Bit of CPU advice please

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Omnomious

Omnomious

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Oct 22, 2012
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I recently picked up the Geforce GTX 980 Ti and I have it paired with my previous FX 8350, I know it's not the best for CPU intensive games but I am looking at the i7 4950k and was wondering if the upgrade is worth it? Keep in mind I will also need to upgrade my MOBO to an Intel compatible one. Just wondering if it is worth the extra FPS. I'm pulling about 40-50 frames in most parts of GTA V and Elder Scrolls Online, but a stable 60 in Fallout 4, so it's gotta be a CPU issue. I can only run at 1080 right now which I know is overkill for my GPU but I am slowing upgrading. If it's worth it what would be a good alternative CPU to switch to and MOBO to pair it with? I'm trying to stay around $500 for the combined upgrade. Thanks for the help!
 
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Gingerbread
Yeah if you can afford it then an upgrade would be good, however I would never go for the 4950k. Either 6700k if you want a skylake i7, or just 4790k if you want a haswell i7. Also note that the i5 would be more than enough as well, again 6600k for skylake and 4690k for haswell.If you want to keep your ram, you have to go haswell, else you can go skylake. Personally I would go for i5-4690k and an aftermarket cooler and a z97 motherboard and save the rest of the money for a better day, maybe in a few years when the 4690k is no longer enough.
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Gingerbread

Gingerbread

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Yeah if you can afford it then an upgrade would be good, however I would never go for the 4950k. Either 6700k if you want a skylake i7, or just 4790k if you want a haswell i7. Also note that the i5 would be more than enough as well, again 6600k for skylake and 4690k for haswell.If you want to keep your ram, you have to go haswell, else you can go skylake. Personally I would go for i5-4690k and an aftermarket cooler and a z97 motherboard and save the rest of the money for a better day, maybe in a few years when the 4690k is no longer enough.
 
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Pisol

Pisol

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I assume you are referring to the i7 4970k (or at least I never heard of a 4950k) then yes, I would recommend switching to the Intel platform. There are plenty of benchmark sites (such as CPU Boss) and the comparisons are consistent: the 4790k outperforms the FX.
I would also suggest you check out the new Skylake processors, even though the performance difference is not substantial you will have the possibility to upgrade it further in the future. Some Skylake MOBOS are compatible with DDR3 memories so it won't be necessary to switch to DDR4.
 
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Omnomious

Omnomious

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Yeah, sorry, I meant the 4790k. I'm going to go ahead and get the i5-4690k, I have the hyper 212 evo already with my current CPU. Which z97 do you prefer?
 
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Gingerbread

Gingerbread

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As long as it is not the most basic Z97, which are cheaper than the H97, you are good. Either the ASRock Z97 PRO4 or ASRock Z97 Extreme 4 are both good choices. If you can push your budget more then the Gigabyte GA-Z97 Gaming 5. If your case cant handle a full ATX sized board, then go for a Z97M which are mATX boards (and have the same capabilities, just a few cuts which won't really matter and all of the boards I mentioned above have an mATX version).
 
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Omnomious

Omnomious

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I won't see any type of performance increase? Not even 10 or maybe 15 FPS increase in most CPU intensive games? I'm not worried about GTA V cause I know it's not optimized well and no one can maintain a stable 60 when maxed out but when I adjust settings in that or Elder Scrolls, it fluctuates in the same 40-50 area no matter what and I achieved that with my 970, so if that's the case I should just return my 980 Ti and keep my 970 and FX 8350.
 
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Wisecracker

Wisecracker

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You do what you feel like you have to do ---- I'm really uncomfortable with saying you will see a 10-15 FPS increase, but you should see some bump in those 'CPU' games.

Does it happen in Fallout4, too? AMD has never been really great at Skyrim, anyway, but it might seem odd because those game engines (F-O and Skyrim) are largely similar.

Have you checked to see if your CPU is throttling? That's not the greatest of motherboards and with your 'vertical' cooler at a minimum you should be pointing a fan at your CPU socket and PWM ----- you lost the 'down-draft' from the stock cooler when you went with the Hyper 212.

In the CPU support section of the AsRock website, I believe they even point that out.

 
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Omnomious

Omnomious

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I only see the crazy dips in CPU intensive games. GPU riden games I pull a constant 60, Fallout 4 included. My case has a fan above the CPU area so even with my FX 8350 I stay well below the threshold. I'll get a different cooler if needed. I just feel like my CPU is holding back my entire PC. I'll post throttle numbers when I get off work.
 
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Omnomious

Omnomious

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I checked usage on my GPU and it's around 40% in both games and my CPU is around 50% to 70% usage. I'm just going to go ahead and upgrade. After researching it'll definitely be a difference in performance but at least I'll have room for future changes. Especially since my current MOBO can't hold stability on overclocking the 8350.
 
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vinnie_febs

vinnie_febs

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What he said, go Haswell for now with a z97 MOBO and save some money for a better day. 4690k it's an excellent CPU for the money and you already have a Hyper 212 evo? even better. I was able to OC mine to 4.7GHz with a max core temp of 79C while ruining Prime95 for 6 hours at 100% load. Decided to take it down to 4.6GHz for a much quieter fan experience :).
 
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