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4690k vs The New Stuff

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Soldato
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25 Apr 2007
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I'm currently running a 4690k at stock with 16gb RAM and a 980ti. I would like to update the system by slotting in the fastest graphics card I can buy and using it at 2k resolution.

I know the tempting response is "bottleneck", but I have, in the past, read articles showing old CPUs performing pretty well with newer GPUs, especially when you get to the state where the GPU is the limiting factor (i.e. new games, higher resolutions).

If I upped the CPU clocks to 4.2Ghz, would I be vastly limited in comparison to something like a 2600X? The system is otherwise perfectly fine and I don't want to stick in a whole new CPU/RAM/Mobo for the sake of an extra 10fps when the GPU is already outputting 120fps.

EDIT - to put it clearly - would a new CPU/RAM/Mobo + nVidia 2080 GPU perform better in the long term (games only) than an overclocked 4690K + 2080ti ?
 
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Assuming 2x 8GB DDR3 and a SATA SSD, Bottleneck Calculator says:

Your processor is too weak for this GPU.

Core i5-4690K (Clock speed at 110%) with GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Clock speed at 100%) x1 will produce 44.26% of bottleneck. Everything over 10% is considered as bottleneck. We recommend you to replace Core i5-4690K with Core i7-7820X
Click to expand...
 
mulpsmebeauty said:
I'm currently running a 4690k at stock with 16gb RAM and a 980ti. I would like to update the system by slotting in the fastest graphics card I can buy and using it at 2k resolution.

I know the tempting response is "bottleneck", but I have, in the past, read articles showing old CPUs performing pretty well with newer GPUs, especially when you get to the state where the GPU is the limiting factor (i.e. new games, higher resolutions).

If I upped the CPU clocks to 4.2Ghz, would I be vastly limited in comparison to something like a 2600X? The system is otherwise perfectly fine and I don't want to stick in a whole new CPU/RAM/Mobo for the sake of an extra 10fps when the GPU is already outputting 120fps.

EDIT - to put it clearly - would a new CPU/RAM/Mobo + nVidia 2080 GPU perform better in the long term (games only) than an overclocked 4690K + 2080ti ?
Click to expand...

2K is not higher resolutions and you fall in contradiction.
You can experiment at 4K and above. But still, the games require more threads.
 
I would go for a 2600/X system and 2080. The 2080ti wont perform any good with a 4 threaded cpu, especially an old one. I would imagine a 4690k and 2080ti would have horrible minimums and 50% gpu usage or lower
 
I think the above advice is good, although a 2600x may not be as much of an upgrade as you need. I have a 4690k and GTX 1070 which is very close to your 980Ti. I mostly play older games and vary resolution depending on frame rate but honestly, I think newer games are challenging the CPU.

The 2600x offers 5-10% single thread increase and 50% more cores. It can't hurt to try overclocking your CPU and see how far that gets you.
 
youd be mad to get anything right now especially with the new amd chips on the horizion. wait till summer. then decide. you set up will play anything out at the moment.
 
Clock the 4690k up and enjoy the system for now until the next round of CPU's are launched (later this year).

The 980Ti should be more than capable still at 1080p (2k).
 
Thanks for the responses. For clarity, by 2k resolution I mean 1440p, not 1080p. I have a 4K monitor already and want to downsize the resolution and go to a 144hz. I know a few high refresh 4K monitors are appearing, but they cost a lot of money even if they are a better match for a 2080ti than 1440p.

I might hang on to what I’ve got for now if a new GPU would be such a mismatch. I don’t upgrade frequently and could wait for the new round of CPUs. I originally only wanted a new 144hz monitor and now I find I want everything!
 
It is going to be a 4-5 month wait for the new CPUs, but it does look as if they are worth waiting for.
Obviously though, we wont know for sure until they are in people's PCs and being used.

If i were in your shoes now, I would at least hold on until the launch of the Ryzen 3xxx series to see what it brings.
 
In this particular case the right answer is definitely to overclock and wait until the summer.

Zen 2 will shake things up. Personally I'm eyeing a 3700X, 32GB RAM, 2080Ti or Navi equivalent, and 2 x NVMes in RAID0.

Still on a 4690K and GTX970 (infrequent upgrader) so very excited.
 
I have the I5 4690k, 8 mb ram and was going to completely upgrade my computer to the latest spec. As part of that I bought a RTX 2080ti in the xmas sales. I then learned about Zen 2 so have now decided to put off the cpu upgrade until they are available.

I am however using the RTX with my current system. I am playing at 4k resolution on my Samsung Q9FN 4k tv and have been playing a few of the latest games. The only one that causes me issues is Battlefield V at high settings and ray tracing switched on . Frame rates can drop quite a bit but turn down the settings a bit and it plays fine.

I have monitored the CPU and at first it was at 100% most of the time but since an overclock to 4.2 it gets into the 80's and late 90's only occasionally hitting 100% but even then it does not make the games unplayable.
 
cossie0 said:
I have the I5 4690k, 8 mb ram and was going to completely upgrade my computer to the latest spec. As part of that I bought a RTX 2080ti in the xmas sales. I then learned about Zen 2 so have now decided to put off the cpu upgrade until they are available.

I am however using the RTX with my current system. I am playing at 4k resolution on my Samsung Q9FN 4k tv and have been playing a few of the latest games. The only one that causes me issues is Battlefield V at high settings and ray tracing switched on . Frame rates can drop quite a bit but turn down the settings a bit and it plays fine.

I have monitored the CPU and at first it was at 100% most of the time but since an overclock to 4.2 it gets into the 80's and late 90's only occasionally hitting 100% but even then it does not make the games unplayable.
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This is good information, however it is important to note (and relevant to the op), that at 4k the load on the cpu will be significantly lower than at 1440p with the 2080 ti.
 
Yes, looking forward to one of the latest CPU's when Zen 2 is released, though I may still consider something from Intel if the price is right. Will add 32/64gb of memory as well. Exciting times.
 
arc@css said:
Interesting link, having a good time testing out configurations. Thanks.

Turns out that my CPU is a bit of handicap for the GPU, though not by a great margin.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't take any notice of websites like that. They need to die along with psu wattage calculator sites.
 
arc@css said:
Surely it's ok as a rough guide?
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Not really. A bottleneck in a system is purely situational. There is no 'Yes' or 'No' answer. It depends on what you are doing with the system. i.e A system might be bottlenecked by the cpu at 1080p gaming but moving to 4K would take a huge load off the cpu. If you look at 4K gaming benchmarks a lot of slower cpu's will match faster ones etc.

Also that website says an 8700K needs at least 32GB Ram to run properly. That shows you how terrible it is. I wouldn't give it a 2nd look.
 
take a look at you tube there are plenty of people comparing 4th gen to new CPUS... i was about to upgrade my sons PC from 4770k to 8th gen.. watched 3 or 4 videos decided there was no benefit
 
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