[SOLVED] Upgrading from 8700k to 9900k makes sense?

[Sohaib]

This is for gaming only. I am gamer first and foremost and then comes other things like streaming media and other usual things like internet surfing etc. I am NOT a content creator.
So i have been rocking 8700k for over a year and its working fine. Lets get one thing out the picture, i game at 4K and have been for a couple years now on a 1080Ti. So purpose of this upgrade is NOT getting increased FPS which i know is useless to try in this game.
Why i want to upgrade is because i am mostly a 4X strategy player. Civilization VI, Endless Space 2, All kinds of Total War, Age of Wonders so you get the idea. Turn times in those games can get really huge. I mean a mid game Mortal Empires campaign in Total War: Warhammer 2 can have an End Turn timer of as high as 60-90 secs. That is totally CPU dependent as lots of AI's needs to calculate their turns but i am not sure many of those games can utilize 2 additional cores.
Its been quite some time that i upgraded anything and i am simply not upgrading my 1080 Ti to 2080 Ti right now because NVIDIA priced them greedly. I will skip this generation and no point upgrading to 2080 just for RTX. Plus Intel is STILL on 14nm which is a huge turn off for me.

Finally if someone really likes to recommend AMD CPU then keep in mind they are much expensive in my country then INTEL. So any price/performance margin AMD has in the USA is simply not available here that's why i didn't consider it. They can be as high as $20-100 depending on the model.

 

[Serinox]

Not worth it!

Rather think about overclocking your 8700k. It's still a very capable gaming cpu.

 

[geofelt]

What is your motherboard?
I would not recommend a i9-9900K.
Such a processor needs a very good motherboard power delivery system.

You would get the same, if not better performance with a i7-9700K.

If you have not overclocked your 8700K, you could do that first and see how you do.
A 9700K is likely to clock a bit higher.
If you have a z390 based motherboard and a good cooler you likely run @5.0 or better.
Is it worth it??
That is something only YOU can determine.
If budget is no issue, I would give the 9700K a try.
Since you do not need a integrated graphics adapter, the KF units like the i7-9700KF are likely to be able to overclock a bit better.
The 9th gen processors can use a new utility called intel performance maximizer.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-cpu-auto-overclock-performance-maximizer,6179.html

 

[TJ Hooker]

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-9900k-9th-gen-cpu,5847-4.html

A 9900K was ~5% faster in the Civ VI AI/turn time benchmark.

 

[mdd1963]

I'd not upgrade because something out there is 3-8% faster; I would only upgrade when what I have is no longer really 'cutting it'. (Hard to imagine the 8700K yet being in the 'not cutting it' category, being about equal in gaming to even all the new Ryzens)

 

[Endre]

It looks like it’s not a good idea to upgrade your Intel CPU this year!
Going from i7-8700K to i9-9900K will improve overall speed by aprox. 18% which is not enough of a step forward!
Wait until 2020, when Intel will start producing 10nm chips!
I’d still consider buying a better graphics card!

 

[tennis2]

This is for gaming only....

Enough said.
No, not worth it.

 

[geofelt]

WORTH is something only the OP can determine.

 

[Sohaib]

What is your motherboard?
I would not recommend a i9-9900K.
Such a processor needs a very good motherboard power delivery system.

You would get the same, if not better performance with a i7-9700K.

If you have not overclocked your 8700K, you could do that first and see how you do.
A 9700K is likely to clock a bit higher.
If you have a z390 based motherboard and a good cooler you likely run @5.0 or better.
Is it worth it??
That is something only YOU can determine.
If budget is no issue, I would give the 9700K a try.
Since you do not need a integrated graphics adapter, the KF units like the i7-9700KF are likely to be able to overclock a bit better.
The 9th gen processors can use a new utility called intel performance maximizer.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-cpu-auto-overclock-performance-maximizer,6179.html

I have a Gigabyte z370 Gaming 7 and yes my processor is already overclocked to 4.9 GHz. I may be able to push higher but here in ASIA temps get really high. Summers are consistently above 40C and 45C is average May-August my hometown so i really don't want to push it further on an AIR cooler.

I am also aware of CIV 6 as i saw some benchmarks. I was more interested in Total War because turn timers in that game are far longer then civ but i doubt there will be much difference. Sad that devs don't focus on multi-core performance on such CPU dependant games.

I think i will hold onto my money for now.

 

[geofelt]

The power capabilities of a Z370 motherboard are likely not good enough for a i9-9900K which is a beast.
If you are running at 4.9 I doubt you would notice any difference at 5.0.

How high you can OC any chip is primarily dependent on getting lucky with a good chip.
The limit will be either the vcore you can tolerate, usually 1.4v, or the temperature of a stress test.
Perhaps 85c.
I think that the need for cooling is a bit overstated. Perhaps because it is not so hard to get better cooling.
The real limitation is the vcore necessary to support a high clock rate.
Go too high and you can damage your chip or reduce it's longevity.

It is difficult to code some apps to make good use of multiple threads.
Game makers will not willingly do that if it requires6+ threads to run. Most gamers have modest capability and the game developers want the maximum market.

You might find this article on Amdahl's law interesting.
It shows why there are diminishing returns on multithreading of a single app:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl's_law

Recent articles suggest that the upcoming sandy cove architecture has perhaps a 18% boost in IPC.
Look for that in a year or two.

 

[Sohaib]

The power capabilities of a Z370 motherboard are likely not good enough for a i9-9900K which is a beast.
If you are running at 4.9 I doubt you would notice any difference at 5.0.

How high you can OC any chip is primarily dependent on getting lucky with a good chip.
The limit will be either the vcore you can tolerate, usually 1.4v, or the temperature of a stress test.
Perhaps 85c.
I think that the need for cooling is a bit overstated. Perhaps because it is not so hard to get better cooling.
The real limitation is the vcore necessary to support a high clock rate.
Go too high and you can damage your chip or reduce it's longevity.

It is difficult to code some apps to make good use of multiple threads.
Game makers will not willingly do that if it requires6+ threads to run. Most gamers have modest capability and the game developers want the maximum market.

You might find this article on Amdahl's law interesting.
It shows why there are diminishing returns on multithreading of a single app:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl's_law

Recent articles suggest that the upcoming sandy cove architecture has perhaps a 18% boost in IPC.
Look for that in a year or two.

Sorry that i didn't mention but changing CPU always means changing motherboard. Probably because i have always used Intel ever since i retired my IBM 386/486. I would probably get something Maximus XI Code if i go 9900k route.
But most answers and various articles i have read all confirms one thing that gains would not be significant enough for my purpose to warrant an upgrade. So for the time being i have decided not to upgrade.
Thanks all for your input.