I don't completely disagree, but I don't think having a better CPU is going to help when most people will be bottlenecked by the refresh rate of their monitors. Half the time. I think bottlenecking is just something people say to justify spending more money on something that deep down they really know they don't need to.
If you are being held back by your CPU but your refresh rate is still above and beyond what you need, then it's completely superfluous to get a better one.
This is with a 5800x
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/gigabyte-geforce-rtx-4090-gaming-oc/31.html
Then I look at something like this and see OP's CPU up there with the 12 600 at 1440p
Mid-range gaming has a new champion.
www.tomshardware.com
So it is not unreasonable to extrapolate from that they will be very close at 4K also and judging by the first benchmark people are not going to be held back unless they are running over a 144Hz monitor at 4K which of course is really common...
Hopefully someone will do a benchmark with both those exact bits. I would never tell somebody to buy a better CPU though because they might be limited to 120 FPS at 4K Max settings
hence my 1st question was, what resolution are you playing at..so yes, really I should have asked what monitor he's using to get a bit of an understanding. I never told them to buy a better cpu. The idea of a forum is to get advice and learn(or that's what i use it for), def not to be insulting etc
However, your extrapolation about being held back unless 4k gaming at high refresh rate I think is pertinent as goes towards the whole point of this card. If you're going to be gaming at 1080p or 1440p again, not unreasonable to say, you shouldn't be using this card really. It's the most powerful non professional card every released(so far), very expensive(3090ti excluded as launched in mining shortage, prob at that insane price to make the 4090 seem reasonable), designed to push 4k gaming as much as possible..if you're going to be gaming on a 1080p screen at 120hz, you'll get exactly the same fps with a 3060ti, and you can save yourself £1500 at the same time, in which case the argument is not the use of a 12400(arguably the best bang for buck intel cpu atm), but whether you then have the right gpu, or whether you should return and get one more suited for the intended use
If you're spending £2k on a gpu, in order to maximize it's potential, it's only the beginning of your investment..as you say, to maximise it's potential, you'll need a fast refresh rate 4k screen and a powerful cpu to really bring out all it's potential, so £2k is just the start, otherwise you might as well get a cheaper gpu and save some cash.
The op asked what mobo he needed, so my assumption is he's building a new rig for a 4090 and just got a 12400. Yes, as above, the 12400 is a very good cpu for the price, but I just watched a yt of the 7600x cpu v the 12400 cpu with a 3090. over 6 games the 7600x returned av of 125fps..the 12400 returned 107 fps..so using the 7600x returned a 16.8% better framerate than the 12400...with a 3090..this difference will only increase with a 4090...so lets say 4090 diff becomes 30%(arbitrary for example sake), then 30% lost frame rates on a £2k card is £600 wasted money, when you can change the 12400 for a 12700K, spend £200 more on cpu and gain £600 worth of fps back as unleash the potential of gpu...sorry, bad example really, should really look at 12400 v 12600k/12700k, but only ones ai could see were with a 3080..and in this example using 12700k as similar performance to the 7600x(which is a cheaper cpu)
So, bad example aside, as said, it's an odd pairing...if OP can afford a 4090, then possibly he can afford a better cpu to maximise it's potential, and maybe point out the benefit in doing so. I mean, I certainly can't afford a 4090, so not going to belittle him for getting one, just if I did get one, would then be looking to change the screen I play on etc.
side note, hadn't seen the techpowerup review..having a 5800x myself, I like the results..
