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3700X vs 9900K, that is the question...

I would suggest getting a decent B450 motherboard with Q-flash, & a Ryzen 5 3600 instead of the 3700X but hey, if you want the 8 core, grab it but IMHO the 3600 is plentiful especially paired with a GTX 1060. Not much point going all out on the best gaming CPU (9900K) unless you're going to get a high end GPU as well & it seems to me you're quite content with your 1060 for now plus you don't really care for high refresh rate as well. As for CPU cooling just stick with the AMD box cooler & look for a decent aftermarket one for around $30 max from coolermaster, should be fine.
 
trparky said:
Yes, I am fully aware that it's a side-grade here but I wouldn't want to give my father a piece of junk either. I mean it's my father for God's sake, it's called being a good son.

As for staying with a third-generation chip, because there are no firmware upgrades for Spectre and Meltdown the chip is vulnerable.
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Fair enough.

When you say third generation chip, are you talking about the x570 motherboard?
 
Papahyooie said:
When you say third generation chip, are you talking about the x570 motherboard?
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No, Intel 3rd generation. Someone mentioned I get a 3770K for him.
 
OK, so at least I know that a 3700X will be good enough for my needs; that's good. I haven't yet decided on the motherboard yet so there's some more decisions there. Yes, I could get the 3600X instead of the 3700X but I do like the idea of the two extra cores.

I am limited by the choices of motherboards at Microcenter.
 
You're better off upgrading your dad to a 3600 and keeping your 8700k.

The 8700k is better than any ryzen chip at gaming.
 
trparky said:
Giving it to my father.
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trparky

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Give me the 8700k
 
trparky said:
OK, so at least I know that a 3700X will be good enough for my needs; that's good. I haven't yet decided on the motherboard yet so there's some more decisions there. Yes, I could get the 3600X instead of the 3700X but I do like the idea of the two extra cores.

I am limited by the choices of motherboards at Microcenter.
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Microcenter has some bad board options a lot of the time, you might want to forgo the $30 combo savings and get a board elsewhere sometimes the rebates or coupon codes make up for it. If you do buy from Microcenter theres a $5 coupon out there you print out and bring to store.
 
You see the thing is, I live like half an hour away (in good traffic) from a Microcenter.
 
I can't see a reason to make a change ... especially with a 1060. The change in gaming experience will not be in any way noticeable.

9900k is 1.9 % faster ... big whoop ... https://tpucdn.com/review/intel-core-i9-9900k/images/relative-performance-games-1920-1080.png
3700X is 4% slower .... going backwards ... https://tpucdn.com/review/amd-ryzen-7-3700x/images/relative-performance-games-1920-1080.png

Never quite understood the urge to upgrade a system whereby the end resulst would be to go slower or get an increase that could not be perceived.

If you want to upgrade your Gaming Experience ... I would do the following:

1. Increase your FPS by a factor 3 with an AIB 2080 Super or AIB 2080 with same monitor. That will costs ya $640 - $740

2. Get the best available gaming experience available at present w/ a 165 HZ IPS 10 bit AuOptronics panel which are now available for $550 ... A decent AIB 1060 delivers 60 fps in Witcher 3 . One of these will deliver 120 fps at 1440p in sharp 10 bit color and no ghosting.

Acer XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor

pcpartpicker.com pcpartpicker.com

Both should cost, the same or less than a new system which with brings nothing to the table or loses ground. For less than a new system that does nothing.

Take the 1060 and put it in Dad's system with one of your old monitors... if it's a hot CPU, a $46 Scyth Fuma will outperform most 240 / 280mm AIOs

I'd hold of building anything fresh outta the gate till 1st stepping products have cleared the shelves.... no sense dealing with unstable BIOSs, broken features and lower clocks ... all this will improve in later steppings.
 
But what do I do about my father's current system? It has a 3570K that's quite old that was once overclocked to 4.4 GHz but recently became unstable so I had to revert it to stock clocks. Intel doesn't support it anymore so no new firmware or microcode updates and that means that it's vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown and any of the fixes for them results in less performance. And not only that but much of what he does on it is choking the 3570K. He's got Excel spreadsheets that take forever to load on the 3570K yet they load in no time at all on my 8700K.

So again... what do I do about my father's current system? I want to do an upgrade for him.
 
trparky said:
But what do I do about my father's current system? It has a 3570K that's quite old that was once overclocked to 4.4 GHz but recently became unstable so I had to revert it to stock clocks. Intel doesn't support it anymore so no new firmware or microcode updates and that means that it's vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown and any of the fixes for them results in less performance. And not only that but much of what he does on it is choking the 3570K. He's got Excel spreadsheets that take forever to load on the 3570K yet they load in no time at all on my 8700K.

So again... what do I do about my father's current system? I want to do an upgrade for him.
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3600
 
Get a Ryzen with a good B450 and call it a day. Don't think much. It is the best option both for the present and the future. Less power consumption, better security from vulnerabilities, upgradeability to 16C/32T later on.
 
You guys saying keep the 8700k aren't reading what he's saying though... his use case is 60 hz gaming and VMs. The 3700x is going to be objectively better than the 8700k running multiple VMs. It would make no sense to keep the 8700k and get his Dad a 3600 (unless the goal is simply to save even more money, but that won't get you any increase in VM)

If the goal is to get your Dad upgraded, get the cheapest 1600 and motherboard, and be done with it. But he's already expressed that he wants his Dad to have a nice machine. The 3700x will absolutely benefit him in VMs, which sounds like his only really strenuous activity (because 60hz gaming will not benefit from either option, or ANY of the options that have been thrown out here... both these processors can do 60hz gaming at basically idle clocks lol) If he wanted to do high hz gaming, sure, keep the 8700k. But that's not what he said. His heavy usage is VMs, and the 3700x will blow the 8700k away with 2c/4t more.
 
Alright, maybe you guys are right. Keep my 8700K and just do a cheap upgrade with a Ryzen 5 2600 along with a cheap B450 board.

I’m looking at the Gigabyte B450M DS3H. I need compatible memory, preferably DDR4-3000 CAS16, and I’ll do a cheap upgrade for him.
 
Papahyooie said:
You guys saying keep the 8700k aren't reading what he's saying though... his use case is 60 hz gaming and VMs. The 3700x is going to be objectively better than the 8700k running multiple VMs. It would make no sense to keep the 8700k and get his Dad a 3600 (unless the goal is simply to save even more money, but that won't get you any increase in VM)

If the goal is to get your Dad upgraded, get the cheapest 1600 and motherboard, and be done with it. But he's already expressed that he wants his Dad to have a nice machine. The 3700x will absolutely benefit him in VMs, which sounds like his only really strenuous activity (because 60hz gaming will not benefit from either option, or ANY of the options that have been thrown out here... both these processors can do 60hz gaming at basically idle clocks lol) If he wanted to do high hz gaming, sure, keep the 8700k. But that's not what he said. His heavy usage is VMs, and the 3700x will blow the 8700k away with 2c/4t more.
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In my opinion the occasional once a month VM usage just to test a Win 10 install isn't worth spending a ton of cash. It doesn't sound like a "heavy usage"
I also like to spin up Hyper-V virtual machines for testing stuff in... just because. Right now I have a Hyper-V VM that I test Windows 10 Fast Builds in just to see what Microsoft is up to.
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Unless of course you guys can recommend a better B450 board.
 
Well, my dad has an i5 3470 and he is sattisfied with it. After all, he's not gaming or doing video editing so that he needs something faster.
For the internet, internet banking/shopping and general MS office tasks, an i5 3570K will be more than enough. Ahh... is your father gaming? :laugh:

If you absolutely must replace i7 8700K (which is excellent for gaming and will be so for at least next 3-4 years), I would recommend Ryzen-based system.
 
He plays with Excel spreadsheets that seem to bring his 3570K to its knees. Not only that but because it was once overclocked and now it isn’t due to BSODs, I question the long term stability of the system.
 
Why not do a 3600 for him instead of the 2600, its only $60 more.
 
Vario said:
Why not do a 3600 for him instead of the 2600, its only $60 more.
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Because I can get a B450 motherboard and a Ryzen 5 2600 for $160 plus tax. That’s a steal if I ever saw one!

Now all need is compatible memory and I can start planning his system upgrade.

Edit: Damn autocorrect.
 
Does your dad play games?
 
No, it would be a productivity machine only.
 
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