Question Building two systems: i7 6700 & R7 3700x OR Two R7 2700x

[thegreenpowerranger]

I will be upgrading the computers me and my girlfriend use for gaming. Currently, my system has an i7 6700 and gtx 1080 and her system has a i5 2500 and gtx 1050. We are moving out soon, which means we want to be smart about upgrading to make these systems last as long as possible due to the impending money drain known as life.

I am having a dilemma, I can either

1) buy a Ryzen 7 3700x and matching mobo for me, then hand down my i7 6700 and mobo to her
or
2) buy two ryzen 7 2700x and matching mobos

Relevant info: I do some work in several Adobe products and have been playing around with virtualization for school and personal use, as well as game on my system. She primarily games on her system. The games we currently play most: Overwatch, Apex Legends
I am also swapping out her gtx 1050 for a rx 480, and I have 16 gigs of ddr4 spare which I will be putting in her system, so I only have to decide between what platforms to go with.

I personally think the ryzen 2700x and i7 6700 would give her the same gaming experience for now, but I feel like the fact the 2700x has more cores and is newer will make the 2700x relevant for longer in games. I dont want to be bottlenecked by the 6700 in a few years due to games wanting more than 4 cores, as it would be harder to save up several hundred dollars for a new cpu and mobo.

 

[86zx]

Personally what I would do is get some x470 or x570 boards and get the 2700x’s they will stay relevant for longer and when you need to upgrade you can upgrade to a 3700x or maybe even a 4700x down the road and get a good bump in speed.

 

[punkncat]

I would take the "hand me down" approach. That i7 6700 is no slouch, even if you decided to go with the 1050/480 as the GPU in it. For those titles as primary gaming use it would be very relevant.

 

[oldcracc]

I would take the "hand me down" approach. That i7 6700 is no slouch, even if you decided to go with the 1050/480 as the GPU in it. For those titles as primary gaming use it would be very relevant.

I believe the 6700 would probably become less relevant, as supported mobos become more expensive, and due to AMD having very very good backwards compatibility with what CPUs you can use in what socket, I would definitely go AMD for a most likely cheaper (and likely better) upgrade path, if it's not as strong in gaming atm.

I do some work in several Adobe products and have been playing around with virtualization for school and personal use, as well as game on my system.

If you do virtualization as well, the Ryzen is simply better due to the higher core count, but if your girlfriend is doing primarily video games, you can lend her your 6700 and buy yourself a 3700x/mobo. You shouldn't be bottlenecked for now due to games not usually utilizing the 6c/12t/8c/16t of AMD CPUs.

 

[punkncat]

I believe the 6700 would probably become less relevant, as supported mobos become more expensive, and due to AMD having very very good backwards compatibility with what CPUs you can use in what socket, I would definitely go AMD for a most likely cheaper (and likely better) upgrade path, if it's not as strong in gaming atm.

It's important to note here that OP already HAS the 6700. It's paid for and in his hands. It's SUPER capable for high frame rates on the games he listed both with the card he has in the lesser computer, as well as within the possibility that he is going to upgrade his GPU as well. (He didn't say) The 1080 is absolute overkill for those games requirements. If all the GF is going to do is play those games or ones we can project to be like them it should be a good build for several years coming.

In my own opinion, I would do the pass me down of the 6700 and also follow the advice of 86zx above. Build a super nice 2700x build, save the additional cash for down the road, another build, another modified (and better) pass down, etc. in another two years or so.

 

[oldcracc]

In my own opinion, I would do the pass me down of the 6700 and also follow the advice of 86zx above. Build a super nice 2700x build, save the additional cash for down the road, another build, another modified (and better) pass down, etc. in another two years or so.

That sounds like a good idea, although I wouldn't take the 3700x out of the question, you can just periodically upgrade versus saving for a new build, but it's up to you.

 

[punkncat]

That sounds like a good idea, although I wouldn't take the 3700x out of the question, you can just periodically upgrade versus saving for a new build, but it's up to you.

The only reason I mention going with the 2700x is pricing in relation to release. Locally I can pick up a 2700x just over half the cost of a 3700x. The performance increase between the two isn't large enough to offset that pricing (yet). Motherboard pricing doesn't seem to fall so far so would buy that with the future step up in mind. 4xxx is supposed to release later this year so along with whatever performance increase it offers, pricing on the 3xxx will also go well down. It's really a win win for end users right now.

 

[thegreenpowerranger]

I will add more info -

I will be keeping my gtx 1080 for the next few years. The only gpu upgrade going on during this upgrade batch will be my gfs transition from gtx 1050 to rx 480 4gb.

I have a microcenter nearby, so that means I can get good deals on cpus and mobos. The 2700x and mobo I want would be $281.43 total, the 3700x and mobo would be $432.98. I can just barely afford the two 2700xs and mobos but I couldn't afford two 3700xs sadly.

If it wasn't clear - I do have the i7 6700, a mobo for it, and 16 gigs of ddr4 for it. I will not be buying anything else besides cpu(s) and mobo(s) aka no gpu, no case, no ddr4.

I want to do this upgrade in the smartest way possible. I expect money will be tight in the next few years during our transition to living together. The next time we upgrade I predict it to be a gpu upgrade for her, though that could be 1-3 years from now depending on money and gpu demand.

 

[punkncat]

I will add more info -

I will be keeping my gtx 1080 for the next few years. The only gpu upgrade going on during this upgrade batch will be my gfs transition from gtx 1050 to rx 480 4gb.

I have a microcenter nearby, so that means I can get good deals on cpus and mobos. The 2700x and mobo I want would be $281.43 total, the 3700x and mobo would be $432.98. I can just barely afford the two 2700xs and mobos but I couldn't afford two 3700xs sadly.

If it wasn't clear - I do have the i7 6700, a mobo for it, and 16 gigs of ddr4 for it. I will not be buying anything else besides cpu(s) and mobo(s) aka no gpu, no case, no ddr4.

I want to do this upgrade in the smartest way possible. I expect money will be tight in the next few years during our transition to living together. The next time we upgrade I predict it to be a gpu upgrade for her, though that could be 1-3 years from now depending on money and gpu demand.

Microcenter is amazing for pricing on most items, particularly the motherboard/CPU with the bundled discount on their already lowest price for those items. I have found their pricing on GPU and RAM to be from slightly overpriced to "meh" unless you can catch a good deal (sale). By and large I count myself lucky to have a local resource like it for PC parts on hand.