My current build is an 8700k, 3070 setup, gaming in 1440p. Temps on the current CPU are indicating that the internal thermal compound is dead (been hitting 100C under load with a previous and now replacement AiO). The 3070 was an upgrade that the 8700k was supposed to somewhat keep up with by giving it some more power but it turns out it is already dying at stock clocks… I’m not going to try delidding the thing without a replacement on hand and at that point I might as well just get a new one.

Since I’m locked into 9th gen at the most I’m considering grabbing a use 9700k or 9900k in december to replace mine, not necessarily as an upgrade but to ensure my CPU doesn’t kick the bucket at a bad time. I’m planning on a completely new build this time next year, just don’t have the money for it right now and changing platform for a more on-par upgrade with the GPU seems like a bad idea since just the new motherboard nowadays costs what I’d want to spend on a CPU at this point.

From what I’m seeing they go for 200 and 250€ respectively and I’m wondering if the more expensive option would be worth it since I recall hearing that early i9s were hard to keep cool. I have an AiO with high speed fans but if the i9 means I’ll continue hearing my tower trying to lift off the whole time I’d rather stick with the i7

Currently very much CPU bottlenecked (though with seemingly no thermal throttling somehow) in PoE which is the only game that really matters atm.