Question Upgrade recommendations from Intel Core i5 4690k

[tomtoms1234]

Hey guys,

I am looking to upgrade my gaming rig that I put together back in 2014.
I play overwatch 2, and I am getting horrible FPS with my current rig, even at the lowest settings
Here is my current setup:

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 3
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
RAM: 12gb DDR3
Cooling: Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System
Power Supply: Corsair HX650


I was doing some research, and it seems like spending money in a better CPU will help with FPS. So I was looking into the Intel core i5-12400 as I am running on a budget, and this should be a massive upgrade for me regardless.
My question is, would you recommend this CPU for me, and if so, can I use my current motherboard and RAM for this CPU? Or do I have to purchase another motherboard and new set of RAM.

Thank you!

 

[tomtoms1234]

If I replace the motherboard and CPU, will I have to reinstall windows? I'm reading yes and no through google. I don't want to have to reinstall everything

 

[Lafong]

If you are dubious about the value of the 13th gen CPUs, you can certainly go with 12600, 12600K, 12700, 12700K.

They will work on B660 or B660M boards. No BIOS update needed.

Obviously not a major difference between them. All would be WAY better than 4690K, but not so much better than 12400.

If you are gaming driven, gaming benchmarks of all of them are widely available for comparison.

If the 12400 is 100 dollars cheaper than some other CPU, maybe you go with the 12400 if that 100 can be better used elsewhere.....cooler, power supply, larger drives, etc............if budget is sensitive to that last 100. Your call entirely.

Me?? I'd feel buyer's remorse if I didn't go 13th generation, but I can certainly understand some other opinion.

 

[Lafong]

If I replace the motherboard and CPU, will I have to reinstall windows? I'm reading yes and no through google. I don't want to have to reinstall everything

It's strongly recommended.

But not "mandatory".

You can certainly just reconnect your old drive and attempt to boot.

It will or it won't.

If it won't, go to a clean install.

If it will, you may be home free. Forever or for 24 hours. No real way of knowing. If problems develop, you will be saying "I wonder if that is because I did not reinstall Windows".

Only reason NOT to reinstall is to save time....which can be an excellent reason to at least try. Would it save you 5 hours or 200 hours?

 

[Why_Me]

You also linked me to another CPU cooler, should I upgrade my current Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System? Or can I just re-use it

That cooler will probably work for the 12400 but not the 13600K.

https://www.corsair.com/newsroom/pr...-for-lga-1700-and-intel-alder-lake-processors

 

[tomtoms1234]

If you are dubious about the value of the 13th gen CPUs, you can certainly go with 12600, 12600K, 12700, 12700K.

They will work on B660 or B660M boards. No BIOS update needed.

Obviously not a major difference between them. All would be WAY better than 4690K, but not so much better than 12400.

If you are gaming driven, gaming benchmarks of all of them are widely available for comparison.

If the 12400 is 100 dollars cheaper than some other CPU, maybe you go with the 12400 if that 100 can be better used elsewhere.....cooler, power supply, larger drives, etc............if budget is sensitive to that last 100. Your call entirely.

Me?? I'd feel buyer's remorse if I didn't go 13th generation, but I can certainly understand some other opinion.

Now I am very tempted to do the 13600K boards, but would those B660 motherboards you suggested suffice for this CPU?
and I would then upgrade the cooling to this then https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00120087

 

[Lafong]

Now I am very tempted to do the 13600K boards, but would those B660 motherboards you suggested suffice for this CPU?
and I would then upgrade the cooling to this then https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00120087

Don't see any problem with a good B660/B660M board and a 13600K.............IF the board has an acceptable BIOS level.

But you face difficulties in updating the BIOS without a 12th gen CPU on those 12th gen boards. Z690 would probably allow a BIOS update WITHOUT a CPU. B660 would probably REQUIRE a 12th gen CPU to do a BIOS update. You'd need to get access to temporary use of 12th gen CPU or possibly delay purchase and hope that newer shipments of B660 have acceptable BIOS already installed at factory.



Don't know that cooler. Appears to be a modest single tower. Upgraded from what? Somewhat less than I'd personally use, but you are the one with the budget. Could be not much difference from your current cooler. Dig for reviews of it compared to whatever you have now. If differences are no more than 5 degrees, probably refrain? Get some bang for your buck.

 

[tomtoms1234]

Don't see any problem with a good B660/B660M board and a 13600K.............IF the board has an acceptable BIOS level.

But you face difficulties in updating the BIOS without a 12th gen CPU on those 12th gen boards. Z690 would probably allow a BIOS update WITHOUT a CPU. B660 would probably REQUIRE a 12th gen CPU to do a BIOS update. You'd need to get access to temporary use of 12th gen CPU or possibly delay purchase and hope that newer shipments of B660 have acceptable BIOS already installed at factory.



Don't know that cooler. Appears to be a modest single tower. Upgraded from what? Somewhat less than I'd personally use, but you are the one with the budget. Could be not much difference from your current cooler. Dig for reviews of it compared to whatever you have now. If differences are no more than 5 degrees, probably refrain? Get some bang for your buck.

How would I find out if it has an acceptable BIOS level to run the 13600K?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Might be safer to assume the board does not. The safer bet would be to find a board with q flash, which should allow a bios update without a compatible cpu.

 

[Lafong]

How would I find out if it has an acceptable BIOS level to run the 13600K?

I don't think you can prior to purchase in the typical situation where you buy online from somewhere like Amazon.

You might assume that the longer you wait, the more likely it is that fresh motherboard stock will have the acceptable BIOS installed at the factory. But that would be assumption.

13th generation replacements for the B660 are supposed to show up in late January.

Or get a Z790.

Or don't use a 13600K.

There might be some B660 boards that have "Q-Flash" capability where you can update BIOS without a CPU. I haven't checked thoroughly, but that appears to be somewhere between uncommon and non-existent.

 

[tomtoms1234]

I don't think you can prior to purchase in the typical situation where you buy online from somewhere like Amazon.

You might assume that the longer you wait, the more likely it is that fresh motherboard stock will have the acceptable BIOS installed at the factory. But that would be assumption.

13th generation replacements for the B660 are supposed to show up in late January.

Or get a Z790.

Or don't use a 13600K.

There might be some B660 boards that have "Q-Flash" capability where you can update BIOS without a CPU. I haven't checked thoroughly, but that appears to be somewhere between uncommon and non-existent.

Ah, seems like a hassle. Might just go with the more wallet friendly 12400F as it should be an ample enough upgrade for me

 

[Lafong]

Ah, seems like a hassle. Might just go with the more wallet friendly 12400F as it should be an ample enough upgrade for me

OK;

I'd strongly consider the 12400 instead, just to get the integrated video, which can be highly useful.

 

[tomtoms1234]

Is there anything that I need to do before I swap out the parts? After I swap the parts, how do I go about the windows installation (in my case, keeping all the files and not a clean install).

 

[Lafong]

"how do I go about the windows installation (in my case, keeping all the files and not a clean install)."

There wouldn't be a "windows installation" to go about. It's already installed. You're just hoping the existing installation is serviceable on new hardware.

I'd certainly have a backup of all personal files regardless of my intent. To some totally unrelated drive.

You could just install the new motherboard, RAM, power supply and CPU and mount the cooler.

See if you can boot right then into the BIOS, with NO drive connected. Can you get into the BIOS? Do things at least appear to be as expected in there?

Then reconnect just the boot drive with the existing install and attempt to boot to Windows.

You better be fully prepared to do a clean install right away if it won't boot. Get your clean install USB media up and available and known bootable if it comes to that. Review the clean install procedure.

Windows 10 is said to be more forgiving of a hardware swap than previous versions of Windows.

There are such things as "repair install" that you'd hope to not have to deal with. Maybe study that beforehand?

I'd try to decide before beginning at what point I'd give up and do a clean install? After 3 hours of fighting? 30 hours?

 

[tomtoms1234]

Ok so I've purchased and installed the MSI MAG B660M, Intel Core i5-12400, and 16gb of DDR4 ram and wow does it run fast. My guy at memoryexpress told me that I could not use my previous cooler with the new CPU and instead suggested to use the cooler that came with the CPU, so that is what I am using.
Everything runs fine and dandy, except it seems as though my previous CPU cooler had a fan that was able to attach to the inside back of the case, but now that I am not using the previous cooler, I have lost a fan on the backside of the case. Will this be a problem with cooling?

 

[Lafong]

Ok so I've purchased and installed the MSI MAG B660M, Intel Core i5-12400, and 16gb of DDR4 ram and wow does it run fast. My guy at memoryexpress told me that I could not use my previous cooler with the new CPU and instead suggested to use the cooler that came with the CPU, so that is what I am using.
Everything runs fine and dandy, except it seems as though my previous CPU cooler had a fan that was able to attach to the inside back of the case, but now that I am not using the previous cooler, I have lost a fan on the backside of the case. Will this be a problem with cooling?

"Previous cooler"?

Do you mean "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" mentioned earlier in this thread?

Did you do a clean install or just hook up old drive to new system? I'd like to hear what happened if you did that.

Monitor your temps under moderate and heavy load.

Typical case fan situation would be one or two intake fans on front and one exhaust on the back.

Nothing sacred about that. If temps are 50 with a back exhaust fan and 55 without, you get to decide how panicky you should get and if that is "a problem". Some would say "so what" at those temps and others would faint.

Guess you are using the included cooler. It's quite modest. Worthwhile upgrade might be pretty cheap if necessary....50 bucks? But no reason to change if satisfied.

Your specific cooling requirements are highly correlated to your personal situation...your room temperatures, your case, your case fans, your chosen cooler, your anxiety levels, your indifference to fan noise, your cooling budget, etc, etc.

You know more about that than we do....you can observe temps and report. We can only speculate from a distance based on what you tell us.

Tell us what you did about Windows.

 

[tomtoms1234]

"Previous cooler"?

Do you mean "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" mentioned earlier in this thread?

Did you do a clean install or just hook up old drive to new system? I'd like to hear what happened if you did that.

Monitor your temps under moderate and heavy load.

Typical case fan situation would be one or two intake fans on front and one exhaust on the back.

Nothing sacred about that. If temps are 50 with a back exhaust fan and 55 without, you get to decide how panicky you should get and if that is "a problem". Some would say "so what" at those temps and others would faint.

Your specific cooling requirements are highly correlated to your personal situation...your room temperatures, your case, your case fans, your chosen cooler, your anxiety levels, your indifference to fan noise, your cooling budget, etc, etc.

You know more about that than we do....you can observe temps and report. We can only speculate from a distance based on what you tell us.

Tell us what you did about Windows.

I literally just removed my old hardware and attached the new and turned on the computer and it was all like it was, nothing was done.
The old cooler is the "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" yes, which seemed to have attached to the back fan of the case, which since I have removed I have nowhere to attach that back fan to

How do i monitor the temperatures?

 

[Lafong]

I literally just removed my old hardware and attached the new and turned on the computer and it was all like it was, nothing was done.
The old cooler is the "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" yes, which seemed to have attached to the back fan of the case, which since I have removed I have nowhere to attach that back fan to

How do i monitor the temperatures?

Is there a fan grill and case mount on the rear of the case....nothing to do with your previous cooler?? Should be. If there is, I'd probably put an exhaust fan in there. Would keep hot air directed OUT of the case..a good thing. 10 to 30 bucks if you don't have one.

Standard excellent tool is HWInfo64.

Free download.

It can show hundreds of things. You can hide what you don't care about.

You'd probably want to know about:

CPU running speed at the moment

CPU percentage used at the moment

Total watts used by CPU at the moment

Drive SMART warnings

Fan RPM speeds or failures

Temperatures at any of several locations for motherboard, CPU, drives

Some of the voltage readings on the motherboard.

It is very customizable. It can seem overwhelming, but you don't need to mesmerize yourself with every reading shown. Mine is set up to show maybe 70 of maybe 200 values, but I pay significant attention to only maybe a dozen of them.....which I have color-coded to display in RED.

You'd likely choose "sensors-only" mode when you start it after you get it set up the way you want it.

 

[tomtoms1234]

The fan + cooler it was attached to and the back of my case where the fan would have been

I cannot just have the fan attached to the backside where it should be as the screws do not tighten when I put them through, only when the cooler is attached will it tighten

 

[Lafong]

The fan + cooler it was attached to and the back of my case where the fan would have been

I cannot just have the fan attached to the backside where it should be as the screws do not tighten when I put them through, only when the cooler is attached will it tighten

Ignore any and all parts associated with your previous cooler....which I assume includes "the fan" referred to above.

Buy another ordinary "case fan" of proper diameter. Likely 120 mm or 140 mm depending on the specifications shown in your case manual.

Re: your Windows installation.

Check Device Manager, looking for any yellow "exclamation mark" warnings. You might see some because you did not do a clean install.

Does your Windows installation show as officially activated on this new hardware? Type "activation settings" into a search box.

 

[tomtoms1234]

Was the guy at memoryexpress correct in that I shouldn't use my "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" and to use the cooler that came with the CPU? Which is better?

 

[Why_Me]

Was the guy at memoryexpress correct in that I shouldn't use my "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" and to use the cooler that came with the CPU? Which is better?

Get a cheap 120mm air cooler for that cpu.

 

[tomtoms1234]

Get a cheap 120mm air cooler for that cpu.

Sounds good, just didn't want to put the cooler system to waste
They installed the stock cooler that came with the CPU onto it

 

[Lafong]

Was the guy at memoryexpress correct in that I shouldn't use my "Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System" and to use the cooler that came with the CPU? Which is better?

The Hydro is a low end liquid cooler sometimes used in smallish cases where there aren't a lot of better options due to size constraints.

It probably would cool things to a lower temperature than the stock Intel cooler, assuming it works properly. Does that mean "better"?

But:

Why would you go to the time and trouble to re-install a several year old low end liquid cooler when you have NO reason to believe current temperatures are unacceptable. You have not mentioned your temperatures.

I would think you'd be better off with most any 30 plus dollar air cooler. No maintenance issues. New product. Simple installation.

Might be a different story if you were using a 12600K or higher. Even then, I'd simply get a stronger air cooler rather than a used ordinary liquid cooler.

I would not do ANYTHING until you evaluate temps with your current cooler. The included cooler is designed to be sufficient.

Consider a replacement if and when you confirm it isn't given what you do on a PC.

The entire PC industry is based on the premise that "your stuff is inadequate; buy this new stuff of ours". You can buy into that as much as you care to.