Question 2700 or 2700X?

Skpstr

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Just a quick question: (maybe not lol)

For a gaming-only PC, is there any point to getting the Ryzen 7 2700X over the 2700?

From what I've read, you can OC the 2700 to about where you can OC the 2700X, you just can't do it with the stock cooler. Not an issue in my case, as I can re-use the 212 EVO from my current PC. (and put the stock Ryzen cooler on my FX-6300 instead)

Now, I'm not much of a computer guy, so any OC I do is just going to be through the BIOS app. (not going to manually mess with voltages or anything)

Would I need to do a manual OC to get the 2700 up to say, 4.2Ghz, and will a 212 be enough cooling? Also, would I need a better mobo for the bigger OC than I would to get the same speed from a 2700X?
 
4.2ghz needs a lot of vcore, you'll want a liquid cooler or a high end twin tower air cooler.

Hyper 212 should be ok for stock operation, but any overclocking, you'll want something a bit more beefy.

If the 2700 is significantly cheaper than the 2700X, then yeah just get the 2700. Both chips are close in performance anyways.
 

Skpstr

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4.2ghz needs a lot of vcore, you'll want a liquid cooler or a high end twin tower air cooler.

Hyper 212 should be ok for stock operation, but any overclocking, you'll want something a bit more beefy.

If the 2700 is significantly cheaper than the 2700X, then yeah just get the 2700. Both chips are close in performance anyways.

So I'm thinking that it's more a manual OC to get the 2700 up there, vs. more or less 1 click for the 2700X, and it's a mild OC for the 2700X, vs. a heavier one for the 2700, is that the right idea?

Would the 212 do for the 2700X with a mild OC? I know that my FX-6300 is fine at 4.0Ghz with the 212. (55° is as hot as it gets)
 
Both the 2700 and 2700X require lots of voltage to hit 4.2ghz (they both are the same chip just at different stock clocks).

I still would suggest getting a better cooler than a 212 for any overclocks. But the nice thing about the 2700X is that it is already clocked so high, that overclocking it yields basically no performance gains. Which is why many people say just don't overclock the 2700X. Which is kinda nice, you get max performance out of the box.
 
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Skpstr

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Both the 2700 and 2700X require lots of voltage to hit 4.2ghz (they both are the same chip just at different stock clocks).

I still would suggest getting a better cooler than a 212 for any overclocks. But the nice thing about the 2700X is that it is already clocked so high, that overclocking it yields basically no performance gains. Which is why many people say just don't overclock the 2700X. Which is kinda nice, you get max performance out of the box.

Ok, that helps.

So, considering that I'm only looking to game at 1080p, (for now anyway) even the stock 2700 should be decent? (GPU is RX580 8Gb) If that's the case, I can always add better cooling later, when I get my VR setup.

The price difference is currently $85 CDN, and I planned on using a B450 Tomahawk mobo. Does it make any sense to put that extra (if I get the 2700) into a better mobo, or would I mostly be paying extra for unnecessary features? (or alternatively, would it be a good idea to get a pricier board more suitable for eventual OCing?)
 

adooley8

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Hey,

I currently have a 2700x and like the moderator said, 4.2ghz is really hard to get stable, at 1.35v i'm not stable at 4.2ghz and I have a h100i v2 cooling the CPU. If you're using a RX 580 then both CPUs will be a treat to use. I have a GTX 1070 and I am in almost all scenarios GPU bottlenecked, and that's with a slightly faster card. A stock 2700 will be still be a king and honestly, I reckon you could overclock all core to around 4ghz easy enough on the stock cooler, I found with the 2700x that 4ghz was really easy, 4.1ghz was easy, 4.2ghz was really hard and I can not hit 4.3 regardless of how many volts I use.

One thing I would say, with the stock cooler on a 2700x it will XFR up to 3.9,3.95ghz all core when under load and it will peak single core at around 4.2/4.3ghz, I honestly don't know if the fancy AIO was worth it with my 2700x so if you want to use a stock cooler the 2700x will give you a really nice stock cooler to go with it.

End of the day, both chips are really nice chips and you shouldn't regret either. It'll be a little harder to overclock the 2700 and honestly with XFR there is very little point in doing so, so I would suggest that if the price is right consider a 2700x, but you won't regret a 2700 either way.
 

Skpstr

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Hey,

I currently have a 2700x and like the moderator said, 4.2ghz is really hard to get stable, at 1.35v i'm not stable at 4.2ghz and I have a h100i v2 cooling the CPU. If you're using a RX 580 then both CPUs will be a treat to use. I have a GTX 1070 and I am in almost all scenarios GPU bottlenecked, and that's with a slightly faster card. A stock 2700 will be still be a king and honestly, I reckon you could overclock all core to around 4ghz easy enough on the stock cooler, I found with the 2700x that 4ghz was really easy, 4.1ghz was easy, 4.2ghz was really hard and I can not hit 4.3 regardless of how many volts I use.

One thing I would say, with the stock cooler on a 2700x it will XFR up to 3.9,3.95ghz all core when under load and it will peak single core at around 4.2/4.3ghz, I honestly don't know if the fancy AIO was worth it with my 2700x so if you want to use a stock cooler the 2700x will give you a really nice stock cooler to go with it.

End of the day, both chips are really nice chips and you shouldn't regret either. It'll be a little harder to overclock the 2700 and honestly with XFR there is very little point in doing so, so I would suggest that if the price is right consider a 2700x, but you won't regret a 2700 either way.

Great info, thanks. I guess my biggest question at this point is, what could I really do with the savings, other than put it into the mobo? And if I get the 2700X, there will be less need for OCing, and thus less need for a better mobo.

I won't have to use the stock cooler, I can just take the 212 off my FX-6300 and use the stock Ryzen cooler on that.
 
With a proper MB (good VRM and updated BIOS) 2700x all but doesn't need any OC as PBO2 (if MB and BIOS support it) gives me only about 10% less performance (according to benchmarks) than at full OC at 4.25GHz and 1.416v which is my best, all stable OC. That's practically invisible in real use.
That's coming fro a grizzled old overclocker that "overclocks" everything from a toaster to V8 engines.
For successful Turbo mode as well as for successful OC same conditions apply.
Good cooling
Good VRM
Good MB and it's chipset
BIOS with as many options as possible.
PS:
CM 212 Evo cooler would need an adapter for AM4 socket as it would not fit as it is. Adapter may not be available any more from CM. I also doubt it would provide enough cooling for something like 4.2GHz or full PBO.
 
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Skpstr

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With a proper MB (good VRM and updated BIOS) 2700x all but doesn't need any OC as PBO2 (if MB and BIOS support it) gives me only about 10% less performance (according to benchmarks) than at full OC at 4.25GHz and 1.416v which is my best, all stable OC. That's practically invisible in real use.
That's coming fro a grizzled old overclocker that "overclocks" everything from a toaster to V8 engines.
For successful Turbo mode as well as for successful OC same conditions apply.
Good cooling
Good VRM
Good MB and it's chipset
BIOS with as many options as possible.
PS:
CM 212 Evo cooler would need an adapter for AM4 socket as it would not fit as it is. Adapter may not be available any more from CM. I also doubt it would provide enough cooling for something like 4.2GHz or full PBO.

Ah ok, glad you mentioned about the cooler, that would have been frustrating to run into lol.

Will the stock 2700X cooler be enough for Turbo mode? Will I even need Turbo for now? (I'm assuming the 2700X will blow my FX-6300 out of the water lol)

I guess the only other question I have is, for the money, would I be better off getting the 2700X and 16gb RAM, or the 2700 and 32gb RAM?
 
Lol, my first Ryzen, 1600x, blew my FX 6350 running at 4.9GHz out of the water by 3 to 1, no question there.
2700x has very good cooler, I run it for a week or two until I got adapter for my CM Nepton 140 XL. It will turbo (PBO2) just fine, that's one of best b450 motherboards. Make sure you have latest BIOS version flashed in. Newest AGESA is doing wonders with RAM.
Trust me (famous last words), even at lowest settings, 2700x will be a revelation after FX 6300.
With a pair of 8GB, 3200MHz RAM, it's going to be more than enough for and GPU and game out there. Unless you are going to do some heavy lifting with studio type video or many virtual machines, 16GB is more than enough.
 
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adooley8

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Great info, thanks. I guess my biggest question at this point is, what could I really do with the savings, other than put it into the mobo? And if I get the 2700X, there will be less need for OCing, and thus less need for a better mobo.

I won't have to use the stock cooler, I can just take the 212 off my FX-6300 and use the stock Ryzen cooler on that.
Most X470 board offer very similar features, one thing i would suggest is we are promised Ryzen on AM4 until 2020, A good board now might be worth it down the line if you want to upgrade to Zen 2+ around 2021. The Hyper 212 and the stock cooler of the 2700x are pretty close to be honest, I have both but just remember that if your hyper 212 is older than Ryzen you will need to get an AM4 bracket for it!
 

bmacsys

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I would surely get the 2700X and call it a day. Just leave it at stock. Plus you get a much, much better cooler in the Wraith Prism which is actually an improvement over the original Wraith cooler bundled with the old FX cpu's. Direct contact heat pipes, plus it has more surface area and a bigger fan.
 
Yeah, from what I've read, 4.2ghz requires like 1.44v or something nuts LOL.

OP, since you only have a RX 580 both a 2700 or a 2700X would be equal as the GPU is not that powerful.

So either way, it works, if you get a good board and get a new graphics card in the future you can overclock the 2700. Or you can get the 2700X and not worry about OCing at all for future GPUs. Now it is down to personal preference.

As for motherboards, if you'll be overclocking the 2700 or you buy a 2700X you'll want a good VRM solution. I'd highly recommend looking into the X470 boards like the MSI Gaming 7, Gigabyte Gaming 7 or 5 and also the Asrock Taichi. If those are too expensive, there are some cheaper $160ish boards I can point you too.
 

Skpstr

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Yeah, from what I've read, 4.2ghz requires like 1.44v or something nuts LOL.

OP, since you only have a RX 580 both a 2700 or a 2700X would be equal as the GPU is not that powerful.

So either way, it works, if you get a good board and get a new graphics card in the future you can overclock the 2700. Or you can get the 2700X and not worry about OCing at all for future GPUs. Now it is down to personal preference.

As for motherboards, if you'll be overclocking the 2700 or you buy a 2700X you'll want a good VRM solution. I'd highly recommend looking into the X470 boards like the MSI Gaming 7, Gigabyte Gaming 7 or 5 and also the Asrock Taichi. If those are too expensive, there are some cheaper $160ish boards I can point you too.

I'm thinking of a Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming. Would that be a decent board?

I'm kind of leaning towards the 2700X, although the 2700's cheaper price would let me double up on RAM to go to 32Gb......

Lol I need to flip a coin or something!
 
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