Build Advice AM4 or AM5?

[mzhiglov]

Hello forum!

I've built myself a system in the beginning of the pandemic with the following:

AMD Ryzen 7 3rd Gen - RYZEN 7 3700X
GIGABYTE B550 AORUS PRO AC
GIGABYTE Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB
GIGABYTE - G27Q - 27" IPS Gaming Monitor
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB 3600 MHz)
Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB
EVGA SuperNOVA 750 GA
Fractal Design Meshify C Black

It served me well, not a huge gamer (though I do occasionally play GTAO on max settings capping at 144 fps @1440). The system still serves me well for music/video type of work and I have no reasons to upgrade. I trust my PC could probably play most games at reasonable settings.

A family member wishes to upgrade from ASUS TUF FX505DT to a desktop setup on a tight budget and now I am up to a task of figuring out the best direction. Now that AM5 is available, I am just not feeling the real need for it in terms of performance per $ spent.

I am not geeking around as much as I used to, so I wanted to ask whether I should consider building a system similar to mine or just go "entry level" AM5.

TIA.

 

[Lutfij]

What does your family member want to do with the PC that you might hand him down/build? That would dictate if you should build something similar although something similar with a 5000 series Ryzen would be a worthwhile endeavor while on the B550 chipset.

Apart from purpose of the rig and it's use case scenarios, how much money does your family member have to spend towards the build?

 

[mzhiglov]

What does your family member want to do with the PC that you might hand him down/build? That would dictate if you should build something similar although something similar with a 5000 series Ryzen would be a worthwhile endeavor while on the B550 chipset.

Apart from purpose of the rig and it's use case scenarios, how much money does your family member have to spend towards the build?

Mostly gaming like Hogwarts Legacy or Resident Evil... stuff like that. Besides gaming - office apps, photoshop, etc. Budget is about $1k including the monitor.

 

[logainofhades]

Honestly, with a $1k budget, I would say AM4 is the best gaming performance option. AM5 would force a lower tiered GPU, but give an upgrade path that AM4 lacks.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($36.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 GAMING X V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($49.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($68.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 319 Core Radeon RX 6800 16 GB Video Card ($359.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $984.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-25 13:42 EDT-0400

 

[mzhiglov]

Honestly, with a $1k budget, I would say AM4 is the best gaming performance option. AM5 would force a lower tiered GPU, but give an upgrade path that AM4 lacks.

Thanks but how much more it would cost to build AM5 based system?

 

[helper800]

Thanks but how much more it would cost to build AM5 based system?

With the same costing parts from @logainofhades build about 210 more:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.00)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($35.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650M MORTAR WIFI Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($169.99 @ MSI)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($68.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 319 Core Radeon RX 6800 16 GB Video Card ($359.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Mini Air MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1193.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-25 14:25 EDT-0400

 

[Lucky_SLS]

With monitor:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 8500G 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor ($158.97 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($84.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster QICK 319 Core Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 - TT Premium Edition 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell G2724D 27.0" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Monitor ($199.99 @ Dell Technologies)
Total: $1143.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-26 09:27 EDT-0400

 

[geofelt]

When buying new, go for current gen.
With AMD, you get better single thread performance.
That translates to desktop quickness and better gaming.

A R5-7600 should go for <$200.
Run the cpu-Z bench on your 3700X.
You should get a score of 5445 and a single thread score of 528.
The 7600 will score 5659 and 692 single thread .

The current graphics chip is GTX1650.
Buy a good upgrade or you may be disappointed.
At least one tier higher on tom's gpu hierarchy list:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
bear in mind that mobile chips are weaker than their discrete counterparts.
Think RX6600 at least.

 

[mzhiglov]

Run the cpu-Z bench on your 3700X.
You should get a score of 5445 and a single thread score of 528.
The 7600 will score 5659 and 692 single thread .

Translating this into real life experience, is it really going to be that noticeable? There are much better AM4 Zen3 chips than my 3700x. I mean AM4 is not dead yet, hence my questions. I guess what I'm hearing is - if I were to upgrade my machine, I could technically just get away with C(G)PU upgrade but since I am building new, it makes more sense going AM5 route.

 

[geofelt]

For running fully loaded batch apps, the 7600 will be comparable to your 3700x.
But for desktop quickness and games, the stronger 7600 single thread performance will be noticeable.
My understanding is that you had no reason to upgrade, you were looking were looking for a build for the family member.

If the plan is to give him your current pc, that is another matter.

 

[mzhiglov]

I could technically just get away with C(G)PU upgrade but since I am building new, it makes more sense going AM5 route.

My understanding is that you had no reason to upgrade, you were looking were looking for a build for the family member.

It was just an example if I wanted to upgrade mine, yes, a different story but I am keeping my PC as is and keeping it for as long as I can. If AM4 was dead today - I would have built AM5 without creating this thread but since AM4 is still here I was just trying to weigh options. The way I thought about it was: higher-end AM4 build > entry-level AM5 for some reason. Single core performance wasn't something I always paid a lot of attention to, well, probably due to how I use my PCs over the years.