Limitations of my CPU for 4k gaming

[Blueyoshi03]

I have been running a 9700K at all core 4.9ghz for many years now with a 1080ti and has been running well for this time. I am running this on a 3440x1440 monitor at a max 120hz which is usually not achievable with the 1080ti in most modern titles.

I will be purchasing a 5080 on release which will be a huge graphics upgrade and don't see any current benefit to upgrading the CPU and ram at the moment, however I had a question to understand my CPU performance.

If I understand everything right, to measure my CPU as a bottleneck, if I can run a game at low resolution at 120fps+, would this nearly always mean the system can run any resolution at that fps as long as there is not a gpu bottleneck?

I want to know when it would actually make a difference to upgrade my cpu

 

[Blueyoshi03]

Ah OK that's interesting, are the 1% lows the responsibility or at least part responsibility of a CPU?

I think the biggest issue with the 9700K may well be your 1% lows. But whatever, just get the 5080 and see what it's like. If you are getting unexpected low performance you know where the problem is!

 

[Blueyoshi03]

This threads been really useful, especially now understand the impact CPUs have on 1% lows. Still going to get the new GPU and just see if performance is far worse than I expect and if not I'll wait until it's noticeable.

I do recognise that a 5080 would be considerably bottlenecked by a 9700k, however if it's still always hitting my max fps, I'm very unlikely to upgrade until something dies