Jul 25, 2020
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I am looking to upgrade my i7-7700k Cpu to a i9-9900k. My question because I still am very new to PC upgrading is can I keep my motherboard and just upgrade the CPU. My motherboard is a LENOVO 36C9. I can not find any information of this when i try searching the product on google. Making this very hard for me to know if it would run the i9 or not. I want to do streaming and playing games such as Division2, Warzone, Escape from Tarkov, ect. Any bit of help would be appreciated.
 

Lutfij

Titan
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No you can't keep the board the same but you can retain the ram's. You will need a Z370/Z390 chipset board and a dual channel DDR4-3200MHz/3600MHz ram kit to get the best out the platform, not to mention good cooling for the CPU after the upgrade.
 
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Agree with Bob125484 that if you have not purchased a 9900K yet the 10700K would be the better option along with a Z490 motherboard as it is a 9900K in disguise with better cooling due to a new thermal design and a lower cost with an upgrade path to Rocket Lake S in the future... It will handle all games at the highest level and streaming is great on the 10700k, of course it overclocks extremely...and yes I have one!

You also have the Ryzen route in the 3700X/3800X which will be more cost effective route but no issues if you are playing at 1440p or 4k though for high refresh rate the 10th Intel will still be better.
 
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gtarayan

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Mar 2, 2011
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Unless you already have a Z370/390 motherboard, or you are getting a killer deal on the CPU (which is unlikely), 9900k is a poor choice for a new system build. As others have already states, 10700k is cheaper, and the newer platform provides more upgrade options down the road, including PICe 4.0 ssd.
 
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