[SOLVED] Worth the upgrade ?

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JasonNs_

Proper
Sep 22, 2020
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Please keep it to 1 thread
Should I upgrade my i5 9400f to i7 8700 ? Or should I get ryzen 3600 with new mobo for the same price ? If none of them which cpu you recommend ? My budget is 300$
 
Solution
Anything that lowers voltages and speeds is safer, but pointless to disable turbo. That board is rated to handle a 95w cpu, and you'll only get close to the 95w power limit running turbo.

You'll be fine as is.

Fans aren't a bad idea, especially with an aio, but with aircooling it's unnecessary as the heatsink fan will have blow-by air that'll do the same job, helped by the rear exhaust.
Here is a link to the processors your motherboard supports:
You may need to update your motherboard bios to the level indicated on the chart first before installing the new processor.

To evaluate a processor, check the passmark performance ratings.
You will get the number of threads, the total performance and the single thread performance ratings.
For gaming, pay attention to the single thread performance.
You will find that the K suffix processors will turbo up higher without overclocking than the non K versions.

Also. the K suffix processors do not come with coolers. You need a good cooler for any high end processor to let it perform at it's best.
What is the make/model of your case?
You need a decent case to have sufficient air intake to support a good cooler.

You are fine on ram for an intel upgrade.
Intel does not much depend on fast ram for performance.
 

JasonNs_

Proper
Sep 22, 2020
244
17
115
Here is a link to the processors your motherboard supports:
You may need to update your motherboard bios to the level indicated on the chart first before installing the new processor.

To evaluate a processor, check the passmark performance ratings.
You will get the number of threads, the total performance and the single thread performance ratings.
For gaming, pay attention to the single thread performance.
You will find that the K suffix processors will turbo up higher without overclocking than the non K versions.

Also. the K suffix processors do not come with coolers. You need a good cooler for any high end processor to let it perform at it's best.
What is the make/model of your case?
You need a decent case to have sufficient air intake to support a good cooler.

You are fine on ram for an intel upgrade.
Intel does not much depend on fast ram for performance.
i already have i5 9400f CPU, so my motherboard is updated, and ive coolermaster H410R cooler which is doing good for now, the casing is Deepcool matrexx 55 mesh which i guess it has good air flow, but you kinda missed my point, which CPU should i pick, 8700 or 9700, since 8th gen has 6 cores and 12 threads and 9700 has 8 cores 8 threads, last, can the Asus Prime b360m-k handle the K version without getting burned ? since its made for overclocked CPUs
 
What is your current bios level?
From the support link above,
9400f requires level 1404 or higher.
i7-8700k, 9700 ,or 9700K requires 0221 or better.
i7-8700 for whatever reason shows no bios level, but I would presume that is a typo and 0221 would be required.
you can download the latest bios which is 2811 here:

Your cooler is fine for any of them.

As to performance, you decide.
Your 9400f has 6 threads and a rating of 9589/2492
8700 has 12 threads and 13115/2684
8700k has 12 threads and 13902/2788
9700 has 8 threads and 13551/2684
9700K has 8 threads and 14573/ 2910

Any of the options would work well.
If the price were equal, the 9700K would be the strongest.
 

JasonNs_

Proper
Sep 22, 2020
244
17
115
What is your current bios level?
From the support link above,
9400f requires level 1404 or higher.
i7-8700k, 9700 ,or 9700K requires 0221 or better.
i7-8700 for whatever reason shows no bios level, but I would presume that is a typo and 0221 would be required.
you can download the latest bios which is 2811 here:

Your cooler is fine for any of them.

As to performance, you decide.
Your 9400f has 6 threads and a rating of 9589/2492
8700 has 12 threads and 13115/2684
8700k has 12 threads and 13902/2788
9700 has 8 threads and 13551/2684
9700K has 8 threads and 14573/ 2910

Any of the options would work well.
If the price were equal, the 9700K would be the strongest.
So i guess my motherboard will be fine, thanks.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
With a B board, K or not makes no difference, neither can be overclocked, only run at stock speeds.
That said, there is a difference in the cpus internally, K versions by necessity are better binned, so almost always have an advantage.

The 9700k has a turbo of 4.9GHz, at 95w.
The 9700 has a turbo of 4.7GHz, at 65w.

The 9700 is a safer bet, the lower wattage will be much easier to cool and much easier on the VRM's temps as there's less amperage demand per volt.

But that comes at a 200MHz reduction. Which translates into a few fps lost in some games and no affect in others.

By comparison, your current i3 is running 4.2GHz on half the core count, at the same 65w. Which means for most games nowadays, you'll be seeing 3.6-3.7GHz as you'll be running all 4 cores under heavy loads, whereas with the 9700 you'd be seeing @ 4.4GHz at a minimum.
 

JasonNs_

Proper
Sep 22, 2020
244
17
115
With a B board, K or not makes no difference, neither can be overclocked, only run at stock speeds.
That said, there is a difference in the cpus internally, K versions by necessity are better binned, so almost always have an advantage.

The 9700k has a turbo of 4.9GHz, at 95w.
The 9700 has a turbo of 4.7GHz, at 65w.

The 9700 is a safer bet, the lower wattage will be much easier to cool and much easier on the VRM's temps as there's less amperage demand per volt.

But that comes at a 200MHz reduction. Which translates into a few fps lost in some games and no affect in others.

By comparison, your current i3 is running 4.2GHz on half the core count, at the same 65w. Which means for most games nowadays, you'll be seeing 3.6-3.7GHz as you'll be running all 4 cores under heavy loads, whereas with the 9700 you'd be seeing @ 4.4GHz at a minimum.
Thanks for replying but, im planning to upgrade to Z series motherboard later, which means i gotta need the 9700k, but i need to use it in B series for the mean time, does running it at base clock which means disabling turbo makes it safer ? what about decreasing cores and threads too ? a stupid question too, would pointing a fan to the VRMs place could help ?
 
Last edited:

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Anything that lowers voltages and speeds is safer, but pointless to disable turbo. That board is rated to handle a 95w cpu, and you'll only get close to the 95w power limit running turbo.

You'll be fine as is.

Fans aren't a bad idea, especially with an aio, but with aircooling it's unnecessary as the heatsink fan will have blow-by air that'll do the same job, helped by the rear exhaust.
 
Solution