• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.
  • The forums have been upgraded with support for dark mode. By default it will follow the setting on your system/browser. You may override it by scrolling to the end of the page and clicking the gears icon.

Finally ready to switch from the i7 8700k

9700k has worse frametimes due to fewer threads these days.
they had equal multicore performance, if the 8700k is struggling so will the 9700k. No different than the 7700k and 8600k

You get a 9700K for half that? Ish. My guess is you'd spend about 100 to 110euro. That would be an easy swap out, a decent upgrade and no need for a Windows reinstall.
lex, I'm telling you in gaming you just increase the 8700k a bit and it's the exact same performance as the 9700k (and I'm a fan of the 9700k)

relative-performance-games-1280-720.png
 
they had equal multicore performance, if the 8700k is struggling so will the 9700k. No different than the 7700k and 8600k
They did but the 9700K had some issues especially after the spectre-meltdown updates. I've seen quite a few threads complaining about how stuttery it is, where the 8700k doesnt have that as much.

GM saw it as well in FC 5:

1728655997443.png
 
A 5900X boosting to 5150 is like a 6GHz 8700K. Zen 2 is slow, I wouldn't even consider it for an AM4 build.
 
5700X3D is really the only worthwhile upgrade here. Anything else is so incremental you will barely notice.


You see, the problem with that is that I am either very bad at overclocking or there is something very wrong with my cooler or something. I tried overclocking to like 4.9 but the temps are horrible, like 90-95 degrees. I am using mx4 from arctic, I change it periodically, I run the fans at 100% on the CPU cooler. Maybe the mb is problematic, since it's a z370p, so not the best at all. If I can solve the overclocking, I would still use this CPU. Maybe a new cooler? The be quite the rock pro 3 is from 2014, it might be insuficient?

@SadisticWaifu If you want to fix the overclocking, cut the lid off, you can delid a 8700K and drop the temps by 20C. The IHS is not soldered. You need a 15 euro tube of liquid metal and a razor -- one of the easiest chips to delid. Also be sure to increase the RINGBUS speed, as that gives you much better throughput in games.

My New PC Build - Intel i7 8700K DELID with RAZOR BLADE! and OC @ 5.1 GHz max 5.3 GHz (youtube.com)

Finally if you also OC the ram a bit that makes a decent difference as well.
 
Last edited:
GM saw it as well in FC 5:
yeah, i've seen weird things in the FC engine before. HB/techspot showed the 9700k coming out ahead of the 8700k in some games by a "decent" amount as well. Overall in the suites, both CPUs showed the same ballpark performance and we are talking about six/seven year old CPUs.
 
Weren't it for the budget, for AM4 the 5700X3D is the solution and ADL 12/13/14th gen i5's (particularly the 13400 is a banger) for LGA1700. OP would save on getting new memory and still run everything excellently with that new 7800XT of his.
 
5700X3D is really the only worthwhile upgrade here. Anything else is so incremental you will barely notice.
is it available in his market? if so great, its a very good CPU for gaming
 
About 250+- euros
You can get used 12400F + B660 for that money. In Russia, at least. 12400F destroys everything pre-Zen 3 in gaming performance (my 10600KF can't even par it at 5200 MHz) and destroys Zen 3 in cooling simplicity. You just install a Laminar RM1 and you're golden. I never see temps go beyond 77C in gaming. Heavily GPU limited at 1440p, somewhat balanced at 1080p (6700 XT).

9700K makes absolutely zero sense.
Ryzen 3000 series make absolutely negative sense.
Ryzen 5000 series only make sense if it's an X3D chip and these are way too expensive.
Ryzen 7000/9000 series are out of OP's budget as well as anything 13+ gen from Intel (except for i3s but these are abominations).

So it's either 12400F (or 12400 non-F/12600K/KF/13400 if fits the budget) or Chinese all-in-one mobos as suggested by @Dr. Dro but these have their disadvantages, too.
 
Zen2 does not make any sense for gaming over the 8700K.
The minimum sensible upgrade is Zen3 and even if it’s a 5500.
Preferably a 5700X3D.

5500
5600
5600X
5700X
5700X3D
…should be the choices of OP depending on the budget.
 
Remember the other things to consider like connectivity. A B550/5700 or even 5700G will go a long way for cheap.
 
IMO I think that money would be better spent on a 1440P+ monitor. The 8700K is old but it's not cripplingly slow, it's about the same as a 10600K at the same freq for games which is totally fine for 1440P/4K.
 
About 250+- euros

Do you have any expectation of 12/13/14 gen Intel or AM4 hardware dropping in price following the arrival of next gen cpu and mobo?

Coming from 8400 and H370 myself. 5700X3D or LGA1700 D4 would be the best move if possible. Keep in mind that how a system runs (games) is as much due to sophisticated advancements in newer hardware/software as it is performance specs.

I'd consider selling gpu and assembling a balanced system you can afford - if your on the ground feeling is the cpu/mb you can afford will be a downgrade in more ways than not. Not saying to do so, just that it would be a mature decision in the face of having no good options.
 
If you are moving from an 8700K (with a 1080ti) like I did (with a 1080) and you're using a 7800XT now (I went for 7900XT)... I would simply just get a much faster CPU. Save a bit more and get an X3D; even a 5800X3D will be a great move - and you can run that on DDR4.

And if budget doesn't allow for a solid move forward, you know what? Just sit on your current hardware a bit longer. Stuff gets discounted. Keep your eyes open and wait for a killer deal on stuff you actually get a real advantage out of. Cheapskate upgrades are no upgrades; you're already in high-ish end GPU territory here and the CPU is no slouch to begin with, its just too slow for your GPU. Again, I did the same thing, I waited until I felt really comfy burning a bunch of cash on a new platform. You can make do with less, but do it smart; reuse the RAM, make it a best-in-class upgrade on DDR4 instead. 5800X3D is literally the fastest gaming DDR4 CPU you can get.

ALSO, consider finding a new home for your 8700K based stuff minus the RAM, or even with the RAM if that makes the deal work for someone else, that's your missing budget right there. Its still a valuable CPU, really.

IMO I think that money would be better spent on a 1440P+ monitor. The 8700K is old but it's not cripplingly slow, it's about the same as a 10600K at the same freq for games which is totally fine for 1440P/4K.
Naaah its definitely long in the tooth, I've been using it with a 7900XT for a few months and it wasn't as pleasant as you might think. If you get a current gen 7800XT or better, you need more CPU for it to be a balanced system again. Its a fine CPU for something maximum like 6700XT and that's about where it stops. I had a 40% bottleneck on the 7900XT in some benches, that's pretty heavy
 
Last edited:
8700K to 3700X is a sidegrade. Slower in gaming, faster in MT.

Don't bother unless you're moving to at least a 5700X3D or a 12400F.

Ideally Core Ultra 245K or a 9600.
 
Ideally Core Ultra 245K or a 9600.
Or a 12900. These also don't disappoint in any gaming plus compatible with DDR4 plus not that expensive anymore.
 
Ideally Core Ultra 245K or a 9600.
that's the AMD Ryzen 5 9600 not be confused with the Intel i5-9600, ATI Radeon 9600 or soon to be released AMD Radeon RX 9600. When it comes to naming products in the PC tech word, originality is king...
 
8700K to 3700X is a sidegrade. Slower in gaming, faster in MT.

Don't bother unless you're moving to at least a 5700X3D or a 12400F.

Ideally Core Ultra 245K or a 9600.

I also think people forget the 3000 series also needed pretty decent low latency Bdie 3200 CL14/3600 16-16-16 min in dual rank to really shine which is super expensive these days more than a 6000 CL30 DDR5 kit for sure. At the very minimum you need to know how to tweak timings to get the most out of it default memory profiles were really bad on this platform.

Op you should really be saving up for somthing meaningfully better with the best budget ish option being the 5700X3D with a cheap B450 board and whatever 3200 mem that is cheap.
 
5700X3D with a cheap B450 board and whatever 3200 mem that is cheap
in NA and Western Europe sure, does anyone know what the Romanian market is like? Do they have the 5700X3D?
 
in NA and Western Europe sure, does anyone know what the Romanian market is like? Do they have the 5700X3D?

I mostly meant that a cheap upgrade is probably not going to be noticeable. The 5600/5700 isn't much faster than what he currently has more of a bandaid fix that will give him maybe 10-15% on average.

Why I mentioned saving up a bit more. From my understanding the Romanian market is pretty expensive in general.
 
honestly the 5700x is the no brainer of those three, the 3900XT offers nothing over the 3800x in real world performance. Remeber, CPUs are about performance not core count

relative-performance-games-1280-720.png

Yes be better with the 3800x over the 3900x due to 8 cores on one CCD were the 3900X is 2 CCD's ( 6 core each ).
 
in NA and Western Europe sure, does anyone know what the Romanian market is like? Do they have the 5700X3D?
230 EUR (median, box) including taxes. Tray is about 35 EUR cheaper. New both of course, didn't checked the SH market.
 
@SadisticWaifu how reliable is Vexio?
For roughly 1050 lei (incl. VAT, excl. shipping), which according to Google is roughly 210 euro, you can get a BNIB 12400F+B760M pair.

I don't know much about Romanian e-tailers, so I checked the first I could. Its pricing is a bit in line with what I expected, fits your budget and allows you to carry your DDR4 RAM over (but I'm not so sure about your DRP3 cooler). A good deal, in my opinion.

EDIT: just checked IT Galaxy, and the same CPU+MB pair goes for ~1170 lei. All the better for Vexio's pricing.
 

Attachments

  • 1728672909693.png
    1728672909693.png
    83.2 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:
Thanks a lot for the help, the 7800xt is already bought and it was bought for a wonderful price, not going back on that. For the CPU, I have no idea, like the 3800x sound enough, is really cheap imo and I like it. The 3900xt is gonna be kinda the same, more expensive but will be a bragging right and will keep its value better, I think. The 5700x, well I don't know about that either, it's fast, but I don't know if it's worth it over the 3800x
Like @phanbuey already wrote, 3800 or 3900 can’t even match 8700k in gaming performance. 5700x on the other hand would indeed be a significant upgrade and also more efficient and probably easier to cool.

Edit, you could search TPU reviews, they might be very helpful.
 
Last edited:
Op you should really be saving up for somthing meaningfully better with the best budget ish option being the 5700X3D with a cheap B450 board and whatever 3200 mem that is cheap.
This^^
Wait a few months and save up
 
Back
Top