Upgrade from i5 6600k & GTX 980

[EunSoo]

Budget (including currency): $300

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: overwatch, valorant, etc @ 1440p 120hz

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc):

 

My current computer (https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HfwWkd)

i5 6600k

Asus z170k

16GB RAM

GTX 980

520W PSU

 

Upgrade Options (all used on craigslist, non-mining):

RTX 3070 - $300

RTX 2080 Ti - $280

RTX 2080 - $200

 

Other Considerations:

I play casually and infrequently so I don't want to spend more than a couple hundred on upgrading right now.

Is the 6600k a higher upgrade priority than the 980? I will probably get a new CPU/Motherboard/RAM later, but right now a better GPU seems better value.

 

Thanks

 

[OddOod]

I would stay FAR away from the 20 series.
Have you positively identified the GPU as the bottleneck? Is it maxing out while you game?

[675409]

from what i know i5-6600k can still game decently. The 980 is pretty old though. I would go for a gpu upgrade because you can get a decent gpu for cheap like you listed and upgrading cpu would come with other upgrades(ram, motherboard,etc) and would cost more.

I would get the 2080 TI if I was you, it is faster than the 3070 TI by a bit so faster than the 3070 and 2070, also has 11gb of vram compared to the 8 of the other cards so it will be more futureproof.

520w should be enough for 2080 TI

[675409]

Just now, OddOod said:

I would stay FAR away from the 20 series.
Have you positively identified the GPU as the bottleneck? Is it maxing out while you game?

Really? I thought that the 2080TI would be better value and more futureproof than the 3070. Albeit the 3070 has more modern technology and driver support for longer

[jaslion]

Honestly I'd just NOT upgrade and save for a full replacement as well valorant is whatever but overwatch both are recommended for a great experience.

 

A gtx980 can fully pull it's weight still in ow2 but going to a new cpu whilst unlikely to give higher fps will majorly improve framerate stability.

 

 

[EunSoo]

43 minutes ago, OddOod said:

I would stay FAR away from the 20 series.

Is it because of performance or something else?

43 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Have you positively identified the GPU as the bottleneck? Is it maxing out while you game?

Yes. My GPU gets pinned to 100% usually and the vram gets filled up frequently. Though my CPU is usually at 80-90% so I guess they both need help.

42 minutes ago, 675409 said:

I would get the 2080 TI if I was you, it is faster than the 3070 TI by a bit so faster than the 3070 and 2070, also has 11gb of vram compared to the 8 of the other cards so it will be more futureproof.

Thanks, I didn't consider vram.

14 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Honestly I'd just NOT upgrade and save for a full replacement as well valorant is whatever but overwatch both are recommended for a great experience.

 

Yeah, I'm still on the fence. OW is fine and valorant is okay but I've playing The Finals recently and my computer is having a hard time giving me consistent 80+ fps at 1600x900. If I could fix that with just a couple hundred dollars, I would be a lot more happy so I can save money for something else.

[8tg]

3 minutes ago, EunSoo said:

Is it because of performance or something else?

For a GPU in the era of GPU mining they would’ve been heavily used by simply being a little older, and they’re not power efficient to save them like pascal was.

People were mining on 1080’s but 1080’s are cool running relatively low power gpus.

rtx 2080’s were also mined on but most of them are hot running, and consume a lot of power, they just have a higher risk of thermal related damage long term

 

never trust “wasn’t used for mining” they have no way to prove that and you have no way to disprove that, error on the side of caution and presume every used GPU pascal and newer was used for mining at some point, and some cards and generations hold up to that better

thats why there’s very few R9 Fury’s left functional out there, but there’s a bajillion GTX 970’s, it wasn’t initial popularity 

[jaslion]

27 minutes ago, EunSoo said:

Is it because of performance or something else?

Yes. My GPU gets pinned to 100% usually and the vram gets filled up frequently. Though my CPU is usually at 80-90% so I guess they both need help.

Thanks, I didn't consider vram.

Yeah, I'm still on the fence. OW is fine and valorant is okay but I've playing The Finals recently and my computer is having a hard time giving me consistent 80+ fps at 1600x900. If I could fix that with just a couple hundred dollars, I would be a lot more happy so I can save money for something else.

The finals is quite cpu heavy but not too hard on the gpu. However 4gb of vram is an issue none the less. So yeah both need help here.

[jaslion]

41 minutes ago, 8tg said:

few R9 Fury’s

Also all the liquid cooled ones are dead. Decent bit of fury nano's alive but all the proper fury's are broken pretty much