Upgrade CPU

[Ohundreds]

Budget (including currency): CHF 1000.-

Country: Switzerland

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: All kinds of games, BF 2042, Assassins Creed Valhalla and all upcoming Titles.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): i7-8700k with MSI CoreLiquid R240 R2 (not the Version with temperature problems) , RX 6900xt and all the other required parts listet in my bio.

I play at 3440x1440p at 144hz.

 

Hy guys

 

I'm thinking about upgrading my current CPU to the newest Gen.

I currently have an 7700x in mind.

So i wondered if you have any other suggestions, or if maybe you guys aren't even recommending upgrading from an 8700k.

 

I expirience some CPU Bottlenecking in some games, BF2042 for example.

But on the other hand that might be normal for that game.

I just have the overall feeling my PC cant use the max power of my GPU.

Am I wrong or is the 8700k really to weak for the 6900xt?

 

Those are the parts I was thinking about:

 

https://www.digitec.ch/en/shoplist/show/136b1617f639156f44b2248ead0b9e67

 

Thank you so much!

 

 

 

 

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, Ohundreds said:

But on the other hand that might be normal for that game.

Normal a 8700k is plenty good. Of you haven't oc'd try it it easily does 5ghz and you should see a good boost.

[Ohundreds]

11 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Normal a 8700k is plenty good. Of you haven't oc'd try it it easily does 5ghz and you should see a good boost.

Thank you!

 

I'll try oc the 8700k then and give you guys some infos how it went.

I hope I won't blow up my pc (jk). Last time i did it with an auto OC Feature from asus, which didn't end that well regarding temps.

 

Another question just came to mind.

Does pcie Gens matter for gaming, or aren't games able to utilize the increased bandwidth anyways? There are so many informations regarding that and I have an hard time finding out what's true and what's bollocks.

 

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Ohundreds said:

which didn't end that well regarding temps

Oh yeah that just dumps voltage. Look up a guide the 8700k is very forgiving too.

 

2 minutes ago, Ohundreds said:

Does pcie Gens matter for gaming, or aren't games able to utilize the increased bandwidth anyways? There are so many informations regarding that and I have an hard time finding out what's true and what's bollocks.

Depends on the gpu. What you have now does not max out a pcie 3.0 x16 slot at all. Basically comes down to how much data the gpu can accept and if the link is fast enough which it is for your 6900xt

[Dedayog]

From everything I have watched, the 7700x is a fantastic upgrade over the 8700k, which is showing its age these days.  If you can run it well at 5GHz, it'll be more viable and stave off the upgrade cycle a year.

 

Don't forget the 7700x requires DDR5 and a newer usually more expensive motherboard.  So it may be wallet smart to keep the 8700k.

[Motifator]

The 13600K is a far more sensible choice than the 7700X, just my 2c. But as others pointed out, overclocking can carry with a 8700K. As for PCI-E gens on GPUs, TPU has recently been doing tests to show what kind of limitations you get by using older gens of PCI-E on which cards.

[Ohundreds]

Thank you all for your responses and tips.

 

So first I'll OC the CPU and compare the results. 

I would love to use the 8700k for another year and replace next year, but I also don't want to loose to much performance as well.

 

I'll also have look at the whole Pcie Gen thing again.

 

I opted to an amd cpu because my Cooler supports AM5 out of the box.

I would have to upgrade my Motherboard anyways, and as far as i have seen it the board i choose is about 50 bucks more expensive than an 1700 board. At least in switzerland and what's available here right now.

If i upgrade I would upgrade to DDR5 anyways. My goal is to use the new CPU, Board and RAM for years to come. Who knows how future games will benefit from DDR5.

[Slave2school]

I just upgraded to a 7950x system, 64gb or Ram 3080 ti, basically just for Valheim. I had the same gpu in a 5900x based system and I'm getting around 20fps more in all situations. I would wait and see if AMD drops prices with 13 gen coming.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

7 hours ago, Ohundreds said:

So first I'll OC the CPU and compare the results. 

I would love to use the 8700k for another year and replace next year, but I also don't want to loose to much performance as well.

5ghz 1.3v static allcore is a decent starting point, you may wish to go higher if diminishing returns isnt too bad

 

7 hours ago, Ohundreds said:

If i upgrade I would upgrade to DDR5 anyways. My goal is to use the new CPU, Board and RAM for years to come. Who knows how future games will benefit from DDR5.

If you want futureproof ddr5 get atleast 5600 (regardless of cas latency that timing is garbage anyways) since it wont come with abysmal micron 16gbit a die and most ddr5 ics should still do 7000 ish given a good board and cpu imc

 

If you choose to overclock immedeatly (pretty bad idea if youve never done ram oc before because ram oc is just pain) then look around for some hynix 16gbit a die in the form of 4800 bare pcbs (can be found on ebay) that are capable of 7600+ which should be enough for the entire ddr5 generation without upgrading (yes itll likely go faster with newer boards and imcs along the way) but again ram oc is pain and may not be something you wanna do immedeatly, though if you wait another year there should atleast be some hynix 16gbit a die profiles you can just plug into your system (need minor adjustments or can even be plug and play depending on luck), you can even do some ram oc on your current stuff just as experience

[Ohundreds]

So i just tried to OC my CPU.

Somehow i'm stuck at 4700MHz and my CPU won't clock higher when running Cinebench. My temps are well over 85 Degrees as well.

I reset default setting before OC, and tried it multiple times.

BIOS Update is the latest as well.

 

Do you maybe have any idea what could be wrong?

 

I used the following Guide:

 

[Ohundreds]

Hi Guys

 

I had some time this weekend to OC the CPU a bit higher. (around 4.9GHz)

The performance in some games hasn't really gotten any better and I've now decided to upgrade.

 

I have put together the following options:

 

 AMD 7700X:

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X - CHF 441.-

MoBo: ASUS PRIME B650-PLUS - CHF 222.- with 25.- Cashback

RAM: Kingston FURY Beast RGB 5600 - CHF 193.-

 

TOTAL: CHF 831.-

 

Intel i7-13700KF:

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700KF - CHF 451.-

MoBo: Gigabyte Z690 Ud D4 - CHF 196.- / DDR5 Model: Gigabyte Z690 Ud - CHF 214.-

DDR5: RAM: Kingston FURY Beast RGB 5600 - CHF 193.-

 

TOTAL DDR4: CHF 647.-

TOTAL DDR5: CHF 858.-

 

Intel i5-13600KF:

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600KF - CHF 328.-

MoBo: Gigabyte Z690 Ud D4 - CHF 196.- / DDR5 Model: Gigabyte Z690 Ud - CHF 214.-

DDR5: RAM: Kingston FURY Beast RGB 5600 - CHF 193.-

 

TOTAL DDR4: CHF 524.-

TOTAL DDR5: CHF 735.-

 

 

I now ask myself if DDR5 is really better in terms of performance or if just can go with DDR4 for the next few years.

And the other thing is, if I should go for the i5 or the i7.

The 7700x just seems to be unnecessary compared to the Intel CPUs.

 

Thank you for your inputs!

 

[Motifator]

13600K should do the trick, I however would go with D4 for now, D5 if you're thinking of future carrying the RAM towards other platforms.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Motifator
Edit

[Ohundreds]

So I'll go for the i5 and DDR4 then. 

That should do for the next 2-3 years at least i think.

Thanks!

 

If anybody else has suggestions I'll gladly hear them. 

If not I'll order the parts next week and put i together, after that I'll let you know how it went.

[Ohundreds]

Short Update:

 

I choose the i7-13700kf because the i5 was out of stock and I'm very happy with it. The performance increased a lot and everything works fine now.

I get around 85fps in BF2042 3440p on Ultra and around 140fps Low to Middle Settings. Overall the gaming experience feels alot smoother.

Temps are looking good as well.

 

Thank you all for your support!