[SOLVED] 9600K, 9700K or 8700K?...or wait for Zen2?

[vwcrusher]

Rethinking (possibly) the choice I made regarding CPU for a new system. The goal of the system is for Adobe Lightroom, and some occasional gaming. Near the point where I start pulling out what little hair I have left.....lol.

I have been bouncing around between the above CPUs trying to decide. Budget for this is not a major concern, fwiw. On one hand I want to get the best performance, but also understanding that a fps, or a few milliseconds in LR here or there will never be noticed by me. On the other hand, don't want to penny-wise and pound-foolish....zen2?

Perhaps it really doesn't matter that much which of the above I choose?
Please help me decide based on your experience with CPUs.

Thank you.

 

[13thmonkey]

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2127?vs=2258

 

[13thmonkey]

I doubt you'll get a consensus. And that's actually a good thing. Gone are the days of the only thing the fx series were good at was winzip. They are quite close to being on a par. There's little in it now a days. You'll get a good experience whichever way you go.

I'd still try to figure why you need to upgrade at all, that's not normal behaviour, it'll take the time pressure off and you can upgrade when the time is right, not when something else is forcing your hand.

 

[vwcrusher]

Thanks for the updates.....so given what we know, what we don't know, and also what we can speculate, how would you guys stack rank each of the CPUs? And I would also appreciate a brief, why....so that I may make as informed decision as I can....

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Worst to best
Gaming: 2700x9700k,8700k,3700x,9900k,3850x
LR: 2700x,9700k,8700k,3700x,9900k,3850x

 

[Karadjgne]

In LR, the 9th gen firmly beats a Ryzen 2700x, 1010+ to 893. Considering the best Intel offers only geys a little over 1100, the Ryzen is quite far behind, beaten even by a TR. The top contenders are all x299/x399 cpus, so this suggests that clock speeds are not so important as the ability to use quad channel ram. Price on those builds is nuts, but that still leaves the 9th gen firmly ahead of 8th gen and Ryzen.

So, is this a need it now build, because even the 9700k has performance gains over a 2700x in LR, is still 8c/8t so has better core vs HT against 6c/12t 8700k. If it's not, I'd wait on Ryzen 2 and see what (if any) gains will be applicable there. If a 3700x performs similar or better to the 9900k and costs less, that'd be the way to go, but I'd not buy a 2700x in the off chance that it doesn't.

 

[vwcrusher]

In LR, the 9th gen firmly beats a Ryzen 2700x, 1010+ to 893. Considering the best Intel offers only geys a little over 1100, the Ryzen is quite far behind, beaten even by a TR. The top contenders are all x299/x399 cpus, so this suggests that clock speeds are not so important as the ability to use quad channel ram. Price on those builds is nuts, but that still leaves the 9th gen firmly ahead of 8th gen and Ryzen.

So, is this a need it now build, because even the 9700k has performance gains over a 2700x in LR, is still 8c/8t so has better core vs HT against 6c/12t 8700k. If it's not, I'd wait on Ryzen 2 and see what (if any) gains will be applicable there. If a 3700x performs similar or better to the 9900k and costs less, that'd be the way to go, but I'd not buy a 2700x in the off chance that it doesn't.

Thanks for the assessment...as I noted earlier it seemed like the R3700X was the best alternative if I could wait. I can; hopefully this CPU will live up to some of the leaks.

Thanks to all who contributed; I appreciate your patience with my many questions. Hopefully, others will glean some benefit from this exchange as well. I wish I could give you all a 'best solution.'