Fastest graphics card for i7-6700

[chctulc]

As the title suggests, I'd like to ask opinions on what would be the best card to pair with the oldish i7-6700 for QHD (1440p) gaming. CPU being a bottleneck to the card a bit is acceptable because I know every game is different. One game may be CPU limited, the next GPU limited. Thank you.

 

[P4-630]

My previous build was a Z170 i7 6700K build, I had paired it with a 2070 Super, 1440p, some games (like GTA V) there was a CPU bottleneck depending on the game.
Now running a i7 12700K with my 2070 Super.

 

[chctulc]

Wow. The 2070k seems a little extreme. But at higher rez and a i7-6700k that you could OC, it might make sense to go with that card. I'm stuck with the non-K chip and no OC. Thanks.

 

[Frick]

How much money are you looking at spending? That's basically the only relevant question, alongside what PSU you have.

 

[pryinglynx.digital]

6700k @ 4.7 with a 1080 @ 2144 no bottleneck in my current machine.
1080 Ti / 2080 might be pushing it, though.

 

[Tatty_Two]

A 1080 would possibly be a sweet spot.

 

[chctulc]

How much money are you looking at spending? That's basically the only relevant question, alongside what PSU you have.

I would like to stay at $300. If not, I'd even consider used as long as I was sure it wasn't a mining card.
Btw, I just remembered. I have a RX 590 that might be available to me used. But I know the owner enough to be sure it wasn't used for mining.

Psu is 500W Antec.

 

[The red spirit]

RTX 2080

 

[mb194dc]

Why not change CPU, can probably get cheap on eBay depending on what your board supports. Then can probably run with any card you like at 1440p.

You might be surprised what you can do with older hardware.

I'm running a 4790k @4.6 with a 6800xt at 4k and get 100 fps in light games like Fortnite and at least 60 in everything I've tried to play.

See no reason to change as a result.

 

[chctulc]

Why not change CPU, can probably get cheap on eBay depending on what your board supports. Then can probably run with any card you like at 1440p.

You might be surprised what you can do with older hardware.

I'm running a 4790k @4.6 with a 6800xt at 4k and get 100 fps in light games like Fortnite and at least 60 in everything I've tried to play.

See no reason to change as a result.

I'm darn near at the top of the food chain for my board now with the 6700. If I get a 6700K, 7700, or 7700K, I don't think I'd gain enough to make it worth while. And my board doesn't OC. (The board/CPU was originally in a steel industry PC; a hand-me-down)

 

[80251]

My previous build was a Z170 i7 6700K build, I had paired it with a 2070 Super, 1440p, some games (like GTA V) there was a CPU bottleneck depending on the game.
Now running a i7 12700K with my 2070 Super.

I've noticed that exact problem (CPU bottleneck) in both GTA V and GTA IV, but it is a CPU bottleneck or a main memory bottleneck?

 

[P4-630]

Why not change CPU, can probably get cheap on eBay depending on what your board supports.

The only 2 possibilities are a i7 6700K or a i7 7700K..

I've noticed that exact problem (CPU bottleneck) in both GTA V and GTA IV, but it is a CPU bottleneck or a main memory bottleneck?

Ok Im running 6000Mhz DDR5 and this is the CPU usage when playing GTA 5, about 20~30% load.
It's the first time that I'm able to keep my 2070 Super at around 90~99% load in GTA V.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I would like to stay at $300. If not, I'd even consider used as long as I was sure it wasn't a mining card.
Btw, I just remembered. I have a RX 590 that might be available to me used. But I know the owner enough to be sure it wasn't used for mining.

Psu is 500W Antec.

With these things in mind, the RX 590 is a good deal. If you cannot get it for some reason, buy yourself an RTX 3050, it will play nicely enough with your aging i7-6700 processor. Make sure you got at least 16 GB of RAM too. It will do fine for an entry level, basic gaming PC that has 1080p in mind.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hawaii, or newer

 

[Toothless]

1080. Buddy of mine is running a 6700 with his and does VR, any game easily. A 1080ti/3060 would be held back.

 

[chctulc]

Hawaii, or newer

Hawaii? As in the AMD Hawaii architecture? That goes back to the R9-200 series cards. They were still power hogs back then.

 

[dgianstefani]

3060.

 

[Toothless]

Hawaii? As in the AMD Hawaii architecture? That goes back to the R9-200 series cards. They were still power hogs back then.

Don't.. do Hawaii. 2xx series are refreshes (280 is a 7950)

 

[eidairaman1]

Don't.. do Hawaii. 2xx series are refreshes (280 is a 7950)

Im talking 290X 8G/390/390X.

I'd only say a 6G 7970/280X as bare minimum.

Hawaii? As in the AMD Hawaii architecture? That goes back to the R9-200 series cards. They were still power hogs back then.

Still very effective considering fermi, 980/980ti, 1080/1080ti, rtx 2080/2080ti, 3080/3090/ti and 4090/ti can all be considered power hogs

 

[The red spirit]

With these things in mind, the RX 590 is a good deal. If you cannot get it for some reason, buy yourself an RTX 3050, it will play nicely enough with your aging i7-6700 processor. Make sure you got at least 16 GB of RAM too. It will do fine for an entry level, basic gaming PC that has 1080p in mind.

RX 590, RTX 3050? Jesus Christ. People get a grip, this isn't Core 2 Quad or some random nearly useless e-waste, this is basically i3 10100F, but a bit older. It will take much faster cards perfectly fine and is still okay even for 4K gaming at 60 fps. It's still perfectly decent CPU.

 

[eidairaman1]

It is suggested as the mimimum gpu to get.

 

[Toothless]

OP was.. looking for fastest tho.

 

[PLAfiller]

Well, the RX590 is fine if gaming is the only thing you are interested in and since it comes from a friend of yours may be the way to go.

That said, I wouldn't get it. The whole Polaris generation doesn't have support for many hardware codecs including VP9, which is your Youtube codec. I would go the Nvidia route. Nothing older than GTX1650, since it supports anything without AV1. And GTX1650 Super is only slightly slower than RX580, which is a fine gaming card. Also much less power hungry (the gtx1650 Super I mean). The RTX3050 is a nice little card and it has all the current HW codecs which will means playing a HEVC movie won't kill your CPU

Edit: for $300 bucks I guess you can get used RTX2060/ 2060 Super something like that.

 

[Panther_Seraphin]

For a non K 6700 your probably topping out at
1080/2070 non super
5700 non XT/5700XT

Any more and you will hit CPU bottlenecks trying to max the cards out

 

[eidairaman1]

Well, the RX590 is fine if gaming is the only thing you are interested in and since it comes from a friend of yours may be the way to go.

That said, I wouldn't get it. The whole Polaris generation doesn't have support for many hardware codecs including VP9, which is your Youtube codec. I would go the Nvidia route. Nothing older than GTX1650, since it supports anything without AV1. And GTX1650 Super is only slightly slower than RX580, which is a fine gaming card. Also much less power hungry (the gtx1650 Super I mean). The RTX3050 is a nice little card and it has all the current HW codecs which will means playing a HEVC movie won't kill your CPU

Edit: for $300 bucks I guess you can get used RTX2060/ 2060 Super something like that.

Youtube doesnt need a gpu to run smoothly

Well, the RX590 is fine if gaming is the only thing you are interested in and since it comes from a friend of yours may be the way to go.

That said, I wouldn't get it. The whole Polaris generation doesn't have support for many hardware codecs including VP9, which is your Youtube codec. I would go the Nvidia route. Nothing older than GTX1650, since it supports anything without AV1. And GTX1650 Super is only slightly slower than RX580, which is a fine gaming card. Also much less power hungry (the gtx1650 Super I mean). The RTX3050 is a nice little card and it has all the current HW codecs which will means playing a HEVC movie won't kill your CPU

Edit: for $300 bucks I guess you can get used RTX2060/ 2060 Super something like that.

6600/XT bnib now.