I7 8700 vs I7 9700K upgrade question/preformance

[Jeffrex]

Hi all,

At this moment I am running P3D v4 with an I7 8700 (non k).
My preformance is OK but could be better in my opinion.
I have noticed all of the cpu cores are running almost constantly at 100% during flight in P3D.
Meanwhile my gpu (RTX 2070) is running at like 30%.
It's obvious my CPU is the current bottleneck in the system.

At the moment I have some money to spend on new computer parts.
I am currently thinking about upgrading to an I7 9700k.
Would such an upgrade make a noticeable difference in preformance?
And would that be worth the money?

Thanks!

[JorgenSA]

The two processors have basically nearly the same base clock rate, but according to an article I found the 9700K is better suited for overclocking.

Here's a link to the article:

https://www.techradar.com/news/intel-co ... e-i7-8700k

What kind of RAM do you have? Maybe the money would be better spent there.

Jorgen

[AnkH]

Jorgen, he does not have the -K variant of the 8700. However, both the 8700K as well as the 8700 have an all core turbo of 4.3GHz... Means, the 9700K will be considerably faster already without overclocking.

BUT: I fear that the rig the topic starter uses is a pre-assembled build from whatever store. Most probably, this 8700 is installed on a mainboard that does anyway not allow overclocking and combined with very basic 2400MHz RAM.

Means: before anyone here can give you a proper advice whether or not it makes sense to upgrade, we would need the full system info:

- what mainboard is used (Chipset, manufacturer)
- what kind of RAM is used
- what type of PSU is used
- what kind of CPU cooling solution is used

Only then we can properly judge if upgrading to a 9700K is possible at all or not.

[JorgenSA]

Chris, you make very good sense here.

The reason for me bringing that article up was my understanding the OP wanted to go from a 8700 to a 8700K or a 9700K.

Jorgen

[downscc]

I have noticed all of the cpu cores are running almost constantly at 100% during flight in P3D.
Meanwhile my gpu (RTX 2070) is running at like 30%.
It's obvious my CPU is the current bottleneck in the system.

Your 'obvious' conclusion is false. Even if you had an i9-9900K vapor cooled rig running 5GHz on all cores your GPU will still not be fully loaded. However, you are correct for the wrong reason. The CPU is the bottleneck but not because the GPU is not fully loaded. The code still has a long ways to go in moving the processes from the CPU to GPU.

I have an i7-8700K OC 4.8 GHz with dual 1080Ti SLI and performance is generally good. My bottleneck happens to be not the CPU/GPU but rather with all of the beautiful high resolution scenery hitting the market the 11GB VRAM video cards are becoming too 'small.'

I've got my eyes on the 9900KS being released Oct '19 (next month) and pairing that up with one Titan RTX (24GB VRAM). The 9900KS will run stock 5GHz on all 8 cores with HT and it remains to be seen what the TDP and price will be. It might be worth a few months wait.

[Jeffrex]

Jorgen, he does not have the -K variant of the 8700. However, both the 8700K as well as the 8700 have an all core turbo of 4.3GHz... Means, the 9700K will be considerably faster already without overclocking.

BUT: I fear that the rig the topic starter uses is a pre-assembled build from whatever store. Most probably, this 8700 is installed on a mainboard that does anyway not allow overclocking and combined with very basic 2400MHz RAM.

Means: before anyone here can give you a proper advice whether or not it makes sense to upgrade, we would need the full system info:

- what mainboard is used (Chipset, manufacturer)
- what kind of RAM is used
- what type of PSU is used
- what kind of CPU cooling solution is used

Only then we can properly judge if upgrading to a 9700K is possible at all or not.

It's not a pre-assabled build from a store. I update and build my rig every once in a while. One of my friends gave the I7 8700 as a present. It runs games really good. Only P3D is more demanding.

However, this are my specs:
Mainbord: Gigabyte Z390 gaming SLI
RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE® LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16 Memory Kit - Black
PSU: Corsair 550 watt (don't know the exact type at this moment)
CPU cooler: Scythe Mugen 5 PCGH Edition (air cooler)

I'm looking forward to your reply!

[AnkH]

Ok, with those other components, you would be fine to upgrade to a 9700K. I would go for it, you will get better performance and if you are lucky in the silicone lottery, you might even get this 9700K to 4.9 or 5.0GHz on all cores. The Mugen should still be able to cope with this (although it will run at its limits).

[JorgenSA]

I am a little leery about the 550 W power supply... the old rule is never to under-engineer a power supply, I would get one with a higher rating if possible.

Jorgen

[Jeffrex]

It's been a while now...

I installed the I7 9700K. Works like a charm!
I can really notice a preformance increase!
More FPS (+25%) and less stutters!

The powersupply is holding well. I did some measurements, since i'm an electrical engineer.
The power consumption stays well below 500 watts. So that's good!

I'm really enjoying P3d like never before!

The next thing to improve is installing watercooling for my CPU.
Overclocking is not possible at this time since it will thermal throttle...
But it's fine for now!

Jeff

[Blaunarwal]

It's been a while now...

I installed the I7 9700K. Works like a charm!
I can really notice a preformance increase!
More FPS (+25%) and less stutters!

The powersupply is holding well. I did some measurements, since i'm an electrical engineer.
The power consumption stays well below 500 watts. So that's good!

I'm really enjoying P3d like never before!

The next thing to improve is installing watercooling for my CPU.
Overclocking is not possible at this time since it will thermal throttle...
But it's fine for now!

Jeff

I use a Noctua NH-U12S air cooler on the same cpu and run it on 5 GHz. Important is the BIOS too. Since I got v1302 on my ASUS Z390F board, it is very stable. Never had a CTD since updating to this. I also clean the housings dust filters regularely to avoid overheating.

Dan

[freddy_]

I too use the NH-U12S air cooler with the i7-9700K (no overclock). I have a 650W power supply. Running P3D v4.5 HF2. I don't push the P3D sliders all the way up, but they're still reasonably high (as with everything Flight Simulator, find the right compromise of slider settings that work for you and be happy). I get excellent performance with this setup, even flying aircraft like the FSLabs A320X, in large cities, with IMC weather. That CPU is certainly up to the task.

[Blaunarwal]

I too use the NH-U12S air cooler with the i7-9700K (no overclock). I have a 650W power supply. Running P3D v4.5 HF2. I don't push the P3D sliders all the way up, but they're still reasonably high (as with everything Flight Simulator, find the right compromise of slider settings that work for you and be happy). I get excellent performance with this setup, even flying aircraft like the FSLabs A320X, in large cities, with IMC weather. That CPU is certainly up to the task.

Do you use Affinitymask? Since I set it to the first 6 cores only, I get much better performance. Almost no lagging anymore.

[freddy_]

Do you use Affinitymask? Since I set it to the first 6 cores only, I get much better performance. Almost no lagging anymore.

Of course all machines are different and mileage varies from machine to machine. In my case, no, I don't use AffinityMask. I am extremely happy with the performance I am getting, as is, with no additional manual entries in my Prepar3D.cfg file.

[jules744]

It's been a while now...

I installed the I7 9700K. Works like a charm!
I can really notice a preformance increase!
More FPS (+25%) and less stutters!

The powersupply is holding well. I did some measurements, since i'm an electrical engineer.
The power consumption stays well below 500 watts. So that's good!

I'm really enjoying P3d like never before!

The next thing to improve is installing watercooling for my CPU.
Overclocking is not possible at this time since it will thermal throttle...
But it's fine for now!

Jeff

Interresting topic!

How is your GPU running now? Is it more than 30% ?