Choose between 13,600kf and 13,700kf.
Choose between 13,600kf and 13,700kf.
I recently purchased a 4090 and am considering upgrading to a more suitable CPU. I currently have a 11600K and have bought a very expensive GPU, but I don’t want to spend too much. I understand the 13600K offers similar performance for gaming, is cheaper, and easier to cool. On the other hand, I’d rather avoid having to upgrade my system for a long time, so maybe the 13700K would be better. Would just six P cores be sufficient in the future? I have a 1440p monitor but sometimes render at 4K for better image quality and AA (depending on the game). I also use emulators heavily, which are CPU-intensive. I’ve heard good things about Thermaltake Peerless Assassin coolers—just ordered one on Amazon for $41 CAD, which is about $30 in the US. That’s impressive! It even comes with RGB lighting. A recent video by Linus showed it cooling the 13600K well, though the 13900K was a bit hot. But how would the 13700K perform? Would this cooler still be adequate? Unfortunately, big AIO coolers aren’t available for me right now. OR... I could wait until the next generation. But I’m not too keen on buying new RAM, and I just want to finish this build. What do you think?
Lol, yeah... only six cores are sufficient moving forward. You get the idea—gaming needs at least eight cores. If you already have a superpowerful GPU, why not go for something like the 7800X3D or 13900K? Spending nearly $2000 on a GPU while trying to cut CPU costs by $100 doesn’t make sense. Anything else slows down the 4090? Honestly, if you can’t afford the rest of the PC for the 4090, you should have gone with the 7900X3D. That’s a solid choice.
A 7800x3D, a Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX, and an unmatched assassin 120 are the key components.
With a 4090 and a 13900k, a 13700k offers better value for savings. The gap between 700k and 900k is negligible when you're looking to cut costs significantly.
They're significantly pricier without much improvement. That's the main point. I had a chance but faced some challenges. Purchased a 4070 from a nearby shop and wasn't satisfied, offering only a slight boost (probably due to bandwidth) compared to my 3070 in certain cases. They didn't have any AMD graphics cards available, and sending one via express shipping before the exchange deadline was costly. For me, the 4070 with its 12GB of VRAM and the 4080 being much reduced from the 4090 didn't seem reasonable, so I went all out. Plus, I depend heavily on dldsr. Unlike earlier models, the 4090 is noticeably better than the previous step down. The 13900 vs 13700 difference isn't huge, especially for gaming. Are you suggesting that the peak performance wouldn't suffice to keep up with a 13700k?
I never mentioned future-proofing. What I stated was I won’t upgrade for a while. I upgraded from a 3570k, GTX 1070 and DDR3 RAM in 2022. That was doable because I did it. The system was actually quite capable until the end. Obviously not running at the highest game settings.
Also this matters for 13700k? Swapping rams with a board swap makes sense if you go with Ryzen 7700, 32GB 6000C32 DDR5, and a 150-200$ B650 board—it’s future-proof because you can upgrade the CPU later. Just replace the CPU and adjust RAM as needed; overclocking the CPU is straightforward, and the board stays unchanged since most B650s already have ample power delivery. If the board feels a bit weak, add a fan to keep things cool.
It seems you're considering budget-friendly options. The motherboards are more affordable, and you were hoping to skip purchasing new RAM. You mentioned thinking about a $40 cooler, a $500 13700kf, and a $190 b760 board—around 730 CAD or 550 USD. You're also open to other choices, especially since the 7700x appears cheaper.