Focus on single-thread efficiency.
Focus on single-thread efficiency.
It looks like you're already doing a lot of work, but taking it a step back can make things simpler. The improvements are noticeable, even if it feels a bit daunting at first. You achieved a significant drop in heat—like 20°C—at the same settings on a 4790K when you adjusted your cooling. You managed to lower it from 4.6GHz all-core to per-core speeds of 5.0, 4.9, 4.8, and it still stays cooler than before. Besides that, what cooling solution are you using? Do you have thermal paste on your CPU? Upgrading to a powerful Noctua cooler or a larger AIO with high-quality thermal paste like Kryonaut could make a difference. You might also try tweaking your RAM settings slightly, which could boost performance by a few frames. If you’ve done most of this, you’re already close to reaching 9900K single-thread performance. You’re near it, but it hasn’t gotten that far since 6700K, and I’m not sure it will for a while.
I'm working with a Noctua L12 and checking its thermal paste. I'm unsure what compound I'm using and suspect the paste might be several years old. I recall the BCLK frequency was raised from 2133mhz to 2346mhz with a boost. It would be wise to replace it properly, otherwise I could lose work in Cubase due to an unstable overclock.
I use mostly old single-core/thread games for modding. They all demand heavy CPU power, even at 4k resolution. Some are unplayable on an i7 6700k, while others work just okay. I once ran a i7 8700k and it felt much smoother than the 6700k, which made me reluctant to use that setup. The main issue wasn’t frame rate—it was performance limits. I stopped using the 8700k because it couldn’t keep up with a 5GHz Intel CPU, only reaching up to 4.9GHz. It still worked with a GTX 1080 Ti but struggled with an RTX 2080 Ti. Now I’m aiming for a 5GHz Intel CPU. Since you’ve been waiting, I suggest sticking with Ryzen 3—maybe it’ll change things. I’m planning to upgrade to an i9 10900k mainly because it sounds exciting. I did get an i9 9900k, but I didn’t upgrade since it didn’t improve things much. My rig ended up going to my son after that.