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Question Intel and ddr4

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ohio_buckeye

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Jan 5, 2015
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So current system is

12600kf
Thermalright peerless assassin
MSI z690-a WiFi ddr4
500gb nvme
2tb nvme storage
2tb sata ssd
32gb ddr4 3200(from what I’ve seen it is not running dual channel on this board, brand is timetec, some cheap stuff from amazon)
Rx 6800xt
Corsair rm850x

Build is about a year old but I’ve considered upgrading the cpu and possibly getting a better kit of ddr4. But I’ve been reading that ddr4 basically may be holding things back. Not sure I want to spend 50 for a new ran kit then for a newer i7 cpu.

Considering since I’ve got Microcenter nearby, maybe picking up a 7700x or 9700x bundle with the board and 32gb of ddr5 for about 400 as opposed to upgrading and simply selling off the current stuff.

Don’t get me wrong what I have is doing what I want but it’s always fun to tinker.

Thoughts? Maybe I should just pick up a used i7 12700 or 13700 and a new set of better rated ram and call it good?
 
I guess I’m just asking if I’m leaving performance on the table since I likely will have a little Christmas cash. You know how it is you see all the new stuff and wonder.

Let me ask this one, I’ve heard quite a bit about cpu degradation etc with Intel. At work we run quite a few dells with i7 CPUs many of them recent and I’ve not really been seeing issues with them. Is the cpu degradation something to worry about if I were to find a deal on a 13700 or 14700 cpu? Also Microcenter does have the i9 12900k on sale for 250. Is that worth looking at for just games?

Btw should have mentioned monitor is 27 inch 1440p 180hz.
 
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ohio_buckeye said:
I guess I’m just asking if I’m leaving performance on the table since I likely will have a little Christmas cash. You know how it is you see all the new stuff and wonder.

Let me ask this one, I’ve heard quite a bit about cpu degradation etc with Intel. At work we run quite a few dells with i7 CPUs many of them recent and I’ve not really been seeing issues with them. Is the cpu degradation something to worry about if I were to find a deal on a 13700 or 14700 cpu? Also Microcenter does have the i9 12900k on sale for 250. Is that worth looking at for just games?

Btw should have mentioned monitor is 27 inch 1440p 180hz.
Click to expand...
If you're buying a new motherboard (and CPU), then yes, you'd go for DDR5.
But don't do that only for DDR5.

Regarding the degradation...
That has apparently been fixed via a microcode patch, and originally was the result of overvolt and/or voltage instability. Either by the motherboard, or by the user.
 
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IMO not running dual channel is going to hurt more than not having DDR5. Since you are in a spot to need a mobo anyway, I would probably consider that and whether you wish to either chance the over 65W or select non-K for your upgrade if you stay on Intel.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I may see what a used 13700 runs on eBay and pick up a set of ddr4 3600 or 4000.

The good thing is my wife’s computer needs updated to support windows 11. Her old one is an i7 3770 that’s pushing 11-12 years. So I may pick up a b450 or 550 and a 4500g or 5600g or if I catch a deal on an Intel setup and put a cheap box together. I saw a deal on Facebook the other day where someone was offering an i7 8700k and board with a damaged pci e slot for like 50 bucks for the set. But she doesn’t game. So that computer would basically be all office work and I could recycle the ddr4.

How does this set look to update my setup without swapping everything?


https://a.co/d/9lqiglU

Maybe this 13700 to max out my board and sell the i5?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1267929776...1QoO_yZSxW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 
Last edited:
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IMO in regard to your wife's needs....

Strip your current system down from some of the storage, power supply, graphics card. Perhaps the case based on whether she likes it (or cares). Step that system down to her with much less power supply, a "slot only" GPU, and perhaps the 500GB NVMe drive. Dual channel won't matter much, should be a great system.

I did a similar thing with an A380 and it has been really good.
 
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Any advice on a micro atx board that would handle the 12600kf? I’m thinking more about what punkcat said. Maybe I’ll toss in a gt 1030 or 1050 or so in with it.

Also any decent lower profile coolers that it would be ok with? I’ve got a peerless assassin cooler on it now.
 
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80251 said:
Why is that? Dual channel DDR4-4000 can provide ~44GB/s, which is >10GB/s faster bandwidth than PCIe 4.0 can provide.
Click to expand...

I have seen memory scaling benchmarks from Hardware Unboxed in the past that only showed about a 3% difference on average, with a 6900xt. With a 4090, it was more like 20% for a 12th gen chip. With a 6800xt, ddr4 vs ddr5 is going to be basically 0 gain, except in maybe a few memory sensitive titles.
 
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I will give that you have a level of confidence in no reputation budget brands that I do not share. With that said, for all I know "Huananzhi" may well make that exact same board branded to someone else. The price on it is certainly attractive.
 
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Well after doing some more checking, I was incorrect. The ram in my PC is a set of teamgroup and is running in dual channel, verified by cpu z. I guess what was throwing me is in the bios this ram didn't have an xmp profile available. Oh well whatever. It's happy. So I'll probably toss in an i7 and call the pc good for a while.

I'll think some more on what to upgrade my wife's system to. I'm thinking a pink case of some kind.
 
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ohio_buckeye said:
So current system is

12600kf
Thermalright peerless assassin
MSI z690-a WiFi ddr4
500gb nvme
2tb nvme storage
2tb sata ssd
32gb ddr4 3200(from what I’ve seen it is not running dual channel on this board, brand is timetec, some cheap stuff from amazon)
Rx 6800xt
Corsair rm850x

Build is about a year old but I’ve considered upgrading the cpu and possibly getting a better kit of ddr4. But I’ve been reading that ddr4 basically may be holding things back. Not sure I want to spend 50 for a new ran kit then for a newer i7 cpu.

Considering since I’ve got Microcenter nearby, maybe picking up a 7700x or 9700x bundle with the board and 32gb of ddr5 for about 400 as opposed to upgrading and simply selling off the current stuff.

Don’t get me wrong what I have is doing what I want but it’s always fun to tinker.

Thoughts? Maybe I should just pick up a used i7 12700 or 13700 and a new set of better rated ram and call it good?
Click to expand...
How many sticks of ram are you running? 2x16gb or 4x8GB. If your only running 2 sticks put them in slots A2, B2 which are the 2nd and 4th slots moving away from your CPU, this should make them run in dual channel. If the sticks are in slots right next to each other then they will run in single channel mode.
 
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Should have mentioned that. 2x16, both in the second slots, so a2 and b2 as my manual describes it. But they are installed the way the manual recommended and are actually running in dual channel according to cpu z. Just for whatever reason these sticks don’t seem to have an xmp profile on them. Updated the bios again last night and as before the xmp options are greyed out in the bios.
 
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