Cpu upgrade. Can I put 9700k in.

imginy · 21 Jan 2020 at 07:08

Hi guys,

I wanna replace my i5 8400 with something faster.

My board is a z370 aorus gaming 3 can I drop a 9700k/9700kf straight in here?

I have been looking at 8700 8700k 9700 9700k 9700kf. They all seem to be around same price £300, only about £20 difference between different models. I guess 9700k or kf would be the one to go for as long as my board can handle it.

Joxeon · 21 Jan 2020 at 07:38

It will support all those CPUs so long as you update bios to the latest.

imginy · 21 Jan 2020 at 08:09

Joxeon said:
It will support all those CPUs so long as you update bios to the latest.

Ok thanks for confirming that.

Also any idea what sort of clocks my board could handle with a 9700k? It was a fairly cheap board around £130 just wondering what I should set the core speed at.

pastymuncher · 21 Jan 2020 at 10:12

Tweaktown managed to get a 8700k to 4.9Ghz in their review of your board and Bit-tech managed 5Ghz on their 8700k in their review so I would expect something similar with a 9700k. The prices of those cpu's are just ridiculous though.

Joxeon · 21 Jan 2020 at 10:16

5ghz should be fine if all your doing is gaming.

imginy · 21 Jan 2020 at 11:50

Oh nice one guys thanks and yeah it is just for gaming (1440p 120hz)

I will grab a 5800/5900xt to put with it later in the year.

MartinPrince · 22 Jan 2020 at 09:48

imginy said:
Oh nice one guys thanks and yeah it is just for gaming (1440p 120hz)

I will grab a 5800/5900xt to put with it later in the year.

Make sure to avoid any old stock of 9700K, they are the older stepping of P0, you want the newer silicon which is R0.

imginy · 22 Jan 2020 at 14:03

MartinPrince said:
Make sure to avoid any old stock of 9700K, they are the older stepping of P0, you want the newer silicon which is R0.

Not sure what I will be getting.

I have ordered a 9700k but had to order from abroad as couldn't see anywhere in uk still selling them around the £300 price they were before Christmas.

I was going to get the 9700kf from ocuk but price has gone up.

Does it make much difference what one I get?

Joxeon · 22 Jan 2020 at 14:07

imginy said:
Not sure what I will be getting.

I have ordered a 9700k but had to order from abroad as couldn't see anywhere in uk still selling them around the £300 price they were before Christmas.

I was going to get the 9700kf from ocuk but price has gone up.

Does it make much difference what one I get?

They are essentially the same chips the K has onboard graphics the KF doesnt so long as your using a dedicated gpu it makes no difference.

Deleted User 456458 · 22 Jan 2020 at 15:26

Without Hyperthreading you will have temp headroom so oc the hell out it.

imginy · 22 Jan 2020 at 15:40

Robert896r1 said:
Without Hyperthreading you will have temp headroom so oc the hell out it.

I look forward to clocking it up but for now it will be mild OC.

I just have a small/medium size air cooler on there right now so will be using that for the time being.

I have a big phanteks but that is still on my old ivy bridge and is a pain to fit.

I guess I will end up putting one of the all in one water coolers on at some point.

Phil2008 · 22 Jan 2020 at 16:30

pastymuncher said:
Tweaktown managed to get a 8700k to 4.9Ghz in their review of your board and Bit-tech managed 5Ghz on their 8700k in their review so I would expect something similar with a 9700k. The prices of those cpu's are just ridiculous thopugh.

I only paid about £350 for my 8086k when it came out.

MartinPrince · 22 Jan 2020 at 16:50

imginy said:
I look forward to clocking it up but for now it will be mild OC.

I just have a small/medium size air cooler on there right now so will be using that for the time being.

I have a big phanteks but that is still on my old ivy bridge and is a pain to fit.

I guess I will end up putting one of the all in one water coolers on at some point.

The 9700k/kf is probably the best one for your motherboard as there will be less strain on the weaker VRM's.

I used the same motherboard as you and with a 9700k R0 and could do 5.2Ghz though it needed 1.32v and the VRM's were running a little toasty under load so you should monitor those temps with HWinfo. Decent case cooling can help in this regard.

imginy · 22 Jan 2020 at 18:47

MartinPrince said:
The 9700k/kf is probably the best one for your motherboard as there will be less strain on the weaker VRM's.

I used the same motherboard as you and with a 9700k R0 and could do 5.2Ghz though it needed 1.32v and the VRM's were running a little toasty under load so you should monitor those temps with HWinfo. Decent case cooling can help in this regard.

That's good news then. I do a nice big case , I think it's a called a coolermaster master case.

Once I get a new cooler I would be very happy with 5ghz all cores. That should last me quite a few years gaming before I need to upgrade again.

Phil2008 · 22 Jan 2020 at 23:22

I think Id buy the 9900k due to the higher clockspeed, then you have more chance getting it to 5ghz on all cores. My 8086k runs at 4.0ghz at default and it starts to get tosty at 5.0ghz+. But I am using the same cpu cooler as I had for my 2500k cpu, the Thermalright True Black 120... The colour of the cpu fan and the black of the cooler, goes very nicely with the rest of the stuff in my smallish case, so I didnt want to get rid of it. I could push my cpu higher then 4.9ghz with a better cooler, but its not like i will gain much from another 100 to 200mhz more, 5ghz just sounds better then 4.9ghz

imginy · 23 Jan 2020 at 03:44

When my 9700k turns up what should I set my voltage and clocks to?

My current cooler is just one of these little pure rocks. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-pure-rock-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-010-bq.html

I will probably get a decent all in one water cooler for it at some point but for now I haven't got the money to get one.

@Phil2008 that's a nice looking rig

Phil2008 · 23 Jan 2020 at 17:38

When I over clock my cpu I firstly set the cores at a little lower to what speed I want them to run at and if temps are ok under stress I then slowly put them up to what I want them to run at.

Then comes the tedious bit. I begin slowly turning down the cpu volts untill cpu fails when stressed or windows crashes/hangs. Then I increse the cpu volts untill intel burntest or whatever stress program Im using use runs for about 10mins without failing. Then when I have done that I run the stress program for 12/24 hrs and keep fingers and toes crossed that it dont fail and if it does, increase the volts a notch, then try again with the stress program..

If you do it the long and boring way,, the cpu will run at the least amount of volts as possible and run as cool as possible too. Not to mention You'll have a rock stable cpu that will be up for anything you throw at it.

I hope all that makes sense....

Ah yeah,, I disable turbo boost aswel and left the power saving features on in the bios, because then when the cpu is at idel or not doing much the clock speeds are automatically turned right down, then as soon as the cpu does work, the clock speeds shoot back up to your clockspeed settings

Idel

Load

Other than adjusting the cores clock speeds, cpu volts and disabling turbo boost, I leave everything else alone in the bios.

imginy · 24 Jan 2020 at 00:28

Phil2008 said:
When I over clock my cpu I firstly set the cores at a little lower to what speed I want them to run at and if temps are ok under stress I then slowly put them up to what I want them to run at.

Then comes the tedious bit. I begin slowly turning down the cpu volts untill cpu fails when stressed or windows crashes/hangs. Then I increse the cpu volts untill intel burntest or whatever stress program Im using use runs for about 10mins without failing. Then when I have done that I run the stress program for 12/24 hrs and keep fingers and toes crossed that it dont fail and if it does, increase the volts a notch, then try again with the stress program..

If you do it the long and boring way,, the cpu will run at the least amount of volts as possible and run as cool as possible too. Not to mention You'll have a rock stable cpu that will be up for anything you throw at it.

I hope all that makes sense....

Ah yeah,, I disable turbo boost aswel and left the power saving features on in the bios, because then when the cpu is at idel or not doing much the clock speeds are automatically turned right down, then as soon as the cpu does work, the clock speeds shoot back up to your clockspeed settings

Idel

Load

Other than adjusting the cores clock speeds, cpu volts and disabling turbo boost, I leave everything else alone in the bios.

To be honest I don't wanna do it the long way.

Can someone just give me suggestion of what voltage I can use with my cooler? (£30 pure rock)

Then I will try 4.7 and if that works I will try 4.8.

MartinPrince · 24 Jan 2020 at 01:57

imginy said:
To be honest I don't wanna do it the long way.

Can someone just give me suggestion of what voltage I can use with my cooler? (£30 pure rock)

Then I will try 4.7 and if that works I will try 4.8.

Start with 1.30v manual, constant voltage (you don't really want to go higher than this). You should be fine starting at 4.9Ghz but you can start lower if you want. Get Realbench 2.56 and use the stress test for 15min initially, at the same time have HWInfo64 sensor readings running and find the VRM readings and CPU temps (use 'CPU Package')

CPU temp should stay less than 90c for this. VRM temps should probably be at least 10c lower than CPU temps on z370. Adjust voltage down if CPU/VRM start to exceed this.

It's also good to get a baseline and running Realbench with everything at stock and seeing what max CPU/VRM temps you get and the stock voltage.

Also set LLC to Turbo. You can leave pretty much everything else at Auto. Good luck.

imginy · 24 Jan 2020 at 02:31

MartinPrince said:
Start with 1.30v manual, constant voltage (you don't really want to go higher than this). You should be fine starting at 4.9Ghz but you can start lower if you want. Get Realbench 2.56 and use the stress test for 15min initially, at the same time have HWInfo64 sensor readings running and find the VRM readings and CPU temps (use 'CPU Package')

CPU temp should stay less than 90c for this. VRM temps should probably be at least 10c lower than CPU temps on z370. Adjust voltage down if CPU/VRM start to exceed this.

It's also good to get a baseline and running Realbench with everything at stock and seeing what max CPU/VRM temps you get and the stock voltage.

Also set LLC to Turbo. You can leave pretty much everything else at Auto. Good luck.

Perfect thanks