Consider whether an upgrade is necessary based on your needs and current performance.
Consider whether an upgrade is necessary based on your needs and current performance.
The variation between Gen 3 and Gen 4 in most titles is minimal. I’ll hold off on the decision until the benchmarks for the 12th generation are available. At the graphics settings you’re using, those games are likely limited by your GPU, so a CPU upgrade probably won’t make much difference. Still, if you’re keen to upgrade, the 12th generation might be worth considering. We’ll find out soon.
Based on my own observations, there might still be some advantages from upgrading from an 8700k with a 3080. I switched from a 5ghz 8700k to a 5.1ghz 10900KF. At least at 1440p: I noticed better performance in games like CP2077. Some sections would reach about 70% GPU usage. Switching to a 10900K mostly fixed this issue. Going up to 4k might not offer much extra benefit, though in that game a 3080 wouldn't be enough at that resolution.
In MMOs, the minimum frame rate in busy areas (low GPU usage) got a bit better. Instead of 65fps in a crowded scene, it climbed to around 80fps. I think with 12th generation processors, performance should be even higher than what I saw. The cache size likely contributed a lot—moving from 12mb to 20mb—and it's probably true that newer generations have significantly larger L3 caches (12mb for i3, 18mb for locked i5, 20mb for i5-k, 25mb for i7, 30mb for i9).
At 1440p it's fine, but ultrawide 1440p is more akin to 4K. The games discussed are FF14, Warhammer 2, and Assassin's Creed. The last one could be constrained by CPU power based on the specific AC version, though I'd still believe the gap would be small. I'm not claiming 12th gen isn't valuable moving forward, just that it probably won't stand out much at that resolution in those titles.
I recognize the 4K challenge - but at 1440p with a 3080 CP2077 it still struggles to hit 60fps. Even at 4K it will be tough, requiring heavy DLSS which adds CPU load. The main issue is in FF14, where performance drops significantly with crowds. You'll notice the GPU usage drops to about 40-50% when frontline, and you rely more on CPU power. It's not great for multithreaded tasks, but the clock speed and IPC can boost FPS in those moments. In dungeons and normal content, it becomes less noticeable. The key takeaway is that FPS will likely improve depending on the situation and game type, and GPU efficiency can increase in certain cases. Whether it's worth it depends on your needs - I found a jump from 8700k to 10900k possible, but it was driven by factors beyond just the specs. Personally, moving from 8700k to something closer to 12th gen felt more impactful, especially with a 4.3GHz model. A locked 8700k at 4.3GHz probably offers even greater gains. My wife upgraded hers from 8700k to 9900k (4.7GHz), and she saw a clear improvement in FF14, even with a 3070 chip - though the GPU usage still plummets, which limits the benefit of higher resolution.