9600k is 6 core without ht and it stutters a lot. I shifted from the same to 5800x and it was a big difference. 8 core/16 threads brings smoothness. 6 threads is just too limited there.

However at 4k, the average fps will change very little however the smoothness of gameplay will change a lot.

I don’t think expecting 4K gaming on a 3080 is reasonable, unless ofc you don’t mind to significantly cut down the visuals or play just old or undemanding games.

But anyway, yes, 9600k is not a great CPU anymore for today’s standards.

If it’s for gaming then go for the 7800x3d, it’s the fastest gaming chip currently.

Do it pls do it i just upgraded from 10700k to 14600k and its great

I upgraded from 10700k(@ 5.2ghz all) to 14900k(@5.8ghz all, 5.9ghz quad and 6.1ghz dual) and I have 4090 and game in 4k. I saw a like 10-20% increase in 99% fps and like a 5-15% in average fps. Depends alot on the game, the pc overall feels much smoother, and I can alt tab much quicker. Multitasking is not an issue anymore(discord streaming doesn’t change fps). Tarkov got a huge boost like 40% fps increase. I also got ddr5 ram (6400mhz 64gb) from ddr4(3466mhz 32gb).

4k resolution by itself doesn’t say much. Are you using upscaling? If yes then its not really 4k but lower which makes it more cpu bound. Also, you can take a look at gpu utilisation if you wanna see if you are currently cpu limited or not.

You’re gonna see a huge increase in performance. And your 1% lows are gonna be so much better.

You would. In some titles. But people underestimate how few cores some games still use, and how well a 4.8ghz 9th gen still holds up. I had an 8600k OCd to 4.8ghz all core and 5ghz single core boost, and when I upgraded to a Ryzen 7700x I really didn’t see huge gains in a lot of games. That was at 1080p with a 6600xt. Likely similar to a 3080 at 4k. I wasn’t playing many games that utilize many threads. And a 5ghz 8th, 9th, and 10th Gen Intel CPU with no hyper threading Is still equal to a Ryzen 5600 with its SMT disabled.

People often way overestimate how CPU demanding games really are. There are exceptions. Starfield, or that Battlefield game from a few years ago that came out in a really broken state. StarWars survivor that also came out in a broken state. Lots of really bad unoptimized cash grabs.

Some games are broken in other ways, but still well optimized. Cyberpunk when it released played at 60fps on a now 12 year old 2600k. I underclocked my 8600k to 1.8ghz to see what would happen, and it still ran at 40fps.

Ray Tracing it’s very CPU heavy, and you’ll see large gains there, especially if switching to DDR5.

I’d just pickup another set of ram that matches for speed/timings (I’d run 64GB of 3200mhz myself) and double or triple your ram capacity. that will give you a nice uplift without any other bs, maybe do a nice once over of your system (evict the dust bunnies) a BIOS update, (you will likely find some nice smaller QOL updates vs early bios)

If you the full core system refresh route…
your going to have 5 Generations of IPC uplift in one hit which will likely feel sprightly on top of the extra cores and iGPU upgrade. (again, for Ram compatibility and QOL updates do a bios update on the new combo early on) prep a USB with the bios and have another with all the key drivers you will need to install for intel drivers, igpu, nvidia drivers and anything else you want early on like Ninite for instance.

DDR5 is starting to be come more widely available at decent prices, so if you can swing a 64GB kit now, do it and grab another down the line as it gets cheaper. IF DDR5 on a BOARD and RAM cost is killing your hip pocket remember you can still get the DDR4 Equivalent you still get all the I/O improvements and IPC gain, and a decent lift to DDR4 performance but not as much as youd get with DDR5 (think 11-15% under)

I’d also suggest grabbing a A770 LE while you can if you do video/streaming or editing work, the newer drivers are making that card a great performer.

Went 9600k to 7800x3d. First time ever, choosing amd over Intel and I’m glad I did. Also have a 3080, and compared with my brothers computer (3080, 14600k) I get anywhere from 10 to 20% higher fps.

I just went from 9600k to 7600x and the difference for me is massive. I’m mostly playing Warzone on 1440p, but the fps almost doubled after the switch. I’m still using my old RTX 2060 Super, but I’m thinkig of switching that too.

But I guess I was unlucky with my silicon lottery on 9600k, because the max I could get out of it was 4.6 all cores…anything higher than that would just crash.

massive uplift,yes even at 4k, a better gpu is due to,maybe a 4070ti super? that would be a sick combo , well balanced.otherwise stick with your 3080, still a killer card