My experiences upgrading an OC 6700K to a Ryzen 7700X. Pics, benchmarks, boot times

Rev. Night

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 30, 2004
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Howdy all. With so many ‘Should I upgrade to Zen 4’ posts, I decided to chronicle all the things I experienced with my upgrade. This post details out the issues I faced, solutions, performance increases, gaming improvements, and lasting thoughts.

Old build:
-6700K delided to 4.7ghz all core
-Gigabyte Z170-HD3P
-16gb of DDR-3200
-WD Black 512gb pci3 nvme for OS.

New build:
-Ryzen 7 7700X
-Asus TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI
-32gb of DDR-6000. Thanks Microcenter for the free ram!
-WD SN850x 2TB pci4 nvme for OS.

Common components:
-Reference AMD 6700XT
-Noctua DH-15 with 2 A12x25s, TG Kryonaut paste
-Arctic P12 case fans (3 intake, 1 exhaust, 2 supplemental GPU)

Issues faced:
  1. Put cpu paste on via weird way
    1. I have normally just put a pea size shape in the middle of the cpu heatspreader and just put on the cooler. You all said that for Ryzens, more was needed. So following your advice, I put a decent amount on and used a small plastic ziplock bag to finger spread the paste around best I could. In my gaming benchmarks, I see highs of 75-85C, so I guess thats considered cool for Zen 5s.
    2. Standard operating temperature during office work is 40-50C
    3. PXL_20230303_185342289.jpg
    4. PXL_20230303_185522706.MP.jpg
  2. Mobo nvme is a PITA to get off.
    1. The nvme heatsink that goes over 2 nvmes requires that I take off the plastic over the thermal heatsink. I take it off and placed the heatsink onto the nvmes. I realized that I didn’t line up one of the end screws correctly and let me tell, I had the worst time taking this fucker off. Like I am trying to use strength, but just enough to free it, and not enough to shatter the 2 drives underneath, one of which is my fucking OS. I had to take a plastic wedge tool to slowly twist the heatsink left and right.
    2. Figured out the best way to get it off was to use the thin piece, remove a pci case slot, and come in through that slot, put the wedge right underneath the far left nvme, and pop it up. Don’t go left/right, go up from underneath. Huge PITA, but easy now that I know how.
  3. Ftpm corruption screen.
    1. I didn’t have ftpm as part of my last build, so curious that something that is brand new is now saying it needs to reset or keep the previous one.
    2. Pressing Y or N ( I did this a few times) has no impact. See the next problem.
  4. No bootable devices.The mobo wouldn’t detect any bootable drives even though my os drive was clearly listed in bios. The solution was to:
    1. Turn off ftpm
    2. Turn on CSM and enable ‘storage boot via legacy’
  5. Windows needed to be reactivated
    1. I replaced the cpu, mobo, ram and Windows deactivates my product key. I went to Settings/Update/Activation and entered it, says it can’t work anymore.
    2. Solution (https://windowsreport.com/key-cant-be-used-to-activate-windows/)
      1. Cmd prompt w/ admin
      2. slmgr –rearm
      3. slmgr /upk
      4. Reboot
      5. Go back to Settings/Update/Activation.
      6. At this point (for me), it was now linked to my MS Store account.
  6. Chrome causes massive spin up in temps, noise, frequency
    1. So wtf is wrong with Chrome? I’m doing nothing, like nothing on my pc other than 3 chrome tabs and suddenly all fans spin up to full fucking blast. The cpu temp is spiking as are the clockspeeds. But looking at the CPU load, it’s 6%??? It’s barely being used. As soon as I close tab, it settles back down. And it doesn't always do this either.
    2. Solution: After getting the various case fans re-optimized via Fan Control, and closing up my case, it’s nowhere near as bad. Also, this rarely happens anymore. I think the CPU is learning and getting broken in, so to speak.
  7. Migrate system from old nvme to new nvme
    1. Disk Genius System Migration from old drive to new.
    2. Rebooted to Windows. Shut off pc
    3. Removed old drive
    4. Turned on PC, it automatically used new drive.
    5. Shut off pc, plugged in old drive, start pc.
    6. Boots into Windows, verified old drive was now F:, not C:.
    7. Format old drive
  8. Eco Mode
    1. Love love love love this. This should have been enabled by default. Located in Bios, PBO, you can select the 65w thermal profile. The result? Basically 0 fps drop, but massive 15C drop during gaming. During desktop, I’m at 40-50C with fans pretty quiet. I can understand why reddit raves about this
  9. Boot Results
    1. These boot times took into account all bios version released thus far. These are the 809, 821, 1222, and 1410 (beta, incorporates ComboAM5PI 1.0.0.6)
    2. Turning on Memory Context Restore (enabled) and subsequent Power Down (enabled) did drastically reduce boot times with the 1410 (beta) bios. FUCK YES. All the early reviews about boot times and Ryzens are now invalid. My 7700x boots up quicker than my intel did, this is amazing.
    3. These 7700X times are identical on my new SD850X compared to my older WD Black 512GB. CrystalDiskMark said my SD850X has 7300/6600 compared to the 1500/800. How is it that these boot times are exactly the same?
    4. Cool Boot turnon
      1. 6700K: 0s to post, 40s to Windows. Total 40s
      2. 7700X (1410 beta bios): 12s to post, 10s to Windows. Total 22s
      3. Winner: Ryzen 7700X
    5. Restart
      1. 6700K: 20s to wait for Windows to restart, 25s waiting after post, 20s to Windows. Total 65s
      2. 7700X (809): 10s to wait for Windows to restart, 27s waiting after post, 14s to Windows. Total: 51s
      3. 7700X (1410 beta): 17s to wait for Windows to restart, 14s waiting after post, 10s to Windows. Total: 42s
      4. Winner: Ryzen 7700X
    6. Sleep/hibernate
      1. 6700K: 0s to post, 30s to Windows. Total 30s
      2. 7700X: 12s to post, 10s to Windows. Total 22s
      3. Winner: Ryzen 7700K
    7. Shutdown
      1. Less than 5s for both CPUs
      2. Winner: Tie
  10. Gaming Performance Results
    1. Summary:
      1. On the official specs, the ‘max boost clock’ is listed as being 5.4ghz on 1 core. After the below benchmarking session, OpenHW shows me being at 5550mhz on all cores, max 75.4C. This is stock Eco mode 65w. Silicon Lottery winner? Great Cooling? Not sure. On normal mode, I was 90C.
      2. As you can see, 0 FPS difference between normal mode and eco mode.
      3. Except for Borderlands 3 (1080 too), all testing was 1440 since thats what I play at.
      4. No difference between DDR-4800 and DDR-6000. You can ignore the crash, I had Memory Context Restore on, that's why it crashed.
    2. Borderlands 3 - High Settings
      1. This is a strange one. You see a massive improvement from stock 6700K to the OC 6700K, as expected. But then to the 7700X, with 2x the ram and faster, you see no difference at all. Not at 1080 or 1440. Perhaps GPU bound?
      2. You can ignore the minimums, my eyes didn't see it going below 100.
      3. The delid OC 6700K certainly runs cool, it's a full 12C less than the 7700X Normal. Eco helps things somewhat.
    3. Far Cry New Dawn - High Settings
      1. Don’t have stock 6700K results, just OC and 7700X Eco. At 1440, 45% improvement across the board.
    4. God Of War (Lake) - Medium/High settings
      1. Custom benchmark. I manually take Krotos out on the boat and do a lap around the huge lake.
      2. Holy shit balls. Like rape my fucking mouth. The 6700K OC was struggling in this game, getting 40-60s FPS on this massive lake. Meanwhile the 7700X gets triple to quadruple the fps????? Fuuuuuuu
    5. Middle Earth: Shadow of War
      1. The OC 6700K got 91 fps, 7700X got 111 fps for 22% improvement. This was more in line with what I expected at this resolution.
    6. Shadow of the Tomb Raider:
      1. The OC 6700K got 86 fps, 7700X got 122 fps for 42% improvement.
    7. Unigine Heaven
      1. Not great, but a decent benchmark
      2. The OC 6700K got 63 fps, 7700X got 95 fps for 43% improvement.
    8. Games 1.jpg
    9. Games 2.jpg
  11. Lasting Thoughts
    1. Overall just as quiet as my delid 6700k. It runs hotter, as expected, so I set the fan curve not quite as aggressive. It’s gotten alot better the past few weeks though, almost as if it’s learning. While I am typing this, I can’t hear it at all, and I’ve been chilling at 45C. Still, during games, I do hear the fans a but more but it depends on the game.
    2. I cannot emphasize enough, activate Eco mode in the bios. ~0 fps drop, +15C drop in temps for gaming.
    3. Huge gaming performance increase. I wasn’t expecting this at 1440p as much. Didn’t expect the tripling of God of War FPS, nor did I expect 0 improvement in Borderlands 3
    4. Boot times are fantastic with the 1410 (beta) bios with MCR on.
    5. Disappointed in the SD850X. This has my OS, and boot times are the exact same as my much older/slower WD Black 512GB.
    6. Windows opens stuff much quicker, it’s DTF 24/7.
    7. I’m happy with this build. All issues have been fixed, games go fast, especially that I cap them at 100fps to temps/noise is drastically reduced. No complaints, and I’m ready to ride AM5 until the last 3D vcache cpu isn’t getting it done anymore.
    8. Speaking of 3d vcache, I see no reason to upgrade. Even with my reference 6700XT, at high settings, I’m easily hitting my performance target of 1440@100.
    9. In the CPU paste pictures, you may notice that I put the Thermalright Secure Frame on there. For Intel systems, this is required bc it prevents the warping. For AMD, it is not required because no such issues exist. I got it solely because of the weird ass cpu shape that Zen 4 is. As such, the cpu paste gets into all of these cracks and its a royal PITA to clean. The secure guard basically eliminates this problem since it sits really flush. Not bad for $10-20.

Shameless plug, the delided 6700K (rocket cool copper ihs, tg conducto), mobo, ram, 2 wd blue SSDs, and wifi dongle will is up for sale in For Sale/Trade board. Plenty of pics.
 
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I'm a fan of wiping my os drove for every new build. Windows 11 the go to. My 7700x doesn't get that hot while gaming either even without eco mode.
 
Yeah but I hate installing everything again. Like I can't stand it.

I get it, but you're going to have issues like what you were describing in #4. Almost sounds like you had the old MBR setup vs. the newer GPT?

I say that, but I went through various boards with the same Windows 11 install. I still have random services from old boards (Asus stuff mostly) that wasn't deleted when I uninstalled the programs. I probably should just do a full format and reinstall, but I don't want to download and install everything again. BUT if I were doing a larger upgrade like you did, I probably would have just bit the bullet and done it.
 
Thats exactly what it is. My windows was the old MBR setup, and I couldn't get it converted to GPT and still boot. I do have to do this eventually though. Windows 11 requires TPM, which means not booting under CSM/Legacy, which means GPT type storage
 
Nice write up dude, I also run Eco mode @ 65w, super low temps with same performance gaming. prime 95 I stay in the 40's.
 
About the same as yours (maybe 46 seconds) but mine is also dual boot 2 separate drives Linux/Win 11.
 
I'm waiting on memory context restore to be available w/o crashing for the asus bios. It cuts boot times in half
 
The latest ASUS bios have been pretty bad. I guess it's early adopter syndrome.
 
i would normally agree, but the first bios was 6 months ago. And Asus first got their engineering samples when?
 
  • Chrome causes massive spin up in temps, noise, frequency
    1. So wtf is wrong with Chrome? I’m doing nothing, like nothing on my pc other than 3 chrome tabs and suddenly all fans spin up to full fucking blast. The cpu temp is spiking as are the clockspeeds. But looking at the CPU load, it’s 6%??? It’s barely being used. As soon as I close tab, it settles back down. And it doesn't always do this either.
    2. Solution: After getting the various case fans re-optimized via Fan Control, and closing up my case, it’s nowhere near as bad. Also, this rarely happens anymore. I think the CPU is learning and getting broken in, so to speak.
You need to set the spin up spin down time in the bios. You can force the fans to hold their previous RPM then ramp up when the temps are high for a sustained time.
 
set the up/down to 3 seconds. it'll stop the annoying spin up and down. also if you tend to run a lot of heavy loads you can set the up to 0 and down to 3 so it slows the fan ramp down. but just play with it and see what you like best.


i would normally agree, but the first bios was 6 months ago. And Asus first got their engineering samples when?
most of them don't get the finalized AMD side of the bios until a week or two before media are seeded with review samples. so they mostly go with what ever AMD says they think things will run at and hope they're close when they get the finalized version. happens on both sides and why you'll hear reviewers complain about the "media release" bios or that they received an updated bios in the middle of their review testing.
 
edited the OP in that 1410 (beta) results are in. Boot times are significantly reduced, its much quicker than my 6700k. YAY

For those wondering who aren't Asus, the 1410 bios incorporates ComboAM5PI 1.0.0.6
 
Great thread and thanks for posting your results. I'm wanting to build a new PC to replace my aging 6700k but I have decided to wait and see what the X770 chipset offers.
 
What do you need out of it that the X670 chipset doesnt provide?
whatever bugs/kinks are on the X670 chipsets/mobos will be worked out on the X770 chipset/mobos. I don't remember if it was the X370 to X470 or if it was X470 to X570 but there was a quite a few bugs worked out and the mobos were priced a bit more reasonably during that chipset update. It really just depends on how long the wait will be.
 
I would hope the x770 chipsets would be cheaper bc ddr 5 won't be as new. But who knows, maybe mobo makers are taking a page from nvidia
 
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whatever bugs/kinks are on the X670 chipsets/mobos will be worked out on the X770 chipset/mobos. I don't remember if it was the X370 to X470 or if it was X470 to X570 but there was a quite a few bugs worked out and the mobos were priced a bit more reasonably during that chipset update. It really just depends on how long the wait will be.
I suggest that it was X370 to X470 that was a stabilizing change. My suspicion, unproven, is that X370 and B350 were shaky partly because Ryzen was new and unproven, and partly because Zen was initially positioned as a budget line so the mobo people didn't want to spend too much on it. Once it turned out that the architecture was a winner, the next round was better. I don't think anyone making AM5 motherboards was under the delusion that the boards need to be bargain basement cost cutters, quite the contrary...

X470 to X570 was a step up in features (PCIe 4.0), but I wouldn't call X570 any more stable. (and the chipset fan was unwelcome at best.)
 
I suggest that it was X370 to X470 that was a stabilizing change. My suspicion, unproven, is that X370 and B350 were shaky partly because Ryzen was new and unproven, and partly because Zen was initially positioned as a budget line so the mobo people didn't want to spend too much on it. Once it turned out that the architecture was a winner, the next round was better. I don't think anyone making AM5 motherboards was under the delusion that the boards need to be bargain basement cost cutters, quite the contrary...

X470 to X570 was a step up in features (PCIe 4.0), but I wouldn't call X570 any more stable. (and the chipset fan was unwelcome at best.)
Yep, that's why I went x470 with my 3900x, that damn chipset fan
 
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