[SOLVED] i5 6600k VS i7 9700 (non k)

FurryVengence

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Jul 26, 2019
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Made a late night buy the other night, purchased an i7 9700 (Non K)

Currently I have an i5 6600K and a GTX 1070 graphics card.

I've looked at several benches for comparison and each one has drastically different results. Some saying the 6600k will out run on a single thread the 9700. Others saying the 9700 will easily out do the 6600k.

Will the i7 9700 out preform my current CPU ?

I tried researching this, but as I mentioned earlier all the comparisons I viewed were vastly different.

My only use of the PC is gaming

Cheers!!
 
Solution
The i5 6600K has a base frequency of 3.5GHz and turbo of 3.9GHz. The i7 9700K has a base frequency of 3GHz and max turbo of 4.7GHz. The max turbo is for single core. The 9700 also has additional cores the 6600K does not have (8 vs 4).

In most everything the 9700 is better:

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2267?vs=2258

Yes thats a 9700K but the only difference is 200MHz which even without the 9700 will still outperform the 6600K at stock settings.

Now the main advantage of the 6600K is that it has an unlocked multiplier so it can be overclocked to a high frequency on all cores helping it to keep up and in some cases possibly beat the 9700.

In most games you might see little to no performance gains since the GPU is going...
The i5 6600K has a base frequency of 3.5GHz and turbo of 3.9GHz. The i7 9700K has a base frequency of 3GHz and max turbo of 4.7GHz. The max turbo is for single core. The 9700 also has additional cores the 6600K does not have (8 vs 4).

In most everything the 9700 is better:

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2267?vs=2258

Yes thats a 9700K but the only difference is 200MHz which even without the 9700 will still outperform the 6600K at stock settings.

Now the main advantage of the 6600K is that it has an unlocked multiplier so it can be overclocked to a high frequency on all cores helping it to keep up and in some cases possibly beat the 9700.

In most games you might see little to no performance gains since the GPU is going to be the major player but ones that scale beyond 4 cores will benefit from thew 9700 even if you cannot overclock.

One question though, you do know you need a new motherboard such as a Z370 or Z390 for the 9700 correct? The board you have the 6600K in will not work for it.
 
Solution

FurryVengence

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Jul 26, 2019
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Thank you for the quick reply,

Yeah, I made that mistake over a year ago when I just went out and bought an i7 7700k. This time I got a decent deal on a small MSI board. Has enough room for my memory, (2133) and my graphics card.

As for the performance gains: I've heard people say that a few times in other discussions with other (mostly older) cards. I've had this combo for a few years now. I find it frustrating even in a few older games, I'm still seeing random performance dips in games. Latest of which is a non GPU taxing game MOTHERGUNSHIP. I've become hyper sensitive to these dips. Serious first world problems I know! Yet the people I talk to who claim they don't have issues have had i7s some even older then my i5! saying they had no issues.

The way I see it, this little bit of a boost maybe all I need.

I'm hoping to get some insight into this, if the evidence is clear enough I have no problem sending the CPU & mobo back before I open it.

So any further insight you or anyone else has, would be incredibly helpful!
 
The 9700k, requiring a 300 series mainboard, and an 8 core/8 thread CPU, is certainly much faster than a 4c/4t CPU from 3 generations earlier, yes...(especially with a GTX1070 or above) Modern games from BF1, BF5, etc., do very well with at least 8 cores/threads, whereas many 4c/4t CPU owners are reporting constant stutter in many games.

The 9700K is down just a few frames in performance over the 9900K, on average....

However, as a hypothetical 6600K to 9700K upgrade requires a new mainboard anyway, then many gamers at that stage would be considering the Ryzen 5 3600 or 3700, frankly...from $150- $250 less expensive when cooler costs are considered...
 

FurryVengence

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Jul 26, 2019
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I was looking into an 3700X Ryzen chip, as an alternative. However I was unsure of power consumption, and memory. Not seeing the 329 price tag on that worth it, If I had to tack on a new power supply, and another 16gb of RAM. From what I could see adding a new power supply + more memory would have put me well over the 410 I was spending with the recently discounted i7 9700.


I do remember having no fun playing Battlefield '1' or 5 due to the constant hitching I had on my current setup.

So far consensus seems to be that the 9700 will be an decent upgrade.

Thank you for everyone's participation so far. Anyone else has any info they would like to share I'd love to hear it :)
 

FurryVengence

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Jul 26, 2019
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For those asking:

Here is the new motherboard I purchased.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144161?Item=N82E16813144161

Not the biggest, not the most room to add. But my overall PC setup is pretty static. I don't add much and a single monitor does me fine.

Also in-case anyone is wondering I aim to play at 1080p, close to full settings as I can. This is partially because I only have a 1080P Monitor. Something I may upgrade at XMAS.
 

TJ Hooker

Titan
Ambassador
I was looking into an 3700X Ryzen chip, as an alternative. However I was unsure of power consumption, and memory. Not seeing the 329 price tag on that worth it, If I had to tack on a new power supply, and another 16gb of RAM. From what I could see adding a new power supply + more memory would have put me well over the 410 I was spending with the recently discounted i7 9700.
The power draw of a 3700X would be about the same or less than the 9700 you bought.

Intel actually benefits from memory speed more than people realize. Comparing a 9900K to a 2700X, the 9900K actually sees a bigger difference in gaming performance between 2133 and 3200 MHz than the AMD system.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-ram-speed-x470-pinnacle-ridge,6064-6.html
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-ram-speed,5951-6.html
 
That board should be fine for what you purchased. No need to get anything crazy expensive just decent and up to the task which this should be and looks to be compatible with the CPU.

I still play at 1080p, mainly because I am waiting for OLED monitors that are decent and I still have a i5 4670K and GTX 1080. I am happy with it. I tend to wait for a major jump in performance to upgrade.

And we are glad your experience is good. It is what we strive for here.
 

FurryVengence

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Jul 26, 2019
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My next step is to upgrade the ram.. I plan on keeping this new board a while. Probably end up picking up 2666 this week. Something I was thinking about a lot. Still debating if I want to go for another 16 or go for broke with 32...

Know this is a bit off topic, any thoughts ?
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
To hopefully clear up any confusion.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ryzen-9-3900x-7-3700x-review,6214.html

AMD has improved memory overclocking substantially, partly due to decoupling the Infinity Fabric from the memory clock. AMD's first-gen Ryzen processors had plenty of difficulties with memory overclocking when they first launched, but AMD has addressed those concerns with the second-gen products and has even demoed an air-cooled Ryzen platform running at DDR4-5100. We also didn't encounter any issues during our testing.
As with previous-gen Ryzen, memory overclocking confers big performance speedups for gaming. To sidestep the Infinity Fabric's maximum frequency of 2,000 MHz, which effectively constrains memory overclocking, AMD allows users to separate the memory and Infinity Fabric clock dependencies. The domains remain tied together at a 1:1 ratio up to DDR4-3733, but run at a 2:1 ratio beyond that transfer rate. This setting, which is also user-adjustable in the BIOS, improves memory bandwidth but comes with a latency penalty (~9ns). Tuners can also adjust the Infinity Fabric clock (fclk) in 33Mhz increments to get an extra kicker during overclocking. AMD says that the price/performance sweetspot will be around DDR4-3600.
 

FurryVengence

Commendable
Jul 26, 2019
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So after doing some more research and taking all the input from everyone who has been super awesome in answering questions. I decided on this grouping of items together. Turns out Amazon had a pretty sweat deal for me. Plus I can pay over time ( with no interest ) so I wont see a gaping whole in my bank account for a few months.

ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming (Wi-Fi)
Intel Core i7-9700K
Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 2666 MHz DDR4

Decided to get the ram as well. And decided to splurge for the 9700k.

Had an order with New Egg, but going to send it back. This cost more but considering the few extras I'm getting I feel more confident. Plus this allows me to get rid of my of god awful current WIFI USB adapter. And this adds USB C to my RIG. Which will be helpful.

Thanks for the help everyone!
 
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