Do I need to upgrade my CPU (Intel i7-4770K 3.50 GHz w/ 8 MB cash)?

primetimeseano

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Jul 5, 2013
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I built my PC in the summer of 2013 and I haven't done anything aside from putting in a bigger SSD since then. I've been thinking of upgrading to a GeForce GTX 1070 GPU from my current Radeon 7970 (3 GB) card, but I did a Novabench test today and it said my CPU (an Intel i7-4770K 3.50 GHz w/ 8 MB cash) ranked in the 11th percentile for performance while my graphics card was in the 82nd or something.

I have 16 GB of DDR3 1600 MHz RAM. My motherboard is an Asus Z87 Pro.

Any thoughts on what I should do with my current system? Is it worth putting in a much better GPU (probably the 1070) with this CPU, or should I just wait another year or two and do a new build? Are there any other potential bottlenecks?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I should probably add that I use my PC mostly as a media server (I run Plex and it works great as-is) and for gaming. The upgrade would obviously be geared towards gaming.
 
Solution
As someone who has a GTX 1070 and a Core i7 4770K I can say pretty confidently that you won't need to upgrade your CPU to run that graphics card. You could overclock a bit but I know for certain you don't even need to do that. The Core i7 4770K has plenty of power. You could even get sli GTX 1080's and they would run just fine at 4K. What resolution do you plan on gaming at? If it's 1080p stick with a GTX 1060 or RX 480. If it's 1440p then GTX 1070 is pretty awesome at that resolution. If 4K I suggest SLI GTX 1070's or Titan X Pascal. If you don't mind lowering settings a bit then GTX 1080 is also a decent option at 4K but nowhere near the other 2 I mentioned before.
As someone who has a GTX 1070 and a Core i7 4770K I can say pretty confidently that you won't need to upgrade your CPU to run that graphics card. You could overclock a bit but I know for certain you don't even need to do that. The Core i7 4770K has plenty of power. You could even get sli GTX 1080's and they would run just fine at 4K. What resolution do you plan on gaming at? If it's 1080p stick with a GTX 1060 or RX 480. If it's 1440p then GTX 1070 is pretty awesome at that resolution. If 4K I suggest SLI GTX 1070's or Titan X Pascal. If you don't mind lowering settings a bit then GTX 1080 is also a decent option at 4K but nowhere near the other 2 I mentioned before.
 
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primetimeseano

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Jul 5, 2013
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Awesome, thanks! I play mostly at 1440p, so it sounds like the 1070 is the way to go.