Question Intel Core i7-3770 vs i7-8700 upgrade even possible?

[Konig1981]

I was poking around online looking for any possible cpu upgrades that would allow me to keep my mobo and just increase performance for gaming.
I've always known about the i7-3770k version of my cpu..but based on the specs its in no way an upgrade for gaming...maybe for running a server it would be a slight upgrade..but def not for what I do. Anyhow I was reading about, and looking at specs and performance comparisons between my i7-3770 and an i7-8700 ... but what I cant nail down is if I can drop this cpu in my mobo or not. The chips are listed as having slightly different socket types...but I haven't read anything that clears up if I can attempt this or not. In the old days when I built my first rigs, back in the mid 1990s.. the sockets were so different there was never a question if something would work...it was mostly as easy as "if it doesn't physically fit then it wont work."

Sorry if this a dumb question.. I havent built a rig since 2006 when I built a 64-bit AMD Opteron setup... and I never built another rig ever again. The PC Im using now I bought in 2012..yes 2012. I only bought it because I didnt want to build one, not even a little bit... and this 900$ Acer Predator came with the i7-3770... which at the time was a awesome deal... it came with some sort of Nvidia, 2gb POS gpu. I hadnt done anything with the pc since 2013... the original HDD quit a month after buying the pc... then the PSU quite 3 months later.. then a second cheap PSU quite a year after that. So I gave up.. but then I got inspired and dropped a 750w PSU in it.. then during the pandemic I dropped in a 4GB RX 580 in it.. (should have gone 8gb)..upped the system ram frin 12 to 16 GB, then went from windows 8 to windows 10, on an SSD this time... and Im still impressed by this machine..its basically a PS4 Pro gaming wise...but better in a handful of ways... So I was thinking if I can figure out if there is a step up from this CPU, that would be my last upgrade before I give in and build a whole new machine for the first time since 2006

Sorry so long, first post.. got a little carried away with the history
Anyway, someone smarter than me please let me know if this particular switch up is even possible.

 

[boju]

I get your enthusiasm but yeah ya bit off the mark. Every generation from Intel except for 4th gen which had limited 5th gen cpus available was predominantly a different socket, so in your case it was 2nd and 3rd gen on your motherboard. After 4th, it was 6th and 7th sharing the same platform then onto 8th and 9th. Platforms, even if socket was the same had different pin arrangement so not compatible. For 8th (8700) support you'd need a z370/z390 board.

Today, if were to overhaul your pc with Intel you'd be looking at 13th gen, ie 13600 with z790 motherboard. Which is also compatible with 12th gen processors which started with z690 - bios update to be made 13th gen compatible. Intel continuing the two cpu gen trend per motherboard platform and 14th gen would require a different platform again repeating the cycle.

 

[Konig1981]

ok, so the problem is my current is 7 gen (the 6/7 pairing), and the other one is a gen 8, (8/9 pairing) ..that's what you're saying right?

 

[boju]

Yes and almost, yours is 3rd gen. There's been 5 generational changes and 5 different motherboard platforms since. You'll be very impressed with what's available now being so many years. I too upgraded to 11700k (10th/11th gen era - z490 / z590 mobos) start of last year after running 2600k (at 4.5) since release, so 11 good years with that old beast . Sad but it was time to let it go. Am very happy with the performance boost, but.. if i knew how close 12th or 13th gen was i probably would have held off, just much more performance. Anyways, you should rebuild, enjoy doing so and reward the benefits since your old beast.

 

[Lafong]

I think the i7-3770 is 3rd generation.

I think 8700 is 8th generation.

A long ways apart. An 8700 requires a new motherboard and if you need a new motherboard, why settle for 8th generation?

 

[Konig1981]

yeah I get ya... I was misunderstanding where the generation number is represented in the chip name.
This 3770 is the first Intel chip I've had since the Pentium 4, and that was a store bought work computer, so I never had to look at anything in detail, just used it for work at my office. I didn't even pay for it...which was nice. Intel kind of lost me when they started with the whole " i3. i5, i7" thing in the name ..

So is there any Intel chip that is at all better than my 3770 that would work with my mobo? I definitely will build a new machine eventually, but at the moment I can play all the games I want to... there are only a couple that I cant get a lock at 60fps... I just don't have the cash to do it right, as I'm going to want to upgrade everything including the GPU..

I've only had this card since 2020...so I would like to squeeze a few more years out of it. I was just hoping to lessen any bottle neck in my current rig... I can tell in some games that my CPU is the culprit, that and my last scratch disk, I need to replace it with another SSD like I put my OS on. That made such a huge difference with how quickly windows loads up and accesses files.

 

[Eximo]

yeah I get ya... I was misunderstanding where the generation number is represented in the chip name.
This 3770 is the first Intel chip I've had since the Pentium 4, and that was a store bought work computer, so I never had to look at anything in detail, just used it for work at my office. I didn't even pay for it...which was nice. Intel kind of lost me when they started with the whole " i3. i5, i7" thing in the name ..

So is there any Intel chip that is at all better than my 3770 that would work with my mobo? I definitely will build a new machine eventually, but at the moment I can play all the games I want to... there are only a couple that I cant get a lock at 60fps... I just don't have the cash to do it right, as I'm going to want to upgrade everything including the GPU..

I've only had this card since 2020...so I would like to squeeze a few more years out of it. I was just hoping to lessen any bottle neck in my current rig... I can tell in some games that my CPU is the culprit, that and my last scratch disk, I need to replace it with another SSD like I put my OS on. That made such a huge difference with how quickly windows loads up and accesses files.

No, you have the best chip for your socket. And that system uses DDR3, which is now two standards behind as well.

It will also only have SATA drive connections, which are still useful, but mostly relegated to slower storage. Computers now use NVMe SSD storage which plugs directly into the motherboard.

Just start saving your money for a full build. But you can certainly get a massive upgrade on the cheap.

i3-13100 today is a quad core with hyperthreading like your i7-3770, you gain 10 generations of improvements and faster I/O all around.

 

[Konig1981]

Yeah I was looking at an NVMe SSD, a western digital black, 2 TB..was only 55 bucks on amazon. It sent me on a research quest to see what options I have to hook up one of those using a PCI slot..or just using one of my USB 3 ports... my thought was, even if I can't get any extra speed vs a regular SATA SSD drive, that I would have it for later use on a new mobo that allowed for direct install... or for use in a PS5 if I buy one. That damn PS5 is so tempting now that they are available to buy finally... its a <Mod Edit> load of graphic power for between 5 and 6 hundred bucks. If I didn't have between 8 and 9 hundred games on my STEAM account, then the PS5 would be an obvious choice for me.

 

[boju]

If Windows is on a hdd then you should reinstall on an ssd and have games on it as well. Pcie expansion ssd cards aren't bootable so only used as storage. Not as effective as having Windows on it, that's where the iops performance comes from.

Difference between m2 and sata concerning random access times is near indistinguishable. Random access is also a factor in performance. M2 does have it's own perks of course, no additional wires being one. Also higher transfer rates for quicker large file transfers, but do you do much of that? The other more significant aspect of nvme drives is the prospect of direct storage and how it can handoff huge amounts of data to the graphics card. Once It's more widely adopted in games, it should be a game changer especially huge titles.

Ps5 already has a decent enough sized ssd but i guess almost 1tb might not be enough for some lol.

Id say wait until you actually start buying parts and then look at m2 nvme ssds then. Pcie 5 ssds should be more common by then so i guess right now it's a guessing game what generation ssd would suit the hardware best.

 

[boju]

Forgot to mention. If you were to invest in pcie 5 ssds wait till 14th gen. 13th gen is severely limited and pcie 5 ssd cuts pcie 5 16x slot bandwidth in half to 8x.

 

[Konig1981]

I do have Windows on a SATA SSD .. I used to have it on a scratch disc, but someone sold me a small 120 gig SSD for like 8 bux a couple years ago... So I only use it for Windows... it only has about 40 gigs of free space on it at any given time... but my understanding is that as long as it has at least 20-25 gigs free then Windows will run efficiently? Anyway, it made a big difference when I made that switch... so I wanted to get a 2tb SSD to replace my two HDDs that I use for storage and software.
I recently ran the remake of Spiderman, first on my 1tb scratch disc.. then I borrowed a friends Sandisk "Extreme" SSD, using my USB 3 port... and it made a significant boost in load times and in how fast textures were loading during gameplay. I didnt time it, or record any actual data... but it was noticeable for sure. So I think I'm going to have to settle for getting one or two SSDs for storage and games, and just call it a day until I build something new. Oh, and yes I do a lot of large file transfers as well. I download about 700-800 gigs of data per day over the internet...but I also copy and/or transfer files ranging from just a couple hundred megs, up to about certain file which range from 10- 60 gigs for a single file... but I can easily transfer around 1 - 2 TB in an 8-12 hour day.

 

[boju]

Allocated amount of free space is about right 👍

If you copy large files between drives then yeah get a couple maybe few m2 drives so transfer is equally fast. Pcie 4 ssds are avg around 7GB/s. Pcie 5 is double that

 

[Konig1981]

7 gigs a second... we are in the future for sure my man. I could of never of dreamed of speed like that back in my 486/DOS days. I may get one of those and use it as an USB-3 external drive until I build a rig that can make full use of it. Thanks for all the replies guys, I was amazed how fast you guys are. I haven't been on a message board in a while, they were never this fast. Thanks

 

[boju]

Usb3 is fast but it's not on the level of pcie, no where near

 

[Konig1981]

yeah I know, but its a way for me to get some SSD storage that I can use now, giving me some performance increase with load times and texture loading.. and then I can use it when I build a new machine, which probably wont be for another year at least