Worth upgrading from a i7 7700k right now or should I continue to wait ?

ng4ever

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To be honest I really don't need faster right now but it still would be nice.

What would I upgrade to ?

I know I need a new mobo too.
 
you would upgrade to an AMD 5k series or Intel 11k series.
 
I went AMD 5800X since I couldn't get a 5900X.

IMG_0901.JPEG
 
Thanks.

Which one do you recommend out of the two ?

What should I do with my old i7 7700k ?
I've been an Intel fan for the last 25 years but AMD came out with some fantastic CPU's in the past few of years.
I went AMD this round due to the huge performance increase.

I would either sell or keep the 7700k, sell it if you don't need a second system, keep it if you do.

I put my old 4790k setup into this case to use upstairs in my bedroom,
IMG_0236.JPEG
 
Cool looks like you got a Nvidia RTX 3000 series though!

Is the 5900X really worth the extra amount of money and difficulty of trying to find ?
Ya, got lucky with the RTX 3080, friend of my brothers got an extra one and I was able to get it.
It's probably not worth it unless you need to crunch some data/encode with the CPU. I just wanted it since it was a 12 core, but this 8 core I have has been really good as well.
 
I've been an Intel fan for the last 25 years but AMD came out with some fantastic CPU's in the past few of years.
I went AMD this round due to the huge performance increase.

I would either sell or keep the 7700k, sell it if you don't need a second system, keep it if you do.

Ok thanks.
 
Ya, got lucky with the RTX 3080, friend of my brothers got an extra one and I was able to get it.
It's probably not worth it unless you need to crunch some data/encode with the CPU. I just wanted it since it was a 12 core, but this 8 core I have has been really good as well.

Oh ok.

So what is bare minimum amount of cores to have nowadays ?

I remember when it use to be 4 cores not anymore lol.
 
I wish AMD had integrated graphics cards on their cpus.

Maybe they do but last time I checked they did not.
 
I hope amd processors can be kept cool with low profile or semi low profile cpu coolers/fan too.

Sorry I will explain. My case does not allow a very tall cpu cooler/fan :(

Hopefully cpu cooler/fans have improved even more over the years in smaller size but doubt it. Oh well.
 
This is the current cpu cooler/fan I have to give you an idea how small my heatsink/fan has to be. :(

It barely fits in my case but thankfully does.

Scythe SCBSK-2100 120mm Sleeve BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B CPU Cooler
 
Scartch that I think I can handle maybe up to 68mm height if it includes fan too on heatsink.
 
Scartch that I think I can handle maybe up to 68mm height if it includes fan too on heatsink.
If you have a 68mm height restriction, you should probably only be looking at 6 core CPUs, to keep the fan noise down. In particular, a Ryzen 5600x only uses about 70 watts. However, even though it uses half the power of an 11600k, its only a little bit easier to cool.
 
This is stupid question but is it easy to cut a small hole in a case ? Guessing not my case.

Sense it is tempered glass case. The sides are glass. So guessing that would not work :( Not even sure if it would be doable though sense moving the tower ever could pull off the heatsink/fan if it got caught on the table legs. So most likely not a good idea. Oh well just a stupid thought.
 
I may get this case Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG Certified (Black) ATX Full Tower Gaming Computer Case but worried about the weight.
 
I went from a 7700k to a 5600, then a 5900x when it was available. I tried a 3090 with the 7700k, but the 3090 was being held back by the 7700K.

As far as cooling goes, overclocked my 7700k was using 140W, while the 5900x is giving more performance, it can pull as much as 180W tweaked but with 12 cores. The 5600 pulled 110W tweaked. Tweaked as in boosting to 4.8-4.9 ghz.
 
what do you do with your PC? Why do you feel it’s time time to upgrade? What upgrade aspect do you want?
 
A 5600x would work with that HSF as it probably draws less power than your old CPU even under load.
 
Oh ok.

So what is bare minimum amount of cores to have nowadays ?

I remember when it use to be 4 cores not anymore lol.
I would say 6 with SMT is bare minimum, 8-12 with SMT being best. Anything more is for workstation type workloads. More stuff will utilize all 8 cores better than all 10 or 12 unless you're video encoding or 3D rendering.
not anymore. AMD with the 5000 series was better at gaming than intel, but the 11k intel looks nearly on par, but still lagging a little against the AMD 5k series.
AMD is cooler and more energy efficient than Intel though. Used to be the opposite since before Ryzen 3xxx/after Core 2.
 
Cool looks like you got a Nvidia RTX 3000 series though!

Is the 5900X really worth the extra amount of money and difficulty of trying to find ?
For gaming the current sweet spot for price/performance is probably the 5600x. The 5800x gives more futureproofing than those though. The 5900x is worth it for productivity as it has significantly more processing power, but will trade blows with the 5800x for gaming. Some titles will favor the 5800x and others will favor the 5900x. For a gaming only system I would go with 5800x if you want future proofing or look at 5600x if you want to save money at the risk of not having enough CPU in a few years time when games are mainly targeting 8 core 16 thread consoles. The 7700k is too slow for modern titles with a high-end graphics card, but should be fine if you have an older one like a 1070, 1080 or similar as both would be limiting factors. If you are not in a hurry, then you might as well wait and see what the next gen from Intel and AMD bring to the table. Intel is guaranteed to be swapping sockets on next gen and AMD are supposed to move to a new socket as well.
 
For gaming the current sweet spot for price/performance is probably the 5600x. The 5800x gives more futureproofing than those though. The 5900x is worth it for productivity as it has significantly more processing power, but will trade blows with the 5800x for gaming. Some titles will favor the 5800x and others will favor the 5900x. For a gaming only system I would go with 5800x if you want future proofing or look at 5600x if you want to save money at the risk of not having enough CPU in a few years time when games are mainly targeting 8 core 16 thread consoles. The 7700k is too slow for modern titles with a high-end graphics card, but should be fine if you have an older one like a 1070, 1080 or similar as both would be limiting factors. If you are not in a hurry, then you might as well wait and see what the next gen from Intel and AMD bring to the table. Intel is guaranteed to be swapping sockets on next gen and AMD are supposed to move to a new socket as well.

Thank you.

I only have a EVGA RTX 2060 super.
 
I would say 6 with SMT is bare minimum, 8-12 with SMT being best. Anything more is for workstation type workloads. More stuff will utilize all 8 cores better than all 10 or 12 unless you're video encoding or 3D rendering.

AMD is cooler and more energy efficient than Intel though. Used to be the opposite since before Ryzen 3xxx/after Core 2.
Thanks.

I am surprised AMD is cooler and more energy efficient than Intel now.
 
Thank you.

I only have a EVGA RTX 2060 super.
7700k with 2060 super ---- I would say no reason to upgrade right now, unless you are dedicated to a game which specifically enjoys more than 4 cores for CPU performance. Or if you do a lot of streaming.
Otherwise, In most games, you probably won't get any more performance from that 2060 super, with a newer CPU.
 
To be honest I really don't need faster right now but it still would be nice.


7700k with 2060 super ---- I would say no reason to upgrade right now, unless you are dedicated to a game which specifically enjoys more than 4 cores for CPU performance. Or if you do a lot of streaming.
Otherwise, In most games, you probably won't get any more performance from that 2060 super, with a newer CPU.
Agreed. Now is an absolutely tragic time to do an elective upgrade. Lots of stuff is inflated in price, and the 7700k is no slouch. If what you have now satisfies you: GREAT. Wait until the current madness subsides.
 
Yeah, maybe there is a little bit of madness. I bought an i5-11500 and still waiting to find a B560 motherboard to be in stock. I saw on B&Hphotovideo that they're expecting some boards in 2 to 4 weeks. But I also read once you build your machine you should flash the BIOS right away since the Rocket Lake BIOS is still new at this point. (I don't know exactly which BIOS issues exist, just read the BIOS wasn't refined yet.)
 
Yeah, maybe there is a little bit of madness. I bought an i5-11500 and still waiting to find a B560 motherboard to be in stock. I saw on B&Hphotovideo that they're expecting some boards in 2 to 4 weeks. But I also read once you build your machine you should flash the BIOS right away since the Rocket Lake BIOS is still new at this point. (I don't know exactly which BIOS issues exist, just read the BIOS wasn't refined yet.)
Newegg has a bunch of B560 and an H570 in stock. Sold by Newegg and third party sellers.
 
I'm waiting for Alder lake (12th gen) rumored to come out late this year. I'm still using my 7820x and recently switched to 4k gaming about a year ago so I'm not CPU limited. I desperately need a 3080 to get more performance. The 1080Ti is adequate for everything except cyberpunk @ 4k but I really hate turning down settings. The 1080Ti did me well for 3 years. Time for a new build on a brand new socket from Intel it AMD.
 
After JUST moving from a heavily overclocked Haswell-e 5960x (~4.65Ghz) to a new AMD 5950x last weekend; I have noticed I no longer have any real FPS dips, but my average FPS are about the same (maybe slightly higher). This is all at 4K mind you.... if I bench games at lower resolutions there is a clear difference.

However, the 5960x was already an 8c/16t CPU, so it could still hold its own at 4K. Although a few games certainly will benefit from the IPC boost. I am primarily more excited to be able to use Re-Bar now and have PCIe 4.0 for my nvme drives and video card. Whether or not those features are worth it can only be up to the individual. A 7700k will struggle more than my old 5960x did I presume with the lower core count. I'd say at least OC the crap out of it if you plan to hold out a bit longer.

TBH, mine was more of "I want to upgrade soon, I'll get a 5950x or 11900k, which ever is in stock first".... then MicroCenter had stock Saturday and it turned into "Oh crap, going to upgrade now; looks like 5950x with its core count and similar IPC will last me much longer, sold".
 
If you do not mind some tinkering and risking burning your hardware there are ways to put Coffee Lake to Skylake motherboards.
People had more luck with something like 9700k which has 8 threads than i9 9900k which has 16 due to some bios stuff but bios upgrade with unofficial modifications would be needed as well as some manipulation with CPU itself (covering some pins)

I just put this as an option. Used 9700k aren't terribly expensive and you wouldn't need to even re-install Windows :)
 
If you do not mind some tinkering and risking burning your hardware there are ways to put Coffee Lake to Skylake motherboards.
People had more luck with something like 9700k which has 8 threads than i9 9900k which has 16 due to some bios stuff but bios upgrade with unofficial modifications would be needed as well as some manipulation with CPU itself (covering some pins)

I just put this as an option. Used 9700k aren't terribly expensive and you wouldn't need to even re-install Windows :)

You never need to re-install Windows. You can do it if you want to or if you have issues you don't know how to fix, but ever since Windows 10 those are actually very rare. This OS can smoothly be moved from hardware to hardware, of course you'll generally need to reactivate Windows but that's really not a big deal these days.
 
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Yeah, I was surprised how well Windows 10 does with a hardware swap. I really did not want to reinstall windows and all of my software, so I got lazy on my current build and just booted to my nvme from my last build. Windows 10 showed a "reconfigure" screen and then everything was set... all I had to do was install some chipset drivers and I was good to go.

Keep in mind, this was going from a Intel 5960x (x99) to an AMD 5950x (AM4)... and it worked perfectly.
 
Honestly...probably not. I went from an 8700K to a 5800X. Other than 3DMark and transcoding videos, I've seen little to no difference in real world performance. Gaming is almost all on your video card these days. Especially at 1440p and 4K. If you're at 1080p...different story. Then it's probably worthwhile.
I did it mainly because my wife was in bad need a newer system, so she now has my 8700K.
 
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