Question Would a i7-12700K be a decent upgrade from a I7-9700k

Samduhman

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I've been thinking about upgrading my aging cpu/mb/ram but the current prices have me on the fence still. Microcenter has a combo deal for a i7-12700k, Gigabyte Z690 MB and 16GB for $350. Is it worth it or stick with what i have for now?

What has worked for me in the past was spending $120 or less for a highly rated MB and roughly $250 for a CPU and that would be a great upgrade at the time. That formula has worked allowing me to happily game for a handful of years. I'm not able to work that formula now. I keep ending up in the $500 to $600 range.
 
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Samduhman

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Don't know what "decent" means to you, but 12700k has about a 40 percent higher benchmark score on single thread performance.
You made a great point. :) In my case, decent would mean would it compliment my new video card allowing me to game for approximately 3 years at high to ultra settings. Or would I achieve a better bang for the buck by waiting and adding say I don't know another $200.

My RTX 3070 died over the weekend and I ended up buying a 4070ti to replace it. I need to go back to Microcenter (3 hour drive) to return a couple of items. I was just thinking about replacing my cpu/mb since I'll be there.

I don't know if this helps but here was a benchmark with the new video card.

3DMARK Time Spy Score:

9700k/RTX 3070 = 11477 (Graphics score = 12747)
9700k/RTX 4070i = 17192 (Graphics score = 22546)
 
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Samduhman

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Weird how I couldn't add a comment after the smilie. Anyway, I realize its hard to provide guidance if you personally haven't experienced it. I'm thinking my best option is to just wait for now. I just have the itch to upgrade because its been so long but I really don't want to spend more than I did in the past for a CPU/MB until I know it's a dramatic performance boost.
 

Samduhman

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Thanks for your feedback RoG. I've actually been waffling throughout the day and consider getting a i5-13600K based on reviews. I just need to select a MB that will fit my needs.

I've seen reports that DDR5 provides a minimal increase in performance for gaming. So I'm thinking go with a MB that support DDR4 and use my current 32GB GSKILL 3200, saving me about $70

The MB also needs to support at least one M.2 and 5 sata drives with a bit of future expansion. My current MSI Z370 SLI PLUS could not support all 5 sata drives when I installed a second M.2 storage. I found out the second M.2 channel(?) canceled out two of the sata channels.

 

punkncat

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I am not even sure how Micro Center can do these kind of deals...just mind blowing.
I was in today shopping for some other sundry items and there were quite a few people doing the deal you are talking about above. They are basically giving you ram and a motherboard for $50. Insane.

Keep in mind that the above will not include a cooler. I didn't note you mentioning what you are currently using.
 

Samduhman

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I am not even sure how Micro Center can do these kind of deals...just mind blowing.
I was in today shopping for some other sundry items and there were quite a few people doing the deal you are talking about above. They are basically giving you ram and a motherboard for $50. Insane.

Keep in mind that the above will not include a cooler. I didn't note you mentioning what you are currently using.
Currently using a MSI Z370 SLI Plus MB/I7-9700k w ARTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO/GSKILL DDR4 32GB/Asus GTX 4070ti
 

Samduhman

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I waffled for days but today I pulled the trigger. I remembered I had planned to upgrade my system this year so why keep waiting. I was thinking case and all, but their is nothing wrong with my case so why replace it. My only complaint is, it would have been nice to find a MB like I have always for approx. $125. I ended up paying $270 for a MSI. I love MSI boards. I've tried other brands but some ended up flakey or would die. MSI has been rock solid. I have old gaming rigs 15+ years old I can fire up today with MSI boards.

Worst case if I blew it, I won't get to swapping out the guts of my current system until next Thurs/Fri. So let me know what you think.

Good or bad here it is.

I5-13600k
MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WIFI D4 MB
32 GB G.SKILL DDR4 3200
Deepcool AK620 CPU Cooler
Asus GTX 4070ti TUF OC
Corsair RM750 PS Gold
Phanteks P400s tempered glass case

I was concerned about cpu heat and PS but I watched a handful of videos and ran through a few PS calculators.

I'm not comfortable with water cooling and linus tech and a few other trust worthy sites/videos and user reviews indicated air cooling was good enough for gaming. I'm thinking those who are getting extreme heat may not have installed theirs correctly or have bad air flow in their case.

The PS calculators either resulted in 750w was more than enough or was good enough.


Thanks everyone for your feedback.
 
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SyCoREAPER

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The 13600 was a good choice, however you choice of the 4070 IMO is questionable. 7900 would have been around the same price and offer better overall performance. But the 4070 supports DLSS3 which can make up (artificially) the gap, much better RT and DLSS is more widely implemented.

Air cooling can be sufficient but the case needs plenty of fan. As for watercoloring, I think you have the wrong impression, those are custom loops. AIO's are closed loop (IOW sealed) systems. No messing with liquids, more or less plug and play.

Get HWInfo64 and monitor everything to make sure you arenrunning hot and/or throttling.
 

Samduhman

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The 13600 was a good choice, however you choice of the 4070 IMO is questionable. 7900 would have been around the same price and offer better overall performance. But the 4070 supports DLSS3 which can make up (artificially) the gap, much better RT and DLSS is more widely implemented.

Air cooling can be sufficient but the case needs plenty of fan. As for watercoloring, I think you have the wrong impression, those are custom loops. AIO's are closed loop (IOW sealed) systems. No messing with liquids, more or less plug and play.

Get HWInfo64 and monitor everything to make sure you arenrunning hot and/or throttling.
I'm just ok with the 4070ti. It was an impromptu purchase. I can still exchange it if I decide there's a better option.

I was looking at going water cooling on my CPU but I've never done it and I'm not sure what kind to get and were to install it. I don't believe a radiator would work installed in the front of the case as I've installed two hard drive brackets in the top two internal drive locations. So I'm not seeing an area to feed the water hoses due to the 4070ti graphics card and hard drives.

Youtube video of where the internal hard drives are located

If you have any ideas, please advice. :)