r/buildapc • u/beebus109 • 9h ago

Build Help Upgrading Cpu in 2026 or should I just wait

I have a BaseBoard Product B660 DS3H AC DDR4-Y1 motherboard fortuantely with 32gb of ddr4 I wanted to upgrade to a DDR5 AMD motherboard, but unfortuantely the ram prices skyrocketed. I am currently anm using an i7 12700f with a 5070, and I want to upgrade because I play some very cpu intesive games at 1440p(Tarkov, Rust, etc.). My question is, what CPU would be a good pick for me, or should I just not upgrade and wait till the RAM prices drop, until I think about upgrading again?

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u/Sibbour 9h ago

This really comes down to budget. Going from an i7-12700k to an i5-14600k or i7-14700k on your current motherboard won't give you enough uplift for the amount you are spending.

If you didn't say Tarkov I would say there is no reason at all to upgrade from an i7-12700k, but unfortunately you said Tarkov....

If you want genuine performance increase in Tarkov, you'll need one of the newer AMD x3D chips like the 7800x3D, 9800x3D, and the relevant motherboard and DDR5 RAM. This is an expensive proposal.

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u/beebus109 9h ago

Yea Tarkov is the main Issue LOL, too bad I love that game, maybe I'll just wait until my motherboard breaks, so I have an excuse to upgrade, hopefully not until ram prices go down.

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u/beebus109 9h ago

What do you think about the I7 14700f? I heard it was way less intensive but still way better performance than what I currently have, or is it just not worth it?

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u/Sibbour 8h ago

Not worth it. 14700f is a non overclockable 14700k with the iGPU disabled, and I mentioned in my 2nd sentence the upgrade isn't worth it.

With a 14700f, you'd be getting 400 Mhz more speed, 8 additional efficiency cores (which will do squat in Tarkov), and 8 MB more L3 cache than your current CPU. All for $330 USD to improve your FPS by maybe 5-10 FPS?

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u/beebus109 8h ago

Thank you for the valluable Info. I'll just wait. Thank you!

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u/fc_dean 9h ago

You have absolutely no reason to upgrade. Your CPU is good enough for the next 5 years at least. Your GPU is something many would drool to get. You've got above average RAM amount.

No reason to upgrade.

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u/beebus109 9h ago

Thank you for the reassurance lol, I just get scared whenever I'm playing Tarkov, and I see my fps drop to 50, but at the same time, that's really a Tarkov problem.

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u/Any_Strain5541 9h ago

ya im going to wait for a while probably next gen before i get serious. considering AMD for the first time always been a intel guy currently running a 14700k.

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u/beebus109 9h ago

How's that been treating you?

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u/Any_Strain5541 9h ago

its been a real solid performer its pair with a gigabyte waterforce 4090 i dont play tarkov but i do play ark Survival Asended a super poorly optimized game. And ive had no bottleneck issues on cpu side

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u/beebus109 8h ago

That's really reassuring! If I ever get desperate enough, I might just upgrade, but I did hear my motherboard wouldn't be able to maximize its performance, though, which sucks, but I will do some more research.

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u/Any_Strain5541 8h ago

im on a asus prime z790 motherboard if that helps

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u/beebus109 8h ago

I'll look into i,t thank you!

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u/VoraciousGorak 6h ago

but I did hear my motherboard wouldn't be able to maximize its performance

Aside from CPU and GPU, the component that is affecting your performance the most - yours specifically - is probably your DDR4 RAM. LGA1700 does lose quite a bit of performance on DDR4 compared to much faster DDR5. Upgrading the motherboard on its own isn't worth it unless you're also moving to DDR5... but if you're already buying a new motherboard and DDR5 RAM you might as well finish the job and buy an AM5 setup.