What should I go with?

[trparky]

I'm thinking about upgrading myself, I currently have an 8700K. I'm on the fence about what platform to choose. Go with AM4 or AM5? Any suggestions?

If I do go with AM4, will I see a meaningful uplift in performance?

 

[neeyik]

We did a revisit article on the 8700K a couple of years ago:

The Old King of Gaming: Intel Core i7-8700K Revisited

It's time we revisited the good old Core i7-8700K, an Intel CPU we're rather fond of after it remained at the top of the game for quite...

www.techspot.com

You can see that it's still a pretty potent CPU. Take Shadow of the Tomb Raider, as an example:

Looks pretty good, yes? Now do bear in mind, those tests were run with a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. When we reviewed the Ryzen 5 5600X, the same game was used, but this time with an RTX 3090:

Now the 8700K was used in that review, but the Core i7-10700K was used in both articles. Notice how the 5600X is just as good as that CPU, but the 8700K was notably further behind? Now the GPU does have some impact here but the same GPU was used in the productivity tests:

So 1349 seconds for the 8700K and 1122 seconds for the 5600X. Doesn't sound particularly impressive but the 5600X has the same core/thread count as the 8700K and has a lower boost clock speed.

Given that AM5 platforms are mucho expensive at the moment, due to motherboard and DDR5 prices being sky-high, an AM4 platform would do very nicely. Paired with a 5800X3D and it would be very, very nice.

 

[trparky]

Do you have any benchmarks from productivity apps?

Given that AM5 platforms are mucho expensive at the moment, due to motherboard and DDR5 prices being sky-high, an AM4 platform would do very nicely. Paired with a 5800X3D and it would be very, very nice.

I've been hearing the same thing, AM5 is expensive to buy into. For me it would cost nearly $1200 to buy into it. It would involve the board, chip, memory, cooler, and PSU. Meanwhile, I could do an AM4 build for less than $700 and I wouldn't have to replace my PSU.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

Do you have any benchmarks from productivity apps?

I've been hearing the same thing, AM5 is expensive to buy into. For me it would cost nearly $1200 to buy into it. It would involve the board, chip, memory, cooler, and PSU. Meanwhile, I could do an AM4 build for less than $700 and I wouldn't have to replace my PSU.

What's your budget and what components do you already have?

 

[trparky]

What's your budget and what components do you already have?

I'd like to keep it under $800. I already have my storage devices, I have decent enough DDR4 memory, I have a 650-Watt PSU, and an RTX 3060 GPU. It's just the board and chip that I want to replace.

But of course, the big question is... Would doing this kind of upgrade even be worth it? Will it give me the boost in performance that I'm looking for? I, myself, am looking for at the very least a 40% uplift in performance. Is that too much to ask for? If so, should I wait until next year?

 

[AlaskaGuy]

I'd like to keep it under $800. I already have my storage devices, I have decent enough DDR4 memory, I have a 650-Watt PSU, and an RTX 3060 GPU. It's just the board and chip that I want to replace.

But of course, the big question is... Would doing this kind of upgrade even be worth it? Will it give me the boost in performance that I'm looking for? I, myself, am looking for at the very least a 40% uplift in performance. Is that too much to ask for? If so, should I wait until next year?

Tough call tbh. If your system is doing what you want it to do then no need for upgrading imo. If you're looking to upgrade today then I think I'd do something like this with your budget.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145373
GIGABYTE B660 AORUS MASTER DDR4 $164.99

B660 AORUS MASTER DDR4 (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NPJDPVG
Intel Core i7-12700F $312.99

Product Specifications

quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

Intel Core i7-12700 + Intel B660 Review

Today we have a combo review of all-new Intel hardware, our first look at the affordable Intel B660 platform, the non-K Core i7-12700 and Intel's latest box...

www.techspot.com

i7 12700 / 12700F gaming benchmarks.

 

[trparky]

Unfortunately, I'd have to get a new PSU if I were to go with that board since my PSU doesn't have that extra CPU 4-pin cable, only the 8-pin EPS along with, of course, the 24-pin ATX.

If I were to go with an AM4-based build, it doesn't look like it needs that extra 4-pin cable.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

Unfortunately, I'd have to get a new PSU if I were to go with that board since my PSU doesn't have that extra CPU 4-pin cable, only the 8-pin EPS along with, of course, the 24-pin ATX.

If I were to go with an AM4-based build, it doesn't look like it needs that extra 4-pin cable.

Amazon.com : 8 pin to 4 pin cpu power adapter

www.amazon.com

 

[trparky]

Amazon.com : 8 pin to 4 pin cpu power adapter

www.amazon.com

I didn't think that was possible!!! I figured that I'd have to upgrade my PSU.

 

[trparky]

Update on this thread of mine...

I took the plunge and upgraded my system. I went balls to the walls and spent about $800 (six months, no interest) on a new power supply, motherboard, CPU, cooler, and RAM. Microcenter was running a deal where if you buy a Ryzen 7000-Series X-model CPU, you get a 32 GB DDR5 memory kit that usually retails for $150 for one penny.

I bought myself a Ryzen 7 7700X. This thing is screaming fast. I've not even tried overclocking it and yet it's screaming fast. Everything is screaming fast, even in Windows it's so much faster. Programs load faster, web pages render in a fraction of the time, etc. Just about everything is so much more responsive.

I made one little stupid mistake while building it though, but I had a laugh over it. I didn't know that my board had a little button on it to push to turn it on for test bench purposes. I instead used the old screw driver over the pins to turn it on.