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i7 2600K vs 7700K

4K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  lonsor 
#1 ·
Hey all, OC newb here. So I just bought a 7700K and Z270 motherboard, but I was reading and found several mentions of how Sandy Lake was one of the better generations of intel processors and could be OC'd to 5ghz on air fairly easily. I'm upgrading from a 2600K and I'm such a newb that when I bought it back in 2011 that I didn't even buy a Z series motherboard(didn't know that was needed to overclock). I guess what I was asking would I have been better off just finding a Z motherboard and trying to overclock that 2600K? I know there are other benefits to the 7700k/z270 but I was just wondering if I could have saved $350 on the processor by not going with the 7700 and been pretty much the same?

I just finished the 7700K build and am seeing some pretty crazy temperatures on air. I have a CM 212 EVO on it, and I'm sure my case is a factor as well, but just curious.
 
#2 ·
Clock for clock, I would say the 7700K has got to be far faster than the 2600K. The 2600K (Sandy Bridge, not Sandy Lake) is going on 6 years old now and is using a much older and less efficient architecture. It's still an extremely good CPU, but I would say or guess that you could overclock the 7700K to 4.5 GHz and cream the 2600K.

Having said that though, no, a Z77 or Z68 isn't needed. You could do it with a good P67 motherboard too, such as the P8P67 Pro. What motherboard do you have now for the 2600K?

More importantly, what power supply do you have (brand and model)?
 
#3 ·
I have the p8P67 pro, though I have revision 1 so half of my SATA connector's no longer work : / but that's neither here nor there. I was under the impression only z chipsets could be overclocked. The 7700K has a clock speed of almost 1ghz more at stock plus it gives me access to DD4 and m.2 technology so probably was worth it to upgrade. Just looking for a reason to doubt my purchases : D

Edit: Oh and I have a Cougar CMX 700w PSU
 
#5 ·
Well I'm in an ITX case which I know is contributing to higher temps, but I already bought a Asus ROG Strix z270I motherboard so no going MSI at this point.

Also is this normal, or does it it mean that it's unstable, but I tried the motherboards prebuilt 5ghz OC profile and it boosted my computer to 5.030 GHz but then when I was watching CPU Temps, I noticed the voltage would jump from 1.41 to 0.7 and then back, and the clock multiplier would jump to like 8x then back to 5ghz. I'm new like I said so I wasn't sure if thats just the CPU doesn't need to operate at 5ghz consistently or if that meant it was "unstable" I didn't do any stress testing yet but I didn't get any immediate BSODs
 
#7 ·
A stock 7700k is 4.2 ghz. That's MUCH faster than a 2600k @ 4.5. Maybe if the 7700k is not running turbo (not sure what the non turbo base speed is, it's not 4.2 ghz is it?) or running at 3.4 ghz base clock, then that's about right. (3.4 ghz on 7700k is probably even faster than a 4.5 ghz sandy, actually); you have to also factor in RAM speed differences.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Falkentyne View Post

A stock 7700k is 4.2 ghz. That's MUCH faster than a 2600k @ 4.5. Maybe if the 7700k is not running turbo (not sure what the non turbo base speed is, it's not 4.2 ghz is it?) or running at 3.4 ghz base clock, then that's about right. (3.4 ghz on 7700k is probably even faster than a 4.5 ghz sandy, actually); you have to also factor in RAM speed differences.
It's going to depend on the application, if it uses instruction sets that the sandy doesn't have , there will be a big difference . Otherwise, you might be surprised how close they are if you are giving the sandy that much clock advantage.
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsaunders View Post

Well I'm in an ITX case which I know is contributing to higher temps, but I already bought a Asus ROG Strix z270I motherboard so no going MSI at this point.

Also is this normal, or does it it mean that it's unstable, but I tried the motherboards prebuilt 5ghz OC profile and it boosted my computer to 5.030 GHz but then when I was watching CPU Temps, I noticed the voltage would jump from 1.41 to 0.7 and then back, and the clock multiplier would jump to like 8x then back to 5ghz. I'm new like I said so I wasn't sure if thats just the CPU doesn't need to operate at 5ghz consistently or if that meant it was "unstable" I didn't do any stress testing yet but I didn't get any immediate BSODs
That's SpeedStep kickin in. No worries.
 
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