Question What is a reasonable intel gaming cpu ?

you2

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Apr 2, 2002
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I've not been following cpus for a couple of years now since my machine was fine (I had an i7 haswell refresh (lga 1150). Recently the system ceased to post; I suspect it is the mother board though I suppose it might be gpu. I had replaced the 10 year old psu about 1 month ago and all was fine until this afternoon. Anyway the system won't even post (I removed all disks); so I want to upgrade the motherboard/cpu and then reuse my old disks (including boot disk which has windows 10).
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I'm really unsure which intel generation and cpu i should go with - the motherboard will have to be an itx. A bit of googling suggest maybe z490 board with 10th generation i5 or i7 of some variety but intel loves marketing and has too many variations. I will not bother with over-clocking but want something at least on par of the linear speed of my current cpu (not even sure if that is an i5 or i7 ). Once i know which cpu to get i can find a motherboard that will fit it.
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I considered getting a replacement mb for my haswell refresh but why ?
 

Markfw

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May 16, 2002
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Well, what are your uses for the system ? My first wild guess is gaming and a little other things. So I would go with a 12700k and a 690 motherboard, and depending on budget, DDR4 or DDR5 and 32 gig.

Edit, I just realized the thread title, so yes, my recommendation holds.

BUT You may want to consider a 5800X3D, about the same price, but even faster (from re-release reviews, due 4/20, 12 days), and can use the cheaper DDR4 ram.
 
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lakedude

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I would go 12th gen or AMD.

GPU is the bigger issue with gaming, do you have a line on a card? If as you say you haven't been paying attention the last few years GPU prices are though the roof. Availability is getting better but a year old card is still going for well above MSRP.
 

Markfw

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May 16, 2002
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I would go 12th gen or AMD.

GPU is the bigger issue with gaming, do you have a line on a card? If as you say you haven't been paying attention the last few years GPU prices are though the roof. Availability is getting better but a year old card is still going for well above MSRP.
I agree. I suggested both. We need to know budget though. But ITX means NO WAY should he get anything but AMD or 12th gen IMO.
 
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scannall

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If you don't have a video card I'd suggest a AMD Ryzen 5600G. The integrated graphics are far better than Intels. Or if it has to be Intel the 12400 should be fine.
 

you2

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I think i want to add more details. I want to move my current drives (including boot) from the old system to the new system. My current card is a mini-1070 (but i recently moved the system to a new case (nr2000) which can support a longer video card). I want to stick with intel since I will be keeping the old boot disk and i think my chances are better of it working on an intel system (not sure if windows ever cleaned up the driver mess but under window 7 it was a genuine head-ach moving from amd to intel which i did when dual-core came out). If this was linux i would reinstall but window crap with tying installs to the registry makes me want to keep the current disk set.
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So should i go with i5-12400 ?

Also the motherboard must be mini-itx to fit in the case. micro-itx won't work - what do i want z690 ?
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My current gpu is a mini-1070 (i said that didn't i); it is fast enough for now - and when prices drop i'll buy something faster. To be honest it has been fast enough for most of the new games i buy - i mean not on max graphics and all but fast enough for me for now - i mean i put the system in a new case to upgrade the gpu but i was waiting for the mess to get better next year - but now with the invasion maybe it will only get worse.
 
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you2

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you2

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My usage is only gaming - i do everything else on a linux box. I have to reuse my old drives since i don't want to install 14 years of gamessssss (this is a windows 10 system that was upgraded from windows 7).

The mini-itx board (z690) I'm looking at uses ddr4. Isn't 16GB plenty or is 32GB necessary? It isn't about $$$ but more about heat/watts (memory is hungrrrryyy).


Well, what are your uses for the system ? My first wild guess is gaming and a little other things. So I would go with a 12700k and a 690 motherboard, and depending on budget, DDR4 or DDR5 and 32 gig.

Edit, I just realized the thread title, so yes, my recommendation holds.

BUT You may want to consider a 5800X3D, about the same price, but even faster (from re-release reviews, due 4/20, 12 days), and can use the cheaper DDR4 ram.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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My usage is only gaming - i do everything else on a linux box. I have to reuse my old drives since i don't want to install 14 years of gamessssss (this is a windows 10 system that was upgraded from windows 7).

The mini-itx board (z690) I'm looking at uses ddr4. Isn't 16GB plenty or is 32GB necessary? It isn't about $$$ but more about heat/watts (memory is hungrrrryyy).
First, having windows go from Intel to AMD is not a problem, easier than 7 to 10. By not doing a fresh install on an NVME drive, you loose a LOT of game speed, loading, scene change etc... And most likely the 5800X3D will be faster than any gaming cpu out there, Intel or AMD. And of course it uses DDR4, 3600 cl15 2 x 16 gig (32 gig total) assures you that it can handle any game in the next few years. If you buy (or have) the right software, you can clone your exiting hard drive to the NVME drive.

So, to summarize, for the fadtest (and reasonably priced) gaming system you need an AMD 5800X3D, motherboard (x570 itx) 2 x 16 gig ddr4 3600 cl15 an NVME drive and software to clone your drive.

And to others here, Yes Intel is not bad, especially the 12600k or the 12700k, but he said gaming only and this new CPU might be what he really wants.
 

Tech Junky

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Simply moving from HDD to NVME speeds things up from ~120MB/s to GB/s. The system overall will run smoother.


There's only 4 choices for a mini-ITX which keeps it simple. It comes down to the features wanted / needed

For the best bang for the buck I would go with this one

When it comes to iGPU or not it's always a good idea to get it anyway for a backup if the dGPU fails and you want to still be able to use the PC while figuring out the new GPU replacement. Since OP has a Linux rig for other things it's less important.

The split between 12600F / 12700F is $40
1649459353916.png
$40 for 2 more P and E cores makes sense to me.

Since it's Mini-ITX going AIO / LC is probably a better idea. (assuming @you2 meant NR200 instead of NR2000)

Here's based on the info gleaned so far from the thread - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TPh8JM

@you2 Just change whatever you want and go from there.
 

you2

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A few comments:

First i will go with intel - there are some specific reason here (I was a huge amd fan back in the days of thunderbird and opteron (pre dual core systems)). I also have some liking for amd due to security as there are some fundamental differences in processor architecture. Having said these things I don't want to go into the reasons to stay with intel in this thread other than to state if this was a linux box i would go with amd and when i upgrade my 2500k linux box i will look at what is available.

as for nvme vs sata ssd and hdd. This is something i am well aware of and have a good deal of expertise professionally. I need to keep my current disks so i don't have to reinstall. I could replace my boot disk with an nvme (via cloning) or i could add another game disk via nvme but that is a side matter.

Even if i went with amd i would think 5800X3D is overkill given that an i5 is plenty fast. After all the 5800x3d is 2x the price of the i5-12400.

I will note that while amd cpu are quite decent i've been less impress with their chipsets.

Anyway at least it is good to know that windows has fixed the driver headache. It took a long time the last time i switch platforms to figure out that one driver that i failed to uninstall to get the machine to boot. I really hate windows and hope games are all ported to linux prior to having to upgrade to windows 11 (which is far too heavy handed - and further comments here would belong in a good flame thread).
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Lets just say i'm happy playing tomb raider at 45 or 50 frames and i cap things at 60 frames as I use monitors with 60 hz refresh. My 1070 does ok but i will upgrade it something like a 3060 or 3080 (or i guess 4080 or 5080 by the time things settle back into the norm).
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I also want to thank everyone for their feedback. My last system i purchsed at newegg or microcenter (which was local) but I hear newegg is not so great anymore and microcenter is no longer local :(



First, having windows go from Intel to AMD is not a problem, easier than 7 to 10. By not doing a fresh install on an NVME drive, you loose a LOT of game speed, loading, scene change etc... And most likely the 5800X3D will be faster than any gaming cpu out there, Intel or AMD. And of course it uses DDR4, 3600 cl15 2 x 16 gig (32 gig total) assures you that it can handle any game in the next few years. If you buy (or have) the right software, you can clone your exiting hard drive to the NVME drive.

So, to summarize, for the fadtest (and reasonably priced) gaming system you need an AMD 5800X3D, motherboard (x570 itx) 2 x 16 gig ddr4 3600 cl15 an NVME drive and software to clone your drive.

And to others here, Yes Intel is not bad, especially the 12600k or the 12700k, but he said gaming only and this new CPU might be what he really wants.
 
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Markfw

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May 16, 2002
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A few comments:

First i will go with intel - there are some specific reason here (I was a huge amd fan back in the days of thunderbird and opteron (pre dual core systems)). I also have some liking for amd due to security as there are some fundamental differences in processor architecture. Having said these things I don't want to go into the reasons to stay with intel in this thread other than to state if this was a linux box i would go with amd and when i upgrade my 2500k linux box i will look at what is available.

as for nvme vs sata ssd and hdd. This is something i am well aware of and have a good deal of expertise professionally. I need to keep my current disks so i don't have to reinstall. I could replace my boot disk with an nvme (via cloning) or i could add another game disk via nvme but that is a side matter.

Even if i went with amd i would think 5800X3D is overkill given that an i5 is plenty fast. After all the 5800x3d is 2x the price of the i5-12400.

I will note that while amd cpu are quite decent i've been less impress with their chipsets.

Anyway at least it is good to know that windows has fixed the driver headache. It took a long time the last time i switch platforms to figure out that one driver that i failed to uninstall to get the machine to boot. I really hate windows and hope games are all ported to linux prior to having to upgrade to windows 11 (which is far too heavy handed - and further comments here would belong in a good flame thread).
--
Lets just say i'm happy playing tomb raider at 45 or 50 frames and i cap things at 60 frames as I use monitors with 60 hz refresh. My 1070 does ok but i will upgrade it something like a 3060 or 3080 (or i guess 4080 or 5080 by the time things settle back into the norm).
--

I also want to thank everyone for their feedback. My last system i purchsed at newegg or microcenter (which was local) but I hear newegg is not so great anymore and microcenter is no longer local :(
First, I will not try to argue the AMD, I just thought you wanted a good gaming system. And I won't argue the nvme, whatever....

Having said that, since you seem to want the 12400, what you REALLY want is the 12400F, since you have a GPU. And at $185 at newegg (sold by antonline, I am very happy with speed and price, have bought from them many times), that should be your CPU.

For the motherboard,you want the 690 chipset ? This would be me recommendation for $230

Its a DDR4 motherboard. Since you can't go over 3200 without going to geardown 2, you want the lowest latency possible (not cheap) $280 for 2 x 16
 
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clemsyn

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I would wait for 5800X3d reviews but if you must have one now I would definitely go for the 12400F and pair it with a motherboard that will overclock it (external clock generator).