Question i7 or i9 Processor?

[Oasis Curator]

I know this will depend on motherboard and graphics card but the MAIN PC (specs in sig) is getting a little old these days (although still capable).

I'm thinking about getting an Alder Lake processor as the prices are likely to be slashed now the new ones have been announced. This time, instead of mid-range (I think my Ryzen model is mid-range?), I am looking for upper to high but think even with this, the i9 will be too powerful (= a waste of money).

I play Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster - both are fine on the current processor, although they can get very slightly slow. The issue is more the graphics card - really noisy when playing those games.
I don't play any graphically intense games like Spinter Cell or Tomb Raider (I don't know what the latest intensive FPS is these days!).
However, I have started looking at converting some (up to 30 minute) SD videos into HD (720p, but I want to see what happens with 4k!).

So back to the question: i7 or should I be looking at i9?
Any examples of the i7 I should go for?

 

[Lafong]

i9 may require cooling that wouldn't be needed on i7.

i9 is quite a way out on the curve of diminishing returns. Don't know what you would be willing to pay for the last few percentage points of performance.

I guess you could get 6 desktop i7s today...12700, 12700k, 12700f, 12700kf, 13700k, 13700kf.

F means no integrated graphics. I'd avoid them for that reason alone, but you may differ.

I think there will be a 13700 and 13700f, but not till early next year.

12 series has 8 P cores and 4 E cores.

13 series has 8 P cores and 8 E cores.

Price ranges from about 350 to about 450.

Some relatively small differences in performance among them, but not sure how that translates to gaming.

 

[Oasis Curator]

Thank you - that's the sort of answer I need to get back into modern computer building and a great starting point for research

 

[Why_Me]

Intel Core i7-12700 + Intel B660 Review

Today we have a combo review of all-new Intel hardware, our first look at the affordable Intel B660 platform, the non-K Core i7-12700 and Intel's latest box...

www.techspot.com

 

[Vic 40]

MAIN PC: Gigabyte B450M DS3H | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | Kingston HyperX DDR4 8GB | AMD Radeon RX580

Think you'd be fine with a Ryzen 5700x on that motherboard.See personally no need for a whole switch.
Question, you really use only 8gb of ram on that pc?

 

[Oasis Curator]

Think you'd be fine with a Ryzen 5700x on that motherboard.See personally no need for a whole switch.
Question, you really use only 8gb of ram on that pc?

Well, there is something not right with this build so happy to update everything and be good for the next 3-5 years or so.
And I should probably update but I haven't seen RAM running out with what I do.
A few years back, I went from 8GB to 16GB and saw no notable difference in performance so kept with the 8GB. Likely on new PC I'll go the whole hog and get 32.