Thinking of upgrading CPU (Current CPU is an Intel Core i5 6400 at 2.7 Ghz to 3.2 Turbo)

[Iggy Wolf]

I had bought my PC as prebuilt 5 years ago when the 6th generation Skylakes were coming out. So my motherboard is limited to H110 chipsets. Now, at the time, the i7 6700(K) was considered its i7 counterpart and came out at the same time. It's the only CPU I can actually upgrade to right now without changing my motherboard. It currently costs $300. Is it worth upgrading? And if yes, then how?

I've never changed out my CPUs, only GPU, and I know CPUs are more complicated and may or may not require a 3rd party cooling fan in case stock fan is too weak to cool. Also, I've never removed current CPUs before (taking off the fan, wiping off the thermal paste and taking out the CPU chip). If I upgrade, will I see much of an improvement with the i7 6700 (since it's also 5 years old now) and is it compatible with my motherboard (motherboard came with the ASUS M32CD desktops at the time). My rig specs:

i5 6400 2.7 (3.2 Turb)
RTX 2060 Super 8 GB VRAM
16 GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 10 Home Edition

[Snow]

Wow, 300 bucks? For 300 you can get new mobo, Ryzen 5 2600 and 16GB of DDR4 memory. Imagine what you can get if you add the money gained from selling old mobo, old memory and old CPU.
Upgrading Skylake is so not worth it.

[mtono]

Originally posted by Snow:

Wow, 300 bucks? For 300 you can get new mobo, Ryzen 5 2600 and 16GB of DDR4 memory. Imagine what you can get if you add the money gained from selling old mobo, old memory and old CPU.
Upgrading Skylake is so not worth it.

thats it!

[Zireth]

I will agree skylake is a great platform and jumping up to a 2600 isn't going to benefit you in any way.

Not sure how you have ddr3 on a CPU series that has ddr4 supported boards.

The only real noticeable difference you will find is 6400 to 9700k, that is 360$ right there not including a new z390 board or z370 if you want to update the bios.

If you're gaming only, and want a CPU upgrade, add 400$ to your budget and look for something like this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/y7bD27 I threw in the ram just in case you own ddr3 and not ddr4. Also the cooler is there if you want to overclock, one of the many best aftermarket air coolers.

[_I_]

some of those cheapo h110 boards used ddr3 (ddr4 imc<->ddr3 ram converter on the board)
https://www.asus.com/us/Tower-PCs/VivoPC-M32CD/specifications/

its not worth $300 for the old i7
just get a new ryzen 2600 or better cpu/board and ddr4 for the $300 and you will be as good as the locked i7 witha slightly better upgrade path

while at it, get a ssd for the os and a few games
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dqM3Nq

[emoticorpse]

How much of an improvement you looking for?

[DarkStarClassic]

Can't believe people still thinking Intel in 2020 mind blowing.

[_I_]

Originally posted by DarkStarClassic:

Can't believe people still thinking Intel in 2020 mind blowing.

intel k has better core performance when overclocked

amd has made massive improvements on ryzen, but more cores is not always better

[Zireth]

Originally posted by DarkStarClassic:

Can't believe people still thinking Intel in 2020 mind blowing.

I specifically said gaming in my suggestion I don't think he wants to render or do work based tasks.

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by ЯΣП:

I will agree skylake is a great platform and jumping up to a 2600 isn't going to benefit you in any way.

...

The only real noticeable difference you will find is 6400 to 9700k, that is 360$ right there not including a new z390 board or z370 if you want to update the bios.

Skylake is a good platform, given we're technically still using it with the past few iterations of Intel CPU.

However, upgrading from a 6400 to 2600 will yield some pretty big improvements.
You get 2 more cores and SMT, you also get the same IPC and higher clockspeeds, don't need to be a genius to know that's an upgrade.

4 cores is insanely limiting in 2020, especially considering that you can't overclock the 6400.
Even my 6600k bottlenecks my 970 in latest titles, and some indie and old titles, and it's clocks are higher than the 6400.
Saying that the only thing you will see a difference with is the 9700k is quite naive, there are plenty of CPUs that are an upgrade to the 6400.

Originally posted by Snow:

Wow, 300 bucks? For 300 you can get new mobo, Ryzen 5 2600 and 16GB of DDR4 memory. Imagine what you can get if you add the money gained from selling old mobo, old memory and old CPU.
Upgrading Skylake is so not worth it.

This is probably your best upgrade path at the moment.

[_I_]

moving to 9600k/kf would be a good step forward
6 cores faster than ryzen without ht

but at about $200 more than the 2600, (cpu/mobo/ram/cooler) it may not be worth it

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-9600K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-2600/4031vs3955

[DevaVictrix]

I've got an i3 6100 and have pondered over upgrading to a 6600/6700/7700 for a while now. Time and time again I conclude to start over with a Ryzen 2600 or above. As someone said above... you'll get a half decent resale on your 6400 and board. Add a few £/$ to that and you'll get something so much better.

[Iggy Wolf]

Apparently, people didn't read my post fully. I said I have NO interest in changing my motherboard. My OS is tied to my motherboard. I am NOT going to start all over on a new PC just for a CPU upgrade. I merely asked whether an i7 6700 would be a worthwhile upgrade over my current i5. I KNOW there's newer i7s now which are 7th, 8th, and 8th generation. I have NO interest in them, nor switching to AMD.

*sighs* It's like people think everyone wants to upgrade their entire rigs every 5 years just because the CPU gets outdated. That's why the post says "looking to upgrade CPU", not the whole entire PC. I have no interest in SSDs or or more cores and Hyperthreading. And I don't know why people mention the 2600. I said 6700, not 2600.

[-=SOF=-WID99]

if you have an i 5 6XXX series you only need to possibly update your bios ..but skylake CPU support ENDS at the i 7 7700 K kaby lake CPU's

as intel changed the CPU socket after those .. so the max you can go is a i 7 7700 K
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/97129/intel-core-i7-7700k-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-50-ghz.html

and no they are not cheap to find even used

pre built PC's may not come with the best overclocking mother boards ..the best for the 7th gen K series were the Z 270 boards as i recall ..

so try to find a manual for your main board and see its max CPU support . it is most likely an i 7 7700 K ( with or without a bios update ..depends on the board and bios you currently have )

as to a cpu cooler i use a cooler master hyper evo 212 here on my 7600 K CPU here an keep my chip cool and running at 4.4 ghz on all cores with an asus strix Z 270 H mainboard

but your old board may not have any oc possible ..due to its limited chipset and bios version

and yep your better off buying a new CPU and motherboard + new ram

[emoticorpse]

In order to know if it would be worthwhile for you to upgrade, have to know what you expect to get out of the upgrade. That's why I asked how much of an improvement you want. Guess you didn't even fully read the thread you started, and you expect others to take you seriously?

[Iggy Wolf]

Originally posted by emoticorpse:

In order to know if it would be worthwhile for you to upgrade, have to know what you expect to get out of the upgrade. That's why I asked how much of an improvement you want. Guess you didn't even fully read the thread you started, and you expect others to take you seriously?

To be honest, I only considered it because other people have started to tell me my CPU is now outdated and weak, and they only mentioned in response to me complaining about stuttering in games like Metro Exodus.

Mind you, most games I have, (even newer ones like RDR2 and Wolfenstein II The New Colossus) I have no issues with. I guess I'm assuming that if I maybe upgraded the CPU to an i7, even if it's still 6th generation or 7th generation, it might solve any bottlenecks I have that result in stutter (even then, that ignores any poor optimization the games themselves may have).