Question I have an intel i5 11600k and having a hard time running games, should I upgrade?

Oct 29, 2024
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So I know little to nothing about cpu's and I've had this cpu for about 3 years now. It has been good but I want to play more demanding games like cod lol. I don't know if it is worth it to buy an i7 or i9. My mobo is a Z590 pro wifi and my cooler is a nzxt kraken elite z63. Thank you in advance!
 
You are not going to see a huge increase in performance just upgrading the cpu to i7/i9. Most games are gpu bound so that tends to be the better upgrade path. Problem is even if you were to want to upgrade the CPU chips the manufactures make this not a economically viable option. They seem to very quickly stop manufacturing the previous generation of CPU so they become expensive unless you buy used chips. They of course raised the price of the newer cpu and motherboards. If you look at the pricing on the boards than can run 12/13/14 intel cpu they are massively more expensive than the boards than can run 11th gen.

Hard to say, you are going to pay a lot for a very tiny increase or you are going to pay even more to upgrade to a more modern platform.

Just be careful COD players seem to obsess over frame rates even when their monitor can not actually display them at those rates. Someone who has actual skills can use garabage computers and still win shooter games. I have given up aruging with the guys who think someone else is winning just because their computer can do 600fps.
 
I5/I7/I9 differ mostly in the number pf processing threads,
Gaming depends more on the performance of the single master thread.
Run the cpu-Z bench on your i5-11600K.
You should see a single thread rating of about 639:
https://valid.x86.fr/bench/rf2mte
That is really quite a decent number.
Have you tried overclocking?
It might get you something, but chips are binned and there will be very little headroom making the effort not much worth it.

Try this experiment:
Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
This makes the graphics card loaf a bit.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

You might also share the make/model of your other parts.
A significant cpu upgrade is going to involve a motherboard upgrade.
 
have an intel i5 11600k and having a hard time running games...
don't know if it is worth it to buy an i7 or i9
what do you mean, "hard time"?
games won't load, are crashing, low fps, graphics glitching, etc?

if you are playing any sort of demanding games and want decent performance you need a higher end dedicated GPU, a good CPU, and the rest of a system that can support both through the heavy processing of gaming.

you don't include any information other than you are running an i5-11600K on a Z590,
hopefully not just using the iGPU and expecting to get any decent performance in modern AAA games.

I want to play more demanding games
as others here in the thread have requested,
list your full system specs with the make & model of all components;

CPU: i5-11600K
motherboard: Z590 Pro WiFi(make?)
RAM:
GPU:
PSU:
CPU cooler: NZXT Kraken Z63(280mm)
storage:
case:
 
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