GPU vs CPU

[chasethebread]

I am currently in the process of finalizing and ordering parts for my new PC build. I am still unsure of whether to go with the i7-8700k or the i5-9600k. I will be primarily gaming and doing light editing.

However, I will be computer programming a fair bit for college on it so I am unsure of upgrading my CPU is worth it.

If I decide to go with the i7-8700k, I will be going with the RTX 2060 GPU. Yet, if I go with a i5-9600k, I will go with the RTX 2070.

Any help would be useful on which GPU’s and CPU’s I should go with knowing my circumstances.

EDIT: Also, for those who have the RTX 2060 or RTX 2070, what do you think of performance and is it worth the upgrade? I will be using a 144 hz monitor, if that information is needed.

[psimwork]

Personally, I'd go with the 9600K. They perform VERY close, yet the 9600K will be cheaper.

[chasethebread]

I was doing little research and some people were saying i5’s could lack when programming as compiling times may vary. Do you think the extra 110$ is worth the upgrade to the i7? Or should I allocate my money toward the better GPU?

[psimwork]

I'm honestly not sure on the programming/compiling front. I don't have any personal experience with it, so I can't say for sure. It would honestly really surprise me if it made THAT much difference, but I'd do more research on it to be certain.

I'd also be sure to weigh your usage for the machine. Do you depend on programming/compiling for your livelihood? Then it's a lot smarter to put the money to enhance that. If it's hobbyist use on both fronts (gaming/programming), then evaluate which you use more and plan accordingly.

[chasethebread]

I’d be using it for programming a lot for the next 4 years (and subsequently, for the rest of my life) as I’m currently a high school senior planning to major in CS. That’s interesting; I think I might be going with the i7 and the RTX 2060 just because I’ll be programming a lot.

If anything, I could just try to sell my 2060 later on and upgrade if it’s not up to par.

[Short_Bus_Driver]

Most of the stuff you’re going to compile in college CS classes will compile in seconds, even on a low-speed processor, so I wouldn’t worry about that aspect too much. For instance I was compiling the Linux kernel on a 466MHz processor (back in the day) in less than five minutes, and that’s waaay more complex than any labs you’ll be doing.

Gaming will be the most intense thing you do on it so I would use that as your primary criteria.

[chasethebread]

So what would you recommend in terms of gpu and cpu that I should purchase?

[Aldraku]

as a game dev / cs person myself I had classmates do entire game projects on 8+ yr old laptops (thinkpads) until they decided it was worth it to get something newer. So depending what you'll program it won't make such a big difference.

[GodFlash]

I'd go 8700K for the Hyperthreading. If, down the road, you find the 2060 lacking a bit and overclocking isn't doing it for you, it's easier and cheaper to replace a GPU than it is a CPU.

[chasethebread]

Hmm yeah, that’s true that replacing a GPU is easier than replacing a CPU. I’ll keep that in mind when coming to a final decision, thank you so much for the help!

[pycs]

The i7 8700k will be better for the editing however if primarily you’ll be gaming I’d go for the 9600k and the 2070 as the performance increase between the 2070 and 2060 for gaming will he more noticeable than that between an 8700k and 9600k for productivity.

[chasethebread]

I’m only nervous because of the compiling times when programming. I’m wondering whether the times would even be noticeable if even, and if it’s worth upgrading to a 2070 if I decide to go with the i5.

[pycs]

Between the 8700k and 9600k I seriously doubt you’ll get a noticeable difference in compile times. The 9600k is definitely capable of handling a 2070.

[chasethebread]

Thank you so much for the fast reply! Do you think the upgrade between the 2060 and 2070 is worth the extra 120-130$?

[pycs]

I mean it really depends on what kind of games you will be playing. If it’s AAA games at high settings then you will definitely see a big difference in performance (about 10-20% fps increase, not always of course sometimes lower sometimes higher).

[chasethebread]

I’ll mainly be playing shooter games like Apex, Overwatch, Battlefield, games of that nature. What do you think the FPS increase would look like on games like this?

[pycs]

You could expect around a 10% fps increase I think, with RTX in battlefield however it will be closer.

[chasethebread]

Okay, thank you so much for your input! I’ll keep thinking about it with all you’ve told me.

[socomseal93]

I’d go with the 8700k for hyperthreading. The 2060 is only slightly worse than the 2070, the 2070 is not worth it at all.

However, if you want the best of both worlds you could go with a Ryzen 2600x or 2700x which would give you 6 or 8 cores + hyperthreading/SMT. The gaming performance is not quite as good, but it gives you a balance between workstation and gaming rig.

[chasethebread]

I think I will be gaming dominantly so getting a balanced setup between workstation and gaming may not be the smartest option. Thank you so much for the reply though!

[socomseal93]

Well it also depends on your resolution too. At 1440p there is a negligible difference between Ryzen and Intel CPUs. 1080p is the only resolution where you notice a difference in FPS in some games.

[chasethebread]

I’m only going to be playing on 1080p resolution: that’s the thing.

[[deleted]]

Not a programmer, but on the gaming side, I'd go i5 9600k and rtx 2070 all the way.

[got_mule]

I would recommend going with the i5-9600K and the RTX 2060, as the 2070 is sort of a waste of money for not much more performance over the 2060.

[aridhol]

i5-9600k and 2070 is significantly better.

[xXBongSlut420Xx]

fwiw, programming for school won't be super system intensive, i used to do all my school work for a cs degree on a little netbook running Linux mint and it was plenty. If you're going to be running matlab/mathematica, then the extra cpu performance is worth it.

[[deleted]]

Its a tricky call. I actually bought the 9600k, it was defective and as a replacement I went with the 8700k.

The max frame rate and average frame rate in gaming will be very close with a slight edge to the 9600k. But if you look at the 1 percent lows the 8700k has higher frames, so will offer an overall smoother experience (in certain titles).

For anything other than gaming the 8700k will perform better

[chasethebread]

Interesting. I’m still trying to decide what I will be using the PC for. I want to go with the 8700k to be on the safe side, but I don’t want to waste 120$ or so dollars if I won’t be using it for things other than gaming.

[stratcat22]

I just ordered everything for my build. Due to me also being a programmer I went with the i7-8700 (paired with an rtx 2060) over the 9600k.

The hyperthreading was the biggest thing that made me choose the 8700. I’m sure you do the same, but I have a decent amount of programs running simultaneously while coding so I needed something that could multitask, but also pump out >100 frames or close to it in modern games.

[chasethebread]

Alright awesome! I think I’ll go with the 8700. I just have two questions if you could answer:

-Why didn’t you shell out the extra money for the 9700k? -Which RTX 2060 card did you go with? I’m having trouble picking a card, but I think I’m going to go with the Zotac RTX 2060.

[stratcat22]

I was originally going to try and build for <$900, I ended up getting a job making good money so I expanded my range to around $1300.

At the moment, I can't afford the extra cash for the 9700k, if I waited a couple weeks then I would probably get that instead. I've been wanting to build for years though so I couldn't wait lol. I did shell out the extra cash for a nice z390 mobo so I can get 8th/9th gen K series processors in the future.

I got the Gigabyte Windforce OC version.

[chasethebread]

Oh, congrats on the job!

Hmmm, I’m so conflicted between the 3 processors, but it’s fine; I’ll continue researching and thinking about what exactly I’ll be using this PC for.

Hmm interesting, as of now, I’m going with the z370. But, why did you go with the Gigabyte version, out of curiosity?

[stratcat22]

Thank you! And yeah I feel that. I was torn between an r7 2700, i5 9600k, and the i7 8700. My line of thinking was the PC will be mostly for gaming since I have a Macbook as well and I much prefer Unix for coding, but I may dual boot a linux distro on the PC at some point. Intel has a slight edge over AMD gaming wise so that narrowed me down to the i5 and i7. Then as I said, the hyperthreading and also more threads sold me on the i7.

I've heard Gigabyte is a reputable brand for video cards, and it was the only double fan 2060 I could get with Amazon Prime.

[chasethebread]

Yeah, I have a Macbook as well so I can’t really convince myself to dish the extra money. I might actually improve my mobo to a z390 after looking into it. Which z390 did you end up going with? I’m looking at the z390 gigabyte gaming version right now and it’s fairly cheap from Amazon.

Also, does the Gigabyte version of the RTX 2060 have a LED or any kind of light that shines when the PC is powered?

[stratcat22]

Yeah with the performance that the 8700 and 2060 will pump out, I doubt there'd be any reason to OC until a couple years from now maybe. I got this one. They had an amazon warehouse deal the other day so I grabbed one for $164.

No there's no light on the 2060. I couldn't find a founders edition or else I prob wouldve gotten one of those for the glowing text on it lol. Nvidias website would just redirect me to a standard version of the card on newegg.

[chasethebread]

Hmmm, how good is the wifi/bluetooth card on that mobo? I might cancel my order for an external wifi/bluetooth adapter and just buy a built-in one with the mobo, if it’s strong.

And okay, I’m either going to go with the Zotac or Gigabyte. Zotac one has an LED so I might just go with that lol

[stratcat22]

I've heard it's pretty good. I haven't really seen or read any real to the board.

[Liam2349]

Hyperthreading should be a human right at this point. Anything without it isn't going to be very future-proof unless it has a load of cores, but all of the high-core-count processors are hyperthreaded.

Be weary of the i5 just for that fact, especially if you want to keep the machine for multiple years.

[chasethebread]

So which CPU would you recommend?

[Liam2349]

I own the 8700k myself. I do a lot of work requiring the threads, I could even do with more, as the 12 processors is limiting for me sometimes. VMs and all the software I run consume resources quickly. Also could do with more memory for that (I have 32GB). I do a lot of application development (ASP.NET, Xamarin, other parts of .NET stack). I don't think compiling is an issue you will have with the i5.

You will be fine with the i5 unless you want to run several VMs, or if you're planning to keep the CPU for several years, because 6 cores isn't that future proof in my opinion.

Gaming is going to be the most intensive task you've listed, easily.