Question CPU Upgrade

[Sinialtstar]

Hi all
Sorry if this is little vague, but after recently upgrading my Graphics card I am now thinking about upgrading my CPU.
Perhaps a project for me to start in November/December

I currently have a Gigabyte H170-HD3-CF Motherboard paired with a Intel i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz.

Looking at the specs on Gigabytes, website, the best (I assume?) processor this is going to take is a Core i7-7700K @ 4‎.20GHz (after a bios update, as I do not have the latest version (I have been reluctant to update it, in a “if it aint broke don’t fix it kind of way”. As I do not want to brick my motherboard)

I don’t play a lot of games, but when I do I like them to look nice so always want to use max settings.

One of the games that I do play a lot is Train Sim World, kind of runs ok with max settings at the moment however sometimes I get the occasional struggle/frame rate drops with it.

Graphics card is currently a RTX1070 Super, so I think it would benefit from a faster CPU

To Pick up the CPU that is compatible with the motherboard I am looking at over £300, which is a lot for an older CPU (In my opinion) But what I am unsure about is will I see a significant improvement with that. OR would it be worth more in the long run by upgrading the motherboard to take on the i9/i10 processors, for perhaps not much more money, of course I would also probably need to factor in a a new cooler.

Thank you for your help in advance

 

[EndlessWaves]

What memory are you using?

 

[Sinialtstar]

Hi
I am using x2 8GB DDR4 2133MHz (16gb Total)

 

[ostewart]

Hi all
Sorry if this is little vague, but after recently upgrading my Graphics card I am now thinking about upgrading my CPU.
Perhaps a project for me to start in November/December

I currently have a Gigabyte H170-HD3-CF Motherboard paired with a Intel i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz.

Looking at the specs on Gigabytes, website, the best (I assume?) processor this is going to take is a Core i7-7700K @ 4‎.20GHz (after a bios update, as I do not have the latest version (I have been reluctant to update it, in a “if it aint broke don’t fix it kind of way”. As I do not want to brick my motherboard)

I don’t play a lot of games, but when I do I like them to look nice so always want to use max settings.

One of the games that I do play a lot is Train Sim World, kind of runs ok with max settings at the moment however sometimes I get the occasional struggle/frame rate drops with it.

Graphics card is currently a RTX1070 Super, so I think it would benefit from a faster CPU

To Pick up the CPU that is compatible with the motherboard I am looking at over £300, which is a lot for an older CPU (In my opinion) But what I am unsure about is will I see a significant improvement with that. OR would it be worth more in the long run by upgrading the motherboard to take on the i9/i10 processors, for perhaps not much more money, of course I would also probably need to factor in a a new cooler.

Thank you for your help in advance

There is no point getting a K variation of a CPU to use in a H motherboard. You would need a Z170/Z270 to be able to overclock, which is what the K cpu's are for.

I made this mistake when building my PC, and had to change to a Z motherboard to get the most out of the 6700k. You either need to change to a Z motherboard, or buy a normal i7 7700 - not the 7700k. You'll be paying more for a function you can't use with a H motherboard.

Hope that explains it a little.

 

[Fe_man2000]

have you considers switching to a cheap modern AMD cpu, the 3300x is on par with the i7 7700 but costs £120 - you will need a new motherboard as well do get a new version of that and you can upgrade again in a couple of years no problem.

comparision on apps and games which shows that CPU and the i7 7700

AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100 Review

The latest Ryzen processors from AMD are coming in as low as $100 with quad-cores and SMT support. Meet the new Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X, set to cost just $100 and $120, respectively. They feature 4 cores, 8 threads, a large 18MB cache and Wraith Stealth cooler bundle.

www.techspot.com

 

[ostewart]

have you considers switching to a cheap modern AMD cpu, the 3300x is on par with the i7 7700 but costs £120 - you will need a new motherboard as well do get a new version of that and you can upgrade again in a couple of years no problem.

comparision on apps and games which shows that CPU and the i7 7700

AMD Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 3 3100 Review

The latest Ryzen processors from AMD are coming in as low as $100 with quad-cores and SMT support. Meet the new Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X, set to cost just $100 and $120, respectively. They feature 4 cores, 8 threads, a large 18MB cache and Wraith Stealth cooler bundle.

www.techspot.com

This would be the direction I would suggest the OP goes in, I have seen the 3300x is on par with my 6700k pretty much, and is a lot cheaper.

 

[DavidG1]

I would agree with what the other posters have said - additionally Ryzen 3 likes plenty of fast RAM the faster the better - so you would also need to replace your current DDR4 2133 RAM which is slow with fast DDR4 3200 or faster, otherwise your setup will be severely hampered.

 

[ostewart]

I would agree with what the other posters have said - additionally Ryzen 3 likes plenty of fast RAM the faster the better - so you would also need to replace your current DDR4 2133 RAM which is slow with fast DDR4 3200 or faster, otherwise your setup will be severely hampered.

I would actually put a disclaimer on your "severely hampered" quote. We are talking about milliseconds and a few FPS at most.