CPU bottleneck? New GPU or CPU?

[MorbidAngel]

Hello guys! I'm going to keep it short so a friend of mine is ordering new parts to his PC and I'm helping him but I don't know much about the "older" components due to me being relatively new to computer components all I've cared about is basically the newest stuff, sounds dumb yes but you have to start somewhere.

 

So, he currently has an i7-2600K CPU and a GTX 760 GPU.

 

He can only afford to upgrade one of the components and the choice is between a GTX 970 (maybe SLI) or a new CPU, maybe the i5-6600K.

 

So which one will benefit him the most? He told me that when he is playing "The Division" it's really laggy and he needs to play below medium settings and he still only has 30-35 FPS.

 

Either way he will upgrade the other component In a few months but he can only afford one of them at the moment, I told him to buy the GPU for now and upgrade the CPU later because it won't make that much difference, but then I got unsure because I realized I know nothing about his CPU lol and I was afraid a new GPU might be bottlenecked by the CPU so I decided to ask you guys!

I didn't know where to post, either here or GPU category but I guess it doesn't matter ^^

Thank you for your help guys!

[KingKeith55]

There's actually a pretty common misconception with CPU bottlenecking.

 

Only in heavy CPU games will the CPU actually bottleneck the GPU. Even if it did bottleneck, the better GPU is going to help in games where it is less CPU dependant.

 

Usually going with a GPU upgrade is the better option from my experience.

[HatsuneMilku]

Normally I'd say upgrade the GPU, but I think he might want to upgrade to a new platform considering he is 3 generations behind. I'm not sure how many new instruction sets there are but he might get better basic performance. Just remember he needs to get a new motherboard too.

[HKZeroFive]

The i7 2600K is still a pretty beast CPU. I'd go for a GPU upgrade - R9 390/GTX 970 would be a nice upgrade.

[MorbidAngel]

3 minutes ago, KingKeith55 said:

There's actually a pretty common misconception with CPU bottlenecking.

 

Only in heavy CPU games will the CPU actually bottleneck the GPU. Even if it did bottleneck, the better GPU is going to help in games where it is less CPU dependant.

 

Usually going with a GPU upgrade is the better option from my experience.

This is basically what I told him, I said that even if he upgraded his CPU to a very good one it will only give him a few more frames, but I also want to be sure that am I not lying ^^
 

2 minutes ago, HatsuneMilku said:

Normally I'd say upgrade the GPU, but I think he might want to upgrade to a new platform considering he is 3 generations behind. I'm not sure how many new instruction sets there are but he might get better basic performance. Just remember he needs to get a new motherboard too.

He told me he had an 1155 socket, I don't even know what that is, I'll tell him to spend a few bucks on a new Mobo as well if he can!

 

1 minute ago, HKZeroFive said:

The i7 2600K is still a pretty beast CPU. I'd go for a GPU upgrade - R9 390/GTX 970 would be a nice upgrade.

Thank you! I'll tell him to get the 970!

[Hackentosher]

With a moderate overclock, his chip trades blows with the 6700k. There is actually no reason to swap it. Save the extra 250 from a 6600k and get a pair of 390s, or a 980ti (assuming he's playing at 1440 or higher). Or SSDs. That will most certainly makes his computer feel much faster.

[Morgan MLGman]

15 minutes ago, MorbidAngel said:

This is basically what I told him, I said that even if he upgraded his CPU to a very good one it will only give him a few more frames, but I also want to be sure that am I not lying ^^
 

He told me he had an 1155 socket, I don't even know what that is, I'll tell him to spend a few bucks on a new Mobo as well if he can!

 

Thank you! I'll tell him to get the 970!

Tell him to get R9 390 (because it's a better option than a 970 in general) or a 390X if it fits the budget, his CPU is still enough for gaming and even an Athlon X4 860K would handle GTX 760 without bottlenecks, it's not a particularly powerful GPU so his CPU doesn't bottleneck it at all

[SeanAngelo]

36 minutes ago, MorbidAngel said:

Hello guys! I'm going to keep it short so a friend of mine is ordering new parts to his PC and I'm helping him but I don't know much about the "older" components due to me being relatively new to computer components all I've cared about is basically the newest stuff, sounds dumb yes but you have to start somewhere.

 

So, he currently has an i7-2600K CPU and a GTX 760 GPU.

 

He can only afford to upgrade one of the components and the choice is between a GTX 970 (maybe SLI) or a new CPU, maybe the i5-6600K.

 

So which one will benefit him the most? He told me that when he is playing "The Division" it's really laggy and he needs to play below medium settings and he still only has 30-35 FPS.

 

Either way he will upgrade the other component In a few months but he can only afford one of them at the moment, I told him to buy the GPU for now and upgrade the CPU later because it won't make that much difference, but then I got unsure because I realized I know nothing about his CPU lol and I was afraid a new GPU might be bottlenecked by the CPU so I decided to ask you guys!

I didn't know where to post, either here or GPU category but I guess it doesn't matter ^^

Thank you for your help guys!

upgrade your gpu. that i7 is still strong to this day, overclock it.