8700k to 12700k worth it or wait.

[uksoldierboy]

Hiya guys,
I've used my 8700k for what seems an eternity, certainly longer than i ever imagined i would, it's been brilliant in fairness in the Maximus X board, it's been overclocked to 4.8 all cores with no added voltage for about 2 years and i've not had an issue.
but i'm tempted by AlderLake and the 12600 or 12700k, new platform, features etc.

Anyone done a similar upgrade, how did you find it? i've ordered a 6900xt to replace my 2070 Super but i'm interested to see what sort of performance uplift i'll get from the CPU and platform change alone.

Cheers for any advice, experiences etc.

 

[uksoldierboy]

Cheers Micky,
at 1440p, doesn't seem like there's much in it does it, maybe i'll wait out until next year, difficult to ignore the itch though.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I've just done this upgrade myself from a binned delidded 8700k @ 5.1g to a 12700kf. I game at 3840*1600 so nearly 4K.

After 4 years on the mighty 8700k I felt the 12700k was a good enough chip to warranty it. Very pleased so far, I get another 20fps in broken Battlefield 2042 just from upgrading my CPU alone even though I should be GPU limited and it overclocks with ease to 5g on all 8 performance cores with 3.8 on the e cores, not pushed any further yet.

Appreciate this bud thank you, it's nice to see you've noticed an increase in the broken mess that is BF2042, although I will say I'm still enjoying playing it, just fingers crossed they really start patching the issues out and optimize more.
I think what I'm going to do is just go for it, I've already got the 6900xt strix LC on route which should be a nice upgrade from the 2070 super, I'll grab a Asus Strix Z690 A D4, the 12700kf and some faster ram, see how the land looks then come end of next year.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I'm in a similar situation. Got an 8700K and looking to secure a new high-end graphics card. Running a 3440x1440 144hz monitor. At this resolution, is it worth the platform change to Alder Lake? I'm looking at the 6900XT or 3080/3080Ti as upgrade options.

For what it's worth, I moved from using a 2070super to a toxic limited edition 6900xt, the performance increase with just that has been huge, although it's definitely highlighted the need to upgrade the cpu too, which is what I'm struggling with, I either wait out for AMDs new stuff, or jump on the Alderlake wagon with either a 12600kf or 12700kf, I'm tempted to use the ddr4 I have now, sell my 8700k and Asus formula board, claim the cashback deal that asus are running, and the upgrade should only cost me £150-250 by the end.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I've got a 6900XT coming today m8 so should pair well with my clocked 12700k. If anything you need to know just ask

Also the Asus cashback ended on the 30th I got the Z690-A Strix Gaming D4 which means I got it for £235 w/cashback which isn't too bad for pretty much the best DDR4 board out there.

Ah nice one, what 6900xt did you go with Jedi? I've also been looking at the Strx D4 with either the 12600kf or the 12700kf, i'd defintely be interested in your thoughts bud that would be great.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I changed from a 9900k at 5.1Ghz to a 12700k and with the cheapest DDR4 board I could find at the time, the MSI Z690 Pro non WiFi. I had already seen a few vids about that board and it did seem good to go.

I have only just finished building it up, the 12700k is still at stock and will probably remain so for some time.

For me and my needs I was focussing more on CPU types of games where it can be somewhat difficult to measure an improvement.

As a rough guide I saw.........

This is with my 9900k running at 5.1 Ghz..........

38 FPS.

If I dropped from 1440p to 1080p the performance would be exactly the same. The game is more orientated around IPS and does not use multi cores very well.

This is directly after my build and with zero overclock.....................

so from 38 to 52 FPS and around a 33% increase, not good at Maths tho.

The game is Workers and Resources Soviet Republic. Whilst that is only one, not very exact, measurement I am hoping that Cities Skylines, Civ type games and the campaign maps of Total War games, turn based, will improve.

I just would not have thought that I would have seen such an improvement from a 9900k overclocked to 5.1Ghz to a stock 12700k.

The E cores do get used in other games..................Civ VI......

I'm happy enough with my early findings - of course I'm always happy after a build when the PC goes through POST...................!

The Windows 11 install from my Z390 was used for the Z690 build, installing the chipset drivers just before the change. All seems well once reactivated.

Appreciate this vimes thanks bud, certainly a nice improvement there! i'm so tempted to just pull the trigger and move to AlderLake.

 

[uksoldierboy]

The 6900xt is certainly held back by the 8700k i was about to check out with a 12700k and the Asus strix D4, but can't see an option for delivery for tomorrow i thought sure that OCUK were doing a Saturday deliveries.

 

[uksoldierboy]

Monday to Friday for their delivery options. Also I used to think that loyal members not only got free shipping but also free next day shipping. That also isn't the case all the time.

I see you are getting a full fat motherboard

Yeah i get the free shipping and such well i've ordered, slight changed of plan though, change the CPU to the 12600Kf, along with the Asus Strix D4, i'd rather save the £100 difference going to the 12700Kf, after speaking to a friend that's moved from a 8086k @5.1 to the 12600k, he's extremely pleased with the performance increase, so i'll give it a go too.

Exciting times, know i need to just figure out moving to windows 11, doesn't windows go crazy if you swap out Hardware and enter the same key? what's my best course of action guys, i'd like a fresh install tbh.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I just switched to a 12700k and the rog strix D4, did a fresh install, and even though the key is apparently linked to your account, i had to put in a new key for it to activate. No worries though as i used a win7 key i bought in 2017 and ended up with activated win 11 pro . I just figured a fresh install better going from Amd (2600x) to intel, plus it cleans out all the old drivers.
I have a custom loop cooling chip and GPU

The board looks great, I thought it was white but it appears silver?

 

[uksoldierboy]

Something I'm finding really annoying is the Corsair H115i Pro RGB which doesn't support Alder Lake. Apparently, it's because Corsair doesn't work with Asetek anymore. A pain I can't use my existing cooler though.

Funny you should mention this, had all my stuff delivered today, set about building it, even ordered the retro fit kit from corsair for my h150i Pro rgb, didn't realise there was a difference between the pro and xt, but there must be, doesn't work, the stand offs don't have enough on them to ensure a tight fit onto the cpu, just loads of play in it between the stand offs and back plate.
Extremely frustrating tbh, wasted most of my night trying to figure out a solution.
To that end, I need a new cpu cooler that'll just fit and work.

 

[uksoldierboy]

I recently got a Sapphire 6900XT Toxic Limited edition too, have you tried overclocking it? Also with BF 2042 I keep getting driver crash constantly and i've tried everything to fix it, still to no avail. I get the direct X Function "Getdeviceremovereason" error

Hiya bud, yeah I've tried overclocking it, first I used the Radeon software, enabled all the tuning features but just increased power limit to +15%, in Timespy standard that gave me a stock score on gpu of about 22300.
You can use Trixx software and enable Toxic mode which raises the max clocks to 2660, thr memory to 2100mhz for a simple boost.
Further to that, I've had a play in MPT, using LtMatts numbers to increase powerlimit, 450w, 425TDC and 60 SOC.
This allowed me to bump up the clocks to min 2660 - max 2760, fast timings on memory, again in timespy this gave me a gpu score of about 24k, there's still plenty more in the tank I feel, but it'll require some voltage to get there, so for the time being I've left it until I'm up and running on the new system (Alderlake build) which should be completed today.
The 8700k I had even at 5ghz was holding the card back.
In regards to Bf2042, it's a mess tbh, but if it helps, the settings I'm using are all ultra, 1440p 165hz,
Future frame and vsync off.
In radeon software:
2560 min 2660 max
2100mhz mem, Fast timings
Powerlimit +15%

This has been stable for me, avg core speed is about 2640, normally over 100fps avg.

Anything else I can help with let me know.

 

[uksoldierboy]

Feel your pain, I had a RGB pro and had to upgrade, though it was clear on their website the standoffs don't work on this model and only the XT afterwards, I've changed to the LCD version now which is pretty nice.

Honestly bud a proper ball ache, yeah saw the incompatibility but just thought I'd give it a go, I wasn't sure on the differences with the XT, but I couldn't see much.
Fingers crossed it all works when it arrives today, are you using Windows 11? If so how are you finding it?

 

[uksoldierboy]

Thanks for that buddy. I'll give your settings a go and hopefully that should reduce my crashes. I'm really surprised 8700K was holding you back. It isn't a slouch of a CPU. I'm running a 10900k @5.2GHZ with it. I game at 1440p @ 165HZ.

No worries bud, yeah I was surprised too tbh, but it's definitely is, not by a huge margin, though, but spending this sort of money on a graphics card I was it firing in all cylinders lol.

 

[uksoldierboy]

Wondering if I should go 12600K, 5800X or 12700K with 99.9% being for gaming.

I'm extremely impressed with this 12600k so far, 5.1 was easy, I'm sure it'll do more, for gaming I can't think of any reason to not get it.