Want to sell my Ryzen 1700 and get a 8700k. Is it stupid or greedy?

Rakanoth

Junior Member
Oct 6, 2017
16
4
51
Hello,

I am disappointed with my Ryzen 1700. I lost the silicon lottery and got a bad CPU. It does not overclock well. I am stuck with 3700MHz. With Nzxt Kraken x62, it is 45°C at idle and 75°C under load. My vcore is 1.25v. With anything less this vcore, the system is not stable. CPU Load line calibration is at level 2, VDDSCR_SoC voltage is 1.1v and its calibration is at level 5. I wanted to set VDDSCR_SoC LLC to level 2 but some people reported on the other forums that their CPU died because VDDSCR SoC's load line calibration was 2 or 3.

I tried reinstalling CPU cooling system (because I thought it did not sit well onto the CPU) and also tried with the stock cooler and a Noctua cooler. Still running so hot. At least for me. Also tried to reapply the thermal paste a thousand times. Still so high temps.

Before I bought Ryzen 1700, I had read and watched some reviews and I thought that it would be fine with gaming. The difference with 7700k did not seem so high. Also, I just bought a new 165hz monitor and now I am reading 8700k reviews and it is whetting my appetite. Apart from this, I don't do video editing etc. but I run several virtual machines from time to time. So, 8700k should still be enough as my main use will be gaming.

Would it be a greedy action to sell my current CPU and motherboard and get a 8700k CPU and motherboard? Financially, I am fine with it. But still ... I don't want to be greedy.

My current setup

Asrock X370 Taichi
AMD Ryzen R7 1700
Nzxt Kraken x62 AIO water cooling
G.SKILL Trident Z (F4-3200C14D-16GTZ) DDR4 3200MHz C14
Evga 1080 Ti SC2
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB SSD
WD Desktop Black 1 TB
NZXT S340 Elite Steel
Seasonic PRIME FOCUS Modular (80+Gold) 650W
Asus ROG Swift PG278QR Monitor
 

eddman

Senior member
Dec 28, 2010
239
87
101
I don't think you need to do that. Ryzens still provide very good framerates in games and their min FPS is very competitive.
 

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
6,294
171
106
If a 1700x at 3.7 isn't making you happy, a golden 1700 at 4.1 wouldn't have either.

But, I don't think you'd notice the difference with any of these CPU's. What games are you seeing performance issues with that an 8700k would solve?
 
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BSim500

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2013
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Would it be a greedy action to sell my current CPU and motherboard and get a 8700k CPU and motherboard? Financially, I am fine with it. But still ... I don't want to be greedy.
Bottom line - do what makes you happy and gives you a rig you feel comfortable using (to the point where you don't even think about the hardware). There's nothing "greedy" about swapping components around until it "feels right". People do that all the time with all sorts of hobbies (PC's, cars, SLR camera's, audio equipment, etc).
 

TheGiant

Senior member
Jun 12, 2017
748
353
106
The question is how sensitive you are to the micro stuttering and fps drops? Or are you a progamer?

If you can notice the difference between 80 and 120 FPS, I would go with the 8700K

If you don't, Ryzen is fine CPU.....
 

TrackSmart

Member
Feb 6, 2011
36
8
81
If you want someone to justify your purchase, here you go: If having the best possible gaming performance will make you a happier person and let you sleep better at night, and you can easily afford a new motherboard and CPU, go for it. Sell the current parts, reclaim 60-70% of the purchase price of that motherboard and CPU, and buy what you want.

That said, outside of benchmarking, will you notice a difference with the new processor? Only if you are sensitive to subtle differences in performance. If we put you in front of two identical looking cases, I would bet you would be hard-pressed to tell which you were using without cheating and looking at the system properties or running some kind of benchmarks and comparing across machines.

Results from Anandtech Bench with a GTX 1080: https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1950?vs=2025
Looking at an 1800x (similar performance to your OC 1700) and the stock i7-8700k, we see a 5-10% difference in most games, with Intel winning most of the time, with some exceptions (a big loss in Civilization 6 and a tie in GTA 5). Maybe overclocking your 8700k would buy you a 5-15% lead in FPS over your Ryzen 1700 in most games. Not nothing, but 10% is where differences become *just barely* noticeable if you are really looking for them. Not night-and-day.

So there you have it. If it makes you happier to have that small bit of extra performance and you can easily afford it (you just need a motherboard and CPU), you have my blessing to go for it. And that's probably all you've been waiting for. Just note that I'll personally be running my Ryzen 1700 at stock frequencies to enjoy that sweet, sweet performance-per-watt ratio of the 65W stock part. And I expect to be banned from the OC forum any day now because of my heretical, energy-saving tendencies.
 

Adawy

Member
Sep 9, 2017
79
24
41
Like others have said, it's your money buddy. You don't need validation for the way you spend your money or how to live your life, a word of caution though, don't end up being broke. :D

And I know the 8700K is hard to resist. :rolleyes:
 

cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,049
12,719
136
Depends what money is worth to you. If its not alot, then its about the only thing you can beef up, that 1080ti is upthere, you could opt for SLI but that comes with its own set of challenges. I'd say go for it, you can problary make it run at 5GHz too.
Personally i'd stay with the Ryzen cause cost/benefit wouldnt meet criteria, but we are different people :).
 

scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
1,944
1,638
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You won't notice a difference in gaming. And running Cinebench benchmarks over and over again loses its shine pretty quick.

For other reasons as well. Both Zen+ and the 7nm Zen 2 will slide right into your current rig as they become available. A 5+ Ghz 8 core 16 thread Zen 2 would be mighty tasty, without all the bother of replacing everything.
 
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cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,049
12,719
136
And I know the 8700K is hard to resist. :rolleyes:
- Not to me, not at 6 cores, coming from 4 cores that feels like juuuust edging past obsolete/yesterdays news.. I would defn. need an 8 core at least.
 

Adawy

Member
Sep 9, 2017
79
24
41
- Not to me, not at 6 cores, coming from 4 cores that feels like juuuust edging past obsolete/yesterdays news.. I would defn. need an 8 core at least.

Well I own a Phenom II x4 945, so that explains everything.
 
Mar 11, 2004
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OP, not sure what you're meaning about being "greedy". Greedy would you be screwing other people over just so you could have more money. If having to do that to afford the switch, then yeah you probably will end up regretting it.

Sounds like half your enjoyment is about the tweaking aspect, and so I'd guess you might be more pleased with Intel, but you'll need to delid to maximize what you get out of it. Not sure that Intel requires any more or less tweaking than Ryzen (where with Intel you might get more playing with CPU aspects, but I think on Ryzen you'd spend more tweaking memory). Which that might be an avenue for you, is upgrading memory versus total platform.

If you're just disappointed that you got a bit of a dud on the 1700, I think its a bit much to change that drastically. I'd say just wait and see what the update to Zen will be like, you might be able to just swap in a new CPU in 6 months or so and get a decent uptick. Plus during that time you'll be able to find out what the silicon lottery on the 8700K is like, the new chipset should be out (not sure you care about that aspect at all), and you'll have more information about the future (i.e. AMD plans, Intel plans).

If you have the money to be able to spend without it affecting anything else, wait for a good deal (if you have a Microcenter near by that will help as they'll almost certainly have something worthwhile, but we've seen various deals happen now and then elsewhere too). Otherwise, I just don't think the differences is enough to justify it. Speaking from personal experience, I used to do similar and regretted it every single time. I'd have much rather spent the time and money on so many other things.

The simplest question though is. Are there any games/programs you play that justify it? If not, then wait til there's worthwhile upgrade for you. The money you save now will probably go further later.
 
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slashy16

Member
Mar 24, 2017
151
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Sell the Ryzen and use the funds towards the 8700k before the ryzen has absolutely no resale value at all. If you overclock to 5ghz you will get 20-30% better ST performance, 20% better MT performance and much better gaming performance. Also, when you buy an I7 you will actually get good resale value years down the road. I sold my 3770k for $180usd today. That's only $120 less than I paid for it nearly 5 years ago lol.
 

DooKey

Golden Member
Nov 9, 2005
1,811
458
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If I was you I would sell the 1700 and upgrade. With out a doubt it's an upgrade. I like top performance so I'm biased that way, but if you just want what's "good enough" then stay where you are. Also, realize where you are asking this question.....
 

repoman0

Diamond Member
Jun 17, 2010
4,445
3,282
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Greedy? That's an odd one. If you enjoy tweaking it and want to try out new hardware, go for it ... in the end it's a cheap hobby and someone will make good use of your used CPU if you sell it. You probably won't notice any difference in performance outside of benchmarks (and even then you often might not notice), but sometimes playing with new hardware and installing it is the fun part.

I swapped a 6700k for my 1700x system just to build something new and because I like AMD, and quite honestly if the swap had happened magically overnight there is a 0% chance I'd ever know it happened without looking at 16 threads in task manager. I am sure it would be the same if I went with an 8700k over my 1700x. Both of these CPUs will be excellent performance-wise for years.
 
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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
136
What? No its not stupid or greedy. Everyone wants this chip but no one can get their hands on one. I want one too but I'd almost have to pay someone to take my 6800K at this point because no one wants one of those anymore. The 8700K makes everything else look like a total piece of crap so yeah buy one if you can find one. They are more rare than a neon clear colored flying desert dwelling starfish.
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
5,056
409
126
given your graphics card and monitor I think it's understandable to want more, also when you consider that there is higher IPC and potentially 1GHz more on the other CPU...

on most games even a stock i5 8400 is a better CPU than Ryzen 3.7GHz
 
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ozzy702

Golden Member
Nov 1, 2011
1,151
530
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It's your money man. If you want it, and don't mind paying for it, buy it. Don't let people talk you out of it either. You earned the money, spend it how you want. Some people just enjoy swapping hardware and trying new setups.

This. I have a 7700k box I'll be selling my brother and have an 8700k on it's way. For gaming at 144hz it should be a sweet setup!
 

ozzy702

Golden Member
Nov 1, 2011
1,151
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You won't notice a difference in gaming. And running Cinebench benchmarks over and over again loses its shine pretty quick.

For other reasons as well. Both Zen+ and the 7nm Zen 2 will slide right into your current rig as they become available. A 5+ Ghz 8 core 16 thread Zen 2 would be mighty tasty, without all the bother of replacing everything.

Is anywhere near 5ghz been confirmed or is this just speculation? If zen2 can bring significantly higher clocks to the table and use faster memory then it would be quite compelling.
 

Pookums

Member
Mar 6, 2017
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Is anywhere near 5ghz been confirmed or is this just speculation? If zen2 can bring significantly higher clocks to the table and use faster memory then it would be quite compelling.

If the 7nm process that is intended for use is ready then zen 2 will be built for 5ghz plus ipc gains, and potentially Infinity fabric speed improvements, which is good ST bump for zen. As a result your likely looking at a 30%+ MT bump(25% speed bump + assume a minimal 5% IPC gain at the very least for an improvement on what was a brand new architecture) and potentially 40% ST bump if it comes with faster more stable IF.

This is because the 14nm LPP was built for 4ghz limit. The 7nm process they plan to use is built for 5ghz. However, the question people have is if the 7nm process will be ready in time, and can be validated and used in bulk by 2019. If not, there will either be delays, or amd will have to use a larger refined node size for zen 2.

In the mean time there is also Pinnacle Ridge(zen+). Most are unsure if this will arrive. Or if it uses refined 14nm or the recently mentioned 12nm. This likely will simply be a speed bump, but may have a subtle ipc bump.

As for the thread topic at hand. Id get the normal non K 8700 if your going to switch. It has the ST and low core bumps already. Or if you only care only about gaming then get the 8600k. Regardless of early data points, 8700k being hotter OCed then 7700k will not reach its voltage stability limit. It will hit a thermal wall before than for most, unless you delid with great cooling. The 8600k will have no problem reaching its stable wall(5.3ghz), and will likely not hit the thermal wall unless you get a very poor chip. As a result, the 8600k not the 8700k will be the best gaming chip period. It has enough cores to not have the issue of the 4c/4t cpus.
 

scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
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Is anywhere near 5ghz been confirmed or is this just speculation? If zen2 can bring significantly higher clocks to the table and use faster memory then it would be quite compelling.

Zen2 7nm is an IBM performance node, targeting 5ghz. Considering IBM already makes 10 and 12 core 5.5ghz beasts it's a pretty fair bet.