb Raider (2013) runs it at 99% the entire time.

My point is you should check your SOFTWARE. If the game is GPU-dependendant you should be fine, but if the game is CPU-HEAVY, you're ARE going to bottleneck.

Secondly, you don't need anything close to a 1080 Ti to run that resolution. Unless you are running at 2560x1440 @144Hz, 3440x1440 @100Hz, or 4k, you don't need a 1080 Ti. Anything less a 1080 will run perfectly fine save for the most extremely graphics heavy games like DOOM and Battlefield 1. At your resolution a 1070 will give just as great performance as a 1080 Ti, especially considering the 1080 Ti will probably render FAR beyond your refresh rate and make your game tear.

So unless you are also planning on upgrading your monitor, there's no reason to get a 1080 Ti.

With the exception of Battlefield 1 I run every single game at Ultra 3440x1440 at 100fps and I have a 1080, the only reason I am getting a 1080 Ti is because of BF1.

You're playing at 4K and your overclocked 6700K bottlenecks your 1080? At 4K games are VERY GPU heavy,you shouldn't have any serious bottleneck at that resolution with that CPU and GPU,maybe in some where poorly optimised game,but not in any new AAA games like the ones you mentioned (Battlefield 1, Doom). Those to are actually very well optimised,Doom looks nice but in 1080p 3-4 year old cards can run it just fine, and Battlefield 1 has 64 player multiplayer matches,amazing graphics and huge maps and still runs just very well even on not high-end systems,but yeah at 4K it will of course need a brutal config to run at at maximum settings.

It's not 4k, its 21:9 2k, and yes its not the hardware its the software. Far Cry 4 will also bottleneck even a 6700K, I know this firsthand, and BF1 can also bottleneck depending on whats going on. But considering my 6700K is roughly 30% (core speed and architecture play HUGE roles) faster than the average 4770k, yes it will bottleneck sometimes, but no not seriously. But again you don't need that much power for 1080p, there's no reason to spend $700-800 on a GPU that will perform similarly to a $400 1070 at that resolution. And you mentioned you might go 4k anyways, you would still need a beefier CPU.

Oh and just so you know, the resolution doesn't determine what is CPU-rendered vs what is GPU-rendered. Even at 1080p some games are extremely GPU heavy, doesn't mean some games aren't also extremely CPU-heavy either. Particle effects are entirely CPU-bound, therefore in games with tons of particle effects, such as BF1, you can expect a bottleneck if your CPU isn't up to par.

 

[K1llrzzZ]

Wrong... It can and probably will. My 6700k bottlenecks sometimes with my 1080. A 6700K OVERCLOCKED TO 4.6GHZ BOTTLENECKS A 1080.

It can and it will. Any game with crappy optimization will bottleneck the CPU. Many MANY games benefit more from single core speed rather than multiple cores. WoW for example mostly uses 1 core, and 3 cores somewhat, and the other 4 cores/threads not at all, but when I upgraded from an overclocked 3770K to a stock 6700K I got about 20FPS increase in WoW. And when I overclocked it to 4.6GHz, I got about another 15fps. All the while I had the same 1080 without changing settings, my GPU usage in WoW is still mostly 40-50%, whereas Tomb Raider (2013) runs it at 99% the entire time.

My point is you should check your SOFTWARE. If the game is GPU-dependendant you should be fine, but if the game is CPU-HEAVY, you're ARE going to bottleneck.

Secondly, you don't need anything close to a 1080 Ti to run that resolution. Unless you are running at 2560x1440 @144Hz, 3440x1440 @100Hz, or 4k, you don't need a 1080 Ti. Anything less a 1080 will run perfectly fine save for the most extremely graphics heavy games like DOOM and Battlefield 1. At your resolution a 1070 will give just as great performance as a 1080 Ti, especially considering the 1080 Ti will probably render FAR beyond your refresh rate and make your game tear.

So unless you are also planning on upgrading your monitor, there's no reason to get a 1080 Ti.

With the exception of Battlefield 1 I run every single game at Ultra 3440x1440 at 100fps and I have a 1080, the only reason I am getting a 1080 Ti is because of BF1.

You're playing at 4K and your overclocked 6700K bottlenecks your 1080? At 4K games are VERY GPU heavy,you shouldn't have any serious bottleneck at that resolution with that CPU and GPU,maybe in some where poorly optimised game,but not in any new AAA games like the ones you mentioned (Battlefield 1, Doom). Those to are actually very well optimised,Doom looks nice but in 1080p 3-4 year old cards can run it just fine, and Battlefield 1 has 64 player multiplayer matches,amazing graphics and huge maps and still runs just very well even on not high-end systems,but yeah at 4K it will of course need a brutal config to run at at maximum settings.

It's not 4k, its 21:9 2k, and yes its not the hardware its the software. Far Cry 4 will also bottleneck even a 6700K, I know this firsthand, and BF1 can also bottleneck depending on whats going on. But considering my 6700K is roughly 30% (core speed and architecture play HUGE roles) faster than the average 4770k, yes it will bottleneck sometimes, but no not seriously. But again you don't need that much power for 1080p, there's no reason to spend $700-800 on a GPU that will perform similarly to a $400 1070 at that resolution. And you mentioned you might go 4k anyways, you would still need a beefier CPU.

Oh and just so you know, the resolution doesn't determine what is CPU-rendered vs what is GPU-rendered. Even at 1080p some games are extremely GPU heavy, doesn't mean some games aren't also extremely CPU-heavy either. Particle effects are entirely CPU-bound, therefore in games with tons of particle effects, such as BF1, you can expect a bottleneck if your CPU isn't up to par.

Well as far as I know a 6700K only about 10-15% faster then a 4770K,not 30%. Yours my by 30% faster then a base clock 4770K because yours is overclocked to 4.6 GHz,but you can do the same to a 4770K. Or if I don't overclock just buy a 6700K then It would only be about 10-15% faster.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Yes, if you don't account for architecture or any other improvements that were made. That's a really dumbed down way of putting it but the simple fact is that a 6700K can and does bottleneck even a 1080, to say that a slower CPU no matter how slight will not bottleneck a GPU that is 35% faster by Nvidia's measurements is simply false. And yes some AAA titles are not optimized well even, many Ubisoft games are poorly optimized, most of them in fact, and even some EA games, some Bethesda/Zenimax games are not optimized for some part or another even. To say that it will never bottleneck is dumb. Because it can and will given the right circumstances.

 

[K1llrzzZ]

Yes, if you don't account for architecture or any other improvements that were made. That's a really dumbed down way of putting it but the simple fact is that a 6700K can and does bottleneck even a 1080, to say that a slower CPU no matter how slight will not bottleneck a GPU that is 35% faster by Nvidia's measurements is simply false. And yes some AAA titles are not optimized well even, many Ubisoft games are poorly optimized, most of them in fact, and even some EA games, some Bethesda/Zenimax games are not optimized for some part or another even. To say that it will never bottleneck is dumb. Because it can and will given the right circumstances.

Well the 7700k isn't even faster then the 6700k according to the reviews(at least in gaming), and more expensive CPU-s like 6900K are also barely faster then a 7700K or 6700K,as most games rely more on single core performance and higher clock speed,and more expensive CPUs are not better in these things. So what I mean is if your 6700K bottlenecks an 1080 that means that there isn't a single CPU out there right now that wouldn't bottelneck that 1080. And since as I said in gaming a 6700k or 7700K is only about 10-15% faster then my 4770K (at the same clock speeds at least), I couldn't buy a CPU right now that would be much of an improvement. However if I would I would have to buy a new mobo,RAM,stb... For that extra 10-15%,it just doesn't worth it. I'll get more performance boost with buying the 1080 Ti over my current card(980 Ti) even if the card will get bottlenecked in ceratin games or situations(altought I don't think it would be a serious bottleneck,maybe i get a bit less minimum fps,but not by that much).

 

[Gon Freecss]

I would recommend a Broadwell-E processor with the 1080 Ti.

 

[K1llrzzZ]

I found this amazing benchmark: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-intel-kaby-lake-core-i7-7700k-review
Titan X pascal overclocked tested at 1080p with different CPUs,and there are only minimal gains with the newer i7s at equal clocks speeds even compared to the 3770K.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Lol that's because it was tested at 1080p. There's minimal gains between the 1070 and the Titan at 1080p too, that doesn't mean the Titan X is only barely more powerful than the 1070, only that the testers are stupid. Like I said I changed out and overclocked the CPU and got SIGNIFICANT gains. And yes the 7700k is faster, thats a tiny difference though, because it's the same architecture with 200MHz. Totally different.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

I'm not saying it's going to bottleneck everything, but it will probably bottleneck CPU-bound games.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

And if you're gaming at 1080p, you don't really need a 1080 Ti in the first place, tremendous waste of power.

 

[K1llrzzZ]

Lol that's because it was tested at 1080p. There's minimal gains between the 1070 and the Titan at 1080p too, that doesn't mean the Titan X is only barely more powerful than the 1070, only that the testers are stupid. Like I said I changed out and overclocked the CPU and got SIGNIFICANT gains. And yes the 7700k is faster, thats a tiny difference though, because it's the same architecture with 200MHz. Totally different.

They are testing at 1080p because its more CPU limited at that resolution and it shows that even a 3770K can keep up with the more recent CPUs at the same clock speeds. Sure it's somewhat slower but not significantly. Now this test does not prove that there is no bottleneck, what it proves is that at that resolution at least, I wouldn't gain much extra performance with upgrading my CPU,if the 4770K bottlenecks,then the 7700K bottlenecks as well,just maybe a little bit less. I'm playing at 1200p by the way,but yes that is only slightly above 1080p. I'm planning to get a 4K display at some point,but currently I only have to budget for the 1080 Ti. So until then I guess I max out the AA and everything so I can to put more pressure on the GPU so the CPU can keep up with it.

 

[herrwizo]

I'm not saying it's going to bottleneck everything, but it will probably bottleneck CPU-bound games.

True, but that's not the CPU's fault, some console ports are so poorly done that no hardware on Earth can run them reasonably. Using same analogy, you could run Prime95 in background and then go play games. Of course it will bottleneck. But hardware is more than capable if software is not downright crappy.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

That's exactly my point. He needs to find out if an upgrade will actually help him, because I upgraded from a 650 Ti to a 1080 only to find out I only gained like 15fps in WoW, until I upgraded my CPU (and then later overclocked to 4.6GHz) and finally boosted my fps from 70 (in 16:9) to well over 100 (in 21:9). You're right it isn't the hardware's fault, but how often is a game optimized perfectly? Almost never, especially in the first few months.

Another problem I faced which was fixed when I upgraded the CPU was fps drops in Fallout 4, which again were fixed when I upgraded the CPU. I would be happily running along at a happy 60fps and then boom all of a sudden drop to 50 fps, a very noticeable stutter. Went away completely when I upgraded that little bit of CPU, granted I also upgraded the RAM with the MB, but still.

All I am saying is you will be fine for the most part... but don't be shocked if you experience any difficulties. Because yes any CPU can bottleneck any GPU under the right circumstances and in certain situations some games will not run perfectly unless you also upgrade the CPU, the 3770K overclocked is only 15% slower than the base 6700K, but I experienced a WORLD of difference when I upgraded. And seeing as how there is only about a 5% difference between a 3770K and a 4770K and a 35% difference between the 1080 and the 1080 Ti I am letting you know you probably will run into problems at some point or another, and eventually you should look into upgrading the CPU. I know it doesn't sound like much but literally all my gaming quality issues vanished when I made that 15% jump from my 3770K to a 6700K.


Take some actual advice from someone who has actually been in your shoes... I know what I am talking about here. I lived it.

Like I said you should be fine for the most part, but you CAN and WILL run into issues with something eventually unless you are very lucky.

I'm not particularly saying you shouldn't get it or that it won't be awesome, but don't get your hopes up thinking everything will run completely perfect all the time, because that's what I did when someone said, "YEAH THAT'S AWESOME GO FOR IT BRUH!" when I put my 1080 in my 3770K system. No one warned me of bottlenecks, but guess what? in at least 4 of my games it bottlenecked and I still had to upgrade my CPU in order to play the games where I wanted to play them, (60fps 2560x1440p Ultra, now 3440x1440 21:9 @ 100fps Ultra)

No, I am letting you know you can and still run into issues, so you can be prepared for them and don't get mad and be like "THEY TOLD ME I WAS FINE."
And my 3770K was overclocked as much as I could get it on a liquid cooler, the same one I have now that is cooling my overclocked 6700K at 50C max.

Just saying.