Your i7 9800x might struggle with a 3070 or 3080 card, depending on the specifics.
Your i7 9800x might struggle with a 3070 or 3080 card, depending on the specifics.
I understand the 9800x is quite expensive, but I’m already there and have it. At this stage, comparing it to other CPUs isn’t necessary. (In fact, I found it more affordable because otherwise I’d need a new motherboard.) I upgraded from an i5 7640x to the 9800x. The difference in gaming performance isn’t huge—maybe just a few to ten frames per second depending on the title. However, my 1070 GPU seems to be limiting, often running at full capacity while the CPU stays around 20-30%. So, before I keep going, will upgrading to a 3070/3080 really boost my gaming experience, or did I make a mistake?
In AC Odyssey I achieved roughly 7 fps extra, enough to consistently hit 60fps. In Apex Legends I kept everything at the lowest setting to reach 144fps. I didn’t run benchmarks, but I’m not sure if it really matters. The clearest improvement is that my CPU usage dropped when playing Guild Wars 2 alongside Discord and other apps—my PC felt less sluggish. That likely came from more cores, not just a higher clock speed. This isn’t the top priority for me, but it’s something to consider. If the RTX 3070 or 3080 can still push 1440p at 144fps with my i7 9800X, I’d be happy. Would that work?
To address your query, yes I believe the CPU should work well for most tasks. I recently upgraded to a 9900k, which is very similar to your 9800X, so you should be okay in the coming years. However, given the price you're planning to invest (close to MSRP), it might be worth considering newer CPU/MOBO options. You could likely achieve better performance per dollar than the 9800X. Thanks for buying it already—no worries!
From what I understand, your CPU has solid single-core performance, which (they said) helps gaming more. It’s only slightly pricier. Ugh... I’m disappointed. I wasn’t familiar with CPUs until I figured out enough to buy and install one myself in about two days. Maybe I acted too quickly. After that, I started questioning the purchase. Now that the money is gone, I just hope it works well with the new 3000 series GPUs. I really want 144fps at 1440p with high or ultra settings in all current and upcoming games like Cyberpunk.
60FPS is acceptable for 4K and 1440p, but a high-end GPU might be needed otherwise.