Maxed out my video card options... what next?

[PR1975]

So, after losing a a pair of video cards to a water cooled open-loop (radiator sprung leak), I ended up getting a 980ti to replace them. I had hoped to hang out for Skylake, but I'm just not sure if it's worth the trouble for me. At this point, I think I'm no longer GPU limited. I'm either done upgrading for a while (wait for next Intel tick), or I'm missing something obvious)

I use it for gaming and occasional VMWare work.

CPU: 2600k OC'd to 4.3 (cooled with Corsair Hydro 110i GT)
Memory: Corsair PC3-10700 (6-8-9-9), 8GB
MB: Sabertooth Z77
HD0: OCZ Vertex3 120GB
HD1: WD Black 1TB
Video: EVGA GTX 980ti
Monitor: 1920X1080.
PS: 750W XFX Black

Thanks...

-P

 

[rhansen5_99]

Hey take a look at my system I have up for sale in the FS/FT, might take your cpu bottleneck away. I really do not think you are going to get much from a sandy-bridge at 4.3 to skylake at stock, but more cores might open you up a bit. As an alternative have you considered going the 2011v3 route?

 

[evilsofa]

What's next? Why, going smaller of course! Go mini-ITX (may have to wait until the holidays for a good Skylake mini-ITX board) and get it all into a tiny NCASE M1 V4.

 

[Dangman]

What case do you have?

I mean, you could just add more RAM.

 

[Nenu]

I upgraded from a 2500K @ 4.3GHz to Skylake because I was CPU bottlenecked in a few games at times. (with a clocked 980ti)
It depends what games you play though.

The one that really mattered for me is Project Cars, it would stutter terribly at times due to high cpu use. This can push a 6600K @ 4.6GHz to near 90% on a core as well !!
Now I am occasionally GPU bound @ 1454MHz, but it is much smoother than a cpu bound stutter.

The Witcher 3 was also cpu bound at times but with the new cpu it seems nowhere near cpu bound, but I havent tested a lot with it to be sure it is always the case. It is very easy to be GPU bound.

I was CPU bound with GTA V but since getting Skylake I havent had the space on my SSD to download the HUGE updates so havent tried it yet.

fyi

 

[PR1975]

... As an alternative have you considered going the 2011v3 route?

I've been tempted, but I'm not sure I'd ever really get anything out of it, especially since I'm not going SLI anytime where I'd need the extra PCI lanes.

What's next? Why, going smaller of course! Go mini-ITX (may have to wait until the holidays for a good Skylake mini-ITX board) and get it all into a tiny NCASE M1 V4.

No.... I've got some ITX stuff floating around... but nothing I want to game on.

What case do you have?

I mean, you could just add more RAM.

NXZT H440. I like cases with substance. Maybe 8GB more, just to fill out the slots?

Maybe it's time to start looking at new monitors and hold out for the next Intel release? New hardware just seems more interesting than a new monitor, personally.

-P

 

[Dangman]

NXZT H440. I like cases with substance. Maybe 8GB more, just to fill out the slots?

Maybe it's time to start looking at new monitors and hold out for the next Intel release? New hardware just seems more interesting than a new monitor, personally.

-P

Yeah add as much RAM as you want and you're more than likely set. Hold off till the Skylake Refresh.

 

[morningreis]

Add more RAM for sure. That 8GB is going to hold you back more than anything. At least 16GB for a rig like that, but personally I'm running more than that and love it, though I do a lot of multitasking and eat up large amounts of RAM.

I don't think performance wise you're gonna get any worthwhile performance increases going to Skylake. Then again I'm an x58 Xeon fanatic. Gaming at 1080p especially, that setup can pretty much plow through everything out there.