What motherboard are you running that 3770k on?
Some of the earlier motherboard/CPU combinations required the 'enable PCIe Gen3' hack to take advantage of that feature on videocards which support it out-of-the-box..
That hack gives an absolutely massive boost to games like RF2.
It does aid in the smoothness on AC and ACC, but not the outright framerate increase it does in the former title.
I too, keep 'talking' myself into either an 8700K or Ryzen 2700X... but every time I look at my gameplay smoothness and decide against it...even with VR.
I cannot seem to find a reason to update.
Those old S-B CPUs seem to be absolutely timeless if setup properly with other good components.
Below is the manual way to enable as posted by Iluv2raceit
These are instructions on how to enable PCI-E 3.0 using the REGEDIT function within the Microsoft Windows operating systems:
Step 1: Update your graphics drivers to the latest version (doesn't matter if you use the WHQL or beta version) and restart your computer.
Step 2: Download the latest version of GPU-Z:
Step 3: Run GPU-Z and verify that the “Graphics Bus interface” value shows PCI-E 2.0 for each card
Step 4: Disable SLI -or- Crossfire (if enabled). If SLI -or- Crossfire are not enabled, skip to Step 5
Step 5: Click on the Windows button (located on the lower left corner of the start bar)
Step 6: In the search index entry window, type in “Regedit” (the Registry Editor window will open)
Step 7: Select the following registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video
Step 8: Identify the correct registry folders for each of graphics cards you have installed. There will be one associated folder for each card installed. To identify the correct folder for each card, you will need to review the names of each folder within the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ CurrentControlSet/ Control/Video” registry directory. The folder associated with a graphics card will have three or more subfolders (depending on how many PCI-E slots available on the motherboard). The values listed for each subfolder will be 0000, 0001, 0002, 0003, 0004, and Video. Review only the subfolders labeled as "0000". You will know you have selected the correct "0000" subfolder when you see a registry labeled “DriverDesc” with a value that matches the graphics card you have installed. Example, the value in my “DriverDesc” registry value reads “NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080”.
Step 9: Right click on the folder labeled “0000”. Select “New”, then select “DWORD (32-bit) Value“, then enter “RMPcieLinkSpeed” for the name of the registry.
Step 10: Right click the “RMPcieLinkSpeed” registry you just created, then select “Modify”, then enter “4” as the data value and verify that the “Hexadecimal” option is checked under “Base”, and then select “OK”.
Step 11: Repeat steps 9 and 10 for each graphics card associated folder (named “0000”)
Step 12: Once you have completed creating the RMPcieLinkSpeed registry for each card, close the Registry Editor window and restart your computer.
Step 13: Once your system is back into operating system environment, run GPU-Z and verify that the “Graphics Bus interface” value shows PCI-E 3.0 for each card.
PCI-E 3.0 is now fully enabled.
