Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi guys,

Soliciting opinions on the above. Been contemplating a CPU upgrade for awhile. I have i7-3770k OC to 4.4.

I have three 4K screens and 2x 1080s in SLI. I typically game at 3 x 1440p with Gsync to achieve 60 fps

I realize i7-3770 is still a good cpu, especially for single monitor, but I'm wondering if I would get worthwhile performance upgrade given what I'm asking the CPU to work with.

Been eyeing that i7-7700k, but I get a notice from my local microcenter today that they are selling i7-6850k for $299 which they are advertising as $400 off original price.

With X99 chipset, I could run 2 way SLI with 2x 16 PCIE lanes. At 1440p, it seems I might get a nice boost here?

Also, my most played games are racing sims, especially Assetto Corsa. The number of AI opponents is cpu limited, so I can't fill a full racing grid at triple 1440p. I think with either new CPU I probably could.

I ask on this forum, because elsewhere, there tends to be a flood of responses from gamers asking less of their systems than my crowd, the triple wide/ultra wide crowd.

So, newer hardware, newer chipset, less PCIE lanes, less cores, higher clockspeed vs older hardware, older chipset, lower clockspeed but increased PCIE lanes and more cores

What would you do? Thanks guys.

Sounds like a similar tough call I had to make when I was debating between getting a i7 5820k or the i7 6700k (I was sporting a first generation i7 920).

I ultimately decided on the 5820k even though it was a year older. Why? At the time they were the same price but the difference was like the original i7, the 5820k was part of a 'enthusiast platform/build'.

This to me felt more like an upgrade because not only do you get a powerful system with more cores but it also sported the new DD4 Quad Channel Ram and more PCI-E lanes.

I'll point out a few things that may help your decision:
-If all your doing is gaming, I would upgrade to the latest processor (most games barely use 4 cores and we have yet to see DX12 games that take advantage of 6 or more cores)
-PCI-E lane bandwidth issues will be negligible between PCI 3.0 x8 and PCI 3.0 x16, even for Crossfire/SLI (unless your planning on adding other PCI-E components like a M.2 SSD) (see below)
-No real benefits to quad channel ram over dual channel ram for gaming
-For multi-monitor resolutions, your usually GPU limited

Looking back, if I knew all I would be doing is gaming I would have chosen the latest architecture (i7 6700k). However, being able to overclock the 5820k to 6700k speeds I can get similar gaming performance with the additional cores handy for what the future throws at us so I guess its not all bad.

The i7 3770k can definitely still hold it's ground and your not that many generations behind. I would say hold off on a new CPU purchase unless you know for sure the upgrade will benefit your CPU intensive games today. I've heard the next generation of processors will have a drastically different architecture and it may worthwhile to wait a little longer.

I hope that helps,

kiax0001

Edit: After writing this post I read the following article http://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-pc-gaming-cpus-processors/ which claims 10-15 percent more SLI performance using the 6850k vs 7700. If you like SLI and think you will continue to use it in future builds, it sounds like 6850k is the better high end gaming CPU for you.

Kiax,

Thanks for your thoughts. The link you included is compelling. I wish there were some benchmarks to see rather than anecdotal.

I'm not looking for frames really. I'm looking for that ever elusive smoothness. The occasional but persistent microstutters. 2x PCIE x16 and 6 cores, I wonder if this is where I might find it.

Anyway, based on your post and my own research, I was gonna go i7 6850k, thinking mature platform, bugs worked out, and above advances.

They sold out quick. Less than 48 hrs. It really was a good deal. Now back to $499.

Oh well. Next time, I'm gonna jump on it.

Thanks again.

I run a 6850k and its been great. I have it overclocked to about 4.4 GHZ and no issues so far in about 1 year. I am happy with it.