Question Best price-to-performance build for a NON-gamer ?

[zenrunner92]

I have a ten year old 4th gen Intel i5-4430, Asus Z87 mobo, 32GB DDR3, 1TB Samsung SATA SSD, 3 monitors, running Win 10.

It's stable and fairly fast, since all I do is multi-task Office apps, Zoom, music streaming, and Brave browser with 40-80 tabs open (the main memory hog, despite my setting it to suspend unused tabs).

Am upgrading only because my hardware is incompatible with Win 11 and that evil Microsoft October deadline is looming, and I'm concerned that by then we'll be knee-deep in a trade war with China resulting in appalling inflation and supply chain disruptions, ergo it might be wiser to upgrade sooner rather than at the last moment?

So, am thinking of just switching out the mobo, memory, and CPU. (I have researched the workarounds but they all seem a bit precarious and MS seems to find ways to defeat them, so I'd rather not bother with playing whack-a-mole.)

Best Microcenter deals I've seen so far are:

• a) AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, ASUS B650M-A Prime AX II, G.Skill 16GB DDR5 6000

vs

• b) Intel Core i7-12700K, MSI Z790-P Pro WiFi DDR4, G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB DDR4-3200

My questions:

1. Is the old "AMD better for gaming, Intel better for productivity" adage still true?
2. As a non-gamer, would I see any noticeable difference between DDR5 vs DDR4?
3. Which of the 2 systems above would have the lowest cooling and power needs? (I was hoping to continue using my 10 year old Antec VP-450 power supply.)

And the two bundles above are only $20 apart...is there any compelling reason to get one over the other?

If you have better suggestions, I'm all ears. Many thanks in advance!

 

[Lutfij]

Is the old "AMD better for gaming, Intel better for productivity" adage still true?
Nope, they are both the same for the sort of tasks you're going to put it through. To be blunt, DDR4 is a dead end platform, and Intel's 12th Gen platform is already 3 generations behind. With the AM5 platform, you can upgrade your platform in a few years time, should you choose.

Which of the 2 systems above would have the lowest cooling and power needs? (I was hoping to continue using my 10 year old Antec VP-450 power supply.)
Quite frankly, you should retire that PSU. So you shouldn't pair that PSU with either of the builds listed above.

What are you thinking of recycling from your current build? You will need an aftermarket cooler for the Intel bundle.

 

[zenrunner92]

Is the old "AMD better for gaming, Intel better for productivity" adage still true?
Nope, they are both the same for the sort of tasks you're going to put it through. To be blunt, DDR4 is a dead end platform, and Intel's 12th Gen platform is already 3 generations behind. With the AM5 platform, you can upgrade your platform in a few years time, should you choose.

Which of the 2 systems above would have the lowest cooling and power needs? (I was hoping to continue using my 10 year old Antec VP-450 power supply.)
Quite frankly, you should retire that PSU. So you shouldn't pair that PSU with either of the builds listed above.

What are you thinking of recycling from your current build? You will need an aftermarket cooler for the Intel bundle.

Well, I just want my next build to last 10 years, same as my current build. In other words, until MS comes up with Windows 12 and again coerces Win 11 users to upgrade as they are currently doing with Win 10 users.

The question is, for my primitive non-gaming needs, would I get any perceptible performance advantage with DDR5 over DDR4?

I was hoping to continue to use my current case with its extra fans and the current power supply, and of course the 3 monitors I'm currently running off of it.

Is 450 watts inadequate for either of the two proposed builds, or are you more concerned with the Antec being 10 years old resulting in an eventual breakdown that could damage the rest of the system?

 

[zenrunner92]

What are you thinking of recycling from your current build? You will need an aftermarket cooler for the Intel bundle.

Originally I was hoping to continue using the case and PSU, but now I'm planning to just start over from scratch and turn my current rig into a Linux media PC in a different room.

Due to the extra cost of the case and new PSU, I'm leaning towards the Intel bundle with zero plans to upgrade until another 10 years from now by which time Microsoft will have come out with a Win 12 and coerces people off of W11 like they're doing now with W10. Or, the AMD 7700 bundle.
Comparison page

 

[SkyNetRising]

Is the old "AMD better for gaming, Intel better for productivity" adage still true?

Inconsequential. About the same.

As a non-gamer, would I see any noticeable difference between DDR5 vs DDR4?

No. Performance difference in non-gaming scenarios probably will not be noticeable.
You'll need to do benchmarks to see any difference.

Which of the 2 systems above would have the lowest cooling and power needs? (I was hoping to continue using my 10 year old Antec VP-450 power supply.)

AMD system might have a small advantage there.

And the two bundles above are only $20 apart...is there any compelling reason to get one over the other?
If you have better suggestions, I'm all ears. Many thanks in advance!

I'd choose intel option, but with less expensive motherboard.
Note - you'll need to purchase a cpu cooler also.
And get 32GB ram instead. If you're doing web browsing with lot of tabs open, then you'll definitely notice ram capacity drop from 32GB to 16GB.

 

[logainofhades]

Regardless of bundle, do not expect 16gb to hold up very long. For a 10yr rig, like you are suggesting, I wouldn't do less than 64gb. The 12700k, with DDR4, probably is the most sensible option here, with regards to pricing.

 

[zenrunner92]

Regardless of bundle, do not expect 16gb to hold up very long. For a 10yr rig, like you are suggesting, I wouldn't do less than 64gb. The 12700k, with DDR4, probably is the most sensible option here, with regards to pricing.

Oh I would definitely do 32GB RAM minimum, as that's what I currently have right now. It seldom goes over 40% Memory usage when I have Brave with multiple windows/tabs open along with 1-2 Office apps and Zoom running too.

 

[zenrunner92]

II'd choose intel option, but with less expensive motherboard.
Note - you'll need to purchase a cpu cooler also.
And get 32GB ram instead. If you're doing web browsing with lot of tabs open, then you'll definitely notice ram capacity drop from 32GB to 16GB.

The MSI Z790 is included in the $280 Microcenter Intel bundle: Intel vs AMD comparison

 

[Misgar]

In 10 years time, DDR4 will be like DDR2 today. It will still (probably) work, but it won't be possible to upgrade easily. In 5 years, DDR4 might be obsolete too if you need a RAM upgrade. DDR5 will be more "future proof".

You don't say which non-gaming apps you intend to use, but if you do any video editing, 64GB is a good place to start:-

https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti...be-premiere-pro/hardware-recommendations/#ram

How much RAM does Premiere Pro need?​

The exact amount you need will depend on exactly what you are doing, but we do have a general guideline depending on the different resolutions you work with:

Footage Resolution	1080p	4K	6K	8K	12K
Minimum RAM capacity	64GB	96GB	128GB	192GB	256GB

 

[zenrunner92]

In 10 years time, DDR4 will be like DDR2 today. It will still (probably) work, but it won't be possible to upgrade easily. In 5 years, DDR4 might be obsolete too if you need a RAM upgrade. DDR5 will be more "future proof".

You don't say which non-gaming apps you intend to use, but if you do any video editing, 64GB is a good place to start:

Zero video or music editing.
Non-gaming apps: Office, Brave browser, Zoom, PDF reader.

I hope to keep this new build for 10 years, just like my current one. So when I do switch it out in 2035 it will be new everything. I imagine we'll probably be at DDR8 or 10. 😁