Hey everyone! I'm planning a new build and could use your input. My current setup is a GTX 1080 paired with an i7-4790K, and so far, I've had no issues. However, I ran some bottleneck calculators that claimed I have a 65% bottleneck, which seems off to me. I'm looking to upgrade to a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, an ASUS ROG Strix B850-F motherboard, some G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32GB RAM, and an Arctic Liquid Freezer III for cooling. I also plan to get an ASUS TUF RTX 5070 Ti around March-April 2026. Right now, I mostly play Valorant and don't have plans to play demanding AAA games until I get the new GPU. I'm thinking of upgrading the CPU, motherboard, cooler, and RAM first and continuing to use my GTX 1080 until I can afford the new GPU. Does this sound like a solid plan? Will the 1080 handle Valorant well with the 7800X3D until I upgrade? Thanks for your help!
3 Answers
If your GTX 1080 is running close to 100% load, then you're in the clear. There's no serious bottlenecking happening. Just a heads up though—going with a B650 motherboard might save you some bucks, and a less expensive cooler would work just fine too since the 7800X3D doesn’t require extreme cooling.
You'll be just fine! I used my GTX 1080 until quite recently, and it performed great with 1080p games. Sure, it might not hit all the bells and whistles for the latest titles, but it should hold you over nicely until you get that new GPU.
Couldn't agree more! 8GB of VRAM on the 1080 really helps for gaming at 1080p.
Honestly, you'll likely be GPU bound with that GTX 1080 and the new 7800X3D. Just keep in mind that a bottleneck isn’t the end of the world, especially if you can still achieve the desired FPS in your games. It’s generally better to have a GPU bottleneck than a CPU bottleneck, since you can adjust settings to boost FPS on the graphics side.
Exactly! If you're hitting high FPS with the 1080 in Valorant, there's no need to worry much about the bottleneck.
Great advice! Especially considering how cool the 7800X3D runs, you really don't need a massive cooler.