Cheapest CPU that wont bottleneck my 1080

[Hydra453]

I've got a GTX 1080 and an i5 6400. The CPU usage goes up to 100% in basically every game.

I love to play GTA 5 at the moment and am not getting the full usage out of my 1080 because of the bottleneck. My question is what is the cheapest CPU that i can get that will not bottleneck my graphics card?

[Herman Mcpootis]

i5 8400+cheap H310 board, an i7 6700/7700 would cost more even when you go used.

[Hydra453]

Just now, Herman Mcpootis said:

i5 8400+cheap H310 board, an i7 6700/7700 would cost more even when you go used.

I should also probably mention I use a custom water cooling loop for the cpu since i was planning on getting a new one soon. So something overclockable would be ideal.

[Jurrunio]

Just now, Hydra453 said:

I should also probably mention I use a custom water cooling loop for the cpu since i was planning on getting a new one soon. So something overclockable would be ideal.

that's going against the idea of being cheap tho.

[GDRRiley]

a used 7700K would workwell.

[WereCat]

4c/8t i7 or better.

R5 1600 or better.

[ARikozuM]

6700 or 7700. 

[Drak3]

A lot depends on what settings you run. You could just upgrade to the 6600K and be good or still have a bottleneck with an overclocked 7700K (extreme case, you'd basically have to play minimum settings at the lowest resolution supported).

 

But for my joke answer:

 

7980XE.

[TahoeDust]

33 minutes ago, Hydra453 said:

I should also probably mention I use a custom water cooling loop for the cpu since i was planning on getting a new one soon. So something overclockable would be ideal.

Custom loop and a 1080?  Just buy a 8700k.  Why cheap out on the heart of your system?

[Wh0_Am_1]

40 minutes ago, Hydra453 said:

I've got a GTX 1080 and an i5 6400. The CPU usage goes up to 100% in basically every game.

I love to play GTA 5 at the moment and am not getting the full usage out of my 1080 because of the bottleneck. My question is what is the cheapest CPU that i can get that will not bottleneck my graphics card?

Since you already have the MOBO, I would grab a 7600k

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Hydra453 said:

I've got a GTX 1080 and an i5 6400. The CPU usage goes up to 100% in basically every game.

I love to play GTA 5 at the moment and am not getting the full usage out of my 1080 because of the bottleneck. My question is what is the cheapest CPU that i can get that will not bottleneck my graphics card?

Your CPU is mostly fine for 60hz gaming

If you want to get a multi-threaded upgrade wait for Ryzen 2 tomorrow and either get the R5 2600 or R7 2700

[Streetguru]

23 minutes ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

7600k

He doesn't have a Z270 board, in addition it's not worth spending any money on kaby lake, for close the same price you could just get an R5 1600 + ASrock Pro 4
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NVwy7h
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NVwy7h/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($174.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.39 @ OutletPC)
Total: $249.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-19 00:28 EDT-0400

[Hydra453]

4 hours ago, TahoeDust said:

Custom loop and a 1080?  Just buy a 8700k.  Why cheap out on the heart of your system?

I dont know i probably should have got a batter cpu instead of a 1080 lol

[Taf the Ghost]

5 hours ago, Hydra453 said:

I should also probably mention I use a custom water cooling loop for the cpu since i was planning on getting a new one soon. So something overclockable would be ideal.

Easiest answer is just get at 6700k, but you can't OC on that board.

 

For a replacement solution, you'd want a Z370 and either a 8600k or an 8700k from Intel; from AMD, you'd want the "releases in 5 hours" X470 board with either a 2600X. 

 

Can you tune memory sub-timings to get better latency on your memory? That might net you some benefit in the mean time.

[Taf the Ghost]

15 minutes ago, Hydra453 said:

I dont know i probably should have got a batter cpu instead of a 1080 lol

Only depends on the workload, really. If you upgraded a much older GPU, you still got an improvement. And if you're playing something in the Esports category, the CPU shouldn't be a bottleneck.

 

Given the fact even the Ebay route seems to be about $250 USD for a 6700k & you already have DDR4 memory, it's really just about how much do you want to spend?

 

If staying Intel, you could grab a B360 Mobo for $85 & i5-8400 for $180, so around ~270 with shipping.

On the AMD side, you'd probably want a X470 board with a Ryzen 5 2600X. So that's probably ~120 + ~220 for around ~340. 

 

Though I think either of those could hit something of a snag with your Memory. You'd probably have to spend a chunk of time OC'ing the memory and getting good timings, on both platforms. If you want to "build for the future" a bit, get a Z370 board and the 8400. A little more, but you get full OC options for the Memory and could upgrade to a 8700k in the future. Or just go all-in and grab the 8700k now.