Second thoughts on CPU choice

[GamingDoc]

Hey guys,

 

so I've been planning my new build throughout december and ordered basically everything I need. 9980XE, Asus Rampage VI Extreme, Asus ROG Strix 2080 Ti OC, 2x nvme SSD. I'm currently using 2x Alienware AW3418DW (3440x1440, 120Hz) for gaming as well as content creation. My girlfriend is also using this machine for picture and video editing/rendering (she's interested in 4k).

 

Honestly my focus is gaming (+streaming/youtube), so I'm now having second thoughts if I should go with a mainstream setup? I'd much prefer to build this monster than a 8700K/9900K Z390 mainstream desktop, but multiple people have told me that 9980XE or HEDT in general is not gonna get me those lovely high FPS and is basically bottlenecking a 2080 Ti? It was also my intention to be able to get a second GPU in the future for more demanding games @ 4k (as mentioned above, we might also be getting a 4K monitor in the near future for my gf). As I understand the available PCIe lanes would help with that on an HEDT platform, right?

 

I was lucky to get one of the few available 9980XEs and it should be here within the next couple of days. It comes down to whether or not a 9980XE can give me a similar gaming experience as a mainstream CPU.

[LukeSavenije]

well, hedt isn't actually meant for gaming, and a 9900k could outperform it in a lot of games. you could take a look into that, but hedt does have some advantages

[Fasauceome]

7 minutes ago, GamingDoc said:

basically bottlenecking a 2080 Ti?

No, but the 9900k is better. If streaming and gaming is your main goal, 9900k makes more sense, and video editing is still fine. But since you already ordered, why not just see if it lives up to your standards first?

[r2724r16]

17 minutes ago, GamingDoc said:

using 2x Alienware AW3418DW (3440x1440, 120Hz)

At that resolution, the CPU isn't really the main bottleneck for gaming, the GPU is. You should stick with your 9980XE since it's still an amazing CPU for gaming (even after the 9900K has came out) and it'll outperform the 9900K in a ton of tasks (like video editing) and has tons of PCIe lanes (which may or may not matter to you). 

[GamingDoc]

Thanks for taking the time to read the entire thing and respond, guys. I think I will stick with the 9980XE! How much of a difference (FPS) are we roughly talking compared to a 9900K (3440x1440) - both graphical galore AAA titles and stuff like CS:GO?

[nick name]

10 minutes ago, GamingDoc said:

Thanks for taking the time to read the entire thing and respond, guys. I think I will stick with the 9980XE! How much of a difference (FPS) are we roughly talking compared to a 9900K (3440x1440) - both graphical galore AAA titles and stuff like CS:GO?

CS:GO is gonna be the game where you see the biggest difference in FPS between the CPUs.  Everything else at 1440p will be negligible.  And if you upgrade to 4k then I don't think there will be a difference at all.  

[GamingDoc]

20 minutes ago, nick name said:

CS:GO is gonna be the game where you see the biggest difference in FPS between the CPUs.  Everything else at 1440p will be negligible.  And if you upgrade to 4k then I don't think there will be a difference at all.  

Yeah I know, that's why I wondered how much of a difference I could expect in games where it comes down to CPU.

[GamingDoc]

1 hour ago, r2724r16 said:

At that resolution, the CPU isn't really the main bottleneck for gaming, the GPU is. You should stick with your 9980XE since it's still an amazing CPU for gaming (even after the 9900K has came out) and it'll outperform the 9900K in a ton of tasks (like video editing) and has tons of PCIe lanes (which may or may not matter to you). 

Thanks for your response. I'm most likely going to stick with 9980XE! PCIe-lanes are definitely something I'm interested in. I was thinking about a single RTX Titan, but double the price for 10-20% performance is absolutely insane. I believe these aren't really consumer cards/gaming cards at all. If I'm ever going to upgrade to NVlink 2080 Tis, the PCI lanes will definitely come in handy also.