What performance am I leaving on the table?

[kingfurykiller]

Budget (including currency): $2500 (already invested, over 5 years) 

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming (1080p, closest to 144hz I can get, best setting I can get). Most demanding title I own is Halo Infinite, Assassin's creed games coming next. Some office/admin work; web-browsing, discord, VERY light virtualization while I try to teach myself linux, some network simulation software. Possible blu-ray ripping in the future.

Other details: I have already completed this build, I am looking to know what I can adjust to get the most out of the core components:

 

Full details are in my profile, but here are the core bits:

• i7-7700k (cooled by Hyper Evo 212, stock clocks)
• RXT 2070 SUPER (gigabyte windforce, stock clocks)
• gigabyte GA-z170XP-SLI ATX
• g-skill ripjaws 16 GB DDR4 (2133 MHz)
• samsung 970 EVO pro 500GB
• EVGA 750W
• 6 case fans that I don't mind being loud because i'm usually gaming with headphones
• primary gaming monitor is 27in, 1080p, 144hz. That is not changing anytime soon
• Windows 10, also not changing anytime soon
• CPU usually hits ~55C in games, GPU ~65C, I did apply a more aggressive fan curve in BIOS

I know the biggest thing I could do is start looking into overclocking the CPU or GPU. I've done basic software optimization in windows like checking power settings, disabling unwanted software, etc.  Most of the time this machine performs very well; struggled in Halo Infinite (new, demanding game) and some Assassin's Creed titles (ubisoft has poor software optimization). I will likely not be buying more hardware for this build soon (home server is the next project that I can justify the cost/benefit for). So the only way to make this rig better is config. I'll be honest, I've never overclocked other than the software utility on my original Asus 750 Ti, and it didn't do anything.

 

What should I be looking at the make this build better, that I can do with existing equipemnt?

 

Thanks in advance

 

[GhostRoadieBL]

22 minutes ago, kingfurykiller said:

What should I be looking at the make this build better, that I can do with existing equipemnt?

there really isn't much, temps are good, SSD is solid, this system shouldn't struggle on any game at 1080p. You should be hitting around 60fps in Halo on high/ultra

 

MSI Afterburner - bump up the power limit for the 2070S, you should be able to overclock the VRAM a good amount and at least +100mhz on the core.

Intel XTU - should be able to hit around 4.5Ghz for the 7700k as well maybe as high as 4.6 before getting into the 70-80C range

 

these will only give you around 6-10fps gain in most games though.

 

[Linus william]

Hey bro nice choice but I would have gone with the core i5 12600k  and an Asus prime H610m motherboard and any ddr4 3200mhz CL16 kit and with an rtx 3060 or 3060ti  hope it helps

[Linus william]

Oh you got 16gb patriot ddr4 3200mhz ram kit already in your current pc just use it dont buy a new one and waste your money 

[Linus william]

2 minutes ago, Linus william said:

Hey bro nice choice but I would have gone with the core i5 12600k  and an Asus prime H610m motherboard and any ddr4 3200mhz CL16 kit and with an rtx 3060 or 3060ti  hope it helps

And this is gonna give a fps bosst by 30 to 50 fps

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

• i7-7700k (cooled by Hyper Evo 212, stock clocks)
• RXT 2070 SUPER (gigabyte windforce, stock clocks)

Delid that 7700k and aim for 4.8ghz+, max safe voltage for 14nm is 1.52v according to intel spec so you can ignore any danger of raising volt till you get to 5.4ghz if the cpu even manages that somehow. The h212 may not be enough for 5ghz+ but it seems to be pretty capable at ocing these older intel cpus cause lesser core count, if you wanna upgrade the cooler for better oc then it better be capable of 70c or under cause ocing above 1.4v needs the cpu to run really cool or itll just destabilize 

 

Use msi afterburner and shove all limit sliders to the right and start raising the clocks in increments, gpus arent that adjustable with limits so no worries and if yours happens to be really adjustable then thermal throttle and ocp will act as a safety net

 

 

5 hours ago, kingfurykiller said:

g-skill ripjaws 16 GB DDR4 (2133 MHz)

You could attempt to oc these abit higher to maybe 2666+ but i reccomend checking the ram die in thaiphoon burner to see if its even worth ocing cause some dies are complete garbage at ocing while others will oc to the moon

[kingfurykiller]

9 hours ago, GhostRoadieBL said:

there really isn't much, temps are good, SSD is solid, this system shouldn't struggle on any game at 1080p. You should be hitting around 60fps in Halo on high/ultra

 

MSI Afterburner - bump up the power limit for the 2070S, you should be able to overclock the VRAM a good amount and at least +100mhz on the core.

Intel XTU - should be able to hit around 4.5Ghz for the 7700k as well maybe as high as 4.6 before getting into the 70-80C range

 

these will only give you around 6-10fps gain in most games though.

 

Thanks, this is the kind of information that I was looking for regarding overclocking. Unfortunately, Halo is one of those titles where I would rather have frames than visuals, so I actually have the graphics on low to medium, and I'm usually getting close to 120 FPS. I think I'm CPU bound there, so I may try overclocking the CPU first. Thanks for setting realistic expectations about what I might get

[kingfurykiller]

9 hours ago, Linus william said:

Hey bro nice choice but I would have gone with the core i5 12600k  and an Asus prime H610m motherboard and any ddr4 3200mhz CL16 kit and with an rtx 3060 or 3060ti  hope it helps

And I probably should have ordered a Ryzen the moment it came out too.

 

 

The system was built over time, past 5 years to be specific, with available budget and parts at the time. Not a brand new build that I just did, and certainly not one that I'm looking for which components I should have purchased

 

The whole reason why I'm using that CPU is because the system was originally built with a 6500 non-K, and I wanted to drop a better CPU into the same socket without having to reinstall the OS

 

 

 

 

[kingfurykiller]

9 hours ago, Linus william said:

Oh you got 16gb patriot ddr4 3200mhz ram kit already in your current pc just use it dont buy a new one and waste your money 

I don't have that RAM, but am curious if faster RAM would make a difference

[kingfurykiller]

9 hours ago, Linus william said:

And this is gonna give a fps bosst by 30 to 50 fps

I'm assuming you are meaning, joking, not knowledgeable, looking to spam notifications, not reading, or all of the above

[kingfurykiller]

5 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Delid that 7700k and aim for 4.8ghz+, max safe voltage for 14nm is 1.52v according to intel spec so you can ignore any danger of raising volt till you get to 5.4ghz if the cpu even manages that somehow. The h212 may not be enough for 5ghz+ but it seems to be pretty capable at ocing these older intel cpus cause lesser core count, if you wanna upgrade the cooler for better oc then it better be capable of 70c or under cause ocing above 1.4v needs the cpu to run really cool or itll just destabilize 

 

Use msi afterburner and shove all limit sliders to the right and start raising the clocks in increments, gpus arent that adjustable with limits so no worries and if yours happens to be really adjustable then thermal throttle and ocp will act as a safety net

 

 

You could attempt to oc these abit higher to maybe 2666+ but i reccomend checking the ram die in thaiphoon burner to see if its even worth ocing cause some dies are complete garbage at ocing while others will oc to the moon

I appreciate your trust in my skill but I am not ready to start delidding

 

That said, sounds like the best thing I need to do is start OCing the CPU, and beef up the cooler if it can't hold. Thank you!

[Somerandomtechyboi]

28 minutes ago, kingfurykiller said:

I appreciate your trust in my skill but I am not ready to start delidding

Its literally just buy a cheap chinese 115x delid tool off ebay and watch a vid tutorial, pretty much delid using delid tool, apply new tim (pref liquid metal for the best gains) then reseal ihs with some silicone and weigh it down till the silicone drys. Not even that hard tbh, i may have a go at it myself with my 775 cpus (particularly the pentiums cause i have a golden or atleast well above average e5400 sample)

 

31 minutes ago, kingfurykiller said:

That said, sounds like the best thing I need to do is start OCing the CPU, and beef up the cooler if it can't hold. Thank you!

Delid is pretty much neccesary cause ive seen 20c gains from swapping the garbage tim for liquid metal, heck you prob dont even need to swap cooler unless you are trying to go 5ghz+

[GhostRoadieBL]

1 hour ago, kingfurykiller said:

Thanks, this is the kind of information that I was looking for regarding overclocking. Unfortunately, Halo is one of those titles where I would rather have frames than visuals, so I actually have the graphics on low to medium, and I'm usually getting close to 120 FPS. I think I'm CPU bound there, so I may try overclocking the CPU first. Thanks for setting realistic expectations about what I might get

That is most likely cpu limited, vram speed and interface speed (pcie gen3 vs gen4 on the card and cpu) also start playing a role as you get that high in fps