will my i7 7700k bottleneck new graphics cards ?

[DahPython]

I have an i7 7700k with an RTX 2070 right now. I built my pc back in late 2017. I think my pc is still pretty good right now but I've been thinking about upgrading my graphics card to a 40 series card, probably a 4070. I was wondering if I should upgrade my i7 7700k to a newer one like the 12th or 13th gen i7, or wait for 14th gen. If I do get a 4070 will my GPU be bottlenecked by my i7 7th gen ? 

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, DahPython said:

I have an i7 7700k with an RTX 2070 right now. I built my pc back in late 2017. I think my pc is still pretty good right now but I've been thinking about upgrading my graphics card to a 40 series card, probably a 4070. I was wondering if I should upgrade my i7 7700k to a newer one like the 12th or 13th gen i7, or wait for 14th gen. If I do get a 4070 will my GPU be bottlenecked by my i7 7th gen ? 

Depending on what games you actually play, if its a lot of MMO/multiplayer games, you're definitely bottlenecking your RTX 2070 right now.

 

New CPUs are pretty intense, so unless you're playing new AAA single player RPGs exclusively, then a new CPU should give you a fat performance boost to your RTX 2070.

 

Potentially 30-100% depending on the game, genuinely. Especially to minimum framerates.

[Zando_]

Probably. If you're able to OC the chip, then maybe not, depending on what res and refresh rate you're playing at. Friend plays at 165Hz with an i3 12100, which is basically a modern remake of the 7700K (bit faster though due to 10nm improvements). If you want to get a new GPU, I'd do so, and then you can upgrade the CPU later if you feel you aren't getting the full performance you wanted out of it. 

[DahPython]

8 minutes ago, Agall said:

Depending on what games you actually play, if its a lot of MMO/multiplayer games, you're definitely bottlenecking your RTX 2070 right now.

 

New CPUs are pretty intense, so unless you're playing new AAA single player RPGs exclusively, then a new CPU should give you a fat performance boost to your RTX 2070.

 

Potentially 30-100% depending on the game, genuinely. Especially to minimum framerates.

I play a lot of games. I do play like League of Legends and CS:GO but I also sometimes play the AAA multiplayer and single player games. You are saying to worry about upgrading my cpu first then upgrade graphics card later? will the performance boost be better from upgrading my cpu to a current gen or a 40 series card.

[Agall]

20 minutes ago, DahPython said:

I play a lot of games. I do play like League of Legends and CS:GO but I also sometimes play the AAA multiplayer and single player games. You are saying to worry about upgrading my cpu first then upgrade graphics card later? will the performance boost be better from upgrading my cpu to a current gen or a 40 series card.

Yes, 100%. Its actually ridiculous and I've been annoying that major outlets like LTT @LinusTech haven't covered it yet.

 

The rule I've followed is anyone with a GTX 1070ti or higher with an equivalent CPU or even slightly newer (anything <Ryzen 3000 or Intel 10th gen) would substantially benefit from a CPU upgrade to Ryzen 7000 or Intel 13th gen and just keep their old GPU, especially if they play those sorts of games.

 

You'd be surprised how bottlenecking most CPUs are on even a couple generation's old mid-upper-flagship-halo tier cards on especially these types of games. Multiplayer/MMO games being specifically what I'm referring to, not the suite of 12 games that every major outlet uses to academically benchmark games, which I doubt people are spending most their time playing in 2023. Most games people actually play are poorly optimized decade old games that substantially benefit from the higher IPC/frequency/cache of the 5800x3D, Ryzen 7000 (with its higher L2 cache), Ryzen 7000x3D, and Intel 13th generation.

 

Intel 13th generation is sort of sleeper. If you look at the generational differences, they had a 1.5x upgrade in cache from 10th gen (11th gen doesn't count), 12th gen, then to 13th gen. Something like the 10900k went from 22.5MB of L2+L3 cache to the 12900k's 44MB of L2+L3, to the 13900k's 68MB of L2+L3 (the 1.5x wasn't an exaggeration), on top of architectural and lithography improvements.

 

My buddy went from a R7 2700 and 2070S to a R5 7600 and it doubled his framerate in even a game like Hogwarts, which is sort of an exception to the rule of CPU bottlenecks being an RPG, but it translates similarly to any other CPU limiting titles, MMO/multiplayer games being apart of such. Its something I didn't notice till I went from a 4790k to 3950x to 5800x3D.

[DahPython]

19 minutes ago, Agall said:

Yes, 100%. Its actually ridiculous and I've been annoying that major outlets like LTT @LinusTech haven't covered it yet.

 

The rule I've followed is anyone with a GTX 1070ti or higher with an equivalent CPU or even slightly newer (anything <Ryzen 3000 or Intel 10th gen) would substantially benefit from a CPU upgrade to Ryzen 7000 or Intel 13th gen and just keep their old GPU, especially if they play those sorts of games.

 

You'd be surprised how bottlenecking most CPUs are on even a couple generation's old mid-upper-flagship-halo tier cards on especially these types of games. Multiplayer/MMO games being specifically what I'm referring to, not the suite of 12 games that every major outlet uses to academically benchmark games, which I doubt people are spending most their time playing in 2023. Most games people actually play are poorly optimized decade old games that substantially benefit from the higher IPC/frequency/cache of the 5800x3D, Ryzen 7000 (with its higher L2 cache), Ryzen 7000x3D, and Intel 13th generation.

 

Intel 13th generation is sort of sleeper. If you look at the generational differences, they had a 1.5x upgrade in cache from 10th gen (11th gen doesn't count), 12th gen, then to 13th gen. Something like the 10900k went from 22.5MB of L2+L3 cache to the 12900k's 44MB of L2+L3, to the 13900k's 68MB of L2+L3 (the 1.5x wasn't an exaggeration), on top of architectural and lithography improvements.

 

My buddy went from a R7 2700 and 2070S to a R5 7600 and it doubled his framerate in even a game like Hogwarts, which is sort of an exception to the rule of CPU bottlenecks being an RPG, but it translates similarly to any other CPU limiting titles, MMO/multiplayer games being apart of such. Its something I didn't notice till I went from a 4790k to 3950x to 5800x3D.

alright thank you for the advice, I'll probably get an i7 13700k or wait until 14th gen and stick with my 2070 for a while longer.

[Agall]

32 minutes ago, DahPython said:

alright thank you for the advice, I'll probably get an i7 13700k or wait until 14th gen and stick with my 2070 for a while longer.

Either way you'd want a new CPU, so worst case you ride a performance boost for a while having a new CPU and if its still insufficient with the 2070, then look for a new GPU. You'll also have a better base of comparison using a new CPU since the benchmarks should be far closer to your actual performance with something like a 13700k as a baseline. 

 

The advantage of having a DIY build and the capability to upgrade it yourself allows you this sort of flexibility. When I upgraded from my 4790k and GTX 1080, I jumped into the 3950x (I was hosting servers as well at the time) and the performance boost was impressive just between those two. Jumping again into a 5800x3D was a straight 50% increase performance in the games I actually played at the time (Warframe, WoW, Planetside 2) over even the 3950x. Mind you between the 3950x and 5800x3D, there was a 6900 XT upgrade involved, though I rode on the GTX 1080 for a while until I got that.

[tikker]

The answer is yes, but how much that matters depends on the games that you are after and what your goals are. Do you want more FPS or the ability to play at higher resolutions and/or higher settings? That said, I can tell that my 7700k+1080 Ti are aging. On modern (AAA) titles I can't hold 60 FPS well anymore, and CPU usage is pretty high up there even at 1080p, so my vote would be to go for a CPU upgrade if you can deal with having to turn some graphics settings down every now and then with demanding titles.