9700F or 9700K?
9700F or 9700K?
I discovered two offers—one for a 9700F and another for a 9700K—both priced identically. My motherboard is the Asrock B365M Pro 4. Would I be able to push the 9700K further, since it supports BFB which allows overclocking locked CPUs? And could I apply XMP settings to reach 3000mhz for my RAM?
If the prices match, I’d choose the 9700k just for its integrated graphics. It’s useful when your GPU fails—you can keep using the PC until the replacement comes.
From what I understand, there appears to be a slight drop in performance for the 9700k. When looking at raw figures online, the 9700k seems a bit quicker without the OC. It’s also noticeably hotter—95W versus 65W. Many of the speed advantages that point to the 9700f likely stem from it being released later and running on superior hardware. The 9700f offers great stability, though.
Oops, I missed that detail earlier. Let me clarify: CPU sockets vary between AMD and Intel, sorry about that.
B365 can adjust performance settings but not directly overclock the system.
Typically Intel B series boards struggle to overclock effectively, especially if they do manage to do so. The site notes that the review was written at launch, suggesting potential issues, but that doesn’t prevent you from giving it a try. Of course, adding a K chip can still boost its appeal. I’d see a 9700k as slightly more worthwhile since it works with more boards and includes an iGPU that’s handy for troubleshooting, even if it’s not top-tier.