Hey everyone! I'm looking to upgrade the GPU in my older i7 system and would love some advice. Here are my current specs: an ASUS Prime Z370-A motherboard, an Intel Core i7-8700K processor, 16GB DDR4 2666 RAM, and I'm currently using a GTX 1060 3GB. I mainly game at 1440p on a 27" Dell monitor, but I'm switching to a 24.5" 1080p 144Hz monitor due to space issues. I'm considering two new GPUs: the INNO3D RTX 5060 Twin X2 OC 8GB and the INNO3D GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin X2 8GB with GDDR7 (the Ti version is about €50 more). Do you think either of these options would be bottlenecked by my CPU? I'm unable to find many options in my budget range and can't buy used, so these seem to be my best bets. Thanks for any insights!
4 Answers
What resolution are you targeting? The 5060 Ti is about 13-17% faster than the 5060 according to reviews. The 5060 itself is actually slower than the older 2080 Ti. Have you looked into an open-box deal? If the 9060 XT 16GB is available, it might be worth it since it offers more VRAM and has similar performance to the 5060 Ti.
I recently added a 4080 to my 8700K, and while I did notice some bottlenecking at 4K, most games still performed well. I'm guessing it should be fine at 1440p, but even at 4K, newer titles struggled at max settings.
Wait, wouldn’t 1080p make it even more likely for the CPU to bottleneck?
Why can't you buy used? A used RTX 2070 Super would actually be a great choice for 1080p and would maximize your performance without overloading your old platform.
But wouldn’t the 2070 feel outdated compared to the newer 5060 cards?
Your setup only supports PCIe 3.0 x16, but the 5060 and 5060 Ti operate on PCIe 5.0 x8, so they'll actually perform at PCIe 3.0 x8 speeds. Instead, I’d recommend checking out the 9060 XT 16GB—it could be a better fit for your system.
That’s out of my price range unfortunately.
Right now, I’m at 1440p but waiting for the 1080p 144Hz monitor. And yeah, open box deals are off the table for me—needs to be brand new. The cheapest 9060 I found is over €500, while the 5060 is about €350 and the Ti is €400.