Best CPU for gaming and streaming?

[AlanK878]

Hi Guys,

 

My current set up is an msi gtx1080 along with a water cooled i5 8400 on a Z370P D3 motherboard with 24gb of DDR4 2400mhz. At some points on stream even though my GPU is doing the encoding I get stuttering, upon checking my cpu usage its pinned at 100%

 

The game i normally play is rainbow 6 siege which seems to be very CPU heavy, whats your thoughts on an i5 9600k as an upgrade seems to be very good value for money?

[thinwalrus]

9600K is about 30% faster if you oc it to 5GHz on all core. I would go for 8700(320€) or 9700K(450€). 

 

You should also check that your memory is on correct slot so that it runs in dual channel.

 

[Brent744]

Definitely the i5 9600k is a great cpu however, you still may bottleneck if you're streaming and completing other background tasks. The 8400 and 9600k both have the same amount of cores correct? Only difference being the 9600k has higher clocks and is an unlocked chip. You should instead consider an i7 8700 or i7 8700k as it would make a better option for your intended tasks with its hyperthreading capabilities.

[Mick Naughty]

Well seeing as you already have an 8th gen, could go 8700k. 

 

I’ve been enjoying mine. Finally allows me to play my games at 1080p without issues. Though there isn’t a lot of head room to record. Haven’t tried streaming from the same pc. 

 

But if youre games arent cpu intensive, it would be a good choice. 

 

Id get the best you could so you can’t look back and say you wish you got something else if a problem ever does come up. 

[191x7]

That's almost no upgrade, it's an i5 8600K with solder instead of bad thermal paste. That means you'd only get a bit higher clocks. What you lack are cores/threads.

Ryzen would be a sidegrade (unless going Radeon 7 2700X which would offer a bit worse game experience but a lot better stream experience).

You actually need an i7 or i9. Or a dedicated streaming PC (can be older-ish or lower-end-ish).

[Spotty]

If you already have a Z370 motherboard then I would look at an 8700(k) for streaming as the hyperthreading should in theory help, though a 8c/8t 9700k would also be a good pick.

What's your budget for the upgrade?

[AlanK878]

well I'm in the UK, so I would of course like to sell the i5 8400 and re coup some money, perhaps a budget of around £300. would an i7 8700k fit my motherboard?.. apologies for the ignorance not a great computer guy

 

My ram is hyper X fury and I am using 3 slots I have a fourth unoccupied, is this wise? or should i remove the 1 random stick and either leave it out or buy another so i have 32gb of matching ram?

[bomblord]

If you plan to stream and use your CPU as the encoder (I couldn't figure out if you were planning on switching to that or not given your post) you'll want more cores. Your main options are the 9900K and the Ryzen 7. The 9900k has 8 cores and 16 threads at $500 USD. That's the best gaming CPU available right now bar none.

If you're on a budget the Ryzen 7 2700 also has 8 cores and 16 threads and is currently going for about $230 USD it's not as a good of a gaming CPU but it's half the price and even outperforms the i7-9700K in heavily multi-threaded workloads and has the extra cores for encoding while streaming. That one also comes with a cooler so you don't need to budget extra for that or a higher end MOBO.

For the RAM question it's always better to have them setup in pairs but you don't lose performance by having a third stick in vs only having 2 (you do if you're only running 1 stick vs 2 though) so don't worry about taking it out. I would grab another one to make it an even 32GB of matching if your budget allows.

[Mick Naughty]

Well he’s already using the gpu to encode. So keeping the current platform and getting a better cpu would be the cheapest and quickest option. 

 

But if you wonna spend cash, I’m sure there’s some $1k cpus out there waiting to be bought. 

[AlanK878]

Lol thanks for the info guys very informative and helpful, just bought an i7 8700k