I'm looking to upgrade my CPU as I usually refresh my PC parts every three years. I've recently made some significant upgrades, swapping my 3080 Ti for a 5070 Ti and bumping my SSD from 512 GB to 2 TB. I also got a new Z790 Eagle AX motherboard and installed 64 GB of fast DDR5 RAM. These changes have made a noticeable difference, but I'm still using my old Intel i5-14600K CPU. I tried checking user benchmarks, but nothing has caught my eye about the CPU upgrade compared to the GPU boost. I want to stay within a budget of around $400, but I'm unsure if upgrading the CPU is worth it or if there's a better option.
3 Answers
Make sure you're running XMP settings on your CPU! If you're using the base clock, it could bottleneck your 5070 Ti, which is a powerhouse. You can check your CPU speed in the task manager under performance.
Sometimes it can vary; I've seen my CPU go up to 5.2 GHz depending on the game!
I wouldn't replace that 14600K unless you're looking for some serious performance boosts. With a bit of overclocking, you can get it to perform on par with an i7-14700K for gaming. If you use an LGA1700 contact frame plus a decent 360mm AIO cooler, you'll be set. Also, tuning your RAM can give you a 5-10% boost in minimum FPS during gaming.
I've heard overclocking can be risky. What’s the safest way to do it? Also, what's this RAM tuning you're talking about? I've just set my BIOS to max speed for my chips.
Overclocking definitely has its risks, but if you take it slow and monitor your temps, you should be fine. Tuning RAM just means adjusting settings like XMP profiles to get the best performance out of your memory.
Honestly, your i5-14600K is a solid match for the 5070 Ti. You really don't need to upgrade just yet.
I see my CPU speed is pretty low at the desktop but jumps to about 4.2 GHz when gaming. Is that enough?