Is it worth it?

Hey, so I'm running this setup right now and I'm seriously vibing with the idea of putting together an upgrade.
Mainboard plus the CPU.
RTX 3080 gaming x I7 12700K
I5 6600k
MSI Z170A SLI
HyperX 16GB DDR4 2133.
I was wondering if there's any way I can actually overclock this processor on this specific board, and more importantly, if it’ll even hold up to newer i7 or i9 chips when I finally decide to go big on a future upgrade.
Found this listing online that caught my eye, thanks!👍

link

fadedviper26 said:Hey, so I'm running this setup right now and I'm seriously vibing with the idea of putting together an upgrade.
Mainboard plus the CPU.
RTX 3080 gaming x I7 12700K
I5 6600k
MSI Z170A SLI
HyperX 16GB DDR4 2133.
I was wondering if there's any way I can actually overclock this processor on this specific board, and more importantly, if it’ll even hold up to newer i7 or i9 chips when I finally decide to go big on a future upgrade.
Found this listing online that caught my eye, thanks!👍

link

Way too expensive. For that kind of money, you could get a new Ryzen and a new B450 motherboard that's basically the same or even a few FPS faster on average. CLICK

Don't even get me started on other workloads—the 8600K just can't compete.

I'm just looking at this for gaming, and honestly, AMD can't even touch the single-core speed of an 8600k. I'd only grab it if I could push an overclock up to 4.8 or maybe even 5.0 GHz.
Correct me if I'm totally off base here.

What would be the best Ryzen chip I could drop into my current motherboard? Maybe a 2700x?
Either way, I figure more cores is better than just sticking with 6.

You can't pair an AMD processor with an Intel motherboard—that just won't work. From what I can see in your specs, you're running an i5 6600k with 4 cores... honestly, a decent upgrade path would be hunting down an i7-7700k if you can find one at a reasonable price. You'd basically just swap out your current chip for the i7-7700k, though you should probably flash your BIOS before you make the switch, just to be safe. Now, the real question is how much you'd actually have to shell out for an i7-7700k. I was browsing through eBay and this seems to be the cheapest option I could find: though I'm really not sure if it's worth the investment for you. It might be worth checking out some benchmarks first...

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2255?vs=2267

Which motherboard are you looking at right now? Are you actually planning on putting a Ryzen on a Z170? 😬

https://www.amazon.com/amd-ryzen-processor/s?k=amd+ryzen+processor
https://www.newegg.com/p/b450-a-pro-max

And honestly, those prices are pretty much the same as that used 8600K and motherboard combo. If you can manage to overclock that 8600K to 5GHz, maybe it’ll be slightly faster than a stock Ryzen 5 3600 in a few specific games, like Far Cry or Project Cars. But then again, you're stuck with 6 threads instead of 12.

I wouldn't touch a 6700K or this 7700k if I were you, unless they are $333 incredibly cheap.

fadedviper26 said:I'm just looking at this for gaming, and honestly, AMD can't even touch the single-core speed of an 8600k. I'd only grab it if I could push an overclock up to 4.8 or maybe even 5.0 GHz.
Correct me if I'm totally off base here.

What would be the best Ryzen chip I could drop into my current motherboard? Maybe a 2700x?
Either way, I figure more cores is better than just sticking with 6.

It absolutely can CLICK. Here is a test comparing a Ryzen at 4.2 GHz against an Intel chip at 5.0 GHz. The result? Ryzen is faster on average by a few FPS.

Ryzen has fast cores and better IPC now; it's just that Intel reaches higher frequencies (which is offset, among other things, by Ryzen's superior IPC).

You can't put any Ryzen in your current motherboard because you have an Intel motherboard 😵

What I'm trying to say is there is zero sense in dropping $300 on a penultimate (it isn't even the latest 😉) generation USED Intel CPU and motherboard combo that already lacks support for the next generation coming out.

For that same amount of money, you get a NEW Ryzen combo that delivers equal gaming performance at LOWER clock speeds, plus it's better for all other workloads like video editing, encoding, compression, etc.

By the way, Adam Moore3 and Larry Ortiz5,

I think you both ended up linking to a fake benchmark site. 😛

crimsonstag84 said:By the way, Adam Moore3 and Larry Ortiz5,

I think you both ended up linking to a fake benchmark site. 😛

What? 🤔

I know Anandtech is just generic bullshit, but the stuff I linked on YouTube looks like—well, it should be—legitimately done testing. How can you even tell if it's fake?

I see everyone keeps raving about this B450-A Pro motherboard, so is it really the sweet spot, or should I just bite the bullet and grab something a bit higher-end? Honestly, I’m getting seriously hyped to finally make the jump to AMD.

Looking at this Benchmark, it seems like the 2700x only pulls ahead in workstation tasks, while the Ryzen 5 3600 dominates everything else—plus the 2700x is actually pricier. I'm trying to wrap my head around the real-world difference between these two; I know the 2700x has those 8 cores compared to the 6 on the 3600.

link

To be real with you, I've spent my entire life living on Intel's processors, and I honestly couldn't care less about chasing an extra 20 FPS by picking up an 8700K and an Intel motherboard; I'd much rather just shift things around to find a better middle ground.🙂
Also, does the stock cooler actually cut it for the Ryzen 5 3600?
Thanks

That this 7700k is only even on my radar if I can snag it for under $333, just like you mentioned earlier.
Otherwise, it's a total non-starter and feels like throwing money down the drain, mostly because I'd eventually have to overhaul both the motherboard and the CPU anyway if I ever wanted to move up to an i7 8th Gen or 9th Gen.
But that's way out of my budget right now, and besides, I'm dead set on going AMD.

crimsonstag84 said:By the way, Adam Moore3 and Larry Ortiz5,

I think you both ended up linking to a fake benchmark site. 😛

How can anyone call Anandtech a fake benchmarking site? It’s pretty obvious—I always check their results first before looking at anything else.

My bad, Adam Moore3 linked to a fake site twice, sorry 😬 Anandtech is legit 😛

Benchmarks have exploded in popularity lately, which has unfortunately led a lot of people on YouTube to build entire careers out of faking their data. They don't even own the hardware; they just slap some flashy graphs over cool music and hope for the best. Some of them look convincing—likely just ripping charts from legitimate sites—while others are obviously fabricated nonsense. For instance, there was once a claim that an i5 4460 was twice as fast as an FX-8320 in The Witcher 3, which no actual testing would ever support. Even when the numbers aren't outright lies, you still can't really trust the source.

In my opinion, if you want reliable gaming benchmarks, you should stick to Hardware Unboxed, TechSpot, or TechPowerUp because they actually know what they're doing.

Ha, looks like I learned something new today 😛

I honestly didn't expect anyone to actually go out and drop fake hardware reviews just to farm clicks. Naive of me... my bad 😵