Time to upgrade my Intel i7-4770K?

[swoo]

Hello all,

I am wondering if it is time to upgrade my i7-4770K. I have born witness to AMD finally catching up to Intel in the processor development and so I expect Intel to push its limits instead of relying on half baked partial upgrades year over year. I am wanting to ask the community if something like a move to the 8700K would be worth it or if I should wait a year and see what Intel comes up with? My current rig runs just fine and honestly I don't truly need an upgrade but it is getting to the point to acknowledging my system is dated. I already understand that any true upgrade will force me to get a new MOBO and finally upgrade my RAM (the 4770 uses outdated DDR3). For those of you with more hands on knowledge, I am looking to probably move all the way up to a processor that handles the DDR5 and yes I know that such an upgrade for 3 components will cost $700+.

Thoughts?

 

[profoundnoah]

DDR5 RAM is still a fair bit away. If you don't feel the need to, then there's really no point in upgrading right now. Simply waiting will give you more options in the future. Wait for Z390 and AMD's next two generations of chips, they will be your best bet for an upgrade.

 

[derekullo]

The real question is "Why do you want to upgrade"

Saying the system is dated is a fairly generic answer.

If you only have 8 gigabytes of DDR3 ram than it is perfectly acceptable to buy another 8 gigabytes of DDR3 ram for a smoother workflow.

If your graphics card is out of date then you could upgrade to a Geforce 1070 today or even better wait a few weeks when hopefully the 1180/1170 is released.

Your 4770k may not be able to hit 5 gigahertz under normal operating conditions like the latest 8th generation can, but with a turbo frequency of 3.9 gigahertz it isn't slow by any standard.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

There's no reason to upgrade your current rig unless it doesn't do something you need it to. There haven't been any significant performance increases at the per core level for some time now, mostly just minor evolutions. The big increases the last year or so have been in core count.

DDR5 is not a commercial product at the moment.

Since you have to replace your motherboard, CPU, and RAM at this point, it's not likely to matter when you do so, other than in what prices you pay for the parts. DDR4 is still grossly inflated in price right now.

If you are waiting to see what Intel comes up with in the next year, I wouldn't. They have been using the Skylake architecture for the last three CPU families and their 10 nanometer process is having big problems. Intel is going to be running with 14 nm++ node for a while longer. You will most likely see 7 nm mainstream CPUs (similar to Intel's 10 nm in sizing) from AMD before you get a 10 nm CPU from Intel that will interest an enthusiast.

 

[mdd1963]

Upgrade nothing until at least 'somewhat unsatisfied' with current performance in your current tasking scenario....; even then, we will need to look closely at current GPU, typical system uses, etc., before arbitrarily spending $800-$900 on a new CPU, MB, RAM, and cooler....especially if already primarily GPU limited with 1440P / 4k gaming etc...or even limited at 1080P with a GTX1060, etc...

(Makes little sense to upgrade CPUs if GPU is already running 'well-saturated'...)

 

[cryoburner]

What is the system being used for, and what other hardware is the CPU paired with? A 4770K is still a fairly capable processor. Personally, I would probably wait until Intel finally gets their 10nm CPUs out, which will likely be within the next year or so.