• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Intel Core i5 9600k worth to upgrade to a i9 9900k in these AMD days?

P

PeterPaul0808

New Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2019
Messages
14 (0.01/day)
I have a very good Z370 mini ITX motherboard a Asrock Fatal1ty z370 Gaming-ITX/ac, I use my i5 9600k at 5ghz with a NZXT Kraken x62, and I know today is the AMD the king of desktop CPUs, but as I counted the Ryzen 9 3900x would be very expensive in my country to change and I would need to buy better memory, I'm using a 16GB Corsair Vengance 3000mhz CL16 kit, which perfect for Intel, but not for AMD. What do you think, i9 9900k would be futureproof, I would use about 2 years. And my graphics card is RTX 2080 Super.
 
What do you use your computer for? Gaming only or other workloads? 1080p, 1440p, 4K? 60 Hz or high refresh rates? That's important too...

EDIT: Consider adding your full system specs in your profile (through account settings), so we can know what we're dealing with...
 
Last edited:
windwhirl said:
What do you use your computer for? Gaming only or other workloads? 1080p, 1440p, 4K? 60 Hz or high refresh rates? That's important too...
Click to expand...
1440p gaming at 75hz, because my monitor only handle that refresh rate (it's an UltraWide monitor) and I have a youtube channel, where I want stream, but I wasn't ready to start yet and also I edit my videos (1080p@60fps) with this CPU, sometimes very long with high bitrate (12000).
 
I'd stick with the 9600K, especially with that motherboard. I think the 9900K would have a hard time staying at 5GHz with that motherboard.

PeterPaul0808 said:
I would need to buy better memory, I'm using a 16GB Corsair Vengance 3000mhz CL16 kit, which perfect for Intel, but not for AMD.
Click to expand...

Just FYI, this kit would be just fine with AMD.
 
PeterPaul0808 said:
Do you think 6 cores will be enough? I always here these in 2020 when the new consoles comes, the 6 core CPUs will worth nothing anymore...
Click to expand...
Your CPU will be more then enough once the new consoles come out especially if you already have it at 5ghz. Don't be fooled by a bunch of fan boys scouring non real world benchmarks just to justify their own purchase.
 
9900k is still the best gaming cpu by far.
the problem I have with the question is the word "worth".
IMO you buy a 9900k specifically when 9700kf or 3700x won't do,which they likely will.

get an adaptive sync monitor,it's 2020,being able to hit a specific framerate cause my monitor is XY hz has not been my problem for 5 years.
 
PeterPaul0808 said:
Do you think 6 cores will be enough? I always here these in 2020 when the new consoles comes, the 6 core CPUs will worth nothing anymore...
Click to expand...

Why would you upgrade within the same gen just to get performance you've never been short of?

If you have to ask if 6 cores will be enough, there is absolutely no reason to do anything.

These 6 core CPUs will drop in value just like any other, and they are going to be fine for many many segments of the market for a long time.
 
Gaming wise, I'd agree with EarthDog. Most of the load is GPU-dependent. And as far as we know, the PS5 will have 8 Zen 2 cores (which will probably be not as highly clocked as their PC counterparts), so it's not an outrageous difference.

You may want to consider that CPU upgrade for video editing and streaming, mostly. However, if you feel that your current CPU is enough, I'd save the money and wait to replace the whole platform for something that is not close to EOL (End Of Life). It's unlikely that you will see new CPUs for Z370 or LGA 1151 that are not a rehash of current or previous ones. [EDIT: And DDR5 is getting closer, so another reason to wait a bit more...]

In short, I wouldn't upgrade yet. And not on a dead-end platform.
 
cucker tarlson said:
9900k is still the best gaming cpu by far.
the problem I have with the question is the word "worth".
IMO you buy a 9900k specifically when 9700kf or 3700x won't do,which they likely will.

get an adaptive sync monitor,it's 2020,being able to hit a specific framerate cause my monitor is XY hz has not been my problem for 5 years.
Click to expand...
I have an adaptice sync monitor, I set a custom resolution with 1hz below the maximum and works fine. :)

windwhirl said:
Gaming wise, I'd agree with EarthDog. Most of the load is GPU-dependent. And as far as we know, the PS5 will have 8 Zen 2 cores (which will probably be not as highly clocked as their PC counterparts), so it's not an outrageous difference.

You may want to consider that CPU upgrade for video editing and streaming, mostly. However, if you feel that your current CPU is enough, I'd save the money and wait to replace the whole platform for something that is not close to EOL (End Of Life). It's unlikely that you will see new CPUs for Z370 or LGA 1151 that are not a rehash of current or previous ones. [EDIT: And DDR5 is getting closer, so another reason to wait a bit more...]

In short, I wouldn't upgrade yet. And not on a dead-end platform.
Click to expand...
So you suggest wait for the next generation and decide when it's arrive. It's a fair point. I bought that CPU, because it had better framer rates than the Ryzen 7 2700x back then. I will wait, thank you for open my eyes. I can edit with that and if I think about that used to I edit my videos with my 4 core i5 6500, I have a far better system now. :D
 
windwhirl said:
Gaming wise, I'd agree with EarthDog. Most of the load is GPU-dependent.
Click to expand...
most is vague.
if you have a game like AC:Odyssey which you play for 200h-300h you'll likely see that this "most" load is maybe 60% of the time you play on average.in every city you're cpu limited if you're pairing a fast card with an entry-level cpu.

looking at it from the quantity viewpoint is wrong imo.most of the time you'll be gpu bound in Battlefiled 1/5,but you don't want your framerate to tank every time there's an explosion.
 
cucker tarlson said:
most is vague.
if you have a game like AC:Odyssey which you play for 200h-300h you'll likely see that this "most" load is maybe 60% of the time you play on average.in every city you're cpu limited if you're pairing a fast card with an entry-level cpu.

looking at it from the quantity viewpoint is wrong imo.most of the time you'll be gpu bound in Battlefiled 1/5,but you don't want your framerate to tank every time there's an explosion.
Click to expand...

True, but looking at TPU's reviews on the Ryzen 3900X and 3700X the difference in gaming performance at 1440p between the OP's current CPU against other processors (gaming-wise) was rather negligible, with the 9600K usually being close to the top.

That's why I said that the OP should consider the upgrade with streaming and video editing in mind...
 
PeterPaul0808 said:
Do you think 6 cores will be enough? I always here these in 2020 when the new consoles comes, the 6 core CPUs will worth nothing anymore...
Click to expand...
It wont happen overnight man. Existing games wont suddenly need mkre and new ones wont always use more.
 
It would be a waste of money to upgrade, your 9600K will be fine for several more years.
 
well next gen games will come out end of 2020, and if by chance your cpu is not handling the new games in 2021 then upgrade.
its a waste of money now going to 9900k now or changing to amd cpu with higher cores just for gaming from a 9600k cpu.
 
If we haven't convinced OP yet;

9900K is also hot, pretty expensive and requires additional investment in cooling, has security flaws, and is on a dead-end platform.

:toast:
 
To me it would depend on how much it would cost after you sell your 9600k. I own both a 3900X and a 9900k and if you were going brand new system Ryzen is a significantly better choice. The 9900k only runs hot when you turn off all limits but if you only use your pc for gaming it isn't that hard to cool even at 5ghz mine never breaks 65C even in cpu demanding games. Even when not overclocked it is still faster in gaming than Ryzen.

if a 3700X/MOBO/Ram is more expensive for you than just grabbing a 9900k I would grab the 9900k. I'm not a huge fan of the 9600k but I would also only do the swap if it's holding you back or stuttering in the games you play. You could also look at used 8700k and see how much that swap would cost you I would do that over a 9700k.

Worth only you can answer with a 2080 super I would say maybe and it would really come down to the games you play.

As other's have mentioned you will definitely need good airflow around your vrm if you decided to overclock a 9900k with your current board.
 
Last edited:
PeterPaul0808 said:
So you suggest wait for the next generation and decide when it's arrive. It's a fair point. I bought that CPU, because it had better framer rates than the Ryzen 7 2700x back then. I will wait, thank you for open my eyes. I can edit with that and if I think about that used to I edit my videos with my 4 core i5 6500, I have a far better system now. :D
Click to expand...
It still has (substantially) better frame rates than 2700X and in almost all games also better than 3700X, so definitely no need to upgrade now, especially not for 1440p ultrawide gaming on a 75Hz screen. It will likely be a wise move to do it in 2-3 years though, however I suspect that a 9900k will never be cheap enough second hand to really make sense (over an entirely new system), but 8700k/9700k probably will and should be enough to carry you over for a couple additional years.
oxrufiioxo said:
To me it would depend on how much it would cost after you sell your 9600k. I own both a 3900X and a 9900k and if you were going brand new system Ryzen is a significantly better choice.
Click to expand...
Definitely not for gaming, maybe for video editing work, but even then, I wouldn't say significantly, for the former though, I would more likely say, 9900k is a significantly better buy (at least out of these two options), especially as on top of being a class above performance-wise, it is currently mostly quite a bit cheaper as well (moreso if we count the kf version too).
 
Last edited:
PeterPaul0808 said:
Do you think 6 cores will be enough? I always here these in 2020 when the new consoles comes, the 6 core CPUs will worth nothing anymore...
Click to expand...
Long story short, if you have to ask (i.e. don't have specific requirements), 6 cores will be enough.
 
Saw an i9 9900 at microcenter in the open box category this week, $339. At that price, it would be closer to worth it, but still isn't worth it in my opinion, I have an 8600K, much like your 9600K.
 
PeterPaul0808 said:
Do you think 6 cores will be enough? I always here these in 2020 when the new consoles comes, the 6 core CPUs will worth nothing anymore...
Click to expand...
Yes. For at least 2 years.

It isn't like when these consoles release, in a year, that things become instantly obsolete. It will still take YEARS for the market to gain traction on a majority of games being able to use more than 4c...the consoles should speed that process up, but again, it isn't instant obsolescence by any stretch. There are a few titles out now which can use more, but a vast majority will be fine with 6c/6t.
 
Last edited:
People need to realize that if something is good for odyssey and bf5 now,it's going to be good for another couple of years at least.these games are friggin CPU viruses.I had my CPU OC pass ibt max ten times and crap its pants in watch dogs 2 within 3 minutes.
 
cucker tarlson said:
People need to realize that if something is good for odyssey and bf5 now,it's going to be good for another couple of years at least.these games are friggin CPU viruses.I had my CPU OC pass ibt max ten times and crap its pants in watch dogs 2 within 3 minutes.
Click to expand...
That's what happens when you test the AC but your brakes are the issue. :p

Actually being serious, I hate IBT.. that is one of the more useless stress tests around.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top