I currently have a Intel Core i5-12400F (bought a pre built from Starforge) and am thinking of upgrading to an Intel i9-14900K or KF and I’m wondering what steps I need to take in regards to preparation and during installation
I bought a bit of thermal paste a while back that was a corsair one that I saw in Walmart for cheap, but if I need better I’ll get better, I also have a Arctic Freezer 36 Air Cooler
last i saw those high end i9s run hot as hell so make sure your cooler has the capacity for it, otherwise youre good
‘Good’ as in it will probably work, but getting a KF is unnecessary unless the motherboard suppkrts it and if OP wants to overclock.
And assuming the prebuilt has proper power overhead means TDP won’t be an issue but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Can you send your mobo, case, and PSU?
MSI Pro B760-VC HS Wifi, Phanteks XT View, and MSI MAG A750GL PCIe 5, sorry for the late reply
No complaints, the timing worked out just fine.
As long as your paste spreads fine, you should be okay. If you are concerned, buy more. It’s only a few bucks.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HCZn3w
I threw your parts into here for just an idea of what you had. Assuming you don’t have a ton of drives or a 300w video card in your system, you are probably fine. You should add the rest of your parts in the link I provided to confirm you aren’t approaching 80% of your available wattage.
You should be able to get away with that cooler. See if you can find the thermal properties of your cooler. If not, you can find a suggested replacement on PCPartPicker, but you should look deeply into whatever you purchase and try taking measurements to confirm it will fit.
Finally, PCPartPicker suggests a bios update before you swap processors, just in case your bios is old and doesn’t support that chip.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/236773/intel-core-i9-processor-14900k-36m-cache-up-to-6-00-ghz/specifications.html specifies Max TDP during Turbo Boost as 253W while https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/air-cooling/arctic-freezer-36-review says that your cooler is good for 219W.
Depending on your planned use you can end up thermal throttled. I have no idea how your air flow in the case is either, if that’s bad then a good cpu cooler won’t save you.
