Upgrading GPU on a Skylake system

[trentklein]

I am thinking it is time to upgrade from my 290, since I am 90% sure it is bottlenecking my 6500 because it is not meant to run on such a chip. Would a 1060 suffice/be worth it with enough performance increase? Or is the 1070 a no brainer?

[Castdeath97]

A 1060 wouldn't be much of an upgrade, get the 1070. 

 

But, at which resolution are you playing?

[trentklein]

Just now, Castdeath97 said:

A 1060 wouldn't be much of an upgrade, get the 1070. 

 

But, at which resolution are you playing?

1080p

[typographie]

2 minutes ago, trentklein said:

since I am 90% sure it is bottlenecking my 6500 because it is not meant to run on such a chip.

Your video card doesn't care what CPU you have. It sometimes cares how fast your CPU is, but that is dependent on the workload of the specific game you're playing. I don't understand what you mean by it not being meant to run on "such a chip."

 

What specific problems are you encountering?

[trentklein]

1 minute ago, typographie said:

Your video card doesn't care what CPU you have. It sometimes cares how fast your CPU is, but that is dependent on the workload of the specific game you're playing. I don't understand what you mean by it not being meant to run on "such a chip."

 

What specific problems are you encountering?

Because theoretically, skylake is newer technology, so something newer than a 290 should be able to utilize it, correct? 

[Castdeath97]

9 minutes ago, trentklein said:

1080p

That doesn't look like a necessary upgrade at 1080p unless you are using a 144Hz/120Hz monitor, and even then you will be held back by the CPU at high refresh rates.

[trentklein]

Just now, Castdeath97 said:

That doesn't look like a necessary upgrade at 1080p unless you are using a 144Hz/120Hz monitor, and even then you will be held back by the CPU at high refresh rates.

I do have a 144hz. Held back by the cpu? haha

[typographie]

8 minutes ago, trentklein said:

Because theoretically, skylake is newer technology, so something newer than a 290 should be able to utilize it, correct? 

It's true that Skylake was released later than the R9 290, but there are no magical features of Skylake that you're missing out on by having a video card from a few years old. These are just components of a given performance level.

 

It doesn't sound to me like you really need an upgrade. The R9 290 is already pretty close to the newer GTX 1060 or RX 580 in performance, and the GTX 1070 is pushing more into 1440p or 144 Hz territory. As long as you're achieving the gaming performance you expect, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Edit: If you're using a 1080p 144 Hz monitor, you might be able to justify a GTX 1070. Ultra-high framerates are where you are more likely to encounter a CPU bottleneck with an i5-6500, but that depends on the game.

[Castdeath97]

Just now, trentklein said:

I do have a 144hz. Held back by the cpu? haha

Actually yes you are going to be held back by it at 144Hz:

 

(The titan X should be around the performance of the 1070)

 

You aren't being held back much, but minimums and maximum frame rates do improve.

 

[trentklein]

Just now, Castdeath97 said:

Actually yes you are going to be held back by it at 144Hz:

 

(The titan X should be around the performance of the 1070)

 

You aren't being held back much, but minimums and maximum frame rates do improve.

 

Ehh, I dont think its a massive difference with the 6500. I actually saw this same video before I made my purchase  And do you mean yes, I will be by the gpu, or the cpu?

[Castdeath97]

2 minutes ago, trentklein said:

Ehh, I dont think its a massive difference with the 6500. I actually saw this same video before I made my purchase  And do you mean yes, I will be by the gpu, or the cpu?

If you get the 1070 the CPU will be the bottleneck for sure, but you can upgrade it later if you want to. 

 

Or you can wait for Vega as well, but we will never know when will it launch exactly nor if it will be good.

[Froody129]

Your system is balanced. No need to upgrade

[Spenser1337]

26 minutes ago, trentklein said:

Because theoretically, skylake is newer technology, so something newer than a 290 should be able to utilize it, correct? 

That's not how it works at all lmao

[typographie]

If, and by how much, you are held back by the CPU will vary wildly from game to game. In Crysis 3, GTA V, or The Witcher 3, as shown in the video, you probably won't maintain 144 FPS. At least not in some areas. But those games are unusually sensitive to the CPU, and not all games will behave that way. I'll also point out that the i7's in those tests were bottlenecking the GPU too, and at only slightly higher framerates than the i5's.

 

I personally don't think it's such an enormous concern that I would steer you away from a GTX 1070 if that's the way you want to go. Reaching a solid 144 FPS might be hit and miss, but playing at 80–90+ is probably going to be doable in most games.