CPU Upgrade: wait for cannon lake or Ryzen Gen.2

[hayekr]

I just bought a Coffeelake i5 8600k. Ryzen 2 is about to come out, and Cannonlake might be released soon. I was wondering if I should return the i5 8600k and either wait for cannon lake or get the ryzen 2 when it is released in a few days.

 

[rgd1101]

ryzen 3 will even be better.

 

[Phaaze88]

Stick with what you have now... unless you really want to play the waiting game for 'the next best thing', then you'll be waiting forever. There's always something around the corner when it comes to these things.
It's not the actual Ryzen 2, but Ryzen+(like kaby lake was to sky lake):
Ryzen 1200/2200, 1400/2400, 1600/2600, and so on... basically clocked a little higher.
In other words, your 8600k is still better than those, except maybe Ryzen 2700x, in productivity related tasks(8c/16t vs 6c/6t).
Cannon lake, ice lake, prison lake, neutron lake, yadda yadda yadda yadda, whatever it's called, won't be much of an improvement over the previous gen. Intel's been doing a bunch of 'tocks'(refined process), but very little 'ticks'(actual brand new arch). People with 4-5 generations old processors are still in a good spot... for the most part(depending on use scenario).

 

[InvalidError]

There won't be Cannon Lake in 2018 due to Intel still struggling with its 10nm process. What we'll be getting later this year is Coffee Lake Refresh still on 14nm.

As for returning the 8600, that's your call to make. Based on the 2600's leaks, you can't really go wrong with either CPU.

 

[InvalidError]

It's not the actual Ryzen 2, but Ryzen+

It is Ryzen 2. It isn't Zen 2.

Ryzen 1xxx = Zen
Ryzen 2xxx = Zen+
Ryzen 3xxx = Zen 2
Ryzen 4xxx = Zen2+ if AMD continues that pattern between marketing and internal names for stretching architectures over two years and doesn't have a slip-up with Ryzen 3 / Zen 2 next year.

 

[Phaaze88]

It's not the actual Ryzen 2, but Ryzen+

It is Ryzen 2. It isn't Zen 2.

Ryzen 1xxx = Zen
Ryzen 2xxx = Zen+
Ryzen 3xxx = Zen 2
Ryzen 4xxx = Zen2+ if AMD continues that pattern between marketing and internal names for stretching architectures over two years and doesn't have a slip-up with Ryzen 3 / Zen 2 next year.

...
Branding is Ryzen, but cpu arch is Zen? Ry-Zen? 2, 3, +, and so on...
You're not going to tell me that's not confusing, right?
Example: Ryzen 1600 = Zen
2600 = Zen+
3600 = Zen2
4600 = Zen2+ if they continue along this route...

 

[10tacle]

If you stick with Intel, you'll eventually run out of CPU upgrade options. The advantage of AMD is continuing to support older chipsets. The disadvantage is that they fall behind competing Intel chips when it comes to gaming and maxing out FPS. Productivity operations on the other hand are a different matter.

 

[mdd1963]

I just bought a Coffeelake i5 8600k. Ryzen 2 is about to come out, and Cannonlake might be released soon. I was wondering if I should return the i5 8600k and either wait for cannon lake or get the ryzen 2 when it is released in a few days.

THe new Ryzens are faster than the old ones....but, I don't think your 8600K will be an 'also-ran' any time soon...

 

[mdd1963]

As for 'running out of upgrade options', who the heck buys near the top of the stack, and looks to upgrade CPUs every 12 months anyway? (is a 6700K purchased 2.5 years ago 'sorely in need of an upgrade'? Nope...; I generally build CPU/MB/RAM combos, and, expect them to last 3-5 years...; longer, if I repurpose them as Linux/FreeNAS toys)

 

[10tacle]

As for 'running out of upgrade options', who the heck buys near the top of the stack, and looks to upgrade CPUs every 12 months anyway? (is a 6700K purchased 2.5 years ago 'sorely in need of an upgrade'? Nope...; I generally build CPU/MB/RAM combos, and, expect them to last 3-5 years...; longer, if I repurpose them as Linux/FreeNAS toys)

Tell that to people who run a four year old Haswell i5 4690K like me and want to upgrade to an i7 chip. Ryzen 1's AM4 socket is going to be supported through 2020 with chip upgrades between generations. That's three years there. Intel has gone through three generations of chipsets (170/270/370) in TWO years, and only the first two were compatible with an upgrade, many motherboards of which required a BIOS update with a Skylake chip to take a Kaby Lake.

 

[InvalidError]

If you stick with Intel, you'll eventually run out of CPU upgrade options. The advantage of AMD is continuing to support older chipsets.

Except that half of the performance boosts in newer AMD chips require a new chipsets and motherboards to enable, so you still end up needing/wanting a new board anyway if you want full benefits and this only gets worse with each additional model year between the board and CPU.

Honestly though, who still upgrades their CPU more often than every 3-4 years these days? Mostly people who buy a throw-away CPU initially with the intention of upgrading to something else in the future who may change their mind about keeping their board along the way, and enthusiasts who still upgrade every other year simply because they can. For most people in-between with something like a 1600 or better, AM4 will be EoL by the time they want to upgrade.

I wish the Steam survey broke down CPUs by model family. I bet we'd be seeing ~70% of people on 5+ years old systems. I'm on a 5+ years old PC myself and still have no intention of upgrading in the foreseeable future.

 

[10tacle]

^^Yep. I'm still rocking a six year old Sandy Bridge build as a backup 1080p gaming rig and my 1440p Haswell rig is running on four years old now this year. Only upgrades on that? Adding an SSD for the OS drive and going from 8GB to 16GB memory and from SLI 970s to a 1080 Ti.