Processor or video more important for wow?

[Avalee-earthen-ring]

Need to choose between 2 pc’s. One has i7 and so-so video. Other has i5 and better video. WoW is pretty much the only game I play so what should I choose?

PC1: Intel CYCLON Core i7 8700K, 16GB, GTX 1660 6GB, 250GB SSD, 1TB
PC2: Intel CYCLON Core i5 8600K, 16GB, RTX 2060 6GB, 256GB SSD, 1TB

Price is about the same (1150 euro). I can afford a bit more than that but don’t know what’s best for WoW.

[Retierx-draenor (Retierx)]

world content is pretty gpu bound, raids and other similar things with a lot of people are more cpu bound. it’s always both though.

2060 is 30-40% faster than 1660, and that will show in the framerate in the open world, at least for high res.

wow does scale with high amounts of threads nowadays and the 8700k should outperform the 8600k in large raids. even if it doesn’t, 6c/12t will also generally have more stable frametimes than 6c/6t in games, which gives a more fluid gaming experience. sometimes 6c/6t will have a higher average framerate in games, but have considerably worse frametimes than 6c/12t, and therefore feel worse despite putting up a higher number.

it’s not a simple choice, but i’ll try to give some advice:

1. do you play at a high resolution (1440p, 4k, ultrawide etc?) if so, consider prioritising graphics card.
2. do you play at a high refresh (120hz, 144hz, 165hz, 240hz)? consider prioritising the cpu. it’s easier to accomodate an inadequate gpu than an inadequate cpu.
3. do you care about raiding performance a lot? look at the cpu.
4. the 8700k system is more solid long-term, a gpu upgrade in a few years should make it snappy again. the 8600k will become inadequate earlier, and then you need to find a used 8700k/8086k/9700k/9900k or upgrade the whole platform.
5. the 8700k system will run laps around the 8600k for productivity and heavy multi-tasking, short of things like gpu-accelerated rendering.
6. the 8600k system will be much faster in more graphically demanding games should you choose to play some of those.

personally i’d opt for the 8700k, rather have a system built on a stable base that can take whatever i throw at it and is adequate long-term, particularly for someone who only plays wow. if your thread was about “i wanna play all the latest games on the highest graphics setting possible” i’d probably point at the 8600k.

[Eighjan-terokkar (Eighjan)]

The problem comes with WoW being the only game I’m aware of that is predominantly CPU driven, like @Retierx said.

Both those cards will get you into 1440p, but have more than enough ‘power’ for 1080p.

Personally, if the price is the same, I’d go for the PC1 option. I’ve just upgraded to a Vega 56 GPU and 28" 4K capable monitor (as in it can do 4K, but I’m choosing not to), but the rest of my PC is holding these two back - at some point I’ll be swapping to a “Ryzen 2600 on B450” base (currently i5-4690K on Z97X).