2600k/970: Full upgrade Vs. GTX 1080/1440p monitor refresh

[SkyBum]

New gaming room is nearly done. Shopping a complete build. Curious just how much a simple GPU / 1440 Monitor upgrade would suffer vs full blown upgrade.

A motivating factor with a completely new build is that I could pass my current gaming rig (spec below) to my brother who's still running the last rig I gave him (Athlon FX 57). I told him at the time if he got 2 years out of it he should be happy. 9 years later and still running? Never saw that coming...

My plan has been leaning toward a build on a Thermaltake Core P5 chassis, custom cooling loop, mid $300 to $400 Intel CPU, GTX 1080 / 1440k PG279Q or XB271HU (seriously stuck on that choice, opinions appreciated). But so much dollars...

For the most part this is still my intention, yet I'm interested to know what I could expect if i were to curtail the budget and simply add a GTX 1080 / premium 1440k monitor?

Could deferring the CPU/MOBO/RAM for another year (and perhaps pushing the extra funds toward VR hardware make sense? (doubt it and still SO on the fence versus VR...).

Anyhow, end of the day, 1440k/Gsync at near max settings is really my only requirement, I can spend whatever is required but other hobbies are crying.

Unfortunately my technical chops are a bit lacking so once again I defer to the Anandtech forums to help fill in the blanks for me.

Thank you for your opinions...

SK

 

[Ken g6]

It sounds like you're a heavy overclocker. Skylake-X coming in about a year seems like it could be worth waiting for.

G-sync also helps smooth out frame rate drops, so just a 1080 or even a 1070 might be enough for now if your 2600k is overclocked enough.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Ain't nothin wrong with your current rig a 1080 won't fix. Save your money unless you really like building new rigs and hate your other hobbies.

 

[SkyBum]

Thanks guys for the confidence. Just installed my new EVGA GTX 1080 FTW and it's very clear now that the 'ol 2600k is still holding it's own.

I was SO close to going whole hog and getting new CPU/MOBO/RAM (+GPU) but very happy to put those plans out another year or two.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction...I couldnt even count the times AT forum has given me great advice (and saved me a considerable amount of money).

Now if only I could find a 1440p IPS panel without the QC issues I could finally put my 11 year old Dell 2405FPW to rest and let this new GPU stretch it's legs a bit.