Wondering what the best upgrade path is for me.

roguerogue

Commendable
Apr 14, 2016
9
0
1,510
I'm currently gaming at 1440p 144hz (or would be without this bottleneck), with a little 4K on the side. I have a reference 980Ti and an FX 8320, sometimes they play well together, most of the time they don't which is why I'm here. I'm not very familiar with which CPUs nowadays, Ryzen dropped, Intel is being competitive I assume? I'm completely out of the loop.
So I figured since I'll be buying a motherboard, CPU, and cooler to replace this one part, I might as well consider a GPU upgrade as well. Although I'm not sure if I need to.

I don't need a top of the line CPU, just something that can hang with my 980ti, or maybe a 1080/1080ti if I upgrade. Ryzens equivalent to the i5 line, or a real i5 rather, I have no brand preference. A motherboard recommendation would be very useful as well, but again I'd prefer if it wasn't very pricey or top of the line.
Thanks.
 
Solution
Either Ryzen 1600 or Coffee lake I5 build will be good for you. I will recommend Ryzen for now due to coffee lake only has expensive Z370 mb to support coffee lake.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($156.34 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $431.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-09 03:34 EDT-0400

If you can wait, wait for cheaper coffee lake MB and get coffee lake I5 :)
Either Ryzen 1600 or Coffee lake I5 build will be good for you. I will recommend Ryzen for now due to coffee lake only has expensive Z370 mb to support coffee lake.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($156.34 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $431.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-09 03:34 EDT-0400

If you can wait, wait for cheaper coffee lake MB and get coffee lake I5 :)
 
Solution

roguerogue

Commendable
Apr 14, 2016
9
0
1,510
Yeah I think I'll wait another couple weeks or so, I'll see which offers the best value at that point. Hopefully the Coffee Lake MBs you mentioned will have dropped by then? I really appreciate your help though dude.