Best cpu gpu combo for 1440p gaming

[Max_87]

At the moment I'm building a new pc that is capable of 1080p gaming but in the future I want to be able to upgrade to 1440p, does anyone have any suggestions as to what cpu and gpu are best suited to 1440p gaming?
Thanks max.

 

[nvincent_08]

an i5-6600/-6600k/i7-6700k/-6700/i7-7700/-7700(this one have same clock as 6700/6700k) is enough, with a gtx 1060 or maybe a gtx 1070(1070 could hit 60 fps most game), with 16gb of ram is enough and it is could have been said vr ready with that specs could have been said

 

[J_E_D_70]

7600k/7700k (or wait a quarter for mid-level Rryzen) and a 1070 minimum.

 

[Redneck5439]

This is really in interesting time to be upgrading for 1440p gaming as there are so many things in flux right now. AMD is releasing its long awaited Ryzen architecture and early benchmarks have it neck and neck or actually out performing its Intel counterparts, and both AMD and Nvidia are ramping up to release their next greatest GPUs. The best advice that can be given at the current time is to wait just a little longer and see how the Ryzen R7, and R5 processors stack up against Intel's Broadwell-E and Kabby Lake processors and see how AMD's Vega GPU stacks up against Nvidia's offerings.

If Ryzen is everything that early benchmarks show it to be and AMD's Vega is a success then the best bang for buck 1440p gaming system could very well be an R7 or R5 CPU and AMD Vega GPU, or a combination such as R7 or R5 CPU and Nvidia GTX 1070 or 1080 or even 1080Ti GPU. In about a month's time there will be tons of user benchmarks to better answer what is the best bang for buck 1440p gaming setup.

 

[LanzoCommando]

I ran an I5 46somethingK with 16GB of 2400 ddr3 and a Strix 1070 for a long time and was rocking at 1440p. I just upgraded to an i7 and my TI comes Monday, but I can vouch for sure that the former specs are more than enough RIGHT NOW for 1440p.

Could change as games become more demanding down the road, but that's how it always goes and you could always turn it down a bit if you went to 1440p and you were chugging a bit.

1440p is interesting because we are at the point where we can finally get high frames with the high end pascal cards...and HDR is coming in monitors. I think we are still a long ways away from single card high FPS 4K (think Vega TI generation timeline, 2 years), especially HDR, without HUGE investment, but if you bought a moderate 1440p setup right now and held out on the monitor side (since you want to stay in the 1080p game for a bit) when you get ready to invest in a monitor HDR may be available with high FPS in the 1440p resolution range.

But for sure @ 1440p it doesn't take a ton of cash right now to get into the game. i5 5th gen and a 1070 are enough, but I'd definitely make sure to invest the most in the card, at least have the 1070, and even then i'd be hard pressed to not drop the extra money (100 some dollars) to get the 1080 now that it's dropped in price.

 

[Redneck5439]

We now have benchmark results for the new Ryzen processors from AMD and overall they look very good. There are some issues with 1080p gaming where Ryzen only performs at Haswell level, however in workstation loads Ryzen is a beast even outperforming the i7 6900K with costs twice as much. Gaming in 1440p Ryzen trades blows with Intel's best, coming very near equal to the i7 6900K. So you are going to have to decide if gaming in 1080p or gaming in 1440p / 4K is more important to you, because based upon that information the recommendation is going to be vastly different.

If you are interested mainly in 1080p gaming then you best bet is either an i5 or i7 processor, and a GTX 1060 or 1070 would be enough to max out just about anything in 1080p. Between the two processors the i7 is much more "future proofed" as there are already a lot of posts explaining that right now and going forward the i5 is no longer the "king" of gaming. Many modern games coming out are optimized for multiple cores and can even use 8+ in some cases, and there are a few that can even make full use of the i7 6900K as it bests the i7 7700K in a few titles due to extra cores and threads. Gaming going forward is going to see the i7 7700K reign as the new "go to king" of gaming, that's not to say an i5 still won't run the game but it will no longer be equal to an i7 in gaming. In modern games the i7s are going to distance themselves from the lower core / thread count i5s.

If you are interested mainly in 1440p / 4K gaming, then that is a different beast all together and the recommendation shifts to AMD. In testing at 1440p / 4K the new Ryzen processors keep up with Intel's best in most titles, coming within a few FPS. There are much better priced AMD options than Intel options in this field and in fact its cheaper to by an 8 core 16 thread Ryzen R7 1700 than it is to buy an 4 core 8 thread i7 7700K, and at 4K with a GTX 1080 the performance difference is very slim. As a bonus if you do anything else you have an additional 4 cores of processing power with the R7 1700 making them more "future prof". The very best option though may not have even hit the market yet. AMD is set to release Ryzen i5 6 core 12 thread processors next month and for pure 1440p / 4K gaming (with either a GTX 1080, GTX 1080TI, or AMD Vega GPU) it may prove to be the best "bang for your buck" 4K gaming processor available.

For pure 4K gaming I don't recommend an i5 as at 4K they are not keeping pace with i7s or the new AMD Ryzen processors. i5s are great at 1080p but struggle at 4K when benchmarked next to i7s or the new Ryzen. i7s are very good at 4K gaming, however you will also pay a premium for them. 4K gaming is where Ryzen comes very close to the best Intel has to offer and at a much better price point.

 

[sizzling]

Wish I could quote on the mobile site. You realise that resolution makes no difference to CPU load, 60fps at 4k will need the same CPU power as 60 fps at 1080p.

 

[Redneck5439]

Wish I could quote on the mobile site. You realise that resolution makes no difference to CPU load, 60fps at 4k will need the same CPU power as 60 fps at 1080p.

4K gaming puts much heavier loads on the GPU. Lower core count processors in modern games optimized for more than 4 cores will bottleneck the GPU at 4K much easier and at lower fps than hyper-threaded i7s or 8 core 16 thread processors- Intel X99, and AMD Ryzen. At 1080p the i7 7700K outperforms the i7 6900K in gaming in most titles, however we see several where the i7 6900K dominates the lower core count i7 7700K. In 4K gaming there are several newer games, optimized for more than 4 cores, in which the i7 6900K will destroy the i7 7700K due to higher core and thread count. DX12 allows more cores to be used in conjunction with the GPU and lower core count i5s bottleneck the GPU much easier than higher core count processors at 4K resolution in titles optimized for more than 4 cores. Games going forward are going to be pushing past 4 cores / 4 threads, we have already seen games that do and that trend is going to continue with DX12 and the demands of 4K gaming. Purely looking at 4K gaming at this stage and where its clearly heading higher core count good IPC processors like the i7 6900K and R7 series are going to bottleneck the GPUs at higher fps than lower core count i5s.

 

[sizzling]

My statement still holds, 60fps at either resolution requires the same CPU workload. As 4k current doesn't have high Hz monitors and only just getting to a point where a single card can run 4k well at 60fps talking about high fps and 4k is a bit pointless but its completely gpu bound.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Redneck, can you post a link that shows the 6xxx destroying a 7xxx at higher resolutions? I can't find that anywhere.

 

[Redneck5439]

Redneck, can you post a link that shows the 6xxx destroying a 7xxx at higher resolutions? I can't find that anywhere.

There are several games out right now that highlight higher core count CPUs are going to be more "future proof" than lower core count components. Right now all 4K games are GPU bound as there isn't a GPU powerful enough to boost into high fps so basically almost all processors will be bottlenecked around the same fps so to get a better idea of processor performance we have to look at 1080p gaming at high to ultra settings as they won't be GPU bottlenecked. Once better more powerful GPUs are available 4K gaming will show the same thing that 1080p gaming does now - processors that get better fps in 1080p games now will get better fps in 4K games once we have more powerful GPUs - I could have explained that better in previous posts. Benchmarking the i7 6900K vs the i7 7700K in games such as Metro Last Light, Ashes of the Singularity (where a stock i7 6900K bests an i7 7700K @ 5Ghz), Watch Dogs 2, and Battlefield 1 at 1080p high to ultra settings all show the i7 6900K beating the i7 7700K when both are at stock and some of them even show the i7 6900K beating the i7 7700K when its overclocked to 5Ghz.

To see the performance gap now we have to use 1080p high to ultra settings as at 1080p high end GPUs like the GTX 1080(Ti) aren't bottlenecked and we can see the processors true performance. Once more powerful GPUs are released what we are seeing now with 1080p gaming will also be true with 4K gaming. Buying a processor like the i7 7700K with hyper-threading or an Intel X99 or AMD Ryzen processor are much more future proof than buying an i5 with only 4 cores and 4 threads. The most "future proof" processors available are the 8 core 16 thread processors as games are utilizing more threads and resources all the time, especially so now that DX12 is also being utilized. The era of i5 4 core gaming dominance is right now on the brink, months from now it will be over and the new gaming standard will be the i7 7700K and even that will loose ground to the 8 core 16 thread processors with modern games utilizing more threads all the time.

 

[LanzoCommando]

Why are we arguing about 4k when the OP is talking 1080 with a POSSIBLE 2k upgrade?

4k gaming is a ways away. GPUs are JUST NOW with the 1080TI hitting reliable one card 60FPS benchmarks. That GPU is 700 dollars. Then you'll need a 60hz 4k monitor...another 3,4,5 hundred dollars. Sooo...we are talking minimum 1000 JUST IN dedicated 4K hardware. Consoles are 3,4,5 hundred dollars and you better believe that market has a lot of control over how games are made and released. Personally whenever my monitor flops to 60hz it makes me cringe. I'd rather have 80,90,100 FPS 1440p then 60fps 4K right now.

I think when we get to the Volta-TI timeline 4k gaming will be a more attainable option to hobbyist level practitioners. Right now 4k is still an enthusiast money pit...and relative to a niche PC gamer market.