John Chad, Bachelor Degree in Computer Science & Computer Engineering.
Russel Collins
The RTX 3070, The RTX 3080, and the RTX 3090 are currently 3 of the most powerful CPUs available in the market while also being reasonably affordable considering they’re high-end graphics cards, however, for such a GPU you also need a powerful CPU to help avoid bottleneck. After you finish reading this article you’ll know 6 different & best CPU compatible with RTX 3070, RTX 3080, and RTX 3090 that are perfect in terms of price/performance.
What’s a bottleneck?
A bottleneck is essentially when either the CPU or GPU is far more powerful than the other. This means that say you got an RTX 3070 and an Intel I5 4445, the I5 4445 is far too weak to allow the RTX 3070 to use its full potential/performance so the GPU despite being one of the best in the world will output at best 80% of its full performance, thus it’s a waste of money.
That’s why having a good balance between GPU and CPU is so important if you are looking to have a good price/performance ratio.
With this said, in this article the CPU’s we will show you are all compatible with the RTX 3070, RTX 3080, and RTX 3090 and will either have no bottleneck with it or very minimal so you don’t have to worry about it as long as you choose one of our options.
Overclocking
Since the RTX 3070, 3080, and 3090 are so powerful and they also allow you some good overclocking on it, we also suggest you get a CPU that can overclock, this way, a few years down the line you’ll be able to overclock both the CPU and GPU and draw out even more FPS to keep the system relevant & competitive even with newer hardware, this will significantly improve how long the build can last you in terms of competitive performance.
Top 6 Best CPU Compatible With RTX 3070, RTX 3080, and RTX 3090
| CPU | Our Opinion | Check Price |
|---|---|---|
| I7 11700K | Most powerful CPU in this list, there are better ones but you'll already be able to use your RTX 3070 at 100% performance with this one. |  |
| I5 11600K | A bit worse than the I7 11700K but still easily the 2nd best option. | |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | A bit worse than the other 2 options due to being released prior to them, however it's still a very solid choice. | |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | Another solid choice, perfect for a mix of being cheap + decent performance | |
| I5 10600K | Same as the Ryzen 5 5600x except the intel counterpart | |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | Weakest CPU we would suggest you to get, any weaker than this and the bottleneck will be huge. | |
Ready for the future of gaming, and more? This 11700K from intel is compatible with intel 500 series & a select few intel 400 series chipset motherboards, supporting Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and including support for Intel Optane Memory! It’s perfect for people who want to take advantage of PCIe Gen 4.0 too, amazing huh?
Welcome to the Intel I5 11600K – a small, compact CPU with power and ambition. This handsome little computer will be your best friend for generations. Future-proof your PC by updating today! What can this CPU do? It’s Compatible with Intel 500 series & select Intel 400 series chipset based motherboards; it has an integrated PCIe Gen 4.0 Support design; and there is no thermal solution included so you’ll have plenty of room to upgrade. Invest in the future of computing today!
You know, if you enjoy having high FPS while gaming then the Core I5 10600K is for you. With up to 4. 8 GHz of turbo frequency, there’s no need to strain yourself. The Compatible with Intel 400 series chipset based motherboards will help with drawing out this CPU maximum power for gaming. Enjoy!
The Ryzen 7 3800X is the world’s most advanced processor in the desktop PC gaming segment. It delivers ultra-fast 100+ FPS performance in the world’s most popular games, enables users to turn up game graphics for a more immersive experience, and unlocks your computer’s full processing power.
The Ryzen 7 3800X has an 8-core and 16-thread design that can easily accommodate extreme demands from gamers for low latency video content editing, data warehouse simulations, and other computing tasks while leveraging chip multiprocessing (CMP) fusion technology to unleash CPUs’ full potential – unleashing AMD Ryzen™ processors’ true power. You’ll be able to achieve a 4.5 GHz max boost without needing manual overclocking adjustments thanks to Precision Boost.