[SOLVED] i7700k upgrade to?

[Tiebar90]

Hello all.
I want to get some input from the experts here

I currently have;
i7 7700k 4.2Ghz
RTX 2080 MSI TRIO
32GB DDR4 3600
2.5TB SSD( mixed between 3 SSDs)
h100i pro cooler
32in 1440p 144hz monitor

So im starting to notice the age of my 7700k. I bought it brand new in around 2017 and i have loved it but its starting to show its age for sure. Newer games I am noticing drops in FPS and almost to maxed out CPU usage with some games even maxed 100% usage and causing a lot of sluttering.

Id like to just upgrade my CPU and MOBO as im very content with the rest of my system unless you guys have some other suggestions. Im not looking to drop $1000+ for a new build though, especially with the prices of components right now.

Ive done some looking into some cpus and I like what i see with the i5 12600k but I imagine a lot of older CPUs will be a significant upgrade from my i7 as well.
Example being;

12600k($297) vs 11600k($249)

I dont mind an older model if its going to last my years to come too. Im not an FPS addict or must have the new version of everything and willing to spend more and more money to go from 120fps to 150fps, etc.

But the issues im starting to see with these CPUs is the upgrade ill need for a MOBO seems to be expensive as well. So I am not sure what is a good balance for that either, a better cpu with okay mobo or a slightly older cpu with a better mobo? idk.

So what do you guys suggest? Open to all.

 

[Karadjgne]

The i5 12400F beats the Ryzen 5600x like a rented mule.

Look again. 7-10fps on a couple of games that already favor Intel cpu's isn't a Rented Mule. In the TimeSpy results, the 12400 is behind the 5600x and 5700G, it's barely ahead of the 5600G.

The 12600k is a different story.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Hello all.
I want to get some input from the experts here

I currently have;
i7 7700k 4.2Ghz
RTX 2080 MSI TRIO
32GB DDR4 3600
2.5TB SSD( mixed between 3 SSDs)
h100i pro cooler
32in 1440p 144hz monitor

So im starting to notice the age of my 7700k. I bought it brand new in around 2017 and i have loved it but its starting to show its age for sure. Newer games I am noticing drops in FPS and almost to maxed out CPU usage with some games even maxed 100% usage and causing a lot of sluttering.

Id like to just upgrade my CPU and MOBO as im very content with the rest of my system unless you guys have some other suggestions. Im not looking to drop $1000+ for a new build though, especially with the prices of components right now.

Ive done some looking into some cpus and I like what i see with the i5 12600k but I imagine a lot of older CPUs will be a significant upgrade from my i7 as well.
Example being;

12600k($297) vs 11600k($249)

I dont mind an older model if its going to last my years to come too. Im not an FPS addict or must have the new version of everything and willing to spend more and more money to go from 120fps to 150fps, etc.

But the issues im starting to see with these CPUs is the upgrade ill need for a MOBO seems to be expensive as well. So I am not sure what is a good balance for that either, a better cpu with okay mobo or a slightly older cpu with a better mobo? idk.

So what do you guys suggest? Open to all.

It really depends on how price sensitive you are. If you can afford it I would say just bite the bullet and get the 12700K and a Z690 board. It will likely last you longer particularly if your looking for a premium experience like 120FPS or more for example. Right now though your probably not going to easily notice a difference between any of the 12 gen CPU's, however I would point out that the 7700K, 8700K and 9900K have all lasted better than their i5 equivalents. I think the 12600K will age significantly better than those previous gen i5's but it wouldn't surprise me if the high end chips pull ahead eventually, if your not going to upgrade for a while then those 2 extra P cores on the i7 will be worth having.

I wouldn't get the 11600K personally, the i5 11400F is worth it as a budget pick imo (12400F though is out shortly) but any of the others get too close to Zen 3 and Alder Lake in pricet o be worth it.

 

[Tiebar90]

I think you were wise. Had you bought the 11600K, you would have enjoyed the lower price briefly, but you would have had longer lingering thoughts about the decision.
Since you had the budget for a 12600K, the higher price stung for only a short time.

And, likely you could use the H100i as is if you used a thermal pad instead of grease.


Here is a video about the issues:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOOn1znlICA

Note that the presenter used thermal pads and not grease.
That helped to be a bit thicker to offset the lower height of the cpu die.

It looks to me that the main purpose of the 4 screws is to lower the cooler to get adequate pressure.

On the motherboard, I found that the motherboard lan did not connect out of the box. It needed the correct driver.
To get the driver, you would need internet access, hence catch 22.
If you have wifi either on the motherboard or via a adapter, there is no problem.
That is what I did. I tried to download the driver from msi using a different pc and a usb stick, but did not find the right one.
What works is to download a msi driver manager app that will do the job.
This is more complicated than it needed to be.
Also, download the user manual somewhere ahead of time. A paper manual is not included in the box.

I think I was wise as well. In the end I thought for only $140 more dollars, which in this market really isnt much compared, I now have a future CPU that I can expand upon. I like to make my CPUs last as long as they can. So now I have a cpu i can expand around with DDR5, a newer gpu, etc. All while having a cpu that seems to beat a lot of other cpus around in the current market.

And oh really? I havent actually ever heard of a thermal pad but I just did an amazon search and they look interesting. I will have to watch that video to see what he does. I will still get the screws because they were only $2.99 and are designed to work, but pads in the meantime could be a great solution.

I was also able to find someone who took comparative measurements of the mounting screws with a micrometer. My dad is a machinist and he said he could very well possibly use a lathe and make my current screws exactly the size I would need.

So the temp options available until the screws come in seem promising.

But I wont lie I have considered upgrading to a new cooler after all our talk. I am unsure if I would like an air cooler as it seems to push the air into the case instead of out the radiator to the top like a liquid cooler, correct?
Ive always wanted to upgrade to a 360mm radiator so maybe ill just squeeze a bit more out and look into that.

Who knows.

But thank you so much for all your help!!!

 

[Tiebar90]

It really depends on how price sensitive you are. If you can afford it I would say just bite the bullet and get the 12700K and a Z690 board. It will likely last you longer particularly if your looking for a premium experience like 120FPS or more for example. Right now though your probably not going to easily notice a difference between any of the 12 gen CPU's, however I would point out that the 7700K, 8700K and 9900K have all lasted better than their i5 equivalents. I think the 12600K will age significantly better than those previous gen i5's but it wouldn't surprise me if the high end chips pull ahead eventually, if your not going to upgrade for a while then those 2 extra P cores on the i7 will be worth having.

I wouldn't get the 11600K personally, the i5 11400F is worth it as a budget pick imo (12400F though is out shortly) but any of the others get too close to Zen 3 and Alder Lake in pricet o be worth it.

Oh god dont say that because you will peek my interest. Especially since I already looked around and I could get a i7 12700KF for only $120 more ontop of the $360 for the 12600k.

What do you think @geofelt ? I trust your input highly right now lol.

LOL

 

[Nighthawk117]

Oh god dont say that because you will peek my interest. Especially since I already looked around and I could get a i7 12700KF for only $120 more ontop of the $360 for the 12600k.

What do you think @geofelt ? I trust your input highly right now lol.

LOL

Hahaha, well you bought the top chip last time and it seems to have lasted you quite a while. 12700K not being that much more than what you would have paid for the 7700K, you keep the i7 branding which is obviously important 😉

In all serious though, the i5 12600K is an amazing CPU and a vast improvement over what you currently have by more than double in raw performance terms. In your case though I wouldn't get less than a 12600K or 5800X because 1440p, 144hz is quite demanding and you've opted for high end components previously.

I would also consider this board as an option:

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-aor...iption=z690&cm_re=z690-_-13-145-347-_-Product

One thing I would note however, is that the 12600K will run better with your 240mm AIO than the 12700K at least without any tweaking.

 

[Tiebar90]

Hahaha, well you bought the top chip last time and it seems to have lasted you quite a while. 12700K not being that much more than what you would have paid for the 7700K, you keep the i7 branding which is obviously important 😉

In all serious though, the i5 12600K is an amazing CPU and a vast improvement over what you currently have by more than double in raw performance terms. In your case though I wouldn't get less than a 12600K or 5800X because 1440p, 144hz is quite demanding and you've opted for high end components previously.

I would also consider this board as an option:

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-aor...iption=z690&cm_re=z690-_-13-145-347-_-Product

One thing I would note however, is that the 12600K will run better with your 240mm AIO than the 12700K at least without any tweaking.

Oh for sure the 12600k is vast improvement over my 7700k. I bet the 11600k would of even been a nice improvement. But If the longevity of the i7 is going to be that much more significant thank the i5 ill have to consider it. I have had my 2080 for a few years now and I imagine that its going to be the next thing I have to replace, whenever that may be too so the longer the parts i buy now last the better. But how much of a difference will i truly get in my question.

At 1440p and 144hz I am still really impressed how long my 7700k held up. Its almost like that old reliable car you dont want to get rid of because its just been so amazing.

That Gigabyte card was a third choice I was looking at but it had some nasty reviews on amazon so I kind of settles for the other two. It seems people were having a lot of trouble with the bios and some DOA(which can happen to any board honestly)

Why will the 12700k run different with my 240mm? And what tweaking do you mean?

 

[logainofhades]

The 12700k produces more heat, than a 12600k. Might need to do some voltage tweaking, to keep temps down.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Oh for sure the 12600k is vast improvement over my 7700k. I bet the 11600k would of even been a nice improvement. But If the longevity of the i7 is going to be that much more significant thank the i5 ill have to consider it. I have had my 2080 for a few years now and I imagine that its going to be the next thing I have to replace, whenever that may be too so the longer the parts i buy now last the better. But how much of a difference will i truly get in my question.

At 1440p and 144hz I am still really impressed how long my 7700k held up. Its almost like that old reliable car you dont want to get rid of because its just been so amazing.

That Gigabyte card was a third choice I was looking at but it had some nasty reviews on amazon so I kind of settles for the other two. It seems people were having a lot of trouble with the bios and some DOA(which can happen to any board honestly)

Why will the 12700k run different with my 240mm? And what tweaking do you mean?

Yes the 11600K would be a substantial improvement in high refresh rate gaming and productivity over the 7700K. However although the 12600K and 5800X cost more, they offer better overall value in my opinion, the 11400F makes sense for a more budget constrained build because its very cheap and not that dissimilar to the 11600K.

I know what you mean, I had a 6700K for over 4 years and I was very happy with it until I got a new GPU and started playing Cyberpunk. On paper at least the Gigabyte is a better board, I wouldn't know if it has any abnormal failure rate though.

What I mean is intel CPU's tend to run hot these days, probably much more so than you are used to. The 12600K is much more manageable because it has 2 less P cores but the 12700K can get hot under heavy loads and the 12900K gets silly. By tweaking I meant undervolting or adjusting CPU frequencies.

I wouldn't use a 12700K on anything less than a 240mm AIO.

 

[logainofhades]

I wouldn't do an 11400f, with the 12400, and B660, coming soon. I suspect it will be a killer budget combo, unless AMD drops prices of the R5 significantly, or if B660 prices are over inflated.

 

[Nighthawk117]

I wouldn't do an 11400f, with the 12400, and B660, coming soon. I suspect it will be a killer budget combo, unless AMD drops prices of the R5 significantly, or if B660 prices are over inflated.

I wouldn't either now the 12400 will be here any minute, I'm just saying of the 11th gen it was the most sensible pick imo. If you were going up higher AMD had better options. For his use case I think he's going to be happier with with one of the higher end SKU's anyway.

 

[logainofhades]

Yea going from an i7 to an i5 just seems wrong. Especially when the i7 is only about $100 more, than the i5.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Yea going from an i7 to an i5 just seems wrong. Especially when the i7 is only about $100 more, than the i5.

I must admit the branding issue has a little bit of a mental roadblock for me