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What GPU for a 6600K before the CPU is a bottleneck?

Soldato
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What would one consider as a "maximum" GPU to combine with a 6600K before the CPU starts to become a bottleneck?

CPU is running at stock at the moment.

Thanks.
 
Soldato
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Not really a clear cut answer in my opinion as so many games use resources differently.

What resolution will you be gaming at and what games will you be playing.

Also multiplayer or single player? Multiplayer can really bog down a CPU
 
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Soldato
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It’s largly game dependant an i5 6600k is arguably ‘overkill’ for most games but it will struggle on some games especially large multiplayer maps in the battlefield series.
 
Soldato
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Also what res and refresh rate you game at?

The higher the res, the lesser of an issue the CPU bottleneck matters. Pushing 60fps/Hz your 6600K if overclock would probably still do ok, but not for pushing 144fps/Hz.
 
Soldato
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It's hard to say.

As a 4 core CPU is now a bottle neck in modern games.

What are your expectations? Do you have a plan to upgrade the CPU in the near future?

Don't spend any more than £200 on a GPU.

But then think about it this way... if you decide in the near future you want an upgrade then you've wasted those £200 when you could have bought something better.

What do you currently have?
 
Soldato
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It's hard to say.

As a 4 core CPU is now a bottle neck in modern games.

Only in one or two. AMD have just used an intel four core to ‘show off’ (in the absolute best possible light) their new Radeon 7 Gpu so they can’t be that bad if they are being used to max benchmarks.
 
Soldato
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The 6600k is a bit more powerful than my old 3570k, but I remember even at 4.4Ghz it was a bottleneck at 1200p in games like The Division. (I had a 970 at the time)

---

Take advantage of the 590 or 1660ti deals I say.
 
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Associate
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I found 4 cores very limiting in BF1 even at 1440p, my 4690K at 4.7GHz bringing minimums down to the 50fps mark often in heavy multiplayer matches. The 8700K improved this to 80-90. In most titles while still a bottleneck it gave good enough FPS, and with a 75hz monitor an RX590 or GTX 1660 would fit the bill nicely.
 
Caporegime
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I run a 6600k with a 980Ti. Although I don't have any real ideas where specific numbers are concerned, from having watched plenty of tech-related videos and also given my own experience, I doubt I would pair the CPU up with anything faster than what I already have (maybe ultrawide/4k aside).

I suspect there is a bottleneck at my resolution but nothing too significant. I should add that mine only seems to get to around 4.2 ~ 4.3; when I've tried tinkering with other values the motherboard did not seem to appreciate it.
 
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Caporegime
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I think both are good options (though my overall preference would still be to prioritise the CPU).

If I was going for a Vega 56, I'd probably aim for the Powercolor or Sapphire cards, though having said that, the latter is priced so close to the 64 equivalent model, I'd probably hit that instead. If you use headphones a lot/aren't sensitive to noise then the £279 MSI or £290 Sapphire (Pulse) cards are maybe also worth throwing into the mix. From what I can gather, people have reported positive things on here concerning the Sapphire Pulse card.

As for the RTX260, I'd probably start with considering the Zotac or EVGA lower priced cards.
 
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Caporegime
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I am still none the wiser.

The 6600K is more powerful than most consider it to be.

Vega 56 or RTX 2060?

Its really not.... its an older generation 4 core 4 thread CPU, its really not bad but with modern higher end GPU's its not going to keep up with them, my last CPU with a 4.6Ghz overclock 4690K and in most things, especially modern games it would bottleneck my GTX 1070, often screaming at 100% load, a GTX 1070 is not as fast as a Vega 56, a GTX 2060 is even a little faster than that.

GTX 1070 is probably about the limit for a 6600K.
 
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Caporegime
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Its really not.... its an older generation 4 core 4 thread CPU, its really not bad but with modern higher end GPU's its not going to keep up with them, my last CPU with a 4.6Ghz 4690K and in most things, especially modern games it would bottleneck my GTX 1070, often screaming at 100% load, a GTX 1070 is not as fast as a Vega 56, a GTX 2060 is even a little faster than that.

GTX 1070 is probably about the limit for a 6600K.

Here... keep your eye on the CPU load, this was with the GTX 1070 and a 4.6Ghz 4690K, it spikes to 100% on longer draw distance and this is Insurgency, a 2014 Game... i could feel it in terms of increased input latency and micro-stutter.

Modern AAA games it was worse.

 
Soldato
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I had this cpu in the past. I upgraded to i7 7820x as it kept hitting 100% cpu in the more cpu intensive games at 1440p and 1440p ultrawide. Was using a gtx 1070 at the time.
 
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