Upgrading From An i7-860

[sawacs]

The time has finally come for an upgrade and I would love some advice.

My current system is based on an i7-860 OC'd to 3.56gz and has served me well for years. However, with some of the latest games that have been released, I am find myself wanting a little more power.

I have no plans to run benchmarks trying to eek every last little bit out of a processor but would prefer something that runs fast and has a little headroom left with air cooling for down the road overclocking if needed.

The priorities for the build are gaming mainly.

Here is what I have come up with so far.

Old System:
i7 860
Asus Maximum III Formula
16gb Corsair Vengance 1866
Evga GTX 1070
Corsair 750W power supply

New System:
i7 9700k
ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) Z390
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Corsair 750W power supply
Evga GTX 1070

Can you guys offer any recommendations on memory for the new setup?

Advice would be most appreciated!

Thanks!

Sawacs

 

[trents]

Some suggestions:
1. If your main use is gaming, go with the 9600k instead of the 9700k and save a few bucks and some heat.
2. If you are running only one video card a 750 watt PSU is overkill. A good 650W would be more than enough. Look at the EVGA G2 or G3 Supernova 650W units. You might save a few bucks there.
3. If you are thinking about overclocking in the future, the Hyper 212 Evo is inadequate. If you want to stick with air cooling, look at the Noctua D15 but make sure when you choose a case that it is roomy enough to accommodate it.
4. As far as RAM goes, avoid Corsair right now as I have been gleaning from the forum there are currently compatibility issues, even on Intel systems. Other than that, just look for the best buy in a 2x8gb 3200 mhz set.

Edit: You don't need to spend all that money on the ROG Maximus XI Hero. Another overkill choice.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...iption=Z390&cm_re=Z390-_-13-144-217-_-Product
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...iption=Z390&cm_re=Z390-_-13-119-152-_-Product

 

[sawacs]

Thank you for the reply and information.

I am beginning to wonder how much of a difference I am going to see by upgrading from a i7 860 to an i5 9600k without upgrading the video card to something other than a 1070.. lol

 

[trents]

Of course, it will depend on the game and whether it is CPU or GPU intensive. Since you are already using the 1070 in the old system you will see the most difference in games that are CPU intensive if you upgrade the CPU and RAM. But my guess would also be you will see some good improvement in a lot of modern games if keeping the 1070 and just upgrading the CPU/RAM. Games are becoming more CPU intensive as time goes on. But I don't think any of them will benefit from the extra cores of the 9700k vs. the 9600k. Not yet anyway.

 

[sawacs]

Copy that and thank you.

Regarding the 750w power supply, that is a carry over from my current system and works well: no upgrade needed

The case, purchased way back in 2005 or so, is a Lian Li PC70g and is a monster so there shouldn't be any issues fitting a large cooler along with the kitchen sink and hot tub

After thinking about it for a bit, I realized my current CPU cooler just might work as it is mounted to a socket 1156 CPU and is a monster cooler with fans mounted on both sides for push pull: can;t remember the brand. Might order the 212 EVO as a backup in case my current cooler doesn't work. Besides, I have no intention on overclocking the 9600k anytime soon.

Cheers and happy holidays!

 

[trents]

Cheers and merry Christmas.

 

[sawacs]

One last question...

I have always built on Asus mobo's and know absolutely nothing about the MSI boards. How is the quality compared to the Asus boards? Any enlightening information would be most appreciated.

Thanks

 

[UltraTaco]

If you have a monster cooler, why not try and overclock her to heaven? Perhaps you may get a healthy boost from higher clock speed?

 

[sawacs]

If you have a monster cooler, why not try and overclock her to heaven? Perhaps you may get a healthy boost from higher clock speed?

That's a great question.

Knowing me, I might and try a little overclock on the processor after I get the system up and running and everything is stable: if it ain't broke, I still need to fix it

My i7-860 took some tweaking but has been running oc'd @3.56 ghz for years and most importantly everything is stable

The motherboard is the part of the equation that worries be which is one reason I am hesitant to jump into an MSI board as it is an unknown to me (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...7702X1552850X28e9593240aa78589f3680fe71c940cf). Not saying it wouldn't be a good board for the build but simply don't have enough information to make an informed decision.

Cheers!

 

[trents]

The quality of the MSI motherboards is pretty good now. There seem to be no higher incidence of problems with them than with other major manufacturers in this forum user population. Higher end Asus is still the Cadillac but you really won't achieve any better results in overclocking with the CPUs your are targeting than you will with the MSI motherboard I referenced. Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI - They are all up to the task anymore. I wouldn't waste money on any of their high end offerings. Neither would I risk purchasing their lower end offerings if I was planning to overclock (which I generally do). Middle of the road, around $150 should get you a reliable motherboard. I mostly use ASRock these days since I think they offer the best quality to price ratio (and I'm comfortable with their bioses) but there isn't a lot of difference between the brands, really, in the same product niche.

 

[sawacs]

The quality of the MSI motherboards is pretty good now. There seem to be no higher incidence of problems with them than with other major manufacturers in this forum user population. Higher end Asus is still the Cadillac but you really won't achieve any better results in overclocking with the CPUs your are targeting than you will with the MSI motherboard I referenced. Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI - They are all up to the task anymore. I wouldn't waste money on any of their high end offerings. Neither would I risk purchasing their lower end offerings if I was planning to overclock (which I generally do). Middle of the road, around $150 should get you a reliable motherboard. I mostly use ASRock these days since I think they offer the best quality to price ratio (and I'm comfortable with their bioses) but there isn't a lot of difference between the brands, really, in the same product niche.

Thanks!

Let me ask you this. If you were recommending an ASRock board with good overclocking potential and stability, what would you go with?

 

[maxfly]

asrock z390 extreme4, has solid vrm cooling and can oc with the best of them. im actually deciding between this mb and a sweet deal i found on a msi z370 gaming pro carbon.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157848

 

[JRZoid]

You underestimate that 2600x/2700x. absolutely. That is monster threaded clocked.

 

[sawacs]

This might be a step back but why not just get a darned i7 8700k with a Z370 motherboard? This particular CPU appears to be a fast processor and there are a ton of proven z370 based motherboards out there.

Just thinking out loud

 

[JRZoid]

This might be a step back but why not just get a darned i7 8700k with a Z370 motherboard? This particular CPU appears to be a fast processor and there are a ton of proven z370 based motherboards out there.

Just thinking out loud

Well I'm sure. but I still got the 7700k and its still fine. But I did kill one board block cracked on it. Picked up Ryzen anyways 2600x and the msi x470, figured the ram worked with it. Glad I did it is good too.

 

[trents]

Thanks!

Let me ask you this. If you were recommending an ASRock board with good overclocking potential and stability, what would you go with?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157848

Actually, JRZoid's suggestion of going with an 8700k and Z370 has merit. But the CPU is about $90 US more expensive than the 9600k. Plus, you would be investing in a socket technology and a CPU that is a generation old. On top of that, the extra horsepower of the 8700k would not likely be utilized in current games. And it will run hot as well. With the 9xxx series, Intel went back to metal TIM under the IHS so there is better heat transfer between the die and the IHS. With either option, you will have tons better performance than your current system.

You could take that $90 and perhaps invest in a GTX 1080. By the way, if you are running a 1080p monitor, the GTX 1070 ought to handle any game pretty well on high or ultra settings as long as the CPU is also up to snuff.

 

[JRZoid]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157848

Actually, JRZoid's suggestion of going with an 8700k and Z370 has merit. But the CPU is about $90 US more expensive than the 9600k. Plus, you would be investing in a socket technology and a CPU that is a generation old. On top of that, the extra horsepower of the 8700k would not likely be utilized in current games. And it will run hot as well. With the 9xxx series, Intel went back to metal TIM under the IHS so there is better heat transfer between the die and the IHS. With either option, you will have tons better performance than your current system.

You could take that $90 and perhaps invest in a GTX 1080.

Why I said with Ryzen the 2600x benches and runs like a stock 8700k Oced almost. Put a decent block on it and good temps, it is awesome.

 

[sawacs]

Why I said with Ryzen the 2600x benches and runs like a stock 8700k Oced almost. Put a decent block on it and good temps, it is awesome.

The Ryzen does sound like a good processor. However, I am stuck with Intel for now as I have never had a problem and feel more comfortable going the Intel route this time.

My current monitor is an older Dell S2330MX running at 1920x1080 resolution. However, I am also upgrading to this: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predato...e=UTF8&qid=1544629944&sr=8-1&keywords=xb271hu

I am sure this will tax my 1070 a little more but what the heck

One thing that does concern me about the 9600k is Intel's removal of the HT technology. For some reason, they decided to retain HT in their 9900k model. Do you guys think that there would be anything to worry about with regards to lack of HT in a 9600k?

 

[trents]

The Ryzen does sound like a good processor. However, I am stuck with Intel for now as I have never had a problem and feel more comfortable going the Intel route this time.

My current monitor is an older Dell S2330MX running at 1920x1080 resolution. However, I am also upgrading to this: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predato...e=UTF8&qid=1544629944&sr=8-1&keywords=xb271hu

I am sure this will tax my 1070 a little more but what the heck

One thing that does concern me about the 9600k is Intel's removal of the HT technology. For some reason, they decided to retain HT in their 9900k model. Do you guys think that there would be anything to worry about with regards to lack of HT in a 9600k?

Intel did not remove the HT in the 9600k. The i5 chips have never had HT. They did bump the real core count of the i5 up to 6 from 4 beginning with the 8600k series.

Ryzen is a great option, especially for those who are, in addition to gaming, doing tasks like AV transcoding that can take advantage of the many cores and threads. However, they are about 10% behind Intel in per core performance at this point in time. Per core performance is really important for gaming as games can't use all those extra cores.

I'm suggesting the 9600k because I think it will give you the best performance per dollar in gaming of the various options. The i5 has always been targeted toward gamers.

 

[JRZoid]

Oh I'm happy with it...it does not bottleneck and can run all the higher gpu's. I still got just the 1060. Block I got is ok, a little different a nickel one. It will hit about 80c at 4.32mhz and 1.45v and yeah like 15800-15900 passmark. Good chip.