Could use a second opinion about choosing options

[Soul_Est]

That is exactly my situation, minus a dying laptop. I had to leave behind my old ATX build when moving countries. I was so disappointed the AMD ITX boards were late, as otherwise I'd be happily on AM4 and without a dilemma.

Basically if staying with Z270, I want to keep it for as long as possible. It's the change of platform that is problematic, so if I went with an i5 now I'd be deciding to go all in into the z270 platform, but then I might have nowhere to go if it becomes too weak. An i7, with 8 threads would give me some more headroom to wait for a future platform worth switching to, and hopefully provide more longevity, which is also my priority. My main dilemma has been whether it's enough of a headroom. The i7 provides 30% of raw, multithread performance over the i5 thanks to hyperthreading. A Ryzen 7 gives quadruple the thread count AND an upgrade path, but then I'd have to scrap what I have and go through the hurdles of platform switch now, despite them being still less painful. If I knew for a fact that the 7700 would last me for, say, 5 years, then I'd be fine, as it's easy to switch to it now and by the time I need a new CPU my needs might be different and a platform switch might not be as painful.

Is it better to make to easy decision (i7 7700) or the decision that is easy to live with (switch to AM4)? Usually the latter.

 

[stree]

I see your choice as staying in the last throes of what has beena dominant technology or taking a step into what is coming next.
I know what i chose......Even though it did not make sense in terms of what costs alone dictated...

 

[szymon247]

Just an update. I did a lot of thinking and realized that a 1600x AM4 build would not only be more futureproof, but also flat out faster for everything I do, as I game at 60hz, and by the time Ryzen 5 doesn't do that the 7700 would long be obsolete first considering how threaded the new games have become, and that the 1600x is already faster for other uses, and does more than 60 frames at every game that came out until now, is only going to get better within a year or two while being overclockable at much lower heat.

Right when I was about to pull the trigger a fellow forum member at another board that I frequent offered a deal to sell his 7700K for 220$ if I agree to get it for that price right after Christmas time, as he's going to build a Coffee Lake build at the time and sell his 7700k, and would rather give it away in person to someone trusted rather than list it on Craigslist. I agreed, taking a gamble knowing the 7700k will depreciate in value, but hopefully not that quick to lose a lot on this deal. I know the Ryzen 5 would cost me the same, and comes with the better platform, but the logic was that it's already painful to upgrade now from a platform I just got and set up, I'd have to buy a new motherboard and sell the z270 board at a loss and the 7700k should last me the 2-3 years until new major features are out, hopefully, since my use-cases are more GPU than CPU heavy.

Other than sour taste of being on a dead end platform that does not seem to have much future in it, the problem will be cooling that thing. I assume I'll have to downclock and undervolt anyway, but I might get away with slightly more frequency than a 7700 would give me.

TLDR: Will get the hot and quickly depreciating 7700k for 220$, semi-happy about it but it's the cheaper and more convenient option, but next time I will get the platform offering more longevity, likely going to be AMD as getting Intel made me regret the decision the very same year, but I have to live with it now and try to make the best of it.