Hey everyone! I've recently built a custom PC around my 3070 Ti, but I'm still using an older i5-10400F, and it's starting to drag my performance down. I'm ready to upgrade my CPU and have a budget of around $500. I prefer sticking with Intel CPUs, despite knowing Ryzen might be better and that there are some instability issues with the latest Intel generations. I've been looking at a few options like the i7-14700K, i9-13900K, and i9-14900K, but I'm open to other Intel suggestions too. I thought about jumping to the new ultra series, but that would cost me nearly $1000 since I'd need a new motherboard and DDR5 RAM as well. What do you think would be my best option here?
2 Answers
Just curious, why are you committed to Intel knowing that Ryzen might offer better performance?
You might want to consider the i7-12600K or the i9-12900K paired with a suitable DDR4 motherboard. If your current DDR4 RAM is of decent quality, like having 32GB of good speed, it’s worth keeping. Otherwise, if your RAM is on the lower end, you might as well upgrade to DDR5 while you're at it! It really depends on what you’ll be using your PC for, but those two CPUs are solid choices for your budget.
Honestly, it just feels like an Apple vs. Android thing for me. I'm just more comfortable with Intel.