Question Do I need an upgrade?
- Thread starter Giobumang
- Start date
- Jul 18, 2014
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What is your current CPU/MB?
The SSD is ok but if you want a faster SSD (NVMe) or larger capacity then it could be a good idea.
The SSD is ok but if you want a faster SSD (NVMe) or larger capacity then it could be a good idea.
- Jul 18, 2014
- 21,771
- 1,935
- 93,640
I would keep the 8700 over getting a 2700X unless you really need that extra 2C/4T. Gaming wise the 8700 is a better choice. Plus if you did go with the 2700X you'd need to replace your memory as 2400mhz is too slow for Ryzen and the difference between that and 3200mhz could be up to 20 FPS.
The SSD would make a big difference with loading times but you also need to make sure there's like 15% free on the drive or it will slow down quite a bit.
The main reason why I’m changing motherboards and cpus is because I noticed that my system gets into the 80-90 temps with no overclocking. Since I’m changing it I thought I might as well change my cpu too since my current cpu can’t overclock. I use 2 monitors, 1 for gaming and 1 for watching streams and I heard that ryzen works better for that kind of stuff. Would this be smart or would getting a new motherboard, a water cooler, and ram be better instead?
- Jul 18, 2014
- 21,771
- 1,935
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I'd get a aftermarket cooler for the 8700, doesn't need to be a AIO as a larger air cooler would work well and as for a change in case it depends what clearance, if any, your current case has. You don't even need to spend a lot on it, something like the CM EVO 212 Black would work well for that 8700.
The 6C/12T on the 8700 should be plenty for overclocking/multitasking and while the 2700X does it a little bit better it's not worth changing out your 8700, especially with Ryzen 3rd gen coming out in a couple of months which could actually justify the upgrade.
For right now I'd get the cooler, SSD & if required then case.
The 6C/12T on the 8700 should be plenty for overclocking/multitasking and while the 2700X does it a little bit better it's not worth changing out your 8700, especially with Ryzen 3rd gen coming out in a couple of months which could actually justify the upgrade.
For right now I'd get the cooler, SSD & if required then case.
- Jul 18, 2014
- 21,771
- 1,935
- 93,640
Your welcome! Higher end 3rd gen looks promising with a higher core/thread count and much faster speeds.
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html
geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
- 54,291
- 4,145
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Such an upgrade makes no sense to me for a gamer, even ignoring the cost.
i7-8700 has a passmark rating of 15142 and a single thread rating of 2629.
The 2700x rating is 16984 but a weaker single thread rating.
Most games depend on the performance of the single master thread.
Yes, game loading times are impacted by the ssd.
You can do better with a nvme m.2 ssd which will run at 2x, considerably faster .
A i7-8700 can not be overclocked, but it will run hot.
If you are using the stock Intel cooler, check the idle temperatures.
If it is more than 10-15c. over ambient, the cooler is either not mounted well or your case does not provide sufficient cooling airflow.
If you want, $35 buys you a good tower type air cooler with a 120mm fan.
If you want to remount:
----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------
The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.
To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.
Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.
When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.
If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.
If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.
Too much paste is bad, it will act as an insulator.
It is hard to use too little.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i7-8700 has a passmark rating of 15142 and a single thread rating of 2629.
The 2700x rating is 16984 but a weaker single thread rating.
Most games depend on the performance of the single master thread.
Yes, game loading times are impacted by the ssd.
You can do better with a nvme m.2 ssd which will run at 2x, considerably faster .
A i7-8700 can not be overclocked, but it will run hot.
If you are using the stock Intel cooler, check the idle temperatures.
If it is more than 10-15c. over ambient, the cooler is either not mounted well or your case does not provide sufficient cooling airflow.
If you want, $35 buys you a good tower type air cooler with a 120mm fan.
If you want to remount:
----------------how to mount the stock Intel cooler--------------
The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.
If properly mounted, you should expect temperatures at idle to be 10-15c. over ambient.
To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the opposite direction of the arrow,(clockwise)
and pulled up as far as they can go.
Take the time to play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.
Orient the 4 pins so that they are exactly over the motherboard holes.
If one is out of place, you will damage the pins which are delicate.
Push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.
When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.
If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard should be out of the case to do the job. Or you need a case with a opening that lets you see the pins.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly
unless you can verify that the pins are through the motherboard and locked.
If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins counter clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.
Clean off old paste with alcohol and a lint free paper like a coffee filter.
Apply new paste sparingly. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread our under heat and pressure.
Too much paste is bad, it will act as an insulator.
It is hard to use too little.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cryoburner
Judicious
- Oct 8, 2011
- 5,753
- 1,357
- 34,840
What are the full specs of this system, most importantly the graphics card? In most games, the graphics card will typically make the biggest difference in terms of gaming performance.
No matter what it is though, I agree that you shouldn't need a CPU upgrade, as your current CPU is already relatively high-end with plenty of threads for gaming, and has boost clocks that can put its performance nearly on par with an i7-8700K at stock settings, provided it has adequate cooling to avoid thermal throttling. The bundled cooler that comes with the 8700 is a bit underpowered though, and if your temperatures are getting up into to 80s, that's probably what is happening. I would probably just slap a relatively inexpensive $30-$40 120mm tower cooler in there.
As for an SSD, 120GB is a really low capacity now, probably good enough for Windows and your applications to be installed to, but not adequate for modern games. So, I assume you install games to a separate hard drive in the system instead? Games will need to be installed to an SSD to improve their load times, so I would look for a larger SSD in the 500GB to 1TB range that can comfortably hold all your most-played games, and if your system has a regular hard drive, leave that to be used as bulk storage, for things like video and backups that won't benefit as much from being on an SSD, or maybe for some additional less-played games that won't fit on the SSD.
As for NVME vs SATA SSDs, in my opinion NVME isn't typically the best option for a gaming system, at least not until their prices drop more. While NVME drives may appear significantly faster in benchmarks, and will be faster at things like copying files, in terms of game load times they currently make very little difference. You'll typically only shave an additional second or two off of load times compared to a SATA SSD, since the games need to process the data they are loading, limiting how fast they read from the drive. Since they typically cost around twice as much for a given capacity, given the choice between getting an NVME SSD, and a similarly-priced SATA SSD with double the capacity, the larger SATA SSD will arguably make more sense. Modern games are getting rather large, and you will probably want a drive that can hold a decent number of them.
No matter what it is though, I agree that you shouldn't need a CPU upgrade, as your current CPU is already relatively high-end with plenty of threads for gaming, and has boost clocks that can put its performance nearly on par with an i7-8700K at stock settings, provided it has adequate cooling to avoid thermal throttling. The bundled cooler that comes with the 8700 is a bit underpowered though, and if your temperatures are getting up into to 80s, that's probably what is happening. I would probably just slap a relatively inexpensive $30-$40 120mm tower cooler in there.
As for an SSD, 120GB is a really low capacity now, probably good enough for Windows and your applications to be installed to, but not adequate for modern games. So, I assume you install games to a separate hard drive in the system instead? Games will need to be installed to an SSD to improve their load times, so I would look for a larger SSD in the 500GB to 1TB range that can comfortably hold all your most-played games, and if your system has a regular hard drive, leave that to be used as bulk storage, for things like video and backups that won't benefit as much from being on an SSD, or maybe for some additional less-played games that won't fit on the SSD.
As for NVME vs SATA SSDs, in my opinion NVME isn't typically the best option for a gaming system, at least not until their prices drop more. While NVME drives may appear significantly faster in benchmarks, and will be faster at things like copying files, in terms of game load times they currently make very little difference. You'll typically only shave an additional second or two off of load times compared to a SATA SSD, since the games need to process the data they are loading, limiting how fast they read from the drive. Since they typically cost around twice as much for a given capacity, given the choice between getting an NVME SSD, and a similarly-priced SATA SSD with double the capacity, the larger SATA SSD will arguably make more sense. Modern games are getting rather large, and you will probably want a drive that can hold a decent number of them.
Oh wow I did not know that im definitely gonna be getting a new ssd because all my games are on my hard drive. Since windows is installed on my ssd would I have to reinstall it when changing ssd's? Also my graphics card is a regular rtx 2070
geofelt
Titan
- Oct 9, 2006
- 54,291
- 4,145
- 174,240
Migrating windows to an equal or larger SSD is painless if you buy a Samsung ssd.
I am high on this method since I have used it on many pc's with no problems.
Here is a link to the software and app:
www.samsung.com
When done, you just boot from the new larger ssd.
Your original source drive is untouched and you can do with it what you will.
All the apps and settings are transferred and all your games on the hard drive will still work as before.
I am high on this method since I have used it on many pc's with no problems.
Here is a link to the software and app:
Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global
Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.
www.samsung.com
Your original source drive is untouched and you can do with it what you will.
All the apps and settings are transferred and all your games on the hard drive will still work as before.
cryoburner
Judicious
- Oct 8, 2011
- 5,753
- 1,357
- 34,840
Reinstalling windows to the new SSD would be one option, though if your motherboard has an available M.2 slot or SATA port (depending on what kind of drive you get), you could optionally leave the OS on the smaller SSD as it is, and install your games to the new, larger SSD alongside it. If the new drive happens to perform better than the old one, it might be worth cloning windows over though. As for your games on the hard drive, Steam includes an option for transferring game files from one drive to another without having to wait as long to re-download them, and I suspect at least some of the other game clients do as well.
That sounds like a pretty nice system overall, and I wouldn't be too concerned about upgrading the main hardware like the CPU or GPU. A larger SSD for games would be a good addition though, and if your CPU is using the stock cooler, you would probably get some performance benefit in certain games from a better cooler as well.
That sounds like a pretty nice system overall, and I wouldn't be too concerned about upgrading the main hardware like the CPU or GPU. A larger SSD for games would be a good addition though, and if your CPU is using the stock cooler, you would probably get some performance benefit in certain games from a better cooler as well.
Awesome! ThanksMigrating windows to an equal or larger SSD is painless if you buy a Samsung ssd.
I am high on this method since I have used it on many pc's with no problems.
Here is a link to the software and app:
When done, you just boot from the new larger ssd.Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global
Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.
Your original source drive is untouched and you can do with it what you will.
All the apps and settings are transferred and all your games on the hard drive will still work as before.
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