Upgrading from 2600k (Gaming/Rendering)

[mrsnooch]

Hi,

I am beginning to outgrow my current CPU, the 2600k @ 4.2Ghz.

I have been looking at the 7700K as I do game, however I also render a fair amount of h.264 videos so have also been looking at the 6850K. The annoying thing is, one is clearly better at gaming and one is clearly better at tackling video rendering, so it's not a clear cut answer as in most cases.

Anyone in a similar position? Or perhaps there's another CPU entirely than can do both of these equally well, or maybe something coming in the near future?

EDIT - the rest of my system will also be updated - obviously - but I am running a GTX1080 8GB, and my games will be played in 1440p.

Thank you
Mark

 

[Ecky]

The 6850K has basically been replaced by the faster and less expensive Ryzen 1700/1700X. Intel's LGA2011v3 has almost no point right now, given that AMD will sell you 8 faster cores with SMT for half the price.

That said, the 7700K is still a better choice for gaming. Games still depend on fast per-core performance, and Intel's 7th gen has something like a 25-35% per-core advantage once you factor in clockspeed and IPC, and most games will not fill 8 threads, much less 16.

Between a Ryzen CPU and 7700K, I don't think either is a wrong choice.

 

[mrsnooch]

The 6850K has basically been replaced by the faster and less expensive Ryzen 1700/1700X. Intel's LGA2011v3 has almost no point right now, given that AMD will sell you 8 faster cores with SMT for half the price.

That said, the 7700K is still a better choice for gaming. Games still depend on fast per-core performance, and Intel's 7th gen has something like a 25-35% per-core advantage once you factor in clockspeed and IPC, and most games will not fill 8 threads, much less 16.

Between a Ryzen CPU and 7700K, I don't think either is a wrong choice.

Thanks Ecky, I did notice that the 6850k was running on an older socket so that was somewhat a concern. If I was just a pure gamer then the 7700k would be a no brainer, I just can't help but wonder whether I want those extra cores for the rendering. I've only looked a little bit on the Ryzen chips, but I'll do some reading now.

Many thanks for your input!
M

 

[Ecky]

No problem.

Not all rendering is highly parallel, so there will be some non-gaming tasks the 7700K still pulls well ahead in. However, if you want to bet on games becoming better-threaded as time goes on, a CPU with more cores will probably age better.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

if u can afford the 6850k, the ryzen 1800X is pretty close and has higher clock speeds in regards to gaming. with a beefy liquid cooler like the kraken x62 n a good thermal compound like kryonaut, u should easily reach ~4.1 ghz. and if u gaming @ 2k, the difference would be negligible even against the 7700k.

 

[mrsnooch]

Yeah I'm looking in to the 1800x and it looks like it's ticking both boxes more evenly.

I've not been on AMD since I had a Athlon XP 3000 about 15 years ago 😀 But this is looking more and more likely.

Thanks mate,
M

 

[Ecky]

The 1700, 1700x and 1800x all overclock about the same, the major difference is just stock clockspeeds. I would not buy an 1800x.

 

[DSzymborski]

Yeah I'm looking in to the 1800x and it looks like it's ticking both boxes more evenly.

I've not been on AMD since I had a Athlon XP 3000 about 15 years ago 😀 But this is looking more and more likely.

Thanks mate,
M

It's nice that we're back at a point that we can make actually choices. I haven't had an AMD CPU since my old Phenom II x4 and it's nice to be able to recommend one again, something I haven't been able to do much for the last 3 or 4 years.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

The 1700, 1700x and 1800x all overclock about the same, the major difference is just stock clockspeeds. I would not buy an 1800x.

i think u got me wrong there, i was comparing 1800x with 6850k n also just stated abt the overclocking potential. didnt mean that the 1800x overclocks better than 1700x