7700K or 1700X?

[elKz]

I'm currently running a 4770K that was built in May 2013, I've had several issues with this system over the years and I've already spent a great deal having to repair/upgrade little bits from time to time. Now however, It seems It's the motherboards turn to give me issues, my top PCI slot has died, along with my PCI-E so I thought It was about time I got a new system, the only problem? I'm completely out of the loop when it comes to the latest processors. I've not followed AMD since.. well, my last processor which was a single core FX57 chip from around 2008/9. 

 

I use my system mostly for gaming but I have gotten into streaming recently and tend to do long sessions of around 5+ hours. Aside from that, I do some design work on Adobe software but rendering for the most part is pretty minimal. Again, this is minimal but I do use it as a media centre from time to time because of playing back 4K content and some games on my TV.

 

One thing I seem to notice from benchmarks is that the 1700X seems to fetch lower fps scores in some games? But I don't know If this is in general or title specific as I've not seen a whole bunch of data.

 

Any input here would be hugely appreciated.

[pelark]

The 1700x generally has lower FPS in games, but it also has twice the core and thread count of the i7. In terms of streaming and video editing, the Ryzen CPU should be way ahead of the i7. I would also think the Ryzen CPU is more "Future Proof" than the i7, since it seems that games will start taking advantage of higher core and thread counts. 

[HKZeroFive]

The i7 7700K is essentially the best "gaming" CPU that the current market has to offer. Where the R7 1700/X falls behind in gaming performance (and honestly speaking, it's still a decent gaming chip), it makes it up in heavily threaded tasks.

 

Since you're not only gaming, but also streaming and rendering, I'd recommend getting the R7 1700 and overclocking it.

[grimreeper132]

Just now, pelark said:

The 1700x generally has lower FPS in games, but it also has twice the core and thread count of the i7. In terms of streaming and video editing, the Ryzen CPU should be way ahead of the i7. I would also think the Ryzen CPU is more "Future Proof" than the i7, since it seems that games will start taking advantage of higher core and thread counts. 

the FPS count isn't too much lower so that doesn't matter, as the difference between 150fps and 145fps isn't noticeable especially if you only have a 60/120hz monitor  you'd need a 144hz monitor, and even then there wouldn't be any noticeable difference in most games

 

I would say overclock a 1700, as it will give a better quality stream and is much better at rendering due to the extra cores. It also as pelark touched on will get better at gaming in the future, due to patches to optimise games for AMD CPUs (very little games are at the moment as everyone normally had bought intel) so this will change in the future, probably, and games will optimise for AMDs extra cores and threads. This will go for both games and other applications btw, so expect some improvements with most newer applications

[grimreeper132]

3 minutes ago, Tedny said:

Just games - 7770, something more - 1700 

Don't want to overpay - 1600x 

the OP might want/need the extra two cores and four threads of the 1700, so that might not be a good idea

[tom_w141]

@elKz

 

First off 1700, never buy the X models as all Ryzens are unlocked. The frame difference factor only plays a part at high refresh rates @ 1080p, you have a <100Hz monitor or play at 1440p or 4k then you won't see a gain with the 7700k. Going with the 1700 you are on a new platform guaranteed for 4 years vs the aging/soon for retirement LGA1151. Also regarding games in the near future scaling with cores should now become more common now that the option for a good 8 core is $280 instead of the criminal $1000+. Next when you consider you are doing anything aside from gaming the 1700 becomes the clear winner here, it'll crush the 7700k in multi-threaded applications.

 

In summary:

1700 should age better due to future support for multi cores in games.

AM4 is a newer platform

Cheaper

Better productivity performance

 

 

[tom_w141]

10 minutes ago, Tedny said:

Just games - 7770, something more - 1700 

Don't want to overpay - 1600x 

Never buy the X models, if you want 8 cores: 1700, 6 cores: 1600. The only exception is the 1500X because of the 1400 only having half the L3 cache and a smaller cooler

5 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

the OP might want/need the extra two cores and four threads of the 1700, so that might not be a good idea

 

This ^

[elKz]

1 minute ago, tom_w141 said:

@elKz

 

First off 1700, never buy the X models as all Ryzens are unlocked. The frame difference factor only plays a part at high refresh rates @ 1080p, you have a <100Hz monitor or play at 1440p or 4k then you won't see a gain with the 7700k. Going with the 1700 you are on a new platform guaranteed for 4 years vs the aging/soon for retirement LGA1151. Also regarding games in the near future scaling with cores should now become more common now that the option for a good 8 core is $280 instead of the criminal $1000+. Next when you consider you are doing anything aside from gaming the 1700 becomes the clear winner here, it'll crush the 7700k in multi-threaded applications.

 

In summary:

1700 should age better due to future support for multi cores in games.

AM4 is a newer platform

Cheaper

Better productivity performance

 

 

Thanks for the reply @tom_w141, this is my issue and why I've been slightly unsure on what to do. I play at 1440p@144Hz so wouldn't having a 1700 hinder me when it comes to fps AND streaming? I'm running a 4770K & GTX 1080 right now and I am struggling with streaming, as in games feel sluggish.

[grimreeper132]

Just now, elKz said:

Thanks for the reply @tom_w141, this is my issue and why I've been slightly unsure on what to do. I play at 1440p@144Hz so wouldn't having a 1700 hinder me when it comes to fps AND streaming? I'm running a 4770K & GTX 1080 right now and I am struggling with streaming, as in games feel sluggish.

the 1700 won't hinder you much at that res, probably 5fps max. Because it doesn't bottleneck the 1080 really. So I would suggest it and overclocking it. The 1700 with it's extra cores is brilliant at streaming so it won't be anywhere near as sluggish, as a 7700K which doesn't and when using the fancy thing that the 7700K can do with it's igpu with streaming it's not as good quality, so I suggest the 1700 as it will be better in this case.

[grimreeper132]

6 minutes ago, tom_w141 said:

Never buy the X models, if you want 8 cores: 1700, 6 cores: 1600. The only exception is the 1500X because of the 1400 only having half the L3 cache and a smaller cooler

 

This ^

I agree with the X models, to a point there is also one other case where this might be true to get one, and that is for someone who doesn't want to overclock and wants a high frequency/ anyone who wants the slightly higher guaranteed speeds. This however is a small group of people and I do personally feel you may as well get a 1700 and overclock even if you feel like that to save money.

[elKz]

6 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

I agree with the X models, to a point there is also one other case where this might be true to get one, and that is for someone who doesn't want to overclock and wants a high frequency/ anyone who wants the slightly higher guaranteed speeds. This however is a small group of people and I do personally feel you may as well get a 1700 and overclock even if you feel like that to save money.

I'm not planning on building this system myself or even overclocking it myself but fortunately, the company I usually use offer it for free anyway so I'm going to go with a 1700 that's overclocked to 3.8Ghz. 

[Froody129]

The continued breaking of parts in your current build sound fishy... Are you sure it's not dirty power or something? If it is then a new build won't help at all. The 7700k is actually only a a small jump from a 4770k

[tom_w141]

16 minutes ago, elKz said:

I'm not planning on building this system myself or even overclocking it myself but fortunately, the company I usually use offer it for free anyway so I'm going to go with a 1700 that's overclocked to 3.8Ghz. 

You won't see a bottle neck in 1440p. In a triple A title on ultra settings the GPU will be your bottle neck. Even if it was the CPU it'd be a few fps and let me assure you you cannot see 140 vs 145 fps. The difference between 60 and 100 is nearly as apparent as the difference between 30 and 60 but >100 diminishing returns kick in fast and you can hardly tell. Also yeah streaming will be a much better experience. I can't link you from this PC but check Linus' recent video about streaming on Ryzen.

 

Also Ocing is easy if you decide to change it yourself later on. Feel free to ask or see the guide in my sig (though that's an advanced method there is a far simpler one)

[elKz]

4 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

The continued breaking of parts in your current build sound fishy... Are you sure it's not dirty power or something? If it is then a new build won't help at all. The 7700k is actually only a a small jump from a 4770k

The 'continued breaking' was more just bad luck on my part. The PSU was one of the things I had to replace after only 6 weeks lol. Failing drives, then I bought a FTW 1080 which had thermal pasting issues etc. I'm aware the 7700K isn't that big of a jump, that's why I've been considering Ryzen, Intel have become stagnant due to AMD not being competitive so hopefully AMD doing something will force Intel to fight back.

2 minutes ago, tom_w141 said:

You won't see a bottle neck like this in 1440p. In a triple A title on ultra settings the GPU will be your bottle neck. Even if it was the CPU it'd be a few fps and let me assure you you cannot see 140 vs 145 fps. The difference between 60 and 100 is nearly as apparent as the difference between 30 and 60 but >100 diminishing returns kick in fast and you can hardly tell. Also yeah streaming will be a much better experience. I can't link you from this PC but check Linus' recent video about streaming on Ryzen.

 

Also Ocing is easy if you decide to change it yourself later on. Feel free to ask or see the guide in my sig (though that's an advanced method there is a far simpler one)

I'll give the video a watch later today and also read your signature guide. I know there's no difference in that 5fps, I'm just thinking when streaming I'm currently dropping 30 from OBS alone and then that other 5 could be much better utilised If I still had it. Although going from 4770 > 1700 I will likely gain that 5 back from the CPU change anyway.

[uberrific]

I've had the Ryzen 7 1700 for a week; I chose it over the 7700k because I'm not only gaming, but you must consider that buying Ryzen you will be an early-adopter. There are bugs: I was getting black screens suddenly with the fans still going, even with no overclock going. After I uninstalled AI Suite 3 and Ryzen Master the system became stable. This is with the Asus X370 Prime Pro with latest BIOS (604) I couldn't get the stock CPU settings back on my 1700 (stock 3.0ghz with turbo boost), even after CMOS reset it defaults to 3.2ghz with no turbo boost. No big deal as I have a stable overclock of 3.7ghz @ 1.275v AURA RGB on the motherboard doesn't work properly when you open Ryzen Master. The RGB is a little buggy in general. My ram, Trident Z RGB 3200mhz 16gb CL16 doesn't work past 2400mhz. BIOS recognizes one stick as 2000mhz and the other at 2133mhz.   Not saying you won't have any problems with a 7700k. But just be prepared to deal with this type of problems if you want your system to run at it's maximum potential.

[tom_w141]

1 minute ago, elKz said:

The 'continued breaking' was more just bad luck on my part. The PSU was one of the things I had to replace after only 6 weeks lol. Failing drives, then I bought a FTW 1080 which had thermal pasting issues etc. I'm aware the 7700K isn't that big of a jump, that's why I've been considering Ryzen, Intel have become stagnant due to AMD not being competitive so hopefully AMD doing something will force Intel to fight back.

I'll give the video a watch later today and also read your signature guide. I know there's no difference in that 5fps, I'm just thinking when streaming I'm currently dropping 30 from OBS alone and then that other 5 could be much better utilised If I still had it. Although going from 4770 > 1700 I will likely gain that 5 back from the CPU change anyway.

Streaming on my 1700 I drop 0. I have spare threads OBS can use that the game isn't making full use of therefore no loss.

[tom_w141]

4 minutes ago, uberrific said:

I've had the Ryzen 7 1700 for a week; I chose it over the 7700k because I'm not only gaming, but you must consider that buying Ryzen you will be an early-adopter. There are bugs: I was getting black screens suddenly with the fans still going, even with no overclock going. After I uninstalled AI Suite 3 and Ryzen Master the system became stable. This is with the Asus X370 Prime Pro with latest BIOS (604) I couldn't get the stock CPU settings back on my 1700 (stock 3.0ghz with turbo boost), even after CMOS reset it defaults to 3.2ghz with no turbo boost. No big deal as I have a stable overclock of 3.7ghz @ 1.275v AURA RGB on the motherboard doesn't work properly when you open Ryzen Master. The RGB is a little buggy in general. My ram, Trident Z RGB 3200mhz 16gb CL16 doesn't work past 2400mhz. BIOS recognizes one stick as 2000mhz and the other at 2133mhz.   Not saying you won't have any problems with a 7700k. But just be prepared to deal with this type of problems if you want your system to run at it's maximum potential.

I feel as though this is mostly ironed out. The lastest bios for my crosshair is really rock solid now. What board are you using? Maybe I can help. Also Ai Suite 3 is trash uninstall it. Its only saving grace is fan xpert is pretty good.

 

EDIT:

 

I see you are on the prime so ignore my question.

 

Have you checked the forum? Latest crosshair bios appear there 1st and the really stable 1 I've been using for the last couple of weeks is not on the product support page for my motherboard yet. Also OP is having his system built so he will have warranty and it'll be tested before sent to him so he's pretty safe there.

[elKz]

3 minutes ago, tom_w141 said:

Streaming on my 1700 I drop 0. I have spare threads OBS can use that the game isn't making full use of therefore no loss.

You're not losing any fps when you start streaming in OBS? In Overwatch alone (Settings: High) I go from about 180 down to 90-100 and It feels unbelievably sluggish.

[uberrific]

I've been able to solve all the issues except RAM speed through trial and error, but it took a while.

This is with the ASUS X370 Prime Pro.

I probably should have bought the Crosshair. The RAM I bought (F4-3200C16Q-32GTZR) isn't on the QVL, because it is CL16 not CL14 (F4-3200C14Q-32GTZR).

I've tried increasing the different voltages for the RAM but it's a no-go.

Not saying I regret the purchase. The system is solid and treating me well now, and not having that extra ram MHZ is not a big deal.

[tom_w141]

Just now, elKz said:

You're not losing any fps when you start streaming in OBS? In Overwatch alone (Settings: High) I go from about 180 down to 90-100 and It feels unbelievably sluggish.

None at all, that's the beauty of Ryzen. I have 8 cores and 16 threads, games don't use anywhere near all my CPU so other programs or streaming have zero impact

[elKz]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

None at all, that's the beauty of Ryzen. I have 8 cores and 16 threads, games don't use anywhere near all my CPU so other programs or streaming have zero impact

You've literally just made my mind up 100% for me right there then. Ryzen 1700 It is. 

[tom_w141]

1 minute ago, uberrific said:

I've been able to solve all the issues except RAM speed through trial and error, but it took a while.

This is with the ASUS X370 Prime Pro.

I probably should have bought the Crosshair. The RAM I bought (F4-3200C16Q-32GTZR) isn't on the QVL, because it is CL16 not CL14 (F4-3200C14Q-32GTZR).

I've tried increasing the different voltages for the RAM but it's a no-go.

Not saying I regret the purchase. The system is solid and treating me well now, and not having that extra ram MHZ is not a big deal.

A large RAM patch is due in May so hang on in there for your next bios update. AMD are updating the microcode for better RAM support.

 

Last thing you can try at present is to watch the fairly recent level1techs video on Ryzen RAM. I'm sorry I can't link you from this PC but should be easy to find and explains how you can achieve higher speeds on nearly any RAM by slackening the timings.

[tom_w141]

2 minutes ago, elKz said:

You've literally just made my mind up 100% for me right there then. Ryzen 1700 It is. 

Happy to help  

[FFrye]

Sorry to step in but even if I'm not interested on streaming at all... would the 1700 still be the best option? I know the 7700k is the best option for gaming but what about looking into the future? Probably won't change it again in a few years (currently have an i7 2600k).

[Columbo]

Spoiler

 

I would say consider a 7600K and wait for the next generation of Intel processors. A value motherboard because the next socket board comes with the next generation Intel processors. With that said the AMD stuff in batch two should improve upon the current performance and they are always doing software updates to improve performance on those zen AMD chips.