• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

What should I do.... Halp! Do I upgrade a 3080 to a 3090 or my 7700k to a more recent CPU?

Associate
Joined
28 Apr 2010
Posts
49
I've got a 3080 Strix OC on order.

I was going to get a valve index as well but now I'm getting a reverb g2 so have a little spare money.

I have a 7700k at 4.7ghz (it's getting old now) with Asus maximus board.

I game at ultrawide res (I have the x35 200hz)

I sometimes like to use zbrush to sculpt (strictly hobbyist stuff really). So maybe additional vram would be useful...

Would I get more benefit from upgrading the CPU or upgrading my 3080 to a 3090?

I'm trying to go off benchmark difference but I'm not really seeing many 3090 benchmarks with a 7700k, only 3080.
 
The CPU will make the bigger difference in your case as you have a high refresh rate monitor. The 3090 would be better for lower refresh rate, high resolution & ray tracing situations. Personally I would wait to see what Rocket Lake does (anticipated release before March) before deciding though. I think an OC Intel chip + tuned memory will still be the fastest for gaming & will have better backwards compatibility performance-wise with some titles. It will depend a lot on what you play though, as always.
 
The CPU will make the bigger difference in your case as you have a high refresh rate monitor. The 3090 would be better for lower refresh rate, high resolution & ray tracing situations. Personally I would wait to see what Rocket Lake does (anticipated release before March) before deciding though. I think an OC Intel chip + tuned memory will still be the fastest for gaming & will have better backwards compatibility performance-wise with some titles. It will depend a lot on what you play though, as always.

My resolution is also quite high @ 3440x1440 so between 1440p and 4k.

I just wondered if I would gain more fps at 3440 in benchmarks if I upgraded my cpu or the graphics card because I read that even though you might get bottlenecked you'll still end up with a higher average with a better GPU.

And then there's the massive VR res I'll have to power and I could use sub sampling more with a 3090. A top intel cpu upgrade right now looks like it will add 10fps max. I wonder if a 3090 will add 10fps over a 3080 with a 7700k @ 4.7ghz...

3440p 144hz is my goal in titles.
 
My resolution is also quite high @ 3440x1440 so between 1440p and 4k.

I just wondered if I would gain more fps at 3440 in benchmarks if I upgraded my cpu or the graphics card because I read that even though you might get bottlenecked you'll still end up with a higher average with a better GPU.

And then there's the massive VR res I'll have to power and I could use sub sampling more with a 3090. A top intel cpu upgrade right now looks like it will add 10fps max. I wonder if a 3090 will add 10fps over a 3080 with a 7700k @ 4.7ghz...

3440p 144hz is my goal in titles.
When I say high res I really mean even going beyond 4K, and really with ray tracing too because a lot of the hw on it is precisely for that. No way is an upgrade from a 7700k to like a 5900x only giving 10 fps. It's going to be much more. This is BF V, even if you're GPU limited the CPU will still affect overall fps and most importantly MIN fps! Trust me, going from 3080 to 3090 instead of upgrading the cpu is a bad idea.

f2uhIUY.jpg.png

https://www.pcgameshardware.de/CPU-CPU-154106/Tests/CPU-Test-Benchmark-AMD-Intel-675663/
 
Just put a 3080 beside my 3770k, which I'll upgrade to a 59##x when stable/available. I can't see Ampere being a card to keep once Hopper lands, so for that reason I wouldn't waste the money on a 3090.
 
Cpu.

A 3080 is a 3090. A good 3080 can be better than a bad 3090 - check out the gpu scores in the timespy thread.

They are so close in performance ‘3085’ is a more accurate term to describe both!
 
I've got a 3080 Strix OC on order.

I was going to get a valve index as well but now I'm getting a reverb g2 so have a little spare money.

I have a 7700k at 4.7ghz (it's getting old now) with Asus maximus board.

I game at ultrawide res (I have the x35 200hz)

I sometimes like to use zbrush to sculpt (strictly hobbyist stuff really). So maybe additional vram would be useful...

Would I get more benefit from upgrading the CPU or upgrading my 3080 to a 3090?

I'm trying to go off benchmark difference but I'm not really seeing many 3090 benchmarks with a 7700k, only 3080.
Upgrade your CPU, that's your bottleneck. The 3090 is terrible value, not worth it unless you're rich.
 
Last edited:
I didn't read the rest of the posts but the 3090 is a waste of money unless you actually need that memory. The 3080 Strix OC is going to run almost as fast as a 3090, and leave you a ton of money to spend on other stuff. I would upgrade your CPU.
 
Thanks everyone. Yes; I think I'll wait until March and get the intel k or 5950x which ever is winning at the time. I have a 3080 strix on preorder from launch day. I really like the way it looks over all others anyway. This geforce now gaming and integrated gpu gaming is killing me!
 
Thanks everyone. Yes; I think I'll wait until March and get the intel k or 5950x which ever is winning at the time. I have a 3080 strix on preorder from launch day. I really like the way it looks over all others anyway. This geforce now gaming and integrated gpu gaming is killing me!

How is your 3080 running with your 7700k? Are you still looking to upgrade?
 
If a stock i7 7700k has got higher single thread performance than the R5 3600 (which is still recommended widely) whats the issue? 4 cores?
At 4.7ghz I would stick with it as a very capable cpu paired with a 3080, and no to getting a 3090.
 
Back
Top Bottom