Question i7 3770 don't upgrade?

hellagrant

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Jul 6, 2009
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Currently have

i7 3770 (non K version)
32gb DDR3 1600
RX 580 8gb GPU
SSD
MOBO is 1155 socket

I was looking into upgrading the CPU, it is the bottleneck for me as an amateur video editor, no gaming. Looking at the higher level i7 cpus, it doesn't seem to be worth the cost. I think the best option is a i7 3770K, which would be about $200. I am thinking just hold off and wait for an AMD mobo + 8 core CPU sale, then also pick up DDR4 ram.Is my train of thought correct?
 
Spending any money on that platform is not a good idea. Upgrading to a 3770k is not at all worth the money and likely you may need to spend an additional $100 to overclock it for more performance. You could upgrade to a newer I7 or a Ryzen 7 platform for about $450-500, or cheaper depending on your needs. I would go for Ryzen or even Ryzen Threadripper depending on your budget since they offer more cores than similar priced Intel CPUs, which editing favors. AMD Ryzen processors only downfall is gaming performance slightly behind Intel's, but since you don't game, there is really no reason to get intel unless there is a great sale.
I would think 32gb of faster DDR4 would still be good for your task.
What is your budget, and what PSU do you have?
Heres a list to get you started. A 2700x has higher clocks and a better rgb cooler included. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/L8B4hy
 
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Spending any money on that platform is not a good idea. Upgrading to a 3770k is not at all worth the money and likely you may need to spend an additional $100 to overclock it for more performance. You could upgrade to a newer I7 or a Ryzen 7 platform for about $450-500, or cheaper depending on your needs. I would go for Ryzen or even Ryzen Threadripper depending on your budget since they offer more cores than similar priced Intel CPUs, which editing favors. AMD Ryzen processors only downfall is gaming performance slightly behind Intel's, but since you don't game, there is really no reason to get intel unless there is a great sale.
I would think 32gb of faster DDR4 would still be good for your task.
What is your budget, and what PSU do you have?
Heres a list to get you started. A 2700x has higher clocks and a better rgb cooler included. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/L8B4hy

For CPU only upgrade I want to be less than $100 out of pocket(so the difference between the new CPU and selling the i7 3770).
For a new system I am looking at less than $500, wouldn't need a new SSD or GPU, so only mobo, cpu and ram.
Yeah it looks like an AMD CPU with 6 or 8 cores is the best route for me.
 
I wouldnt spend money on that platform so that rules out the cpu upgrade. A new platform could yield significant performance improvement in editing.
As for the new mobo ram and cpu, a few quick questions could help me make a better list suited to you.
  1. Do you plan on overclocking your cpu? You could save some money and buy a non x cpu that is very simmilar to the x but with a slower speed if you plan to overclock your cpu.
  2. What psu do you have? Its just a good idea to make sure your not risking your new power hungry hardware with a bad psu.
  3. Is your case full atx? Just another thing to double check.
 
I wouldnt spend money on that platform so that rules out the cpu upgrade. A new platform could yield significant performance improvement in editing.
As for the new mobo ram and cpu, a few quick questions could help me make a better list suited to you.
  1. Do you plan on overclocking your cpu? You could save some money and buy a non x cpu that is very simmilar to the x but with a slower speed if you plan to overclock your cpu.
  2. What psu do you have? Its just a good idea to make sure your not risking your new power hungry hardware with a bad psu.
  3. Is your case full atx? Just another thing to double check.
No overclocking.
650w PSU, but it is 5yrs old
Case is a full ATX
 
Ok. I would recommend an Ryzen 2700 x CPU since it comes with fast clocks out of the box and beefy coolers with no need to overclock. If you're really tight on the budget you may need to go with the cheaper ryzen 2700, which will still perform similarly and be a massive upgrade over the i7, having double the cores and threads. Good to know the case is full atx. 650 watt should work, but i wouldn't run new hardware on a low-quality 5-year-old PSU. Please state the make and model, as well as any efficiency rating it has. If it is a quality model it should work well for years to come.
 
Here is a slightly overbudget list:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor | $299.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI - B450 Gaming Plus ATX AM4 Motherboard | $104.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $159.99 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $564.97
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-07 19:29 EST-0500 |
Here is a list with a lower pricepoint.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 7 2700 3.2 GHz 8-Core Processor | $246.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI - B450 Gaming Plus ATX AM4 Motherboard | $104.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $159.99 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $511.97
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-07 19:30 EST-0500 |
 
The i7-3770 is the same cpu as a i7-3770k, it's not an upgrade by any means. For lga1155 those 2 cpus are the top of the line, there is no better. The only difference between the 2 is the K has an unlocked bios so is available to overclock on a Z77 mobo.
 
What is the exact model # of your mobo?

If you have a Z series (Z77 for example) you can actually overclock your non-K i7 by 300MHz, PLUS you can enable Mulit-Core enhancement, which runs all cores at the single core turbo speed. Therefore a 3770 (non-K) is capable of running 4.2GHz on all cores (as opposed to 3.4GHz stock). That's pretty much the best you're going to manage on a 3770K before you have to start cranking the voltage significantly.

This little gem ended with the release of Haswell (4th gen).

What sort of CPU cooler do you have?
 
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As mentioned by tennis, if you have a Z chip set, it can be overclocked, just not as far as the k variant, My i7 3770s I was able to get to 4.2ghz full time on all cores on a Asus z77 board, in fact I gave the system to my aunt and she uses it to play her sims and its been running great for the last 4 years for her.

If you do not have a Z chip set, its not worth even spending 10 bucks on a i7 3770k if you already have the non k variant.

Even if you can find option to force all cores to their max turbo of 3.9ghz and bump the FSB 102.6 with get you a hair over 4ghz, tho 105 FSB seems to be where stability goes down hill on that platform.

I mean a 3770 non k at 4ghz vs a 3770k at 4.5ghz, there isn't a huge difference in performance and its not going to make things go from unplayable to playable.

I certainly wouldn't spend $200 on a k over what you have now, I'd put that money aside and let it build up to get you something really good, The i7 3770 is still a pretty decent chip with the RX580, 32Gb of RAM, your set. If you want to start recording or streaming, you can go into bios and enable the on board video and use Intel Quick Sync to encode the video or stream with next to no hit to performance, OBS will need a little bit of CPU overhead, I was recording at 2560x1440 with my i7 3770s with a GTX780ti at 100,000 bit rate playing GTA5 with no performance hit, I forgot it was recording half the time.
 
If you want a meaningful performance increase over the i7-3770, you will need a whole new platform. If you plan to get serious about video editing or otherwise do a significant amount of it on a regular basis, I'd look at the i7-8700 or Ryzen 2600 as the minimum viable upgrade.

Unfortunately, $200 won't buy you much extra performance. Got to bite the ~$500 bullet for a whole new platform if you want to make a real dent in processing times.