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PC Era - is my computer still viable ? Bottlenecks? Upgradable or start fresh?

Oracle

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
1,932
hello, im not up to speed with pc tech at all. Going into next gen i am looking at my options and im wondering how my pc holds up, and how much life is left. If I ended up getting a new 3000 series card am I good for a while ? Or is my cpu and other components bottle necking it? Thanks for any help in advance.

1 x i7 6700K Skylake processer 4.0ghz (Can be OC much further)

1 x GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming GT (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

1 x SAMSUNG 850 PRO 2.5" 512GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

1 x 250g SSD on top of that one.

1 x Windows 10 Home - Full Version (32 & 64-bit) / USB Flash Drive

3 x Corsair Air Series AF140 140mm Red LED Quiet Edition High Airflow Fan

1 x Corsair Hydro Series H115i Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler, 280mm

1 x EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G2 120-G2-1000-XR 80+ GOLD 1000W Fully Modular

1 x G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200

1 x CASE ROSEWILL NIGHTHAWK 117 ATX Full Tower Gaming Computer Case, Supports up to 420mm Long VGA Card.
 
fracas

fracas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,638
That processor will likely bottleneck soon if it isn't already. Get a Ryzen 4600/4700x when they launch later this year (or a 3600/3700x now) with a matching mobo and you're set for next gen.
 

Deleted member 50374

alt account
Banned
Dec 4, 2018
2,482
Ignore those who say that your CPU will bottle neck. Get a new GPU and you're golden.

(Just to elaborate, I wouldn't advise spending twice the money and rebuilding a working PC for an extra 5 to 10% of performance.)
 
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super-famicom

super-famicom

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
25,160
I had a 6600K and Z170 motherboard. I knew it would be a bottleneck with RTX3000 series cards so I got a 3600 and a B550I board for my new build. My wife is using the old PC for video editing, and she'll get the 3600 and a B450 board once the new Ryzen CPUs release later this year, since I'll upgrade to a 4700 or whatever it'll be called.
 
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,622
themuzzotheory said:
Ignore those who say that your CPU will bottle neck. Get a new GPU and you're golden.
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If you're playing only current-gen titles, sure. Come next-gen, devs will actually start using CPU power again and older chips will be left behind.

Don't underestimate just how pathetically weak the console CPUs have been this last generation. Programming to that as a baseline is why we haven't seen much of anything even remotely stress our CPUs for the last decade, because even ten year old CPUs outstrip the consoles by a huge margin and they can happily run any current-gen game without breaking a sweat.

But that's about to change. Flight Simulator is already showing people the error of "your CPU doesn't matter". I've got a 9700K and it barely holds the line on Flight Sim. I could put any GPU I wanted in there and never break above 60fps.
 
defaltoption

defaltoption

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
11,483
Austin
I'd actually hold out one more year with what you have now. Get the gpu upgrade and enjoy it then in a year or two at most go full pc rebuild and keep the same gpu.

Especially if you're playing at 1440p or higher.

We're on the verge of crazy ssd tech finally becoming more affordable, plus your CPU is a bottleneck but not terribly and amd will likely have a new socket for their Ryzen 5000 processors and who knows maybe intel is competitive again in a year.

If you didn't already have all that I'd say buy now but because you do I say just get the gpu unless money is no real object.
 

Deleted member 50374

alt account
Banned
Dec 4, 2018
2,482
Jedi2016 said:
If you're playing only current-gen titles, sure. Come next-gen, devs will actually start using CPU power again and older chips will be left behind.

Don't underestimate just how pathetically weak the console CPUs have been this last generation. Programming to that as a baseline is why we haven't seen much of anything even remotely stress our CPUs for the last decade, because even ten year old CPUs outstrip the consoles by a huge margin and they can happily run any current-gen game without breaking a sweat.

But that's about to change. Flight Simulator is already showing people the error of "your CPU doesn't matter". I've got a 9700K and it barely holds the line on Flight Sim. I could put any GPU I wanted in there and never break above 60fps.
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Flight Sim works great on my R7 1700, a CPU from 2017. His CPU isn't much older or slower, and we're not going to see CPU intensive games for a good while - first year or two will still be a transition and there is no Crysis to push the line. Enough that he can save the money and buy down the line when they get cheaper.
 
Peter Ian Staker

Peter Ian Staker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,454
The era of just keeping your quad core i5/i7 and just upgrading the GPU is coming to a close unfortunately
Get a Ryzen 8 core plus a compatible motherboard and you should be set for a long time though.
Oracle said:
With my mobo, what is the best cpu I can put in it ?
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A 7700k. Not really all that much better than what you currently have.
 
Lion

Lion

Banned
Jul 7, 2020
593
themuzzotheory said:
Ignore those who say that your CPU will bottle neck. Get a new GPU and you're golden.

(Just to elaborate, I wouldn't advise spending twice the money and rebuilding a working PC for an extra 5 to 10% of performance.)
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Agreed. Your cpu is fine for the timebeing, and I think it should be fine for a few years to come.
 
Little Old Man

Little Old Man

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,882
What screen resolution are we talking about here?

I've got the same CPU and mobo chipset. Personally, I would buy the GPU in the coming weeks, then upgrade the mobo & CPU down the line.
That is unless you plan to buy a 3080ti and run games natively at 4K or something.
 
Nostremitus

Nostremitus

Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,772
Alabama
themuzzotheory said:
Flight Sim works great on my R7 1700, a CPU from 2017. His CPU isn't much older or slower, and we're not going to see CPU intensive games for a good while - first year or two will still be a transition and there is no Crysis to push the line. Enough that he can save the money and buy down the line when they get cheaper.
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You have a lot more cores, though.... Imagine if you were on a 1500X instead.
 
Bluelote

Bluelote

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,024
that's a very capable gaming PC, it might struggle in the future, but right now you don't need any better.
 
OP
OP

Oracle

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
1,932
Thanks for the responses so far.

How will this machine compare to xsx and ps5? For multi platform games ? Right now, or with a newer 3000 series. I guess this makes my need for an xsx useless ?
 
Sabin

Sabin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,607
It's time to upgrade OP.

The Age of 4 Core CPUs is over and at this point i wouldn't buy anything below 8C/16T anymore.
 
Meatfist

Meatfist

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,290
You're fine, OP - if you got a 3000 series GPU now and maybe a motherboard/CPU refresh in a couple years you'd be pretty much set for the entire gen
 
Spork4000

Spork4000

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
8,488
You'll be good for a few years, but expect to upgrade that CPU before the end of the generation. When you do that might as well add an m.2 ssd and more ram.
 

brain_stew

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,727
A 6700K with fast memory is still a viable gaming CPU, with a healthy overclock it should comfortably get you through the cross gen period. So another ~2 years or so before it is likely to be a dramatic bottleneck.

I probably wouldn't shoot for a 3090 but a 3070 will be a good match. Definitely push your overclock as far as you can though, that's key to getting the most out of your system.
 
Korezo

Korezo

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,145
at 1080p u should be fine, my friend has the same cpu and a 2080ti and the only issues he has is when he pushes for 4k ultra
 
Spork4000

Spork4000

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
8,488
themuzzotheory said:
Flight Sim works great on my R7 1700, a CPU from 2017. His CPU isn't much older or slower, and we're not going to see CPU intensive games for a good while - first year or two will still be a transition and there is no Crysis to push the line. Enough that he can save the money and buy down the line when they get cheaper.
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I don't think anyone is suggesting that he buys a new cpu right now. Just saying that it will have to be upgraded before the end of the console gen.
 
NoWayOut

NoWayOut

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,073
See if you can OC the CPU a bit (if you are comfortable with it) then just get a decent GPU and you will be fine for a little while longer. All this "next gen will kill your CPU" talk is mostly overrated hype. It won't happen overnight, or the month after the new consoles come out. Expect a year or two of mostly crossgen releases, during which your CPU will be fine unless you are the type that always want to run @ 4k/144, ultra max settings. In 18-24 months look what the market is like and upgrade the entire system if you feel like you are not getting the performance you want.
 

brain_stew

Member
Oct 30, 2017
4,727
Jedi2016 said:
If you're playing only current-gen titles, sure. Come next-gen, devs will actually start using CPU power again and older chips will be left behind.

Don't underestimate just how pathetically weak the console CPUs have been this last generation. Programming to that as a baseline is why we haven't seen much of anything even remotely stress our CPUs for the last decade, because even ten year old CPUs outstrip the consoles by a huge margin and they can happily run any current-gen game without breaking a sweat.

But that's about to change. Flight Simulator is already showing people the error of "your CPU doesn't matter". I've got a 9700K and it barely holds the line on Flight Sim. I could put any GPU I wanted in there and never break above 60fps.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I don't think anyone is doubting that this will happen eventually but it hasn't happened yet, Flight Sim is one title and is bottlenecked by per thread performance so not a particularly good example. An overclocked 6700K can match the per thread performance of any CPU on the market so going to an 8 core CPU isn't going to make all that much difference.

I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone went out and bought a 4c8t CPU now but there's still plenty life left in an overclocked 6700k. It's enough for the cross gen period and you can then upgrade to a 8c16t CPU or better after a couple of years.
 
Spork4000

Spork4000

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
8,488
themuzzotheory said:
I know the bottleneck mentality usually ends with people upgrading tho lol.
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True, he won't have issues with any cross gen game though. I think the only games that could possibly give him issues in the next year are The Medium and RE8, and that's a big if. Best to upgrade after your rig starts showing it's age, not before,
 
Mupod

Mupod

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,861
That's almost identical to my PC and I haven't even slightly entertained the idea of upgrading. My 6700k hits 4.8ghz comfortably, not sure what you run yours at. 4 years into my 2500k I was definitely feeling like I badly needed an upgrade but not this time.
 
Zelda

Zelda

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,079
I have a 6700K too (OC to 4.5 Ghz). Would it bottleneck a 3080 too much If I'm playing on a 1440p monitor and a VR headset? According to online bottleneck calculator it says the 6700k (without overclock) produces a 9% bottleneck for 2080 ti at 1440p.
 
AlanOC91

AlanOC91

Owner of YGOPRODeck.com
Verified
Nov 5, 2017
960
I upgraded from a 6700k to a Ryzen 3700x about 3 months ago. No regrets about it! I felt the same as you, really wasn't sure if it was necessary. I play in 4k and found it helped honestly.

I have the same PSU as you except mine is platinum rated! Been going strong for 5 years now. Absolutely fantastic 10/10 PSU.
 

Deleted member 7948

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,285
I wouldn't upgrade right now. Your 6700K will be fine for 60 FPS gaming during the cross-gen years.

If you upgrade right now like some are suggesting, your upgrade options later will be really limited with DDR5 around the corner.
 
Cloud-Strife

Cloud-Strife

Alt-Account
Banned
Sep 27, 2019
3,140
I have pretty much the same computer with a GTX 1080 and I can play everything on the current market.

With a decent GPU you are fine for a couple more years.
 
Pargon

Pargon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,996
There are a lot of PC gamers in denial about how their older systems are going to compare against these new consoles.
You did not have to upgrade when this generation of consoles shipped because your old CPU and GPU was still faster than theirs.
This time the new consoles have CPUs faster than anyone's PC if it's more than 2–3 years old, and the GPUs are very competitive with the current mid-range/high-end. If you don't have a 20-series GPU, whatever you've got is slower.
On top of that, developers will be building 30 FPS games on those specs, not ≥60 FPS.

Now of course, that's not to say every game will be pushing those systems to the limit right out of the gate, or that they won't be able to scale down for older PCs, but I see a lot of people thinking they will still be playing games at console-equivalent settings at much higher frame rates - which is just not going to happen.

themuzzotheory said:
Ignore those who say that your CPU will bottle neck. Get a new GPU and you're golden.
(Just to elaborate, I wouldn't advise spending twice the money and rebuilding a working PC for an extra 5 to 10% of performance.)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's not how it works.
Pairing a fast GPU with an older CPU means the GPU will be left sitting idle, unless you only intend to play games at high settings/low frame rates; e.g. 30 FPS.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016) on an i5-2500K at 4.5 GHz:
Upgrading the GPU did not improve performance at all.
The CPU was holding it back, so the game never ran above 43 FPS in that location. The only thing which changes is that the new GPU was working less for the same settings.
I was able to turn up the resolution and quality settings higher on the new GPU, but that doesn't improve the frame rate. At best it remains the same, or would be lower if I turned up the settings even further.

By upgrading the CPU from that i5-2500K to a Ryzen 7-1700X, the same scene was able to reach 92 FPS.
If I stuck with the i5-2500K and bought an RTX 3090, I'd still be sitting at 43 FPS there, but the GPU would let me turn up the graphics further than the GTX 1070.
And a static comparison like that doesn't show that the i5-2500K was also prone to stuttering in that game, while the R7-1700X was much smoother.

It depends on the budget, but if you're looking at pairing a high-end GPU with an older CPU, it could be argued that you'd be better off spending less on the GPU and upgrading the CPU as well - at least if you care about frame rate rather than only graphics.
I doubt many people claiming that "your CPU won't bottleneck it much" have spent any time using a tool like MSI Afterburner tracking their GPU utilization. If it's not staying above 95% all the time (ideally it would be at 99%) then it's being under-utilized.
You can always force higher utilization to feel like your money did something by turning up the settings, but that doesn't get you frames.

themuzzotheory said:
Flight Sim works great on my R7 1700, a CPU from 2017. His CPU isn't much older or slower, and we're not going to see CPU intensive games for a good while - first year or two will still be a transition and there is no Crysis to push the line. Enough that he can save the money and buy down the line when they get cheaper.
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It's about 10% faster per-core, but only has half the cores of your Ryzen 1700. That makes the 1700 about 80% faster in anything which can use them.
And your Ryzen 1700 will be holding back games already. I've been very disappointed with how often my 1700X has been holding back my GTX 1070 - which pales in comparison to the 20-series or upcoming 30-series GPUs.

Timu said:
Exactly, resolution is one of the most important aspects as it can a difference if you're doing 1080p, 1440p, 4k or even ultrawide resolutions like 2560x1080 and 3440x1440.
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Another factor to consider is that the wider the aspect ratio, the harder it hits your CPU.
It's not like higher resolutions that draw the same scene with more pixels. When you change the aspect ratio, it's drawing a larger scene.
 

callamp

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,475
The build with a new GPU will be good for another couple of years at 2k or 4k.

I've got an older CPU with an RTX 2080 and I'm getting 100+ fps at 2k on almost everything.
 
Timu

Timu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,540
Pargon said:
Another factor to consider is that the wider the aspect ratio, the harder it hits your CPU.
It's not like higher resolutions that draw the same scene with more pixels. When you change the aspect ratio, it's drawing a larger scene.
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Click to shrink...
Yeah this is something I have to keep in mind when I get a ultrawide screen monitor(hopefully around the end of this year).
 

Deleted member 50374

alt account
Banned
Dec 4, 2018
2,482
Pargon said:
There are a lot of PC gamers in denial about how their older systems are going to compare against these new consoles.
You did not have to upgrade when this generation of consoles shipped because your old CPU and GPU was still faster than theirs.
This time the new consoles have CPUs faster than anyone's PC if it's more than 2–3 years old, and the GPUs are very competitive with the current mid-range/high-end. If you don't have a 20-series GPU, whatever you've got is slower.
On top of that, developers will be building 30 FPS games on those specs, not ≥60 FPS.

Now of course, that's not to say every game will be pushing those systems to the limit right out of the gate, or that they won't be able to scale down for older PCs, but I see a lot of people thinking they will still be playing games at console-equivalent settings at much higher frame rates - which is just not going to happen.


That's not how it works.
Pairing a fast GPU with an older CPU means the GPU will be left sitting idle, unless you only intend to play games at high settings/low frame rates; e.g. 30 FPS.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016) on an i5-2500K at 4.5 GHz:
Upgrading the GPU did not improve performance at all.
The CPU was holding it back, so the game never ran above 43 FPS in that location. The only thing which changes is that the new GPU was working less for the same settings.
I was able to turn up the resolution and quality settings higher on the new GPU, but that doesn't improve the frame rate. At best it remains the same, or would be lower if I turned up the settings even further.

By upgrading the CPU from that i5-2500K to a Ryzen 7-1700X, the same scene was able to reach 92 FPS.
If I stuck with the i5-2500K and bought an RTX 3090, I'd still be sitting at 43 FPS there, but the GPU would let me turn up the graphics further than the GTX 1070.
And a static comparison like that doesn't show that the i5-2500K was also prone to stuttering in that game, while the R7-1700X was much smoother.

It depends on the budget, but if you're looking at pairing a high-end GPU with an older CPU, it could be argued that you'd be better off spending less on the GPU and upgrading the CPU as well - at least if you care about frame rate rather than only graphics.
I doubt many people claiming that "your CPU won't bottleneck it much" have spent any time using a tool like MSI Afterburner tracking their GPU utilization. If it's not staying above 95% all the time (ideally it would be at 99%) then it's being under-utilized.
You can always force higher utilization to feel like your money did something by turning up the settings, but that doesn't get you frames.


It's about 10% faster per-core, but only has half the cores of your Ryzen 1700. That makes the 1700 about 80% faster in anything which can use them.
And your Ryzen 1700 will be holding back games already. I've been very disappointed with how often my 1700X has been holding back my GTX 1070 - which pales in comparison to the 20-series or upcoming 30-series GPUs.


Another factor to consider is that the wider the aspect ratio, the harder it hits your CPU.
It's not like higher resolutions that draw the same scene with more pixels. When you change the aspect ratio, it's drawing a larger scene.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You are correct, but at the same time, the 6700k runs around the 2500k, and most games of the last decade just aren't CPU intensive. If you're not aiming at over 60 fps, that's fine until we have entirely new platforms in about a year. I don't want people to spend twice the money for marginally better performance when they can wait a bit and get even better for cheaper. When the new Zens will have been on the market for a while they'll be vastly available and way cheaper than jumping on them right out the gate, and OP might even get right into DDR5 and be even more future proof.
 

Deleted member 7948

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,285
Pargon said:
There are a lot of PC gamers in denial about how their older systems are going to compare against these new consoles.

By upgrading the CPU from that i5-2500K to a Ryzen 7-1700X, the same scene was able to reach 92 FPS.
If I stuck with the i5-2500K and bought an RTX 3090, I'd still be sitting at 43 FPS there, but the GPU would let me turn up the graphics further than the GTX 1070.
And a static comparison like that doesn't show that the i5-2500K was also prone to stuttering in that game, while the R7-1700X was much smoother.

I doubt many people claiming that "your CPU won't bottleneck it much" have spent any time using a tool like MSI Afterburner tracking their GPU utilization. If it's not staying above 95% all the time (ideally it would be at 99%) then it's being under-utilized.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If OP had a 4c4t CPU like the 2500K, it would be time to upgrade.

www.youtube.com

Intel Core i7-7700K, 2017's Worst CPU Purchase Revisited

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedIntel Core i3-10100: https://amzn.to/3cetu6fIntel Core i5-10400: https://amzn.to/2TNio1VIntel C...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com

Will it last the whole gen? Probably not, but for now it is fine.
 
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Keyouta

Keyouta

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,193
Canada
I have a similar ish pc to you op, built 2015 with an i5, and I feel fine. Using a 980ti. My plan is to build with new mobo, cpu, gpu and ram in 2022 when the next ryzen socket and compatibility with pcie5/ddr5 releases.
 
gogosox82

gogosox82

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,385
Probably ok for the next year or two, then your pc will probably bottleneck and then you'll need to upgrade to 8c/16t cpu.
 

slothrop

â–˛ Legend â–˛
Member
Aug 28, 2019
3,876
USA
There is no reason to upgrade from Skylake yet unless you are a perfectionist.
 
ReginaldXIV

ReginaldXIV

Member
Nov 4, 2017
7,784
Minnesota
You omitted your GPU for some reason. Also what resolution are you playing games at?

At 1080p you should be fine for a couple more years with that. If you upgrade your GPU to a 3000 series, you're going to want to upgrade everything else.
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
Viable yes, but there are some good deals on chips that are really good for gaming like the 9900k and i7 10700 that would cover you for next-gen.

You could re-use/keep the RAM, PSU and case if you want to.
 
KillLaCam

KillLaCam

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,383
Seoul
I feel like this would be a good place for me to ask too. Should I upgrade my CPU or something for next gen? I might be waiting on the 30XX GPUs but do you guys have suggestions for anything else.

System Builder

pcpartpicker.com pcpartpicker.com
 
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