# Finally time to upgrade from Skylake? 6700k + 16gb



## techtrader (Sep 19, 2020)

So I've been sitting on 6700k + 16gb for some time now given that each gen only represents something like 5-10% performance increase in CPU intensive tasks and near 0% increase in gaming at high resolutions. However, with the new generation of Intel CPUs coming out and the latest Ryzen, would it be beneficial to finally upgrade? 
- Are there enough new tech in the platforms (i.e. USB C or newer PCI-E) to warrant a full mobo + cpu + ram upgrade? 
- Is 16GB of ram still okay in 2020 or will 32GB finally make a difference in day-to-day use 
- Will upgrading to the newest SSD feel "noticeable" from a Samsung 950 pro

Thanks!


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## TheLostSwede (Sep 19, 2020)

I think you're dreaming if you think you got 5-10% performance increase per generation from Intel, more like 3-5% on a good day.

Well, this is what's coming soon-ish from Intel.







As for Ryzen, you're not likely to get any new features this time around, as the X570/B550 motherboards will stick around for what is presumably the last AM4 processor to launch from AMD, although it might be the 5000-series now according to some rumours.

If it warrants an upgrade depends on what you want/need from your system.

16GB is most likely still fine, but you're going to want 3600MHz or faster RAM to make the best out of modern CPUs.

NVMe has seen some improvements since then, but  you're not going to see the kind of difference you did going from SATA to NVMe for sure. Also, you might want to keep that as the OS drive, as it's MLC, so it should at least in theory, outlive most 3D TLC drives. PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives with something other than the Phison E16 is starting to appear, so there should be some cooler running drives coming out, that also performs better, although some will perform worse, but be cheaper as well.


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## techtrader (Sep 19, 2020)

yea I saw the 11th gen from Intel with the XE chip in early reviews of laptops. They look to provide significant performance gains but I haven't heard much about the desktop equivalents.


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## bonehead123 (Sep 19, 2020)

techtrader said:


> So I've been sitting on 6700k + 16gb for some time now given that each gen only represents something like 5-10% performance increase in CPU intensive tasks and near 0% increase in gaming at high resolutions. However, with the new generation of Intel CPUs coming out and the latest Ryzen, would it be beneficial to finally upgrade?
> - Are there enough new tech in the platforms (i.e. USB C or newer PCI-E) to warrant a full mobo + cpu + ram upgrade?
> - Is 16GB of ram still okay in 2020 or will 32GB finally make a difference in day-to-day use
> - Will upgrading to the newest SSD feel "noticeable" from a Samsung 950 pro
> ...



The following is purely my opinion, so take it for whatever you think it is worth....

Your current setup is still a reasonably capable machine, assumming all of your other components are capable/reasonably current....

As to whether a total system upgrade would be beneficial to *YOU* or not, that is debateable till the cows come home.  But mostly for gaming, the answer would be no, *unless* you just absolutely HAVE to play the very latest ones at maxed out settings... then perhaps you would notice *some *performance increases, but still not a tremendous amount....

Unfortunately, Intel's current line up is not anything to write home about, with the Z490-series boards & 10th gen CPU's offering only meager improvements over the Z390/9th gen parts, and lacking things like PCIe4 and additional lanes for more bandwidth-hungry gpu's, storage etc...

And yes, 16gb of ram is normally enough for all but the most heavy-duty multi-taskers and super power users that do things require much more.

As for your ssd, you will not notice much difference unless you switch to AMD x570 platform & a gen 4 drive....


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## JustAnEngineer (Sep 19, 2020)

Skylake, Kaby Lake, Coffee Lake, Coffee Lake Refresh and Comet Lake have all used the same microarchitecture on a 14 nm lithography node.  The improvements from each of these "generations" have been minimal because they have only minor tweaks to CPU design and they haven't had a new process node since Broadwell debuted in 2014.

When Rocket Lake desktop CPUs appear, they will use a new CPU design, but the same old 14nm fabrication.


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## ppn (Sep 19, 2020)

The time to upgrade is at 5nm EUV and DDR5. This would be 14700K socket 1700 and nvidia RTX 4070 or above, everything until then is skipped and boycott. Save money unless absolutely necessary.


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## xman2007 (Sep 19, 2020)

4c8t is kinda bottom of the barrell for a gaming PC in 2020, so you would definitely benefit in moving to a newer 8 core CPU and also 3000mhz+ DDR4, though you mention gaming and "CPU intensive tasks" you need to clarify on this a bit more, what CPU intensive tasks exactly are you doing with your PC? what games do you play? what GPU do you have? what resolution are you playing at? afaik next gen Ryzen CPU's will be here in about a month so it is a good time to wait and see what improvements they bring over the Ryzen 3000 series CPU's which are already pretty damn good at everything, though expect to see an IPC uplift and more performance from slightly higher clocks. Then you could go for one of the newer Ryzens or just grab a 3700x/3900/3950 etc at a lower price if that meets your performance needs. Without knowing what you currently do with your PC apart from gaming and intensive tasks it's an impossible question to answer.


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## newtekie1 (Sep 19, 2020)

techtrader said:


> Are there enough new tech in the platforms (i.e. USB C or newer PCI-E) to warrant a full mobo + cpu + ram upgrade?



That's really up to you.  Are you going to use any of that tech?  I mean, if you upgrade to Z490 now, you're still on the same PCI-E 3.0 as your 6700K.  Of course, the boards are supposed to be able to do PCI-E 4.0 when the next generation CPUs come out, but I'm not holding my breath.  Intel tried this before, and actual support was problematic.

As for other things like USB-C, better WiFi, 2.5Gb LAN(though that's not a guarantee) well, again you have to ask if *you* are going to use those things right now.



techtrader said:


> Is 16GB of ram still okay in 2020 or will 32GB finally make a difference in day-to-day use



You can re-use the RAM you have now. You'll be fine.



techtrader said:


> Will upgrading to the newest SSD feel "noticeable" from a Samsung 950 pro



No. Even "experts" have  hard time determining the difference between a SATA, PCI-E 3.0, and PCI-E 4.0 SSD in a blind test.  Right now, there is no point in wasting money on a PCI-E 4.0 SSD.



techtrader said:


> So I've been sitting on 6700k + 16gb for some time now given that each gen only represents something like 5-10% performance increase in CPU intensive tasks and near 0% increase in gaming at high resolutions. However, with the new generation of Intel CPUs coming out and the latest Ryzen, would it be beneficial to finally upgrade?



I put this one last because it probably is going to receive the most discussion.  The 5-10% improvement in CPU intensive tasks is only if those tasks are single threaded.  If anything you do is multi-threaded, there have been huge gains.  Hell, I still have a 7700K, and it has been relegated to doing light duty in a media center PC.  Even my 8700K just crushes the 7700K in the CPU intensive tasks I do, and the 10850K is a beast(you'll find the same thing on the AMD side too).

That said, most games still don't go over using 4-Cores.  So gaming improvements have been minor, especially in AAA titles that are very graphics intensive because the GPU is usually the limiting factor.  The thing is, if you look at a i3-10100 which is very close to your 6700K spec wise, the 10100 is only 4% slower than the 10900K at 1440p resolutions when using a 2080Ti and its 1% slower at 4K.  That comes down to the fact that even the 2080Ti is the limiting factor at those high resolutions.


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## Toothless (Sep 20, 2020)

Just gonna add my observations for upgrading from a similar chip:

If you need more threads, upgrade to something that'll be worth it or wait it out a bit. Biggest reason I upgraded from my 4790k (on par with 6700k) was I didn't have enough threads for certain games or things that I needed to have up with other things (multitasking)

If you can clock that guy up and hold off, do it.


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## JustAnEngineer (Sep 20, 2020)

The best time to upgrade your PC is when you have an application that needs more capable hardware.  If your Skylake system is still meeting your needs, keep using it and put your money in the bank for a future upgrade.

Having said that, AMD's Zen 3 CPUs (Ryzen 5000-series?) are due next month.  Zen 3 is likely to offer a nice little performance boost over an already-competitive Zen 2 (Ryzen 3000-series) lineup.  Even if you're dedicated to buying an Intel CPU, you might wait.  Intel has responded to the last two or three successful AMD processor launches with massive price cuts on their competing products.  That's a win for the consumer (though it has not been kind to the value of my INTC stock).


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Oct 16, 2020)

Your system is still fine for today's gaming really i think you will notice a bigger upgrade waiting for at least an additional generation of CPUs to drop as for 16 gb of ram its still sufficient


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## Zach_01 (Oct 16, 2020)

techtrader said:


> So I've been sitting on 6700k + 16gb for some time now given that each gen only represents something like 5-10% performance increase in CPU intensive tasks and near 0% increase in gaming at high resolutions. However, with the new generation of Intel CPUs coming out and the latest Ryzen, would it be beneficial to finally upgrade?
> - Are there enough new tech in the platforms (i.e. USB C or newer PCI-E) to warrant a full mobo + cpu + ram upgrade?
> - Is 16GB of ram still okay in 2020 or will 32GB finally make a difference in day-to-day use
> - Will upgrading to the newest SSD feel "noticeable" from a Samsung 950 pro
> ...


Keep it for another year. With 16GB RAM and an SSD all you need is a nice GPU according to your resolution "needs", if dont have that already.
All SSDs (SATA or NVMe) feel the same in all every day usage unless you move around huge loads of data.

AMD is in the end of AM4 cycle and Intel is still trying to find its way.
By 2022 we will probably have from AMD the AM5 platform (DDR5, PCI-E 5?) and who knows what from Intel (99% the same). Late2021~2022 will be the start of all new platforms for both AMD/Intel.


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