Worth the upgrade to 8700k from 4770k for 1440p gaming @ 165Hz?

Dedaciai

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 31, 2016
42
20
Hi Everyone,

My current system is getting old, but I was wondering if I upgraded to 8700k from 4770k if I would notice that much of a difference in gaming performance? I game at 1440p at 60Hz but I'll be purchasing a g-sync 1440p 165Hz monitor soon. Would it be worth it to upgrade my whole system or just get a much better card to meet the demands of a high refresh rate monitor.

Thanks in advance!

Dedaciai
 

Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 13, 2017
152
102
Hi Everyone,

My current system is getting old, but I was wondering if I upgraded to 8700k from 4770k if I would notice that much of a difference in gaming performance? I game at 1440p at 60Hz but I'll be purchasing a g-sync 1440p 165Hz monitor soon. Would it be worth it to upgrade my whole system or just get a much better card to meet the demands of a high refresh rate monitor.

Thanks in advance!

Dedaciai
The i7 8700k is a 6 core/ 12 thred CPU so you have to begin 50% more CPU threshold to work with, then the ipc is about 18% faster to begin + a save OC to 5.2 ghz on Air.

I would go for it, because 165 FPS is heavily CPU demanding in newer titles.
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
SFFn Staff
May 9, 2015
5,827
4,902
It depends, the i7-8700K isn't out yet and we have yet to see how it performs properly. You could overclock that i7-4770K and squeeze some more life out of it though. If you can get as far as I did, you might end up with a 25-30% jump in clock speed which for a quad core is still going to give you better results for >100fps 1080p. And this will provide you with something to do while waiting for reviews on the i7-8700K, if it would be an upgrade.
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,935
Also worth considering is the heat output the 8700K will likely have. While I know it is marketed as a 95W part, early benchmarks are indicating it puts out 30-40W more than a 7700K. Considering they've added two cores, they've increased the boost clock but 200 MHz (I think) when compared to the 7700K and the 8700K is built on the same 14nm node as the 7700K, they'd need to have come up with some pretty nifty black magic (or non-shit TIM) to keep this chip from roasting. I am actually going to go out on a limb and say that the 8700K will probably be completely inappropriate for a large portion of smaller SFF builds (ie. S4 Mini).
 

Dedaciai

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 31, 2016
42
20
Thanks for the valuable feedback, videos, and input, everyone! The wife's not going to be happy either way. lol

Currently, I'm running a GTX 970, but regardless of upgrading the whole system, or just the GPU, I'd be looking at the GTX 1080 or waiting till Volta's equivalent of the 1080 to make sure I can really kick up the graphics settings and/or push more frames.
 

gffermari

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 7, 2017
91
91
i'm currently running a system based on 4770K (no OC) and a 1080 Turbo from Asus.
I don't feel that the cpu cannot push the GTX at its limits. On the contrary...
Maybe a 1080Ti or better and a new game engine that uses more than 8 cores/threads would be a reason to change your cpu.

You may upgrade your 970 with a 1070/1080 (preferably used) and settle for a couple of years.

Get a 1080, upgrade your monitor, wait for a new game engine to use efficiently all of this hardware and if you feel that the 4770K bottlenecking, upgrade.
 

FoskcoRS5

Designated LMG
Jan 31, 2017
363
623
I have a 4770K at 4.6 GHz in a Cerberus chassis and I have been wrestling with the same decision for my gaming rig. I game on an ASUS PG279Q (1440p, 165 Hz) monitor so this thread piqued my interest. The 4770K matched with my EVGA GTX 1070 with a Corsair AIO have been doing an amazing job. The 4770K is such a good chip when clocked to 4790K levels that it can be better than a 6700k in single threaded tasks (cpubenchmark.net comparisons).

I had the 4770K matched with an ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1080 O8G in a Corsair 250D with the same cooler for a brief period of time and gaming at 1440p @ 165 Hz was enjoyable. I didn't see any real measureable differences other than frames which you can expect between the two cards.

All of this being said, I will probably decide on upgrading to the 8700K in the Cerberus and pairing it with the ASUS Z370G, *because I want it*.

*Note after Josh's comment*
 
Last edited:

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
Currently rocking an i5 750 CPU & Nvidia GTX 650 Ti GPU, so an eighth gen i7 will be a major upgrade for me; looking to pair the i7 8700K CPU with the (forthcoming) GTX 1070 Ti GPU...
 
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gffermari

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 7, 2017
91
91
Currently rocking an i5 750 CPU & Nvidia GTX 650 Ti GPU, so an eighth gen i7 will be a major upgrade for me; looking to pair the i7 8700K CPU with the (forthcoming) GTX 1070 Ti GPU...

Yes, even with a 4770K the difference would be huge in modern hyperthreaded games like Battlefield 1 and Mass effect Andromeda.
I would go for Ryzen, if i had to upgrade this time. Ryzen 1700 and AM4 platfrom is the best deal this time and is by far more future proof than any Intel's platform.
 

Josh | NFC

Not From Concentrate
NFC Systems
Jun 12, 2015
1,869
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Yes, even with a 4770K the difference would be huge in modern hyperthreaded games like Battlefield 1 and Mass effect Andromeda.
I would go for Ryzen, if i had to upgrade this time. Ryzen 1700 and AM4 platfrom is the best deal this time and is by far more future proof than any Intel's platform.

This is true.

But with PUBG, every frame counts, and I can't afford Elon Musk's new computer:

http://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/e...entire-universe-running-pubg-medium-graphics/
 
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Josh | NFC

Not From Concentrate
NFC Systems
Jun 12, 2015
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The results are in: i7-8700K is mostly an improvement over the i7-7700K and the review samples overclock quite between 5.0 GHz and 5.3 GHz. The i5 and i7 processors are apparently not yet available, should launch in about two weeks.

Maybe we will finally see a price drop on the legendary 4790K, but right now it is still retailing for $380.
 
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MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
The results are in: i7-8700K is mostly an improvement over the i7-7700K and the review samples overclock quite between 5.0 GHz and 5.3 GHz. The i5 and i7 processors are apparently not yet available, should launch in about two weeks.
Strangely...these oc result of 5-5.3 are equal to kabylake...at launch, with delidding...:)
However, strangely, for regular consumers, oc was mostly 4.8-4.9 lol...i'm sure samples received by press are kicj ass in oc..:)
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Gosh...i just saw power consumption on stock core i7 8700K...it's using as much power as threadripper 1950X...ouch...
 

Hifihedgehog

Editor-in-chief of SFFPC.review
May 3, 2016
459
408
www.sffpc.review
Answer: Unless you can adequately deal with the heat with an all-in-one or liquid cooling solution, no.

Take what is below as a warning, especially to us small form factor builders who work in thermally tight quarters and who may be toying with the idea of the Core i7-8700K. Remember: unlike us, the reviewers below often are using open-air, premium liquid cooled test benches in obtaining their results:





 
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MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
i'm disappointed with this power consumption of a stock core i7 8700K...honestly...it cannot be...is core i7 8700K a RX Vega 64 for cpu world?..:D
At least on CPU world AMD is mastering power consumption.

ps : i don't even speak about IHS thermal paste of core i7 8700K.
 
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gffermari

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Jan 7, 2017
91
91
Let's face it. 8700K is not suitable for SFF systems.
It may be handled easily in terms of power consumption if used in Dan's case or M1. A proper SFX psu does not have any problem with it.
Gunique and HDplex are way out of his league, combined with a respective gpu.

But the temperatures are unbeatable. Only AIO could handle them in a small case.
So NCASE M1 or a larger case could host this cpu.
 
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