Good CPU for 980SC SLI?

[Zaku77]

So I've recently been rather unhappy with my SLI performance of my 980s. I've noticed that whenever my FPS goes down the toilet, my GPU usage goes right down with it. This is with my CPU having one maxed out core, and the other three up there in the high 80%s. I think it's time for an upgrade, as my i5 3570K is just not cutting it for these GPUs--even with it overclocked to 4.5. What is a good CPU for me to upgrade to in order to eliminate any CPU limiting gaming experiences and let my 980s spread their wings? I was thinking about a 4790k. I'm also considering waiting for the dekstop enthusiast Broadwell chips to be announced/released, but I'm getting impatient on that front.

[C0LL0SS0S]

the i7 4790k would be nice for Z97, or you overshoot and get X99 with the entry level 6core but I wouldn't recommend that

[KayTees]

4790k hands down or maybe an 4690k with the clock in the overclock overclocked?

[flibberdipper]

Get a 3770K if it's less than a Z97 motherboard and 4790K.

[Decon]

4770k/4790k/3770

[Zaku77]

I considered the X99 platform, but the gains over a 4790k for gaming don't seem that incredible, and the RAM price is through the freaking roof. I'm leaning more towards Z97.

[ChromeYeti]

You're really not gonna see much improvement in performance for the amount of money you gonna spend on the 4790k + Z97 Mobo. If you want to see some improvements you're gonna want to look at either a X99 setup, or wait for Skylake and see what that brings to the table. 

[SouthernStallion]

Hold on, you're not going to see much improvement moving from a 3570k to a 4790k - they'll give you roughly the same performance regarding gaming. The 3570k is more than capable; 'upgrading' from a quad core to a quad core with HT will not help you with this FPS drop you're getting.

 

 

What game are you playing in which you are unhappy with the FPS?

[Zaku77]

Hold on, you're not going to see much improvement moving from a 3570k to a 4790k - they'll give you roughly the same performance regarding gaming. The 3570k is more than capable; 'upgrading' from a quad core to a quad core with HT will not help you with this FPS drop you're getting.

 

 

What game are you playing in which you are unhappy with the FPS?

I've not done an enormous amount of AAA gaming since moving to SLI, but Battlefield 4 and Shadow of Mordor both come to mind. Playing them maxed at 1440 with no AA I run into certain circumstances with Mordor, and frequent enough with BF4, where my GPU usage goes down the toilet and I drop down to the 50s--or even the 40s sometimes with Mordor.

[SouthernStallion]

I've not done an enormous amount of AAA gaming since moving to SLI, but Battlefield 4 and Shadow of Mordor both come to mind. Playing them maxed at 1440 with no AA I run into certain circumstances with Mordor, and frequent enough with BF4, where my GPU usage goes down the toilet and I drop down to the 50s--or even the 40s sometimes with Mordor.

That's very odd, I've not heard of 980s being brought to their knees like that. Could they be thermal throttling? Is Shadow Of Mordor SLI optimised? My 3570k hovers around 50-70% roughly across all cores in BF4. You sound like you're knowledgeable about PC hardware, idk how I can help you, are the two cards getting enough power?

[Zaku77]

That's very odd, I've not heard of 980s being brought to their knees like that. Could they be thermal throttling? Is Shadow Of Mordor SLI optimised? My 3570k hovers around 50-70% roughly across all cores in BF4. You sound like you're knowledgeable about PC hardware, idk how I can help you, are the two cards getting enough power?

I have a 750W Gold PSU, which I've been assured is plenty for my setup. I don't really know how to check if that's accurate or not, though. My temps seem to be sitting in a comfortable spot as well. I've had these types of issues with other games in the past, too. It honestly has me wondering if there is just some kind of issue with my Mobo. I've had some other goofy problems with it here and there that just hasn't inspired confidence haha.

[Mush Brain]

I run SOM maxed at 1440P with the texture pack and never drop below 60.

[Badger906]

i don't know what you doing wrong, but you cpu is more than man enough. no new cpu will give you a hugely different experience. when it comes to gaming the difference between a core i5 and an i7 is almost 0. also the difference between generations is also very very small. i have a sandy bridge i5, which is about 10% slower than the current gen.. yet mine overclocks better so net result is a similar experience.

 

I play games with ease at 4k with my 2500k, my bottle neck is my gpu, but even on games like bf4 at 4k on medium to high settings I'm still getting 40-60fps.

 

your processor is capable of getting 120+fps on almost all AAA games at max settings. i know thats a huge generalisation, but just check out benchmarks they speak for themselves.

Any core i5 from sandy bridge upwards is more than enough for any game at any settings these days. its why i haven't upgraded yet.