Intel Core i7-7700 for gaming in 2020/21/22 ?

I'll keep this simple:
With the next gen of consoles all rocking multi-threaded CPUs, basically for how long will the core i7-7700 CPU(desktop,not 7700hq/hk) in my clevo unit remain relevant for gaming ?
-The screen resolution is 1440p,refresh rate is 120hz with g-sync.
-The GPU is GTX 1080, system ram is 16gb.
The system was purchased with a hyperthreaded i7 (and not a 4 core i5) specifically with 5-6 years future proofing in mind,so its currently through 50% of its life cycle.
The GPU performance is still strong, but the CPU numbers are a bit concerning,especially in games like AC origins/oddysey/BF5: the 1080 is just short of being bottlenecked, and indeed is under even very light background activity.
CPU was not a major concern this gen,especially since the current gen consoles are all rocking essentially overclocked netbook/tablet CPUs. All of that changes with PS5/XSX though, which was unexpected but a welcome change !
Way I see it, there are a few options here:

1. Install new NVME SSDs,which will relieve some of the streaming bottlenecks for next gen games, and even many current gen ones. Will be needing atleast 2tb of storage to port some big games and still have reasonable space for upcoming ones, ideally on a single disk so the upgrade definitely wont be cheap. Plan is to swap out one of the 240gb SSDs for a 2/4tb one, and use the 240 in a USB enclosure.
2. Flash a modded unofficial BIOS and upgrade the CPU to an 8c/16t to match consoles. It can be done,but technicalities aside is obviously not recommended since its unofficial:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...clevo-laptops-rtx-cards-now-supported.825558/
The BIOS is a straight port from an updated model and way I understand it, there shouldnt be any problems if its done correctly-I always have the option to reflash my old BIOS if anything goes wrong.

1. Sell the system after ampere/next-gen navi launch and get a mid range system with equivalent GPU performance and an 8 core ryzen. get ray tracing as an added bonus.
2. And the hardest of all, with potential consequences : Do nothing until the point I need to upgrade. The 9th gen CPUs are almost out of stock, and will definitely get more expensive to source one later in 2021/22.

Option #4 is why I'm asking, since a replacement to the laptop right now will have to be a new laptop but post 2022 i'll definitely be going in for a high end desktop.

 

Next to the "average" gaming PC (see the Steam Hardware Survey), yours would still be considered mid to high-end. Mainstream game developers won't throw away most of their customer base by making a game that won't run on your hardware.

Unless your current system isn't performing to your satisfaction, it probably makes sense to stick with what you have unless you just feel like spending money. We're on the cusp of new graphics hardware; AMD has stated its next-gen GPUs will have ray tracing and Nvidia's next-gen cards will have stronger ray tracing than the RTX 20 series. Might as well wait for that and pick up a new system then, assuming you think it's worthwhile.

Charles

 

Doesn't that laptop work with an 8700k with a small mod and dsanke bios?

 

Quad cores are dead, due to the consoles having octa core CPUs. But not yet, as when the new console generation first begins we go through a phase of games being developed as cross generation titles, so your i7-7700 will last another 2 years before PC system requirements shift in that direction. Once developers have dropped the netbook CPUs of the X1/PS4, I expect minimum requirements to shift to 6-core/12 thread CPUs.

So, if you are for sure building a desktop in 2022, you might as well hold onto your current system.

 

As @Kevin mentioned, the CPU itself (while somewhat outdated) should hold out until you decide to upgrade in 2022, however you also seem to have pretty wide range of options at your disposal when it comes to upgrading the existing hw without having to buy a new system.

If you think you need to upgrade, then by all means, do so... one thing I'll suggest however is make sure you're able to backup the BIOS before you flash a custom one, and have means at your disposal to restore the older BIOS if something goes wrong.

Undervolting would also be recommended (obviously).

Short of doing this, you can just upgrade the small things (like the NVme), then sit tight with what you have and just wait until the time you finally buy yourself a completely new/modern system.

 

There's a nice 6C12T 8086K in the marketplace currently (with cooling in mind, this could be the sweet spot), I feel like it shouldn't be too hard to source a CPU upgrade if you don't mind getting one from eBay or forums (or even AliExpress).

You could then turnaround and sell the 7700K, which would make the upgrade probably not too expensive.

But that also depends if you don't mind potential bugs when using a ported/modded bios.

 

Swapping from the 7700K to 8086K/8700K requires a board upgrade to 370 or 390 series chipsets or newer.

Viability of the CPU though long term shouldn't be an issue nor the monitor / panel / gpu (for now)

1. Install new NVME SSDs,which will relieve some of the streaming bottlenecks for next gen games, and even many current gen ones. Will be needing atleast 2tb of storage to port some big games and still have reasonable space for upcoming ones, ideally on a single disk so the upgrade definitely wont be cheap. Plan is to swap out one of the 240gb SSDs for a 2/4tb one, and use the 240 in a USB enclosure.

-- Streaming is going to be more your ISP / Router / WIFI than the gust of the system

-- NVME will give you less hassle when it comes to bottlenecks locally... if you have dual NVME slots currently you can get 2 x 1TB for $130/ea and use primary/secondary or even Raid 0 to combine them into a 2TB but, you better have a backup solution since R0 doesn't provide any protection if one fails. If there's also a 2.5" slot you could put your backups there with a 2.5" spinner for cheap enough.

-- NVME 2TB would run you about $229 in the current market to condense things a bit if you don't have the slots and then just backup to an external to keep things cheap... w/o going overboard on price / performance I would opt for the BPX Pro 2TB for the warranty and durability

Option #4 is why I'm asking, since a replacement to the laptop right now will have to be a new laptop but post 2022 i'll definitely be going in for a high end desktop.
-- build your own and save some money or use the savings for upgrades.... I built a base 8700K for ~$1500 w/ 16GB / 256 NVME / 8TB WD Red / 4 port GigE / DVR Tuner / Fans/Coolers/PSU/etc. I didn't put a GPU in it though because I use it more for a server than a daily use PC.

After a few revamps and ideas and challenging the norms of PC's it's ballooned over budget to a little over 2X the original costs and I've been through 3 different cases due to design changes / implementations but, now it functions as my:
Router / Switch
WAP (QWA-AC2600)
Firewall (iptables)
DVR (plex)
NAS
Media Server
Backup (Raid 10 w/ 8TB drives and a spare)
And the list of functions goes on... you get the idea though that the possibilities are endless when you think outside of the big box options. Trimming down from 5-6 devices being plugged in to a single box is nice.

 

No it doesn't. With some minor hardware mods and a proper BIOS, Coffee Lake CPUs can work on older 1- and 2-series chipsets.

 

Unofficially of course, but I may add that a majority of the shared information on this lovely forum is mad scientists laying out the ground work and precedent for others to take full advantage of.

Love this forum

 

Let's just say with the mad scientist theories we come up with as outlandishly out of spec the ideas are anything is possible.... It kind of depends on how deep you want to get into the mud and the experience someone asking the question has to complete the desired result.

I for instance did an upgrade for my laptop panel that wasn't documented anywhere...even here until I wrote up the thread going from FHD > QHD when all sources say it shouldn't / couldn't be done including sellers of the panel saying they wouldn't sell for the reasons of incompatibility.

 

Right but its only muddy for the first person to climb that hill, after the precedent is set and documentation distributed its pretty simple a process.

Same goes for GPU upgrades, my old Ranger officially cant upgrade to the 1060/1070. Have 14TB of storage internally. AX1650. etc etc. Unofficially Ive been running it for quite a while before I moved to the P750ZM, of which is also getting a handful of unofficial treatment.

Point being, its not theory when its proven. We are pretty responsible (for the most part) on this forum, we wouldnt suggest something deliberately detrimental without someone else correcting it pretty quick.

@Mr. Fox @Papusan @Ashtrix @DaMafiaGamer @Khenglish

 

I found a ton of info here useful after hashing through it all on my screen upgrade process from FHD to QHD but had to cobble it together because my specific model isn't listed anywhere on the net for virtually anything other than selling them. Not sure if it's because it's an ultra book or what the deal is but, it's been a hassle to dig up common info in comparison to other vendors.

Generally though most tech is interchangeable to an extent if you go down the low level diagrams and work your way up to a specific model / application that should work if the foundation is solid and permits such technologies to be used successfully. That's the process I ended up taking with the screen since it was getting swapped either way to something new why not shoot for a QHD instead of just FHD 144hz when the bread crumbs pointed to supporting a QHD even though it never has been an option for this particular model or mentioned anywhere ever.

When it comes to processor / chipset though i'm a bit more cautious to step out of bounds even though a 1151 socket has been around for ages there are other things coming into play with the boards / cpu's that could be problematic if mismatched. If there's a way to do it though on the cheap and proven long term no issues I'm all for saving a couple of hundred bucks in parts.

You mention the unofficialness of your current model.... isn't it funny how we start planning upgrades on things we haven't even gotten or just got in the recent past? Before this thing even arrived I ordered memory / wifi ax200 upgrades along with dual NVME drives.

 

I got it because I could make it unique. Cookie cutter laptops aren't my cup of tea.

Yeah the experiences of those upgrading have their threads around here. It's been done on a lot of platforms that it can be done to.

 

Interesting discussion,
Spoke to the OP(who also helped port the custom bios).
Will be going in for a direct upgrade to 9900kf.
Only concern here is the smaller heatpipes on the dm3 model when compared side by side to the upgraded tm1. Fans appear identical, otherwise no major changes to the chassis(images for comparison) . Was told to expect some level of throttling but not too much.

 

Yeah heck even when my 6970m died I used the baking method to bring it back to life...no other forum teaches more crazy but effective things

 

If you're going to get a i9 9900KF, I'd recommend to get one from silicon lottery. mainly because the chip is way too power hungry and gets too hot. My laptop can't for its life to keep the 8700K under 100ºC @4 GHz on all six cores while performing Cinebench R20 (that's around 90W), that makes it impossible to for me to go up in clock speed. I've seen some people go much higher on their 8700K in the same laptop but I can't. I've tried liquid metal or thermal grizzly but makes no difference. Undervolting doesn't help either.

Of course if I try the CPU test on 3DMark, the CPU can keep all 6 cores @4.5 or higer without reaching 100ºC but, that's no a real stress test IMO.

 

This was exactly my concern before upgrading. Although 9900k has a higher tdp from what people have said it's actually about on par with i7 7700k in clock speeds, and the stim keeps it at about the same thermal performance as a non-delidded 7700k. I have my 7700 hitting 100c at stock with some games but still going strong since 2017 (3.9-4.1ghz). All you really need is yearly repaste jobs as the grease dries out quicker due to the intense thermal cycling.
You could try delidding your 8700k but it won't make much of a difference to your clock speeds unless you're throttling pretty aggressively. Temps would be much lower though, just remember not to glue your IHS back on !

 

I bought my laptop from HIDevolution and the CPU comes delidded by them. That's why I think the silicon of my CPU is not in the high side of the chart. For sure the CPU fulfills Intel's promise of at least 3.7 GHz in all six cores and 4.7 GHz in one core with a TDP of 95W. Anything over 3.7 GHz (on all six cores) is pure luck and depends on the silicon lottery. Though while gaming my CPU is able to keep turbo speeds (4.3 GHz an all six cores) and manage decent temperatures (under 95ºC). But when using AVX load, like Cinebench 20 or Prime95 the system cooling can't keep the CPU under 100ºC and keep turbo speeds so the CPU clock stabilizes at ~3.9 - 4.0 GHz an all six cores and 99-100ºC

 

Hmm,
Was your thermal performance always like this? Conductonaut is known to lose performance in a couple of years once most of the indium has formed alloys with copper, nickel etc. Can attest to this, I've had to repaste with liquid metal (although mine was ultra-II) which turned into silver flakes under the IHS. Maybe delid and have a look?

 

Yeah it has always been like this, since day 1, so is not related to aged liquid metal over the IHS. I don't really have the skills to delid the CPU by myself and check how's everything under the IHS, but I think I'll be buying an Area51m R2 any time soon so I'll not be expending much more energy on the P870TM1