I’ve got this M/B, combined with an i7 6700k CPU. Its on the low end scale now and am curious what CPU I can upgrade to, without having to replace it.
Due to the poor optimization of certain sims at the moment, I’m hoping to relieve some of the bottleneck on my 1080ti GPU.
Thanks!
You can put a 7700k in there. The z170 chipset is compatible, but you may need a bios update. I’m running a very similar setup I have the GA-z170x-gaming 5 with a 6700k and have been through this several times in my mind. I ended up just overclocking the 6700k and deciding to wait for the 10th gen intels.
If you overclock the 6700k to 4.5ghz, you will likely see performance on par with a 7700k. 4.5ghz is a very safe and easy OC for the 6700. For reference I’m running a 2080 super on this rig and have had no problems ripping through all games, even in 4k.
Thanks. I’ll go with the OC and see if that helps. But it looks like I’ll be in for a complete system rebuild soon.
If you aren’t running an overclock right now, you should see some nice improvements. Should be able to get to 4.4 or so without touching the voltage. I had to bump the voltage slightly to reach 4.5, and then I decided to squeeze out an extra .2-.3 ghz more wasnt worth the extra heat and voltage. Plenty of people are getting upwards of 4.8+ on the 6700k. Just not worth the heat for me when 4.5ghz is very stable and cool enough (under 70c) for me.
Lots of guides out there. Have fun!
Have you done any benchmarking to make sure you’re actually being bottlenecked by the CPU? What application are we talking about?
This.
Nice little mini-overclocking guide there !