upgrade from i5-7600k to i7-7700k?

[wintercat]

Current build: i5-7600k, Asus z170-a, gtx1070, 16gb ram, 

 

I'm getting antsy to make some stopgap upgrades while I save up for a dream build. I'm planning on picking up a used rtx3070/3080 in the near future, but the CPU is the more urgent need. Currently I'm CPU bottlenecked in Hunt: Showdown. If I can upgrade to the point I'm GPU bottlenecked I'll likely be in 60+fps territory, based on the performance difference in an empty game.

 

My only good option for an upgrade within my chipset is the 7700k, which are plentiful on eBay at a tempting $100.

 

Will the increase in clock speed(5% base, ~10% oc) access to hyperthreading for 8 "cores", and increase in cache from 6MB to 8MB justify $100 spent now? Or should I save that for a few more weeks/months to get a real motherboard+cpu upgrade? I don't have another good plan for an intermediate CPU/mobo upgrade. It seems to make sense to go straight to AM5 because the 7800x3d is just a great value. That will be a few months of saving away though.

[Shimejii]

Its REALLY not worth it at 100$. If it was 20$, maybe. Its not even close to being worth it at 100$, save the money for the new build.

[aren332]

30 minutes ago, wintercat said:

Current build: i5-7600k, Asus z170-a, gtx1070, 16gb ram, 

 

I'm getting antsy to make some stopgap upgrades while I save up for a dream build. I'm planning on picking up a used rtx3070/3080 in the near future, but the CPU is the more urgent need. Currently I'm CPU bottlenecked in Hunt: Showdown. If I can upgrade to the point I'm GPU bottlenecked I'll likely be in 60+fps territory, based on the performance difference in an empty game.

 

My only good option for an upgrade within my chipset is the 7700k, which are plentiful on eBay at a tempting $100.

 

Will the increase in clock speed(5% base, ~10% oc) access to hyperthreading for 8 "cores", and increase in cache from 6MB to 8MB justify $100 spent now? Or should I save that for a few more weeks/months to get a real motherboard+cpu upgrade? I don't have another good plan for an intermediate CPU/mobo upgrade. It seems to make sense to go straight to AM5 because the 7800x3d is just a great value. That will be a few months of saving away though.

look on fb marketplace, maybe ull find it cheaper. If its more than 60, not worth it. save up

 

is the 7600k overclocked? it overclocks pretty well.

 

personally i did not really notice a difference switching from an i7 4790k @4.8ghz single core @4.6ghz all core (which i sold) to a random i5 4590 @3.9ghz all cores, no hyperthreading

[DahPython]

I would really recommend just getting a new system, ryzen is always affordable and way faster.

[191x7]

1 hour ago, wintercat said:

Current build: i5-7600k, Asus z170-a, gtx1070, 16gb ram, 

 

I'm getting antsy to make some stopgap upgrades while I save up for a dream build. I'm planning on picking up a used rtx3070/3080 in the near future, but the CPU is the more urgent need. Currently I'm CPU bottlenecked in Hunt: Showdown. If I can upgrade to the point I'm GPU bottlenecked I'll likely be in 60+fps territory, based on the performance difference in an empty game.

 

My only good option for an upgrade within my chipset is the 7700k, which are plentiful on eBay at a tempting $100.

 

Will the increase in clock speed(5% base, ~10% oc) access to hyperthreading for 8 "cores", and increase in cache from 6MB to 8MB justify $100 spent now? Or should I save that for a few more weeks/months to get a real motherboard+cpu upgrade? I don't have another good plan for an intermediate CPU/mobo upgrade. It seems to make sense to go straight to AM5 because the 7800x3d is just a great value. That will be a few months of saving away though.

How much can you sell your 7600 for? If you can sell it, add 20-30 and buy the 7700K do it, if it's more it's not worth it. 

A 6700K is s good option too, but I believe those hold the prices too.

[Queen Chrysalis]

I'd offer $50 at most.  They can take it or leave it.  The market is cold as fuck for that chip so i bet you'll get it.  The chip ain't worth $50, but your system running modern games when it's struggling right now is worth it.  You may find the 7700k/3080 combo more than suitable for your gaming needs, in which case you're good to go for the foreseeable future.  The cores on the 7700k are still faster than current gen consoles, so it's very possible.

 

Doubling your thread count will make games that seemed unplayable smooth, while the 3080 will let you run shit on ultra that you were running on medium before.

 

6 hours ago, 191x7 said:

A 6700K is s good option too, but I believe those hold the prices too.

I'm not sure what the state of skylake+++++ cross-compatibility is at the moment.  I remember the pencil trick from when the covfefe lake came out, but I'm not sure where it's at right now. 

 

OP, If you're comfortable with a single stroke of soldering iron, liquid metal, or a good art pencil you can run an 8700, 8700k, 9700, 9700k, 9900 or 9900k on that board as well.  But the 7700 or 7700k would be a lot cheaper, and would be sufficient for modern games.

[wintercat]

31 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

OP, If you're comfortable with a single stroke of soldering iron, liquid metal, or a good art pencil you can run an 8700, 8700k, 9700, 9700k, 9900 or 9900k on that board as well.  But the 7700 or 7700k would be a lot cheaper, and would be sufficient for modern games.

that's compelling. I'll look into that. does it still run the 7600k afterwards so I can wait to see if I'm successful before buying a 9x00? My PC fell off my desk in the past and has weird power delivery issues to the I/O ever since, but the the power delivery for the CPU and GPU have been unaffected. would you be comfortable modding it in my shoes, given that potential past damage? Thanks a bunch for the alternative options.

[wintercat]

7 hours ago, aren332 said:

is the 7600k overclocked? it overclocks pretty well.

it comfortably turbos to 4.5ghz and stays there. I don't remember right now while I'm away from the system if that's a default turbo or if it's being OC'd through the ASUS bios. I'm not using afterburner or anything right now. If I went for further overcloccking I'd want to invest in more cooling. the 7600k is usually 80-85°c under load. more case fans might be sufficient, I have bare minimum right now. the CPU cooler is a pretty tall cooler master heat sink, it might also be more effective with an extra/replacement fan. potentially a cheap solution. my case just isn't really designed for great airflow though.

[Queen Chrysalis]

11 minutes ago, wintercat said:

I'll look into that. does it still run the 7600k afterwards so I can wait to see if I'm successful before buying a 9x00?

Yeah, the mod is to the CPU, drawing a trace between a couple pins.  You can use a pencil, or any other conductive material.  There are a couple videos on it.  Though, given where games are at and the 9xxx cores not being all that much faster than the 7xxx ones, unless a hyperthreaded quad core isn't gonna cut it, I'd probably just stick with a 7700k.  People also want stupid money for 9900ks on ebay, and for the cost of one you could just get a 5600 and a cheap board, making this whole effort pointless.

 

I'd stick with the cheapest option possible that'll get the job done, which would be a 7700 or 7700k.

[wintercat]

12 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

I'd stick with the cheapest option possible that'll get the job done, which would be a 7700 or 7700k.

I can maybe get a 9900 and 32gb of 2666 ram right in my neighborhood for $200, or a 9900kf for $180. Ever so slightly better than eBay. Still probably not worth.

 

The "what gets the job done" is the sticking point for me. I'm very unsure what my minimum upgrade to reach 60+fps consistently in Hunt will be. It feels like I'm only barely CPU bottlenecked since I'll get gpu bottlenecked for short periods while playing. Hunt is a notoriously unstable game though with lots of stutters. It's difficult to rely on posted benchmarks as well because nobody ever includes how full the lobby was.

 

The 5600 is a good suggestion (again, if it gets the job done lol). Unfortunately, the used market near me is completely dry so I'd still spend ~$120 on eBay, probably for the 5600x. Same for the 7700/k, $100 on eBay is my only option.

 

Thanks for all the help!

[Queen Chrysalis]

2 hours ago, wintercat said:

I can maybe get a 9900 and 32gb of 2666 ram right in my neighborhood for $200, or a 9900kf for $180. Ever so slightly better than eBay. Still probably not worth.

 

The "what gets the job done" is the sticking point for me. I'm very unsure what my minimum upgrade to reach 60+fps consistently in Hunt will be. It feels like I'm only barely CPU bottlenecked since I'll get gpu bottlenecked for short periods while playing. Hunt is a notoriously unstable game though with lots of stutters. It's difficult to rely on posted benchmarks as well because nobody ever includes how full the lobby was.

 

The 5600 is a good suggestion (again, if it gets the job done lol). Unfortunately, the used market near me is completely dry so I'd still spend ~$120 on eBay, probably for the 5600x. Same for the 7700/k, $100 on eBay is my only option.

 

Thanks for all the help!

If you’re near a microcenter, while this may be more than you want, they’re still doing the 12600kf with a z790 wifi board and 16gb for $250.  They also do $20 off any board and cpu, so their $120 5600 with a cheap open box board could be $150 on the right day.  You just have to ask nicely at the register to do the combo with an open box board.  
 

I also found these on ebay:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/315311966776?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=dr8lziucroy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=IO4zV1NhQTm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/315311966776?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=dr8lziucroy&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=IO4zV1NhQTm&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

Worst comes to worst you could resell it for about what you paid.