Best CPU for RTX 2080
Best CPU for the 2080? What exactly is that?
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The RTX 2080 is a borderline 1440p – 4K GPU, so it definitely packs a punch. This is one of Nvidia’s fan-favorite GPUs being adopted as one of the better GPUs we have seen in a while. But with all this power, we need a good CPU to manage and feed data to this 1440p monster. What is the best CPU for RTX 2080?
All GPUs, no matter how powerful they may be, need a CPU at the other side feeding them the correct data to be able to push pixels onto your monitor. We need to find you a CPU that causes as little GPU bottleneck as possible in 1440p. And we think we know just the CPU. Without further delay, here’s the best CPU for the RTX 2080.
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Best CPU for RTX 2080
The best CPU for the RTX 2080 is the Ryzen 7 5800X.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Speed
3.8GHz/ 4.7GHz
Core (Threads)
8/16
Socket
AM4
TDP
105W
The Ryzen 7 5800X is the best CPU for the job, perfect for 1440p and some 4k gaming thanks to its efficiency and power.
The 5800X has very respectable 8-Cores and 16-Threads to work with, making it somewhat proficient in multi-threaded workloads, such as rendering and streaming. Should that tickle your fancy?
The gaming performance lends its hand to the 4.7GHz max core boost speed. The max core speed of a CPU is almost always a good indicator of how well the CPU will perform in games. This is why we opt for CPUs with a high core speed.
The 5800X has a TDP of 105W, which is a lot higher than the lower-end Ryzen 5000 series CPUs, however, it still manages to output a lot of processing power for the relatively small 105W TDP.
The Ryzen 7 5800X only causes a 4% bottleneck in 1440p with the RTX 2080, that’s the closest result without having to spend an arm and a leg on overpriced Ryzen 9 series CPUs. Or having to upgrade to the current generation of CPUs.
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Best Budget CPU for RTX 2080
There is an intel option this time around, and that comes in the form of the i5-12600K.
Intel Core i5-12600KF
Boost clock speed (single core)
4.9 GHz
Total Cores / Threads
10/16
P-cores
6
E-cores
4
Socket
LGA 1700
Overclockable
Yes
This CPU only causes a 3% bottleneck in 1440p when paired with the RTX 2080 and costs a lot less. The reason this isn’t the main CPU instead of the 5800X is that the 5800X possesses more cores. However, the Ryzen 7 5800X does possess a 0.2GHz lower cores speed, and as we all know, core speed is beneficial in games.
We don’t recommend going any lower than this, as you’ll begin to create a GPU bottleneck. That’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid when picking out the best CPU for RTX 2080.
Final Word
The RTX 2080 is an almost perfect GPU, if you can pick one up right now, it’s a great balance of price Vs performance. The Ryzen 7 5800X is the perfect CPU to support the RTX 2080 in the 1440p resolution. Coming in a close second is the i5-12600K if you’re on a budget but don’t mind losing out on a few processing cores.