Is Upgrading to an i7-9700K Worth It on My Current Setup?
Asked by
TechyNinja99
I'm currently running an Asus B360M-PLUS TUF Gaming motherboard with an Intel i5-9400F, 32GB of 2666MHz RAM, and an ASUS RTX 3060 Ti. My setup works fine most of the time, but I occasionally hit 100% CPU usage, especially while playing PUBG, which causes some annoying stuttering. I found an i7-9700K for just $80, which is cheaper than the non-K version. I won't be overclocking because the B360 chipset doesn't support it, but the extra cores could help with performance. My main worry is whether this could damage my motherboard or lead to CPU throttling, since I've heard the B360M's VRMs aren't as robust as those on Z-series boards. By the way, I have an ID-Cooling SE-214 heatsink that can handle up to 150W TDP. What do you guys think?
Answers
I had a similar setup a while back—an i5-9400F and 16GB of RAM with a 1660 Ti. I rarely hit 100% CPU usage, usually just around 60%, while my GPU maxed out. Have you checked for other issues? Maybe it's something else in your system that's causing the stress on the CPU.
**Edit:** You might want to close any unnecessary background applications. Your CPU should be idling around 20% if everything’s working well.
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GamingGeek84: That’s what I was thinking too! I saw a video comparing builds like ours, and even the i5-9400F hit 100% at times. Maybe there's an underlying issue.