[SOLVED] Going from i7 to i5 for gaming

[Gregkar]

Hi, i currently have this build:
i7-8700k @5.0Ghz
32GB DDR4 @3200Mhz
Asus Z-370a Prime
RTX-3070 OC

i want to upgrade to
i5-12600k or i7-12700k
Asus Prime Z690-P D4
and keep the rest (ram and gpu)

i mainly play heavy games in VR (Reverb G2) like DCS, do you think an i5 is ok for my case, or i should spend an extra 150usd/eur for the 12700?
the money difference is substantial

 

[Ralston18]

Verify that the motherboard will support the upgraded CPU's being considered.

Confirm via the Asus website: check motherboard manual and the current QVL (Qualified Vendor's List). Details matter.

What other components are installed? Drives, peripherals....?

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Ensure that the PSU will be able to provide the necessary power to play the VR games. Especially at a moments of peak demand.

 

[Gregkar]

Verify that the motherboard will support the upgraded CPU's being considered.

Confirm via the Asus website: check motherboard manual and the current QVL (Qualified Vendor's List). Details matter.

What other components are installed? Drives, peripherals....?

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Ensure that the PSU will be able to provide the necessary power to play the VR games. Especially at a moments of peak demand.

it does support both i5 and i7.
i have A LOT of other components and peripherals, as this is a high end racing/flight simulator, i can't write everything down, i have more than 20 usb devices, 3 monitors, 1 VR headset and list goes on.
PSU is a Corsair RMX 850watt Gold

question is, should i go for the 12700k or an i5-12600 is still a good upgrade to my 8700k?

 

[geofelt]

I3/5/7/9 no longer mean what they used to.
It used to indicate the number of cores/threads.
Now it is a more generic power description.

Your i7-8700K has 12 threads and a passmark rating of 13899/2674
the 2674 single thread rating is usually the more important for gaming.
The i5-12600K has 16 threads and a rating of 23949/3946.
A very nice upgrade.
Run cpu-Z bench on your 8700K.
The single thread number should be about 510.
Here are the numbers for the 12600K which is 773.
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/bhgfiz/1
The rating for the 12700K is 852.

 

[Gregkar]

I3/5/7/9 no longer mean what they used to.
It used to indicate the number of cores/threads.
Now it is a more generic power description.

Your i7-8700K has 12 threads and a passmark rating of 13899/2674
the 2674 single thread rating is usually the more important for gaming.
The i5-12600K has 16 threads and a rating of 23949/3946.
A very nice upgrade.
Run cpu-Z bench on your 8700K.
The single thread number should be about 510.
Here are the numbers for the 12600K which is 773.
http://valid.x86.fr/bench/bhgfiz/1
The rating for the 12700K is 852.

Thank you very much! Very helpful!

*Did the benchmark, it is 563

 

[SkyNetRising]

this is a high end racing/flight simulator

Does your system even need a cpu upgrade?
How is cpu utilization during those high end racing/flight simulator games? Is it close to 100% ?
Because if not, then GPU is the limiting factor there and upgrading cpu might not give much of an improvement.

 

[Gregkar]

Does your system even need a cpu upgrade?
How is cpu utilization during those high end racing/flight simulator games? Is it close to 100% ?
Because if not, then GPU is the limiting factor there and upgrading cpu might not give much of an improvement.

Yeah, i think during DCS in VR total CPU usage is ~90%

 

[SkyNetRising]

Yeah, i think during DCS in VR total CPU usage is ~90%

Ok. Then definitely go with i7.

i5-12600k may sound like it has more cores, but 4 extra cores are efficiency cores.
They are very weak. They all together have less performance than 1 performance core.
For simplicity of comparison you can just ignore them.
Then 6core/12thread 8700k vs 6core/12thread 12600k doesn't seem that big of a difference.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi, i currently have this build:
i7-8700k @5.0Ghz
32GB DDR4 @3200Mhz
Asus Z-370a Prime
RTX-3070 OC

i want to upgrade to
i5-12600k or i7-12700k
Asus Prime Z690-P D4
and keep the rest (ram and gpu)

i mainly play heavy games in VR (Reverb G2) like DCS, do you think an i5 is ok for my case, or i should spend an extra 150usd/eur for the 12700?
the money difference is substantial

If you have the bucks go for the 12700.
The 12600 will still give a nice bump in perf.

 

[Why_Me]

Better audio codec and better VRM's for only $10 more than that Asus Prime.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10#kf

 

[Gregkar]

Better audio codec and better VRM's for only $10 more than that Asus Prime.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10#kf

Yes, this is the one i want too but it doesn't have many pci-e and i have a few pci-e devices like usb expansion cards, and secondary sound card

 

[geofelt]

Ok. Then definitely go with i7.

i5-12600k may sound like it has more cores, but 4 extra cores are efficiency cores.
They are very weak. They all together have less performance than 1 performance core.
For simplicity of comparison you can just ignore them.
Then 6core/12thread 8700k vs 6core/12thread 12600k doesn't seem that big of a difference.

The E cores are not exactly wimpy.
The total passmark rating is close to 2x the 8700K.
Good IF... you can use them all.