Question Badly needed Motherboard, CPU and RAM upgrade ?

[quanger]

Hi. I currently have a well used i7 2700k@4.8ghz that isn't cutting it anymore for 1080p ultra gaming. Im out of the hardware/platform loop so I thought I'd start here. Im looking for something mid-range (price wise) that has good overclocking abilities similar to my current 2700k.

Im looking at:
AMD R5 9600X CPU + GIGABYTE B650M GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard + CORSAIR RGB 32GB D5 6000MHz Black RAM that is $499cad.

Is this worth considering or should I put a bit more money into something more future proof? (I'm thinking more cores/threads)

I did upgrade my videocard a while back which is an rtx 2070 strx. Thanks

 

[LordVile]

Hi. I currently have a well used i7 2700k@4.8ghz that isn't cutting it anymore for 1080p ultra gaming. Im out of the hardware/platform loop so I thought I'd start here. Im looking for something mid-range (price wise) that has good overclocking abilities similar to my current 2700k.

Im looking at:
AMD R5 9600X CPU + GIGABYTE B650M GAMING PLUS WIFI Motherboard + CORSAIR RGB 32GB D5 6000MHz Black RAM that is $499cad.

Is this worth considering or should I put a bit more money into something more future proof? (I'm thinking more cores/threads)

I did upgrade my videocard a while back which is an rtx 2070 strx. Thanks

You can save money and go 7000 series as performance is pretty much par. The 3D chips are significantly better for gaming

 

[JayGau]

If you want to stick with the 2070, you should not go with a X3D. Those chips are too fast for this GPU and you gonna be bottlenecked, especially if you want to play at ultra settings. But if you expect to upgrade the GPU at some point they are indeed the best gaming CPUs. And I agree with Lordvile about the 9600x. Aside the X3D chips, the Ryzen 9000 series cost more but doesn't give much more performance than the 7000.

 

[quanger]

Looking at a r7 5800x/xt. I think this may be the route to go.

 

[CountMike]

Looking at a r7 5800x/xt. I think this may be the route to go.

That's AM4 and dead platform, AM5 will be good for upgrades for next 3 years.

 

[quanger]

Buy an am5 platform with a 7000series chip?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

7000 series is very viable. If you’re in the USA and have Microcenter near you, check out their bundle deals. They typically have a ryzen 7600x, b650 board and 16gb of ram for 300. Usually you can get the 8 core 7700x with a board and 32gb ram for under 400.

If you really wanted to go cheap and still be on a current platform, you could even go with an a620 board, ryzen 7500f and some ram then toss in your 2070. At least that would get you into a modern platform with an upgrade path where you can update as you get cash.

 

[Moonstick2]

Looking at a r7 5800x/xt. I think this may be the route to go.

That's AM4 and dead platform, AM5 will be good for upgrades for next 3 years.

Depends though on the OP's approach to upgrades? Given that they're currently on a 10+ year old CPU, they may not be the regular upgrader type. There's little point paying extra for AM5 if the only reason is to allow for upgrades that may well never happen.

I long ago stopped worrying about how upgradeable any system I built was, simply because my upgrade cycle is such that by the time it comes round I've generally been far better off replacing CPU/RAM/motherboard/graphics card/PSU as a whole. That's only become more true as time goes on (the difference between a 2005 PC and a 2000 PC was much bigger than between a 2025 PC and a 2020 PC).

 

[CountMike]

Depends though on the OP's approach to upgrades? Given that they're currently on a 10+ year old CPU, they may not be the regular upgrader type. There's little point paying extra for AM5 if the only reason is to allow for upgrades that may well never happen.

I long ago stopped worrying about how upgradeable any system I built was, simply because my upgrade cycle is such that by the time it comes round I've generally been far better off replacing CPU/RAM/motherboard/graphics card/PSU as a whole. That's only become more true as time goes on (the difference between a 2005 PC and a 2000 PC was much bigger than between a 2025 PC and a 2020 PC).

Yes, anything newer than 2700k is and upgrade but AM4 is not going to get anything new so it's "dead" platform, whole series of 5000 with top CPU R9 5950x is last CPU for it
Since Op is going for whole new system might as well go for latest which will last longer

 

[Moonstick2]

Yes, anything newer than 2700k is and upgrade but AM4 is not going to get anything new so it's "dead" platform...

What I mean is that if the OP currently has a 2700K (that isn't even the best processor for their motherboard) it's a big assumption that they'll even consider upgrading their CPU again in the next few years, so probably not a thing to factor in so heavily.

Since Op is going for whole new system might as well go for latest which will last longer

It's also typically more expensive.

I'm not saying the OP shouldn't go for AM5, only that if they do it should be for the right reasons. It doesn't matter if AM5 is good for upgrades for the next three years if the OP isn't going to do an upgrade in that time that they couldn't have done with AM4.

 

[CountMike]

What I mean is that if the OP currently has a 2700K (that isn't even the best processor for their motherboard) it's a big assumption that they'll even consider upgrading their CPU again in the next few years, so probably not a thing to factor in so heavily.


It's also typically more expensive.

I'm not saying the OP shouldn't go for AM5, only that if they do it should be for the right reasons. It doesn't matter if AM5 is good for upgrades for the next three years if the OP isn't going to do an upgrade in that time that they couldn't have done with AM4.

Price has to be divided by years of useful usage. So you take difference in price between AM4 and AM and divide by years expected to be used and you get minimal difference and none if AM5 lasts a year longer nor counting eventual upgrades to prolong it couple more years.

 

[Moonstick2]

Price has to be divided by years of useful usage. So you take difference in price between AM4 and AM and divide by years expected to be used and you get minimal difference and none if AM5 lasts a year longer nor counting eventual upgrades to prolong it couple more years.

I don't agree that price difference / year is a useful metric for these types of decisions. £100/year isn't much in the grand scheme, but that doesn't mean it only makes sense for me to buy a £1000 RTX 5080 instead of a £300 RTX4060 to get me through the next seven years.

If we tried price total / year, using my favourite supplier an AM4/R7 5700X/32 GB DDR4 bundle is £334 vs £474 for AM5/R7 7600X/32 GB DDR5. The OP is only just tiring of a processor that Intel stopped making 12 years ago, so let's say the AM4 system will be good for a maximum of 10 years of useful usage. The AM5 would need to last over 14 years to reach the same price/usage factor. I can't imagine an R7 7600X will be that useful in nearly 2040, or what upgrades would be able to prolong it into 15 years plus. So 40% more paid for a system that isn't realistically going to last that much longer. AM5 only makes sense for people looking to upgrade every year or two.

 

[ThereAndBackAgain]

(the difference between a 2005 PC and a 2000 PC was much bigger than between a 2025 PC and a 2020 PC)

I'd even go a step further and say that we've reached the point where, barring some insane breakthrough, a great processor in 2025 is never going to be inadequate in the future. Gains will only keep diminishing. I cannot imagine that there will be a time where I feel my Ryzen 5600X is too slow. Now, perhaps 20 years from now I might look back on this statement and laugh, but I have my doubts.