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Resolved Question

New GPU or CPU?

Sep 11, 2016 11:53AM PDT

I just saved enough money to buy an Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition (8GB) (I currently have the GTX 980 4GB) but I'm also thinking of getting a new CPU since mine is a bit old (i7-3770) and replace it with an i7-6700K 4.0 GHz but I can't get both at the same time. Should I upgrade my GPU or CPU?

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Slurks has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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GPU.
Sep 11, 2016 11:57AM PDT

"Our tests demonstrate fairly little difference between a $225 LGA 1155 Core i5-2500K and a $1000 LGA 2011 Core i7-3960X, even when three-way graphics card configurations are involved. It turns out that memory bandwidth and PCIe throughput don't hold back the performance of existing Sandy Bridge-based machines. "
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-4.html

This means that your CPU is not the bottleneck here. Let's compare your 980 to a 1080.

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-980-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080/3439vs3603 tells me you may not get a big bump in frames but more details. If you are trying to go 4K gaming, this isn't enough yet. Stick to 1080p gaming for now.

Post was last edited on September 12, 2016 8:19 AM PDT

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Answer
Do you have a HDD? Then don't do either.
Sep 11, 2016 11:58AM PDT

Get a SSD. It's that simple.

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I've got a hybrid.
Sep 11, 2016 12:04PM PDT

I've got a 2TB SSHD with an external 1TB HDD.

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The SSD will beat the hybrid by a wide margin.
Sep 11, 2016 12:26PM PDT

For example, my oldest 2006 Dell Insprion e1505 boots and gets a google search result from cold boot (not sleep) in 33 seconds. SSD for the win.

Post was last edited on September 11, 2016 12:36 PM PDT

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Twice as slow.
Sep 11, 2016 12:38PM PDT

It takes it about 1:04 minutes to do that. I just tested it. But still I'm kind of okay with that I still prefer to upgrade my GPU so I can run games on Ultra with the new DirectX 12. I'm still gaming at 1080p so my frames should be pretty good.

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The GPU should do that.
Sep 11, 2016 12:54PM PDT

The 1080 is all about textures and such, so it's the best move here.

I bring up my oldest laptop because it's so bad in so many ways. 2GB RAM, CoreDuo, only 32 bit, Windows 10 and the only reason it can do this trick is SSD. I can't imagine what a newer machine with an i7 would do. Let's hope it would beat my 2006 old laptop.

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It should.
Sep 11, 2016 1:24PM PDT

I expected a SSHD to be as fast as an SSD when I first bought one, I didn't read anything about the hybrid drives. But I do remember it being faster than after its been used for nearly a year.

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Answer
Cpu or gpu
Sep 12, 2016 12:18AM PDT

Don't replace the cpu there's no bang there and it would require a new mobo.

Gpu....gaming wise nice bump.
http://hwbench.com/vgas/geforce-gtx-1080-vs-geforce-gtx-980

The sshd uses disk caching that's better than a hdd alone.
Do consider as a future update a ssd for the OS and apps and moving the sshd to storage.

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Will do.
Sep 12, 2016 5:43AM PDT

Thanks for the help guys.