Question CPU Upgrade - Need Advice

[oconnor]

I have a desktop in my home that is used heavily as a server/gaming rig. The desktop runs Minecraft server for my son, plex for the house, gaming for me and general other duties. Currently it has:

CPU: 6700K
MoBo: Gigabyte Gaming 7 Z170 (Rev 1.0)
RAM: 32 GB of Trident Z RGB Quad Channel memory
Main Drive: Samsung 970 Plus Evo 1TB
Additional Drives: 6 Sata Drives for Plex, Samsung 860 M2 for Minecraft (was laying around)

When the server has to transcode 4K to 1080P, or gets to many streams...I have to stop gaming and pretty much need to leave it alone. I am looking into upgrading to either a 3900X or a 9900K. Seems like these things are a wash between each other. Cost wise...here is what I found...

9900K = $450
3900X=$520

Z390 = $300ish
X570= $400

Seems the Intel comes out cheaper...But, I don't get the Quad Channel benefits...I will be upgrading the board/CPU BOTH next time as well...since I keep them for awhile. Thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Draksir]

If you're looking for a good PC you should buy the best ones but if you're doing a budget get the more cheaper one, but your Computer is okay tho, it's 5x better than mine

 

[sizzling]

Why do you need a $400 X570 board? I’ve seen benchmarks of good quality B450’s performing the same as a X570 when running a 3950X.

Neither platform supports quad channel, they do support dual channel with 4 dims but generally 2 dims recommended where possible.

 

[Zizo007]

I have a desktop in my home that is used heavily as a server/gaming rig. The desktop runs Minecraft server for my son, plex for the house, gaming for me and general other duties. Currently it has:

CPU: 6700K
MoBo: Gigabyte Gaming 7 Z170 (Rev 1.0)
RAM: 32 GB of Trident Z RGB Quad Channel memory
Main Drive: Samsung 970 Plus Evo 1TB
Additional Drives: 6 Sata Drives for Plex, Samsung 860 M2 for Minecraft (was laying around)

When the server has to transcode 4K to 1080P, or gets to many streams...I have to stop gaming and pretty much need to leave it alone. I am looking into upgrading to either a 3900X or a 9900K. Seems like these things are a wash between each other. Cost wise...here is what I found...

9900K = $450
3900X=$520

Z390 = $300ish
X570= $400

Seems the Intel comes out cheaper...But, I don't get the Quad Channel benefits...I will be upgrading the board/CPU BOTH next time as well...since I keep them for awhile. Thoughts are appreciated!

For multitasking like streaming and gaming the 3900X is a lot better, even the 3800X is better than the 9900K.

 

[RodroX]

Hi, first I think that even a Ryzen 3700X with its 8 physical cores / 16 threads will be a worthy upgrade over your i7 6700K (4 cores/8 threads). Of course the Ryzen 9 3900X is really awesome too.

And theres no need to spend $400 on a X570 mobo, not when you can get an Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS for around $170 and have the same VRM as the ROG Crosshair VIII Hero.

But one important question, Whats your Trident Z memory speed? Ryzen cpus like and really should be paired with fast memory (atleast 3200MHz)

Heres a Ryzen motherboard roundup:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGY2mqTn2rc

 

[Third-Eye]

The only reason to spend $400 on a motherboard is if it has one or two 10Gb ethernet ports.

 

[oconnor]

I was aiming for the ROG Crosshair VIII Hero...ranked highly for 3900X...The biggest issue for me is the SATA ports...many HDDs...
Quad Channel memory is DDR4 3200...

 

[logainofhades]

I also agree, that a $400 board is not needed here.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Steel Legend WiFi ax ATX AM4 Motherboard ($198.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $698.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-12 12:05 EST-0500


If you want something with beefier VRM setup, this is the max I would go.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard ($295.99 @ B&H)
Total: $795.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-12 12:06 EST-0500

 

[Third-Eye]

I was aiming for the ROG Crosshair VIII Hero...ranked highly for 3900X...The biggest issue for me is the SATA ports...many HDDs...
Quad Channel memory is DDR4 3200...

Memory modules don't have channels, the motherboard does. If a memory kit comes with four modules it's usually intended for filling four of the eight slots on a quad channel motherboard. This doesn't mean it won't work on a dual channel four slot motherboard. All the motherboards you have listed so far have only dual channel memory capability over four slots. You would need to get a motherboard and CPU that actually support quad channel which be could be something like an AMD TR4/sTRX4 x399 or Intel x99/x299.

https://www.amd.com/en/products/str4-platform

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-channel_memory_architecture

 

[RodroX]

Don't worry too much about your 4 stick memory kit, it should work on any decent B450/X470/X570 motherboard and it will work on dual channel, just like it was working on your current Gigabyte Gaming 7 Z170 (this mobo does not support quad-channel either).

 

[TCA_ChinChin]

Probably recommend a 3900x since it has more cores which will allow you to multitask between running minecraft server, gaming, and transcoding better than the i9-9900k. Don't worry about the memory kit too much, you can use all of them to populate all 4 RAM slots for the motherboard no problem. The i9-9900k will be the slightly better gaming chip for pure gaming though.