Will my mb bottleneck a 1080?

[BigEarl92]

Will my ASUS H97 plus bottleneck a gtx 1080 or gtx 1070? Just wondering if i should upgrade my motherboard first or not?

 

[jankerson]

No, it won't bottleneck it per say, but if you are thinking about upgrading do the platform 1st unless your current graphics card is really old.

 

[raisonjohn]

Will my ASUS H97 plus bottleneck a gtx 1080 or gtx 1070? Just wondering if i should upgrade my motherboard first or not?

It depends on what CPU your are using on that H97-chipset motherboard, what games you are playing, what in-game graphics settings you are using, and at what resolution/refresh rate your monitor is displaying.

If your CPU plugged in the Asus H97 is an i3-4xxx, then, that CPU won't be able to handle those powerful GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 GPUs without hindering its performance.

If your CPU is an i5-4xxx, then, you it is unlikely it will hinder those GPUs graphics performance (except in very CPU-intensive games on lower resolutions).

If your CPU is an i7-4xxx, then, you won't have any problems pairing any of those aforementioned GPUs to reach its max. graphics potential.

The GTX 1070 is a GPU ideal for 1440p/~60Hz or 1080p/~100+Hz AAA gaming on Ultra/Max. detail settings.

The GTX 1080 is ideal for 1440p/~100+Hz or 1080p/~144+Hz AAA gaming on Ultra/Max. detail settings.

Actual FPS (frames per second) output will entirely depend on the actual game, environment/scenarios within the game, and the specific in-game graphic detail settings you are using.

The H97 (4th-gen Intel platform) is still a good/powerful platform to use in this day and age. No need to upgrade this as it will be costly for you (buying new motherboard, new CPU, and new DDR4 RAM).

 

[BigEarl92]

My cpu is i7 4790k and my gpu is a sapphire tri-x r9 290x....should i evrn worry abouy upgrading? Only got ddr3 ram so will get ddr4 but other then that?

 

[raisonjohn]

The i7-4790K you have is a very powerful CPU, despite it being an older 4th-gen Intel. You don't need to change the CPU (and MB/RAM) for your to be able to enjoy gaming on a GTX 1080 (or even GTX 1080 Ti). That'll save you a lot of expenses by using the same CPU, MB, and DDR3 RAM you have. Just upgrade the GPU (if you are thinking of upgrading your monitor to a 1440p or a 1080p with faster refresh rates).

Since you have an R9 290X, upgrading that to a GTX 1070 will see just about a ~40% increase in performance (http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1070-vs-AMD-R9-290X/3609vs2166), as the R9 290X is already a powerful GPU (meant for 1080p/60Hz AAA max. gaming), comparable to a GTX 1060-6GB. So, if you'd be gaming on 1080p/60Hz, you don't need to change the GPU at all.

If, however, you'd see yourself gaming on 1080p/144Hz (~140+ fps) or 1440p/60++Hz, then consider getting a GTX 1080 (instead of the GTX 1070) for higher performance gains. Coming from an R9 290X to a GTX 1080 will see a ~75% increase in effective speed (http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1080-vs-AMD-R9-290X/3603vs2166).

So, TL;DR

Gaming at 1080p/60Hz ultra settings ---> Keep your current CPU, MB, RAM, and GPU
Gaming at 1080p/144Hz or 1440p/120Hz ultra settings ---> Upgrade GPU to GTX 1080. Keep current CPU, MB, and RAM.

 

[BigEarl92]

Thanks mate! Only have 1080p monitor at 60hz. So will keep my current system and probably upgrade in a year or so