Question i5 6600K possible upgrade path!

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MachoFantastico

MachoFantastico

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Oct 24, 2013
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Hello folks,

So I need some reliable advice regarding the i5 6600K and a possible upgrade path for me. Now my system is a few years old now and I'm running an Asus Z170-A motherboard with a i5 6600K CPU, 16GB's of ram and a GeForce 1070. Now this setup as served me well for a long time but recently I've been considering the need to possible upgrade my processor to something that will work better with the 1070. I'll admit I haven't followed components for some time and would prefer a setup where I might be able to still use my current motherboard but willing to listen to any suggestions.

The main purpose of my PC is for gaming at 1080p and I do use Nvidia DSR for some games. I'm worried that my current CPU bottlenecks my GPU which results in poorer performance. The i5 6600K is overclocked as is my 1070 card and while this helps, there's definitely a limit to what I can currently achieve when gaming. Possibly the bigger issue is the limited cores and threads on the 6600K and in some games I do believe this might be a factor in poorer performance. For example say Assassin's Creed Origins, a game I've owned for a long time but never really been able to play due to performance issues. Trouble is there are so many CPU's out there, with so many names that it's easy to lose track of everything. It's hard to know what benefit I'd get from upgrading to a new CPU and whilst I can read as many comparison charts as I want I still don't know for sure. I know AMD have Ryzen know but that would require a new motherboard.

So I'd greatly appreciate some thoughts on this, what advice would you have for me that would benefit my gaming experiences on my PC. Would a CPU upgrade help my performance in games or are there possibly other options. I did take a look at the i5 8400 but it's still early. I'm looking for good value for money in a CPU.
 
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MachoFantastico said:
Okay, was a bit confused as the Amazon page stated it requires a 1151 socket which I believe the Z170-A as. Guess I was confused by that.
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The 8th and 9th gen Intel’s require a 300 series motherboard and yours is 100 series. The best for your motherboard is a 7700k which is similar to a 8600k performance wise. If you decide you want a bigger upgrade with a new motherboard I’d pick Ryzen over any i5. To me Intel only makes sense with i7 or i9, below that I’d go Ryzen.
 
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I have a i7 7700k and a 1070 gpu , it would be very good at 1080p. But right now its 360 dollars new, and roughly 280 to 300 + on ebay. at that point I would get a ryzen 3600 and a good b450 mobo for the same general price point. Ryzen 3600 is $200 and a good b450 board will be any from 75 to 120 depending what you buy.
 
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Sorry for the late replies, thanks for offering advice. Looking at costs etc, the Ryzen CPU's are definitely tempting. I'll admit I've had a few issues with AMD products in the past (mainly their graphic cards) but at around the same price I could get the i5 8400K I could also purchase the Ryzen 5 3600 which from what I can tell from comparison is a better CPU. At this point I'll probably get a new board anyways and it would be a viable upgrade. The only thing I'm not certain on is motherboard type though I will do more research. What options would you recommend?
 
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For budget friendly I recommend the Msi B450 tomahawk. While I don't have AMD myself, I do plan on going to a Ryzen 3700 myself. I have watched a lot of youtubers, most recommend that board. Your other options are the new x570 motherboards that came out to support the Ryzen 3000 series chips , but they are expensive. I wouldn't recommend them for 3600. But look around there are other b450 boards that would be exceptable as well.
 
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reaper12474 said:
For budget friendly I recommend the Msi B450 tomahawk. While I don't have AMD myself, I do plan on going to a Ryzen 3700 myself. I have watched a lot of youtubers, most recommend that board. Your other options are the new x570 motherboards that came out to support the Ryzen 3000 series chips , but they are expensive. I wouldn't recommend them for 3600. But look around there are other b450 boards that would be exceptable as well.
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Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. I'd also been looking at the MSI B450 Gaming Plus motherboard which does support the 3600 once the bios is updated.

Sadly however I have just discovered my RAM isn't supported on Ryzen motherboards which sucks. Spent a few hours looking into it and it seems my Corsair CMK16GX4M2A2400C14 is no longer supported so I'd need to invest in some new RAM which increases costs considerably. Might need to think things over more and see what other options are available. 😢

Still, any tips and product recommendations are still appreciated.
 
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I would still invest in faster ram at some point. Ryzen cpu has a thing called infinity fabric that ties all the parts of the cpu together. That part of the cpu does benefit from having higher speed memory. Ryzen has sead that 3600mhz is recommended but 3200mhz would do and is cheaper.
 
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Thanks for the advice again reaper12474. I'm not entirely sure how I go about checking the memory controller of the CPU to be entirely honest. I looked on the specifics page of AMD's site for the 3600 and they indicate system memory specification of 3200MHZ. Whilst I have built my own systems in the past I wouldn't call myself a expert 😀 and usually just go by if the memory is supported by the motherboard.

I think you might be right about going for a faster ram. They do have compatiable Corsair ram that would work on the board if needs me which runs at 3200.

Thanks for your advice, been very helpful.
 
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Hello again folks, hopefully some would still be willing to help me out with this.

So been doing more research and the biggest issue I have had is trying to figure out if the RAM I'm looking at is actually supported by the motherboard. On the MSI websites, whenever I look through the compatibility I can never find the RAM, even when I search. However using the PC Part Picker site it states that it is compatible. Here's a quick run down of what I'm at right now:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600.
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk ATX AM4 Motherboard.
RAM: 3600Mhz compatible RAM.

Of course I already have a GPU, storage and case all set up so they would be the only real purchases to upgrade my system.

The reason I'm tending towards MSI is because of the Bios Flash feature which will allow me to update the motherboards bios to work with the Ryzen 5 3600 without the need to use an old AMD CPU or even install a CPU if needs be.

The part I really need help on is figuring out what RAM would be suitable. Reaper mentioned that Ryzen CPU's work better with faster RAM speeds so I'm interested in going towards the 3600Mhz if the motherboard can support it. Trouble is whenever I look at the compatibility charts on the MSI website it's hard to find the RAM that's for sale.

If anyone as any recommendations for RAM, I'd much appreciate it. Really need the help. Thanks.
 
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ram compatibility is based on cpu. The cpu die has a memory controller on it. Ryzen is compatible all the way to 4000mhz or something. But Tech youtubers have shown that there is little difference in performance from 3200 upto 3800. AMD specifically recommends 3200. What ever you choose I don't recommend anything beyond 3600 as there is a diminishing return on anything past that.
motherboard does play some role inmem compatibility but the tomahawk will support 3600 as well.
 
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reaper12474 said:
ram compatibility is based on cpu. The cpu die has a memory controller on it.
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While the memory controller may be on the CPU, the quality of board-level routing and PCB materials also play a major role in signal integrity which is increasingly vital to stable operation at higher speeds. The best memory controller in the world does you no good with a crap PCB, which is why the same DIMMs using the same CPUs get different overclock results depending on what board gets used. All three (CPU, MoBo and DIMMs) must be up to par for best results and even then, manufacturing variations can still be enough to prevent results from being repeatable between "identical" units.
 
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MachoFantastico said:
Hello folks,

So I need some reliable advice regarding the i5 6600K and a possible upgrade path for me. Now my system is a few years old now and I'm running an Asus Z170-A motherboard with a i5 6600K CPU, 16GB's of ram and a GeForce 1070. Now this setup as served me well for a long time but recently I've been considering the need to possible upgrade my processor to something that will work better with the 1070. I'll admit I haven't followed components for some time and would prefer a setup where I might be able to still use my current motherboard but willing to listen to any suggestions.

The main purpose of my PC is for gaming at 1080p and I do use Nvidia DSR for some games. I'm worried that my current CPU bottlenecks my GPU which results in poorer performance. The i5 6600K is overclocked as is my 1070 card and while this helps, there's definitely a limit to what I can currently achieve when gaming. Possibly the bigger issue is the limited cores and threads on the 6600K and in some games I do believe this might be a factor in poorer performance. For example say Assassin's Creed Origins, a game I've owned for a long time but never really been able to play due to performance issues. Trouble is there are so many CPU's out there, with so many names that it's easy to lose track of everything. It's hard to know what benefit I'd get from upgrading to a new CPU and whilst I can read as many comparison charts as I want I still don't know for sure. I know AMD have Ryzen know but that would require a new motherboard.

So I'd greatly appreciate some thoughts on this, what advice would you have for me that would benefit my gaming experiences on my PC. Would a CPU upgrade help my performance in games or are there possibly other options. I did take a look at the i5 8400 but it's still early. I'm looking for good value for money in a CPU.
Click to expand...
The best CPU for your chipset is the 7700k. I have it, it is a bit toasty but its a great chip.
 
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Yes Nick a 7700k is a great chip I have one, but as previously stated, its just a cheap to buy a ryzen 3600 and a b450 board. Which the ryzen5 is a 6 core 12 thread that actually performs better even in games.
 
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