I'm putting together a gaming PC using parts from an older system: an i7-6700K running at 4.0 GHz, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, a 650 W power supply, a 1 TB hard drive, and a 256 GB SSD. The only parts I expect to buy are an Intel Arc B580 Challenger 12 GB and another 16 GB of RAM. I'll be gaming at 3440×1440 ultrawide resolution. Will this older CPU, motherboard, and platform work well with the B580, or will the processor and lack of newer features hold the graphics card back?
3 Answers
For the B580, a newer CPU and motherboard combination with reliable ReBAR support would be a much safer choice. PCIe 4.0 is preferable, though ReBAR and overall platform support matter more than simply having the newest PCIe version. If you keep the old system, choosing an older graphics card with less dependence on ReBAR may avoid some problems, but it won’t make the 6700K a strong long-term gaming CPU.
The 6700K is likely to limit the B580 in a lot of newer games, especially at high refresh rates. At 3440×1440 the GPU will do more of the work, but the old four-core CPU can still cause stuttering and poor minimum FPS. I’d seriously consider selling the CPU and motherboard together and moving to a newer platform rather than spending money on the B580 first.
The biggest concern isn’t just the CPU’s age. Arc B-series cards rely heavily on Resizable BAR, and the i7-6700K platform generally doesn’t meet Intel’s officially recommended requirements. Without proper ReBAR support, performance and frame-time consistency can suffer badly, so this isn’t an ideal pairing.
Is there a graphics card I could buy that wouldn’t be severely held back by the 6700K platform?