[SOLVED] 9700k or 3700x?

[mel21]

Hi so i want to upgrade from my 6700k and i'll be giving it to my niece who plays minecraft, roblox and other games later on for kids.

I am conflicted on which one to get the 9700k or the 3700x
I've read a lot of post and I still can't decide some post says that the 3700x loses on game performance? (also seeing a lot of post about heating issue with this cpu) and that if I want purely just gaming and milk the fps then get the 9700k? but this cpu also has heating issues or has higher temp? unlike the 3700x and I'll need to upgrade my hyper 212 LED to a beefier or better cooler? Is it okay if I use the hyper 212 if i don't OC? and just use stock

I can't decide which one to get. I can't really find anyone on youtube that has this setup that shows low, medium, high settings on various games.
I am not one of those people that cares about maxing all my settings to high/ultra for that "gaming experience" since I am a cs player if you play cs or any knowledge about cs then you know a lot of us play on low settings its just what i grew accustomed to and when I play other games I either play medium settings or low for more fps and more smooth gaming.

I don't do any editing or any of that sort, tbh I thought about it LONG time ago but never really bothered with it all these years so I honestly don't plan to start now.
I've been asking my friends also some say the 9700k (fanboyish is the reason) some says 3700x (also fanboyish) but both had their reasons like for the intel just pure gaming and more fps, for AMD future proof for future games that will start using more cores? and for multi-tasking & streaming.

I do like AMD for future proof but i don't do any heavy multi-tasking just your regular (discord & chrome for watching streams/browsing, when gaming I only have discord open and close chrome since i dont need it) or streaming I just get on at night and game for a few hours then thats it lol

I've never OC any cpu in my life and don't really plan to since I have no interest in it and don't want to risk having issues later.

Honestly I just want to just purely game now a days. Any advice on which CPU to get?

Also my specs right now is

i7-6700k w/ Hyper 212 LED
EVGA 1080 FTW (Don't plan on upgrading it till new gpu comes out and hoping the 2070/2080 goes down in prices)
16gb ram 3000mhz
750watts powersupply

 

[mel21]

Btw quick question if i go intel and either get the 9700k or 10700k is my hyper 212 LED good enough? With stock since i wont be OCing yet maybe in the future if i ever desire to do it, also my room has an AC during summer and i always have it on when i use my PC at night so my room is cold when im gaming. Will this affect the temp if i use the 212 LED?

If its not good enough then thats another item that I’ll have to get and what would you guys recommend? Theres a Cooler master Liquid LC120E close-loop for $65 though idk if its good enough to cool the 9700k/10700k.
Or is the Noctua NH-U12S Premium cooler good enough for those intel cpu’s? Ive never used noctua but i know from seeing everyone having good reviews over it and 2 of my friends uses it thats noctua brand is very good


If i go with the 3700x i think the hyper 212 LED is good enough? since someone mentioned that its easier to cool unlike intel’s 9th/10th gen’s

 

[Karadjgne]

Pricing is absolutely hit-miss nuts. MITX Z490 you can get in stock for less than $250, try and get an X570-I and Amazon has them listed all the way upto (was higher last week) over $700. I've seen that board top $900 shipped US vendors, or $600 from Japan.

 

[mel21]

Pricing is absolutely hit-miss nuts. MITX Z490 you can get in stock for less than $250, try and get an X570-I and Amazon has them listed all the way upto (was higher last week) over $700. I've seen that board top $900 shipped US vendors, or $600 from Japan.

Yeah those prices are crazy idk about the 10th gen’s tbh since mobos are very expensive right now and idk when they’ll make decent priced mobos or how good those will be.

 

[Karadjgne]

You'll only see the Z490 for a while, then when that looks to start fizzling out in sales from the impulse buyers, you'll get the B460 and H490

 

[mdd1963]

3700X is plenty fast, and at a great cost, but, if purely gaming, the 9700K is a tad faster. (but more expensive, in that you could have simply bought a 3800X). At these levels, it's hard to say that 170 fps is 'much better ' than 160 fps, etc...

The 3700X path also opens up the option of jumping to a 4000 series CPU at a later date if on a decent X570/B550 and possibly B450 mainboard...(although I'd think it hard to find a 3700X/3800X slow at anything and in need of an upgrade within 3-4 years anyway)

 

[gtarayan]

If building a new system, I think AMD is the only way to go today. Socket 1200 (400-series motherboards) supports Comet Lake and Rocket Lake CPUs only, and Socket 1700 is expected to be out next year. While Rocket Lake is not out yet, preliminary leaked benchmarks do not show any significant gains over 10th generation Comet Lake CPUs which in themselves are not a significant upgrade over 9th generation. You do get extra cores at the expense of tremendous power consumption. Consequently, high end parts require expensive cooling solutions, and top notch power supplies.

On the AMD front, an x570 motherboard gives you ability to upgrade to 4000 Ryzens which are likely to have 15% faster IPC and be more efficient. (judging by the 2000 to 3000 Ryzen transition).

The last AMD system I had was Athlon 64 3200. Since then it was all Intel. Last weekend I went out to Microcenter, and picked up and X570 with Ryzen 3600. $400 combo with modest power and cooling requirements that can be upgraded to a 16 core CPU in this generation and then the entire 4000 family of CPUs.

Intel is at the end of their wits with 14nm, and it is not ready to build a 10nm CPU - hence you get 10 core parts that require 300w to operate.

I agree with the prior posters' analysis of DDR5 systems. First generation of platforms which transition to a new memory standard are no better than the last generation of the prior memory standard in its mature state. Those first DDR4 chips at 2133 MHz are pure garbage that you would not want to run in today's systems. The early adopters had to pay a significant premium for DDR4 over DDR3. No doubt, the history will repeat itself with the adoption of DDR5. In my mind, DDR5 platform will become palatable in 2023 when Intel will (probably) introduce its second generation of CPUs with DDR5 memory controller (assuming late 2021 or early 2022 intro of the 10nm desktop variant with DDR5 controller).

 

[GarrettL]

Agreed, Ryzen is positioned better for the future with their current offerings.

I game at 1440p and my Ryzen platform has been fantastic. Been gaming since Pong was released in the malls, yeah I'm old.

You can pick up a 3700x for $259 at Micro Center or $275 from Newegg. Great cpu at a great price. Put the money you save into a nice gpu and monitor.

 

[mel21]

If building a new system, I think AMD is the only way to go today. Socket 1200 (400-series motherboards) supports Comet Lake and Rocket Lake CPUs only, and Socket 1700 is expected to be out next year. While Rocket Lake is not out yet, preliminary leaked benchmarks do not show any significant gains over 10th generation Comet Lake CPUs which in themselves are not a significant upgrade over 9th generation. You do get extra cores at the expense of tremendous power consumption. Consequently, high end parts require expensive cooling solutions, and top notch power supplies.

On the AMD front, an x570 motherboard gives you ability to upgrade to 4000 Ryzens which are likely to have 15% faster IPC and be more efficient. (judging by the 2000 to 3000 Ryzen transition).

The last AMD system I had was Athlon 64 3200. Since then it was all Intel. Last weekend I went out to Microcenter, and picked up and X570 with Ryzen 3600. $400 combo with modest power and cooling requirements that can be upgraded to a 16 core CPU in this generation and then the entire 4000 family of CPUs.

Intel is at the end of their wits with 14nm, and it is not ready to build a 10nm CPU - hence you get 10 core parts that require 300w to operate.

I agree with the prior posters' analysis of DDR5 systems. First generation of platforms which transition to a new memory standard are no better than the last generation of the prior memory standard in its mature state. Those first DDR4 chips at 2133 MHz are pure garbage that you would not want to run in today's systems. The early adopters had to pay a significant premium for DDR4 over DDR3. No doubt, the history will repeat itself with the adoption of DDR5. In my mind, DDR5 platform will become palatable in 2023 when Intel will (probably) introduce its second generation of CPUs with DDR5 memory controller (assuming late 2021 or early 2022 intro of the 10nm desktop variant with DDR5 controller).

Very informative and did not know anything about rocket lake or even knew that was a thing till today and made me looked it up. Thanks for the info with everyones advice i am leaning more towards 3700x though i dont do any heavy multi-tasking nor do i stream i think its the better option and with the extra $ i save i could sell my 1080 and add it to a new gpu that will also last me for a while.

 

[mel21]

Agreed, Ryzen is positioned better for the future with their current offerings.

I game at 1440p and my Ryzen platform has been fantastic. Been gaming since Pong was released in the malls, yeah I'm old.

You can pick up a 3700x for $259 at Micro Center or $275 from Newegg. Great cpu at a great price. Put the money you save into a nice gpu and monitor.

Lol ive been gaming since the very 1st command & conquer came out and got addicted to gaming since then so i feel ya we’re old 🤣

The 3700x is what i am leaning towards to and will probably decide to get it by next month we’ll see how things goes.

I do want to upgrade my gpu so getting an amd instead might make that happen since i already have a 144hz monitor.

 

[mel21]

3700X is plenty fast, and at a great cost, but, if purely gaming, the 9700K is a tad faster. (but more expensive, in that you could have simply bought a 3800X). At these levels, it's hard to say that 170 fps is 'much better ' than 160 fps, etc...

The 3700X path also opens up the option of jumping to a 4000 series CPU at a later date if on a decent X570/B550 and possibly B450 mainboard...(although I'd think it hard to find a 3700X/3800X slow at anything and in need of an upgrade within 3-4 years anyway)

I forgot where but i saw someone comparing the 3700x & 3800x and the difference werent that big so i thought the 3700x was a better option for the price since i was thinking of upgrading my ram to a faster one but somewhere in this thread said i could keep using the one i already have since its not a big difference instead of paying another $100 for ram.

Yeah the option to upgrade to 4000 series is a very big deal not having to upgrade mobos again would save me money also. Tbh i probably have 2 years left of gaming in me till i completely hand it over to my niece or nephew if lucky 3 years. we’ll see how i'll feel about it in the future and how it goes.

Thanks

 

[mel21]

You'll only see the Z490 for a while, then when that looks to start fizzling out in sales from the impulse buyers, you'll get the B460 and H490

True true which is why i always wait, though right now its hard to find a decent mobo for the 9th gen that has more than 4 usb theyre all usually stop making it or used. Tbh MSI is the only one that makes mobo that has alot of usb and good prices today for the 9th gen but theyve failed me multiple times already in the past that i dont want to risk buying from them again lol

 

[mel21]

UPDATE

So my friend who is gonna build a 10900k is selling his 9700k + motherboard to me and I couldn't say no to the price lol

But he is keeping his AIO for the 10900k and I can't decide what's a good cooler for the 9700k. Like I've stated before from the original post I won't be OCing anything yet since I am not confident to do so, but will do in the future when I am more confident.

Anyways I am thinking of getting the

Noctua NH-U14S, Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A15 140mm Fan (Brown)
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U1...&keywords=noctua+nh-14s&qid=1591668514&sr=8-3

I own a Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED (just the 1 fan not the updated 2 fan version)
I thought that would be decent enough for stocks but since I am buying it from a friend I am saving some $ so I can upgrade my heatsink.

Also since my room is always cold cause I have my AC on when I am playing at night should I stick with my current heatsink? or go for the Noctua?

 

[Hellfire13]

UPDATE

So my friend who is gonna build a 10900k is selling his 9700k + motherboard to me and I couldn't say no to the price lol

But he is keeping his AIO for the 10900k and I can't decide what's a good cooler for the 9700k. Like I've stated before from the original post I won't be OCing anything yet since I am not confident to do so, but will do in the future when I am more confident.

Anyways I am thinking of getting the

Noctua NH-U14S, Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A15 140mm Fan (Brown)
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U1...&keywords=noctua+nh-14s&qid=1591668514&sr=8-3

I own a Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED (just the 1 fan not the updated 2 fan version)
I thought that would be decent enough for stocks but since I am buying it from a friend I am saving some $ so I can upgrade my heatsink.

Also since my room is always cold cause I have my AC on when I am playing at night should I stick with my current heatsink? or go for the Noctua?

The 9700k can get pretty hot during gaming even with cool ambient. The Hyper will not be able to handle it, you should get the Noctua.
If you can spend a few more bucks and get the larger NH-D15, it would be even better for you in the long run. But its a pretty big cooler so do ensure case compatibility if you go for it.

 

[mel21]

The 9700k can get pretty hot during gaming even with cool ambient. The Hyper will not be able to handle it, you should get the Noctua.
If you can spend a few more bucks and get the larger NH-D15, it would be even better for you in the long run. But its a pretty big cooler so do ensure case compatibility if you go for it.

Yeah I checked my Phanteks P400 won't be able to fit NH-D15 so I'll have to go with the Noctua NH-U14S

Thanks

 

[Hellfire13]

Yeah I checked my Phanteks P400 won't be able to fit NH-D15 so I'll have to go with the Noctua NH-U14S

Thanks

The NH-D14 and NH-D15S might fit. You should check for those.

 

[mel21]

The NH-D14 and NH-D15S might fit. You should check for those.

From what ive searched the NH-D14 should fit though not a big fan of it looking very bulky
Is the NH-U14s enough to cool the 9700k tho?

Remeber I dont plan on OCing maybe in a year or 2, when I have more free time i’ll rebuild my old 6700k and mess around on it and get more experience from that

 

[Hellfire13]

From what ive searched the NH-D14 should fit though not a big fan of it looking very bulky
Is the NH-U14s enough to cool the 9700k tho?

Remeber I dont plan on OCing maybe in a year or 2, when I have more free time i’ll rebuild my old 6700k and mess around on it and get more experience from that

Eventually when you do OC at some point in the future a better cooler will help keep thermals more balanced. The U14s is fine for stock clocks, but the D14 is a better cooler at the end of the day.

 

[mel21]

Eventually when you do OC at some point in the future a better cooler will help keep thermals more balanced. The U14s is fine for stock clocks, but the D14 is a better cooler at the end of the day.

True true since its only like $20 difference it'll save me money from buying another cooler for full price.

Thanks will go for the NH-D14 or maybe the NH-D15 I'll look into them more and videos so I don't look like a nooby when I install it lol

Many thanks everyone for all the advice! very informative of all of you and I've learned a lot!