Adjusting BIOS settings to sync all cores can potentially enhance gaming performance.
Adjusting BIOS settings to sync all cores can potentially enhance gaming performance.
If I were you, I'd replace the motherboard with a decent Z390 and push its 8700k to overclock. It's not being used well right now. OR consider selling it—you'll get a good price—and then upgrade to a locked 8700 or 9700 for better fit. The 8700 should stay identical, while the 9700 offers marginally faster clocks and eight cores. This path requires the most work for the smallest payoff.
I haven't tried this recently. My setup uses an i7 8086k at 5.1ghz with all cores active. It performs well in CPU games but not as much in GPU titles. Since most of my playtime involves CPU games, I enable overclocking for them. CPU games are those that maintain steady frame rates across different resolutions. I only tested one GPU game (Shadow of the Tomb Raider) and one CPU game (AC:O) using standard benchmarks. The results are significantly lower than expected because GPU overclock isn't applied. This is how it appears.