I7 7700k should I buy?!

Coowhan · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:18

I'm currently making a PC build to buy asap but just came across all the scruitiny against the 7700k and overheating. It was the processor I was going to be buying along with the MSI M7 Z270 board. Now I'm seriously doubting whether to go ahead with the i7 or not as it's a £1,300 build and debating whether to just save some money or not as it is worrying. Overclocking no longer seems to be an option.

Any suggestions or people that have upgraded to the 7700k?

Tom B · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:21

What do you have at the moment? It's also worth considering a Ryzen 1700 and saving some money.

If you don't need to buy right now you will certainly be better off waiting for 6 core coffee lake CPUs to be released later this year

~>Dg<~ · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:22

id personally wait for the intel x6 cores.

Coowhan · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:30

I don't have a PC ATM, not been a PC gamer for about 4 years but I would really like to buy ASAP.

It doesn't fill me with confidence reading all the problems with the 7700k, so I'm looking at other options. Unsure on AMD though as I don't know a lot about what's compatible etc.

Tom B · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:35

Coowhan said:
I don't have a PC ATM, not been a PC gamer for about 4 years but I would really like to buy ASAP.

It doesn't fill me with confidence reading all the problems with the 7700k, so I'm looking at other options. Unsure on AMD though as I don't know a lot about what's compatible etc.

The 7700K is a *very* capable CPU. It's not perfect but you won't have any problems unless you attempt high overclocks without sufficient cooling. In reality the problems are relatively minor. The same is true of Ryzen, although the platform is a lot less mature, most of the main problems have been ironed out now. It's unlikely you'll run into any major problems with either CPU.

Coowhan · 23 Jul 2017 at 19:41

Tom B said:
The 7700K is a *very* capable CPU. It's not perfect but you won't have any problems unless you attempt high overclocks without sufficient cooling. In reality the problems are relatively minor. The same is true of Ryzen, although the platform is a lot less mature, most of the main problems have been ironed out now. It's unlikely you'll run into any major problems with either CPU.

Ah okay, I was pretty much ready to hit the buy button. Decided to do some research on the main components I selected, made a few changes after reading reviews regarding motherboard etc. and came across this about the PSU.

I was going to overclock but it was just a minor 10% but I will maybe leave it for now. I am going for liquid cooling for the PSU and my case has I think 4 or 5 140mm fans in total IIRC. Will double check.

gavinh87 · 23 Jul 2017 at 20:10

Coowhan said:
Ah okay, I was pretty much ready to hit the buy button. Decided to do some research on the main components I selected, made a few changes after reading reviews regarding motherboard etc. and came across this about the PSU.

I was going to overclock but it was just a minor 10% but I will maybe leave it for now. I am going for liquid cooling for the PSU and my case has I think 4 or 5 140mm fans in total IIRC. Will double check.

Do you mean liquid cool the CPU?

TallPaul1878 · 23 Jul 2017 at 20:13

If finance is an issue then go with the AMD R5 1600 and the ASUS Strix B350 motherboard.

You'll be saving about £150 for a near negligible performance difference.

voidshatter · 23 Jul 2017 at 20:37

Coowhan said:
I don't have a PC ATM, not been a PC gamer for about 4 years but I would really like to buy ASAP.

It doesn't fill me with confidence reading all the problems with the 7700k, so I'm looking at other options. Unsure on AMD though as I don't know a lot about what's compatible etc.

You could wait for Coffee Lake (rumoured for announcement next month) 6-core 8700K, which is rumoured to clock 200MHz slower than quad-core 7700K.

You could also go for Ryzen 1800X, which is not so great at single-thread performance (i.e. 7700K@5GHz is about 15% slower at multi-thread and 47% faster at single-thread than 1800X@4GHz).

If you go for 7700K, it is almost mandatory to do delidding to reduce temperature. With delidding, 7700K will continue to serve you well for single-thread performance for the years to come.

Panos · 23 Jul 2017 at 20:44

TallPaul1878 said:
If finance is an issue then go with the AMD R5 1600 and the ASUS Strix B350 motherboard.

You'll be saving about £150 for a near negligible performance difference.

Good choice but make sure you buy 3200mhz ram compatible with the motherboard spec.

AiiR · 23 Jul 2017 at 21:22

Just go for Ryzen, don't wait around.

humbug · 24 Jul 2017 at 17:33

Save a ton of money and get yourself a Ryzen 1600, you're not going to notice the difference between it and a 7700K.

And the Ryzen 1600 overclocks on its stock cooler.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1450-core-i7-vs-ryzen-5-hexa-core/

Motherboard and CPU costs less than the 7700K alone...

Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 £200

MSI B350 Tomahawk AMD B350 £100

£300 Total, Job done.

gavinh87 · 24 Jul 2017 at 18:47

Sound advice ^^

chaparral · 24 Jul 2017 at 18:48

humbug said:
Save a ton of money and get yourself a Ryzen 1600, you're not going to notice the difference between it and a 7700K.

And the Ryzen 1600 overclocks on its stock cooler.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1450-core-i7-vs-ryzen-5-hexa-core/

Motherboard and CPU costs less than the 7700K alone...

Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 £200

MSI B350 Tomahawk AMD B350 £100

£300 Total, Job done.

I would trust that graph

As an overclock on a i7-7700K from 4.2Ghz to 4.9Ghz is going give you more then a 3fps increase

EDIT: Looks like am wrong as the stock i7-7700K goes up to 4.5ghz in turbo frequency (or whatever you want to call it)

humbug · 24 Jul 2017 at 18:53

chaparral said:
I would trust that graph

As an overclock on a i7-7700K from 4.2Ghz to 4.9Ghz is going give you more then a 3fps increase

Read the Graph, its overall performance out of 30 games, several of the games the 7700K is no faster than the 1600 and one or two were frame capped and a couple the Ryzen 1600 was some what slower.

I'm pretty sure the 7700K also boost to 4.5Ghz, that's not a lot of difference. overclocking eventually has diminishing returns.

GPU used was the 1080TI.

chaparral · 24 Jul 2017 at 18:57

humbug said:
Read the Graph, its overall performance out of 30 games, several of the games the 7700K is no faster than the 1600 and one or two were frame capped and a couple the Ryzen 1600 was some what slower.

GPU used was the 1080TI.

See my edit

humbug · 24 Jul 2017 at 18:59

chaparral said:
See my edit

Got it

jaffveyda · 24 Jul 2017 at 19:36

humbug said:
Read the Graph, its overall performance out of 30 games, several of the games the 7700K is no faster than the 1600 and one or two were frame capped and a couple the Ryzen 1600 was some what slower.

I'm pretty sure the 7700K also boost to 4.5Ghz, that's not a lot of difference. overclocking eventually has diminishing returns.

GPU used was the 1080TI.

Am I correct to say it that with slower card i.e. GtX 1070 you wouldn't see the difference between those processors ?

gavinh87 · 24 Jul 2017 at 19:42

jaffveyda said:
Am I correct to say it that with slower card i.e. GtX 1070 you wouldn't see the difference between those processors ?

Yeah, I would imagine with anything less than a 1080ti the difference would be within margin of error.
The fact that a £200 cpu can push that GPU is really good.

subbytna · 24 Jul 2017 at 20:22

Ryzen is the way forward. Just did a client build with a 1700 CPU paired with a 1080Ti and it's an absolute monster setup. Smashed my own 6 core CPU in benches whilst staying around 50 degrees with AIO cooling. Gave me an upgrade itch!!! lol

Get the 1600 and save yourself a wad of cash.