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Will 4770k bottleneck 1080 SLI?

C

cmd43

Junior Member
I have historically built a new system every three years, and, if I stay on the same cadence, I'd be due for a new build this fall. But I'm starting to wonder if target upgrades to my existing system would make more sense than a full rebuild this time around.

My existing system:

-4770k (OC'd to 4.4 GHz)
-2x 780 (SLI)
-16 GB RAM

Considering replacing the two 780s with two 1080s, maybe adding another 16 GB of RAM, but nothing else. Does anyone think my existing system would bottleneck the 1080s? Any reason it make sense to build a new system from scratch as opposed to just upgrading the GPUs? Thanks.
 
I wouldn't worry about the 4770k being a bottleneck, but I personally don't think that 1080 sli is worth it for price for money comparison. What is your monitor setup? I grabbed a single 1080, upgraded from my strix 980 and it was a great upgrade. Absolutely love the 1080, but SLI doesn't play well and some new games don't even have SLI profiles yet.

Personally I would save the extra cash for something else and go with a single high end 1080, possibly a water cooled one, or a nice water cooling loop.

Especially considering the 1080 ti's will be coming out eventually, if you waited until then and got a single one of those, it would be a beast.
 
cmd43 said:
I have historically built a new system every three years, and, if I stay on the same cadence, I'd be due for a new build this fall. But I'm starting to wonder if target upgrades to my existing system would make more sense than a full rebuild this time around.
My existing system:
-4770k (OC'd to 4.4 GHz)
-2x 780 (SLI)
-16 GB RAM
Considering replacing the two 780s with two 1080s, maybe adding another 16 GB of RAM, but nothing else. Does anyone think my existing system would bottleneck the 1080s? Any reason it make sense to build a new system from scratch as opposed to just upgrading the GPUs? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Last but not least, if you don't run a lot of VMs and/or work with video, I don't see any reason to buy more DDR3 RAM that you'll not be able to use in your next rig.
 
ozzy702 said:
Under 4k and yes, a 4770k even at 4.4ghz will bottleneck sli 1080's in many games.
Click to expand...

3DVagabond said:
In DX11 below 4K? Yes.
Click to expand...

Look at it another way though, what's the alternative. It's only one generation removed from current (1.5 if you count broadwell). You're not exactly left with a lot of upgrade paths since there's really only two, move to Broadwell-E or Skylake.

So yes I suppose you're CPU limited under these circumstances but upgrading would just make it so you're still CPU limited just slightly less so. I think a 4770k is fine for now. If you've got money to burn then sure go grab a Broadwell-E.
 
TheRyuu said:
Look at it another way though, what's the alternative. It's only one generation removed from current (1.5 if you count broadwell). You're not exactly left with a lot of upgrade paths since there's really only two, move to Broadwell-E or Skylake.

So yes I suppose you're CPU limited under these circumstances but upgrading would just make it so you're still CPU limited just slightly less so. I think a 4770k is fine for now. If you've got money to burn then sure go grab a Broadwell-E.
Click to expand...

Agreed but he didn't frame his question by asking if the 4770k was "enough", he only asked if it would bottleneck SLI 1080's. You're absolutely right though, even a highly overclocked 6700k will bottleneck SLI 1080's in most games. Things are only going to get "worse" as the 1080TI and faster GPUs are released over the next few years.

If you're gaming at under 4K resolutions then even SLI 1070's make absolutely no sense at this point. Maybe DX12 will change that but from what I can tell multi-GPU support is rapidly becoming a thing of the past so while DX12 may alleviate the CPU bottleneck an unintended consequence may be the death of multi-GPU gaming.
 
More like SLI itself will be bottlenecking two 1080s. The scaling is attrocious. There's a reason I went from two 980 Tis to a single 980 Ti, and then finally to a single 1080 at 4K. The scaling was beyond bad and often wasn't smoother than a single card.

(I've done this dance 4 other times: 6800 GT SLI, GTX 285 SLI, 6970 Crossfire, and GTX 780 SLI. All 4 other times I found AFR just wasn't good enough for gaming and ended up selling 1 card).
 
Last edited:
Yeah I'd pass on SLI. Itll just increase your CPU bottleneck. Rather, wait for 1080 Ti or sell a single 1080 once the 1080 Ti comes out.
 
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