8700k or 9700k?

Daniel Pedrini · 28 Feb 2019 at 12:32

I'm about to start building a new gaming PC (will only be used for gaming) and wanted to know which is the better CPU for gaming - the 8700k or the 9700k? At the moment the price between the two is pretty similar with around £20 difference so will buy whichever one I'm going to get better gaming performance from after overclocking.

Main hardware I'm using -

Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Pro Motherboard
Gigabyte Aorus RTX 2070 Xtreme
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB @ 3200 mhz
Noctua NH-U14S cooler

Any advice will be much appreciated.

youdsy · 28 Feb 2019 at 12:40

9700K

Squink · 28 Feb 2019 at 13:27

9700k...slightly

evo4ever86 · 1 Mar 2019 at 21:59

There's barely anything between them, I guess it would go down to which clocks better. Personally I'd go with the extra threads (8700K). Remember the 9700K has no HyperThreading so it's handicapped on threads. 8 vs 12. I guess that wouldn't make any difference in games but you'll fair better in more CPU intensive apps with an 8700K.

IT Troll · 2 Mar 2019 at 09:17

9700K. Real cores beat logical. There are a couple of render/encoding apps where the difference is minimal or the 8700K take a small lead. But otherwise the 9700K offers more performance, has the soldered heatspreader and has some in-silicon security fixes.

Hyperthreading can actually be a hinderance in some games if threads are not distributed evenly across physical cores.

evo4ever86 · 2 Mar 2019 at 12:47

IT Troll said:
9700K. Real cores beat logical. There are a couple of render/encoding apps where the difference is minimal or the 8700K take a small lead. But otherwise the 9700K offers more performance, has the soldered heatspreader and has some in-silicon security fixes.

Hyperthreading can actually be a hinderance in some games if threads are not distributed evenly across physical cores.

The IHS is soldered on the 9700K? So no delidding? Meh I don't fancy that like. Maybe the TIM is better on the 9700K?

IT Troll · 2 Mar 2019 at 13:10

evo4ever86 said:
The IHS is soldered on the 9700K? So no delidding? Meh I don't fancy that like. Maybe the TIM is better on the 9700K?

Yes, it’s soldered. So out the box it is ~10 degrees cooler than the toothpaste generation, but if you want to delid it is much trickier.

NinjaCool · 2 Mar 2019 at 14:49

8 physical cores should be better for gaming vs the 6 on the 8700k, so I would pick the 9700K for a gaming build.

evo4ever86 · 2 Mar 2019 at 22:33

IT Troll said:
Yes, it’s soldered. So out the box it is ~10 degrees cooler than the toothpaste generation, but if you want to delid it is much trickier.

It's nearly impossible to delid a soldered CPU without incredible risk!

IT Troll · 3 Mar 2019 at 00:38

evo4ever86 said:
It's nearly impossible to delid a soldered CPU without incredible risk!

I did say it was tricky. Certainly not something I would try as in my opinion the gains aren’t worth the risk. But others have and do.

Conor. · 3 Mar 2019 at 13:27

I know it’s not the question but the 2700X is a much smarter choice.

easyrider · 3 Mar 2019 at 19:20

Conor. said:
I know it’s not the question but the 2700X is a much smarter choice.

Then why post ?

Conor. · 3 Mar 2019 at 19:30

easyrider said:
Then why post ?

So that they are aware that it exists.

easyrider · 3 Mar 2019 at 19:51

Conor. said:
So that they are aware that it exists.

Read the opening post again...he's got the hardware for an Intel build.

Then you suggest a 2700x ?

Why?

Conor. · 3 Mar 2019 at 22:15

easyrider said:
Read the opening post again...he's got the hardware for an Intel build.

Then you suggest a 2700x ?

Why?

My bad I didn’t see that. I should have paid more attention to the motherboard. Sorry.

Vish Petrol · 3 Mar 2019 at 23:43

Daniel Pedrini said:
I'm about to start building a new gaming PC (will only be used for gaming) and wanted to know which is the better CPU for gaming - the 8700k or the 9700k? At the moment the price between the two is pretty similar with around £20 difference so will buy whichever one I'm going to get better gaming performance from after overclocking.

Main hardware I'm using -

Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Pro Motherboard
Gigabyte Aorus RTX 2070 Xtreme
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB @ 3200 mhz
Noctua NH-U14S cooler

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Have you bought the z390 mobo and RTX 2070? If not I would suggest that you save money by going for a 2700x and put the rest towards the GPU. Or get a 1700 and overclock it until Ryzen 3000 comes out and get the 8/12/16 core part that overclocks the best.

varkanoid · 8 Mar 2019 at 22:54

IT Troll said:
I did say it was tricky. Certainly not something I would try as in my opinion the gains aren’t worth the risk. But others have and do.

not many if you do a google! Its not just tricky but as said incredibly difficult to do without breaking the CPU. Unlike with the un-soldered variety where I just used a wooden mallet, two pieces of wood and a cushion to catch the CPU. Nowadays I just bought a cheap 3d Printed device to do my 8700k.

Distracted · 8 Mar 2019 at 23:11

Intel soldered 9 series cpus are easy to delid. The only part that is different vs non soldered is that the tim being solder wont wipe off and takes some time to remove with a plastic card/knife/solution. It can be done with zero damage to the silicon, time is the only cost.

This applies to the coffee lake refresh series of CPUs. They have soft solder and removing the IHS has no more risk than removing it from the 8th gen etc.

CuriousTomCat · 8 Mar 2019 at 23:54

I love the fact that the new 9700K is basically the same speed and more expensive yet most people love them.

Yet Nvidia released a new generation that's a massive 35% faster and more expensive yet people hate them. Nvidia should be feeling the love in comparison with rising share prices lol

IT Troll · 11 Mar 2019 at 21:28

CuriousTomCat said:
I love the fact that the new 9700K is basically the same speed and more expensive yet most people love them.

And a couple more cores.