Worth upgrading from i5 4400 to i7 7700K / Ryzen 5 1600X for gaming?

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bazzingabear

bazzingabear

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My current build is as follows:

GPU - EVGA SC GTX 1070 8GB

CPU - i5 4440 (3.1 GHz, LGA 1150, Haswell)

PSU - Seasonic S12II 620W Bronze

RAM - G.Skill Sniper 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz

MB - Gigabyte H81M-WW (Micro-ATX)

Monitor - Acer Predator XB241H 24" 144Hz

Storage - Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB, Samsung 840 Series 120 GB, WD Blue 2TB

I use this primarily for gaming @ 1080p @ 144 Hz, and for general activities such as surfing and watching movies; I don't use this PC for anything else such as video editing/rendering, and neither am I too keen about overclocking (although I wouldn't mind wetting my toes sometime in the future if I get a K processor). I mostly play SP games (including most of the new ones), but indulge in Rocket League & DOOM MP occasionally too.

I'm considering buying a new case and have the Corsair Carbide SPEC-03 in mind. While I'm at it, I'd love to know if upgrading to either an i7 7700K or a Ryzen 5 1600X would be beneficial at all to me? If I end up upgrading, I shall be sticking with the setup for at-least the next 3-4 years, so I'm just wondering if now is a good time to do so.

I realize that I shall have to invest towards a compatible motherboard & DDR4 RAM as well, but that's not really an issue if the performance gain would be noticeable, or if the games coming out in the next 2-3 years will run significantly better than they would on the current i5 @ 1080p @ 144 Hz.

I'm not flush with cash, but wouldn't mind splurging a bit if it really gets me a noticeable boost in gaming and day-to-day activities . Any recommendations or inputs will be most appreciated, thanks!
 
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J
''My current mother board has 1 CPU fan header and only 1 SYSFAN header, along with only 2x USB 3.0 ports at the back and no 3.0 front panel header.

you can get a fan splitter or fan controller for cheap and also a usb hub as well

rear
https://www.amazon.com/CGTime-Motherboard-Expansion-Header-Bracket/dp/B01MDV44PD

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1JM27U5624


fan

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812423163&cm_re=fan_splitter-_-12-423-163-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8HV3547766&cm_re=fan_controler-_-11-991-006-_-Product

in the end its all your call

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Supernova1138

Supernova1138

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Mar 22, 2011
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You're probably best off just buying an i7 4790k (for the high stock clock speed, you won't be able to overclock with your motherboard) and leaving it at that. Kaby Lake and Ryzen really aren't much faster in gaming than Haswell is and it's probably not worth spending all that money for a full platform upgrade unless you feel heavily restricted by your current motherboard's I/O or feel you really need some of the newer chipset features on offer.
 
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junkeymonkey

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bazzingabear

bazzingabear

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I see, knowing that certainly helps. I was under the impression that my i5 was becoming old and wouldn't be able to handle the newer games well enough (I don't even know if these 'newer games' will be utilizing the additional cores/threads).



I don't even have any clue as to what the newer chipset offers, but I should've mentioned this in the OP, and for that I apologize: I very much do feel restricted by my motherboard's I/O and was actually eyeing the GA-H97M-D3H motherboard as a replacement (this costs ~$130 - I'd love to get a LGA 1150 ATX board but those seem to have become rare and much pricier in India and also, it doesn't seem start to buy an ~EOL mobo now), which is where this whole upgrade train of thought started in the first place. My current mother board has 1 CPU fan header and only 1 SYSFAN header, along with only 2x USB 3.0 ports at the back and no 3.0 front panel header. I have a USB 3.0 PCI card lyig somewhere but am unable to fit it since the GTX 1070 takes both the slots. If my USB and FAN problems can be solved with the use of hubs & splitters without jeopardizing the cable management (Carbide SPEC-03 has a transparent side panel and I'm considering getting red LED fans to bling the chassis up a bit), I'd actually be super happy and might even drop the upgrade plan.
 
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bazzingabear

bazzingabear

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Thank you for taking the time to list out some parts. I should've mentioned this earlier, but I'm actually far less happier with my motherboard than my CPU, so it's the first thing that I'd like to change. I'd even be okay with settling with the same i5 if I can get hold of a decent motherboard, but buying a LGA 1150 motherboard doesn't seem too smart. Hence the whole upgrade shenanigan.
 
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junkeymonkey

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not to say ryzen is better then skylake or kerby intel but may hang on a bit longer to see if intel comes out with something new now after ryzen release

after AMD and am3+ I would still be hard pressed to go back to AMD and would need to see ryzen long term prove its self not just this short term hype you see right now with it

that Gigabyte H81M-WW I guess was not sole here in the USA and seems to of been a regional sold board ?? don't know anything out side of what giga shows for it at there home page

looks like a decent h series m-atx ??

http://uk.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H81M-WW-rev-10#support-cpu

whats wrong with it ??
 
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bazzingabear

bazzingabear

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Skylake X is next if I'm not wrong but I don't have high hopes about it. Coffee lake would probably be the next decent upgrade for Intel, but I don't think it'd show up in desktops anytime before Q1 2018.



I/O mainly. Copy-pasting from above: My current mother board has 1 CPU fan header and only 1 SYSFAN header, along with only 2x USB 3.0 ports at the back and no 3.0 front panel header. I have a USB 3.0 PCI card lying somewhere but am unable to fit it since the GTX 1070 takes both the slots. If my USB and FAN problems can be solved with the use of hubs & splitters without jeopardizing the cable management (Carbide SPEC-03 has a transparent side panel and I'm considering getting red LED fans to bling the chassis up a bit), I'd actually be super happy and might even drop the upgrade plan.
 
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aquielisunari

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Mar 31, 2011
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Agreed. I'm facing a similar issue but I have a 4690K with a Z97 board. I just can't see investing $300+ for that little bump. In your shoes the bump would be noticeable. A new motherboard? I wouldn't make the leap to the 7700K. I've seen too many issues with how warm it gets. A bleeping good cooler can help with that. This is purely a gaming rig so I'd not move over to the 1700(x). For now the only move I recommend is to the 4790K.
 
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bazzingabear

bazzingabear

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As above, I'm less happier with the motherboard than the CPU itself, so the motherboard is the 1st thing I wish to change. Would you still recommend a H97/Z97 board + 4790K or would a jump to 7600K/7700K seem justifiable, considering the latter would cost a bit more because of the addition of DDR4 RAM?
 
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aquielisunari

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VDVCQ84 and https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA85V3N90376 is an option

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132928&cm_re=Z270-_-13-132-928-_-Product + https://jet.com/product/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Kaby-Lake-Quad-Core-42-GHz-LGA-1151-91W-BX80677I77700K-Deskt/e3c14d6f55a14b8aa5b5ed8c8cb0d7f7 Enter promo code spring15 for an additional $20 off.

I wouldn't buy a socket 1150 board if I was not happy with my Z97 board. Why move sideways? In your shoes I would move over to the 7700K. Noctua DH15? H115i? Cryorig H7 with a second fan?
 
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junkeymonkey

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''My current mother board has 1 CPU fan header and only 1 SYSFAN header, along with only 2x USB 3.0 ports at the back and no 3.0 front panel header.

you can get a fan splitter or fan controller for cheap and also a usb hub as well

rear
https://www.amazon.com/CGTime-Motherboard-Expansion-Header-Bracket/dp/B01MDV44PD

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1JM27U5624


fan

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812423163&cm_re=fan_splitter-_-12-423-163-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8HV3547766&cm_re=fan_controler-_-11-991-006-_-Product

in the end its all your call

 
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JV1V1D

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Before anynthing, make sure you get an extra 8gb stick. Atm i am having so much issues trying to play ultra with only 8gb of ram with a 1060, and having 16gb would fix ram issues quite a bit with stuttering and would smooth fps, especially for singleplayer games which are usually open world nowadays. You can always upgrade to a 4790k too, because there is no significant difference between the old and new i7s.
 
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junkeymonkey

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''Before anynthing, make sure you get an extra 8gb stick. Atm i am having so much issues trying to play ultra with only 8gb of ram with a 1060, and having 16gb would fix ram issues quite a bit with stuttering and would smooth fps''

sounds like you got issues I got 16 gb but never come close to using that heck would not come close to using 8gb gaming .

then you suggest adding a single stick to what you have ??? where is that ever recommended ?


'' The advantage to buying a kit over simply ordering a collection of the same module is that kits are packaged specifically with identical matched parts guaranteed to work together in the same system and at the same speed, but we cannot guarantee that modules ordered individually will be identical to each other.

http://forums.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-memory-for-PC-syst...


[from gskill]
Q:
I want to install more memory, in addition to my existing memory kit. What are my options?

A:
We do not recommend mixing memory kits, regardless of brand or model.

By mixing memory kits together, there may be compatibility issues such as unable to boot or unable to operate at rated specifications.

Each of our memory kit are thoroughly tested to ensure compatibility within each memory kit. And because we have not tested our memory kit with your existing memory kit, we cannot guarantee compatibility when multiple kits are used.
 
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