Upgrade from i5-9400f to i7-9700K/i9-9900k or complete new mobo/CPU?

Posted by CharlesP_1232@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 6 comments

My buddy currently has an i5-9400f and 1660, I just upgraded my PC and am thinking about giving him my 3070ti (will need a bigger PSU I know, already looking into that). But I'm thinking the 9400f will be bottlenecking the 3070ti, and I'm not sure if just getting a 9th gen i7/i9 or a 12th gen i5/AM4 CPU and new mobo would get him better bang for the buck.

[-]

Confident_Natural_42@reddit

A new computer would certainly be better, but also much more expensive as it would require upgrading both the CPU and motherboard, and possibly RAM as well. Upgrading that i5-9400F to either of those will show significant upgrades.

If he does decide to upgrade, going for an AM5 build is by far the best choice, as it's still an active platform that will likely receive more new stuff.

[-]

CharlesP_1232@reddit (OP)

I know completely new AM5 would be better, but I doubt I could do even an extreme budget build for him (hence giving the 3070ti, I'll have to look).

[-]

Confident_Natural_42@reddit

You can get an AM5 for not much more money than AM4, and still have the upgradeability. Of course, the AM4 system would likely be more powerful than the AM5 one for similar money, but future proofing is something to take into account if going for a new system.

Having said that, I myself replaced my old i7-4790 system with an i5-12400F with an DDR5 motherboard, with the idea of sometime in the future plugging in a 14-th gen i7 or i9 (if any survive until then :) so I can't really berate others about future proofing properly. In my defense, I got the motherboard off ebay for quite cheap. :)

[-]

CharlesP_1232@reddit (OP)

Honestly what I'm thinking right now (just because he ain't got that much for an upgrade) is as someone else suggested, an i7-8700, no need for overclocking, same speed as 9th gen, and cheaper. Then maybe by the time that rig is really aging could get him into a full new build with AM5 (heck probably even the start of AM6 by then lol).