[SOLVED] Advice needed on cpu upgrade please.

[Bryan1980]

Hi if anyone could help it would be appreciated.

I have an old Acer Predator G3-710 that I'm looking to upgrade.
I have downloaded CPU-Z and my current specs are:

32gb Ram
GTX 970

i5 6400 2.70GHz
Code Name Skylake
Socket 1151 LGA

Mainboard
Predator G£-710
Chipset Intel Skylake
Southbridge Intel B150

I am going to order the RTX 2070 super gpu but am not sure about cpus.

I have researched as much as I can but am pretty inexperienced with this type of thing and am really not confident on what to buy. I have read that the best cpu i can get is the i7 6700 and not the i7 6700k as my motherboard cannot overclock the cpu.

Ive found these two so far, one being the i7600k and will shop around etc.
i7 6700 3.4GHz @£196

i7-6700k 4.0GHz @£275

Will these cards fit on my board and also would it be better to get the i7 6700k even though I can't overclock it but it has a faster speed i.e 4.0GHz.

Currently all I play is BV5, Star Wars battlefront 2, RDR2 and GTAV on high settings but was hoping buying the gpu and cpu would get me to ultra and an fps boost.

I also bought flight sim 2020 and play on low/medium settings with around 40fps apart from in big cities where the fps drops. I was hoping this combo of gpu and cpu would increase the settings a bit to make it less ugly.

I have a few hundred to spare but cannot afford a new pc atm and im still happy with it as I can still play all my games new and old at relatively good quality but I would still like to max it out if possible with the gpu and cpu upgrade.

So help or advice on the cpu would be really appreciated like will it fit etc or anything I've missed. Also if I've missed something on the gpu side of things feel free to help.

 

[Hellfire13]

Your mainboard chipset is B150 if I am not mistaken. You can even upgrade the BIOS for next gen. compatibility with that 6400 and then you can go for 7700 or 7700k. But these are older chips now and hence pretty expensive. Between 6700/6700k/7700/7700k there wont be too much performance difference, hence its better to get the cheapest one among them, although an unlocked(K) CPU can give you some added performance.
You should look for them in the used market or ebay where you can get lucky with a good chip at a low price...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/CPUs-Proce...Cores=4&Socket%20Type=LGA%201151&rt=nc&_sop=2

 

[Bryan1980]

That's great, thanks for the quick reply.

 

[DMAN999]

It looks like your motherboard doesn't support 7th Gen Intel CPU's.
Read this:
https://community.acer.com/en/discu...rks-with-the-acer-predator-g3-710-motherboard

EDIT:
Look here also:
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/6373?b=1

Apparently if you have BIOS version R01.A4 or older you can't update to the R02 versions that support Intel 7th Gen Kabylake CPUs.

BIOS - R02 BIOS only compatible with Intel 7th Gen Kabylake platform. Not upgrade from R01.

Date: 2017/01/05
Version: R02.A0
Vendor: Acer
Size: 4.3 MB

 

[Bryan1980]

Ok thanks for the link, so back to the 6700 maybe. Do you think it's worth the extra £80 for the 6700k even though I can't overclock it. Just the 3.4GHz to the 4GHz etc?

 

[DMAN999]

Yes, the 6700 and 6700k are 6th Gen CPUs so they should work fine for you.

 

[Bryan1980]

Brilliant, thanks for the help.

 

[DMAN999]

Ok thanks for the link, so back to the 6700 maybe. Do you think it's worth the extra £80 for the 6700k even though I can't overclock it. Just the 3.4GHz to the 4GHz etc?

I would say it is probably worth the upgrade:
https://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/499/Intel_Core_i5_i5-6400_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-6700K.html
https://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/424/Intel_Core_i5_i5-6400_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-6700.html
But if you can't OC, I would get the 6700 if you can get it cheaper.

 

[haseeb98ahm]

Personally i wouldn't buy a 4 core cpu espically with that gpu AND when you paying £275 for it. More and more games are utilising more then 2 core these days and this number is only going to increase. And with windows 10 and other programs doing all sorts of stuff in background you will definatly need atleast 6 cores.
biggest problem most of us faced with intel 4th gen or older system was that we had to change Ram and motherboard if we wanted to upgrade the cpu. but you already have DDR4 so you only need to change motherboard if you want to upgrade your CPU.

3600x (6 core 12 threads £186) at stock is preaty much the same as 7700k OC at gaming. And why on earth are you paying £275 for 4 cores 8 threads when you can get:
i5-10600K 6 core 12 threads for £245
i5-9600K 6 core 6 threads for £186
i5-9700K 8 core 8 threads for £284

So I would say, sell you old cpu and motherboard and get one of these CPU (mentioned above) with correct motherboard.

 

[DMAN999]

^ That's a valid point.
If the OP can afford a full upgrade (CPU, MB, possibly RAM, PSU,etc.) it would be worth it in the long run.

But if he can't afford to spend $500+ a $200 6700 is the best he can do with the system he has.
And I would definitely look and see how old and what wattage (and quality) his current PSU is.
It might not even handle the 2070 Super and if it is 5 or more years old a new PSU may be needed just to be safe.

 

[Bryan1980]

Hi, thanks for the replies. I was planning to buy a new pc in a year or two when I got more money to spend. I don't really need one atm with the games I play, My fav game is still starcraft 2 and that's years old and runs fine but the newer games I have like RDR2, BFV I wouldn't mind getting slightly better fps and quality out of the machine I have but was not overly concerned right now so thought just maxing out this machine for a while.

I take your point on upgrading motherboard etc and that will be what I want to do in a year or so, but I would also like to start from scratch, box, board, better cpu, everything new etc.

My psu is a 500w ps-7501-5 80+ bronze so not sure if that will be enough and honestly not something I thought about.

 

[Hellfire13]

2070S + 6700k = 400 + 275 = 675 Pound approx, assuming you have that kind of budget as per the initial post, heres what I would do...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | £184.50 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | £69.98 @ Amazon UK
Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card | £363.40 @ Alza
Power Supply | Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | £59.99 @ AWD-IT
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £677.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-27 16:59 BST+0100 |

 

[Bryan1980]

Thanks Hellfire13 for the list. Something I definitely need to think about.

 

[DMAN999]

500w ps-7501-5 80+ bronze

That 500 W PSU is obviously an OEM unit and may not even really put out 500W.
I would strongly recommend that you get a quality 650 W PSU to run a 2070 Super.
Something like a Corsair RM650 or RM650x or a Seasonic Focus Gold 650.
I have the RM650 in my 3700x/2060 Super rig and I am very happy with it.

 

[Bryan1980]

Been looking on currys website and found this one CORSAIR CV650 ATX PSU - 650 W its £40 cheaper than the Corsair RM650. Would that one be ok do you think?

EDIT - Just noticed it's ATX, not to sure but the one you suggested has more connections than the ATX so probably best to go with the one you suggested originally?

Thanks again for the advice, I have no clue really about what's best to get.

 

[jyraya25]

maybe you should think about selling your rig and getting a new one if you are interested tell me your budget and i will help you choosing
and to answer your question always get a k model if you are plaining on keeping your cpu in 2/3 years there won't be any new 6th gen cpu and you will be happy to have one, then you could buy a better mobo to overclock it