How do you know when it is time to upgrade your CPU?

[Wildside]

Hey everyone. Good question here before I decide upgrading anytime soon. My CPU is dated 2011. Same time i got my mobo. I feel like it is getting old but still kicking in my day to day tasks. I run Z-Brush, Maya, Photoshop, xNormals, video gaming, etc so far. Beside real world testing (gaming), how else am i suppose to know that my CPU is just not as good anymore or is bottlenecking my GPU? When should I upgrade it and how soon? As of this post, AMD and Intel upcoming CPU roadmaps have already been unveiled for 2016 and on. How you guys determine when it is time to upgrade?

 

[cb600fshornet]

I tend to use monitoring software, if my GPU is getting upwards of around 80% usage then chances are you aren't CPU bottlenecked.

Ultimately it depends on the games you play, some are more CPU reliant, if you're a serious gamer then it's probably about time for you to think about changing, I don't think AMD have got any fantastic CPUs on offer though, so a true upgrade path would probably take you up the Intel road!

 

[PP Mguire]

For gaming it's GPU usage. Your other apps if for sure want an Intel chip since Zambezi was terribly slow.

Intel is still and will continue to increase in increments so getting a Skylake cpu this fall won't be a waste. I for one won't be upgrading anytime soon.

 

[Wildside]

Thought about the Intel route. It is best that i hold out until i hear benchmarks of the newest CPUs when they come out.

Reading more about the upcoming Zen if your curious:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_(microarchitecture)

 

[PP Mguire]

Yea, heard the same hype train for Bulldozer too. Not falling for it this time, and you'd be best not to as well. I'm hoping DX12 makes the CPU irrelevant quickly.

Skylake on the other hand will be another 10% increase over Haswell and still not a good upgrade option for me, or anybody with a 2nd gen or above Core i.