That's helpful to know. I do get that feeling that I'm being held back but between the articles about a Ryzen 1700 actually being SLOWER than an overclocked i5 3570k in some games, and the general consensus that each successive generation of Intel chips has only brought ~10% performance improvements if that, it was hard to know if I was just itching for an upgrade because reasons. I don't know if a 3770k is an option because I don't really want to buy a used chip and trying to buy that new in Canada is probably a fool's errand at this point.
This sounds like you are still a bit uncertain if upgrading from your 3570k is justified. Let me help you with that a tiny bit
(maybe)
The biggest jump was from Bloomfield (i7 9xx) to sandy bridge (i7 2600k) (about +30%). The rest was rather underwhelming if directly compared to the previous generation, but it adds up if you jump a generation or two. A 7600k is about 30-40% faster than a 3570k. That's not nothing.
I remember also having massive problems hitting steady 60fps in Just Cause 3, Witcher 3 and GTA V on my brand new GTX 980 (back then). I was very disappointed. This was at a time when the general opinion was:"2500k/3570k is enough for years to come", so I didn't even think about blaming my CPU.
But I started to investigate things a bit more and found some strange behaviour. Frame rates began to drop down to the high 40s in some cases, but GPU load wasn't even reaching 80%. I of course assumed that some games were poorly optimised when in fact I was running into CPU bottlenecks on my 3570k (@4.4ghz, btw). So, I upgraded and bought the 6700k and my fps went up like crazy in some cases. I couldn't believe my eyes. Same GPU, same mobo and ram, even same clock speeds for both CPUs.
Just Cause 3 is the most dramatic example, but fps also improved in Witcher 3 where they doped below 60 on many occasions (
click and
click)
http://abload.de/image.php?img=jc3_i56ux1g.png (3570k@4.4ghz, 1080p, gtx 980; 54fps)
http://abload.de/image.php?img=jc3_i7c1bff.png (6700k@4.4ghz,1080p, gtx 980; 94 fps)
I recently dropped my 6700k build during transportation. I slipped on a staircase and I had to make a decision: save myself or my PC. After I woke up from comma, I noticed that my decision wasn't correct, because my PC was destroyed anyway (just kidding, I of course sacrificed my PC and saved myself).
So, I had to build something new and was in a similar dilemma: Ryzen 7 or i7? I went for the 7700k. Why? Because the 1080 is the second strongest mainstream GPU on the market and after learning how important CPU power is when running a high-end graphic cards, I decided to get the strongest gaming CPU out there. Was it the right ‘future-proof' decision? I'm not sure and a bit in doubt, but I would feel the same with the r7 1700.
That's how JC3 runs on my new i7/1080 build.
https://abload.de/img/jc3_1080hkun8.jpg (7700k@4.5ghz, 1080p, gtx 1080; 137fps)
The 3570k (4.4ghz) would still be in the ~50 fps range in this situation, even with a gtx 1080.
And as you're interested in ME:A. I tested it with EA Access and 1440p/60 seem to be doable, even on ultra-settings, if there is no CPU bottleneck of course.
https://youtu.be/4wOegkxE_OM
TL;TR:
Upgrading the 3570k because of a gtx 1080 is even a must do imo. It's up to you to decide between kabylake and ryzen, though.
