[SOLVED] CPU upgrade

[Mandolista]

I want to make a relatively easy upgrade to my system to improve gaming performance. I currently have a Core i5-6600k and GTX 1070. Benchmarks i have run in 3DMark and Red Dead Redemption suggest my CPU is the weakpoint - the CPU benchmarks always come in significantly lower that the graphics benchmarks.

I don't want to change my motherboard so i am looking for the best LGA 1151 CPU i can get. My basic research suggests i7-7700 would be a good bet.

Can anyone offer any advice whether this is a upgrade makes sense and would provide a significant improvement?

For reference, my motherboard is Asus Z170 PRO GAMING and i have 16GB DDR4 2400mhz RAM.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[sizzling]

Depends on the price but usually the 6th and 7th gen i7’s are overpriced for the performance they offer.

 

[Mandolista]

Depends on the price but usually the 6th and 7th gen i7’s are overpriced for the performance they offer.

Amazon has it at ~£350 at the moment, which does seem a bit steep.

 

[sizzling]

Amazon has it at ~£350 at the moment, which does seem a bit steep.

You can get a Ryzen 3600, motherboard and 2x8gb of much faster DDR4 RAM for that. This has 6 cores and 12 threads and also gives an upgrade path to even better CPU’s.

 

[Mandolista]

You can get a Ryzen 3600, motherboard and 2x8gb of much faster DDR4 RAM for that. This has 6 cores and 12 threads and also gives an upgrade path to even better CPU’s.

I hear you, i'll have a look into that.

Maybe there is a cheaper LGA1151 option that would still give me a decent upgrade?
i can find a i7-6700K for £250

 

[WildCard999]

Still expensive, also you don't know how abused that 6700K is.

While you've stated running benchmarks has determined some sort of bottleneck how is the gaming performance itself? Also have you overclocked that 6600K?

 

[Mandolista]

Still expensive, also you don't know how abused that 6700K is.

While you've stated running benchmarks has determined some sort of bottleneck how is the gaming performance itself? Also have you overclocked that 6600K?

£250 was for a new I7-6700k. There are various cheaper deals for used ones.

I'm not having a specific issue with performance, just looking for higher framerates, or maintaining framerates with higher graphics settings. I'm currently Playing Red Dead Redemption 2.

I haven't yet tried overclocking my i5-6600k.

 

[WildCard999]

As long as you have a good CPU cooler then I suggest trying overclocking first as it could allow you to hold off on a upgrade.

This guide has everything you'd need to know about overclocking that CPU (temp limits, voltage limits, which software to use & much more).
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

If it were me I'd start at 4.2ghz at 1.25V and work my way up from there increasing 100mhz at a time and 0.01V if/when it crashes. Prime95 (no AVX) Small FFT's should be run after each overclock attempt, 30 mins for air cooler or 1 hour for AIO. Max temp shouldn't exceed 85C while stress testing although I usually try to keep it under 80C so if it goes above you may need to dial back the voltage and/or overclock.

With some good cooling and perhaps a bit of luck in the silicon lottery hopefully you could get around 4.5ghz+ which could give a nice boost or at the very least minimalize the FPS dips.

Speaking of dips make sure your memory is actually running at 2400 instead of 2133. While the "improvement" may be minimal it could help with those dips. Go into the motherboard BIOS and enable XMP (may be called DOCP since it's a Asus board). This is usually under the performance tab in the BIOS.

 

[Mandolista]

As long as you have a good CPU cooler then I suggest trying overclocking first as it could allow you to hold off on a upgrade.

This guide has everything you'd need to know about overclocking that CPU (temp limits, voltage limits, which software to use & much more).
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-temperature-guide.1488337/

If it were me I'd start at 4.2ghz at 1.25V and work my way up from there increasing 100mhz at a time and 0.01V if/when it crashes. Prime95 (no AVX) Small FFT's should be run after each overclock attempt, 30 mins for air cooler or 1 hour for AIO. Max temp shouldn't exceed 85C while stress testing although I usually try to keep it under 80C so if it goes above you may need to dial back the voltage and/or overclock.

With some good cooling and perhaps a bit of luck in the silicon lottery hopefully you could get around 4.5ghz+ which could give a nice boost or at the very least minimalize the FPS dips.

Speaking of dips make sure your memory is actually running at 2400 instead of 2133. While the "improvement" may be minimal it could help with those dips. Go into the motherboard BIOS and enable XMP (may be called DOCP since it's a Asus board). This is usually under the performance tab in the BIOS.

That is super helpful, thanks v much! i'll give it a try.

 

[neojack]

Also a good cooler from noctua is a good investment. long time support for all sockets, you would keep it for many cpus. they usually give away mounting kits when it's necessary