[SOLVED] Help me decide on a CPU

[Adam1998]

So I was primed up for a gaming/work (Premiere, Unreal ext) PC build this winter with my mind set on the Ryzen 7 5800x, which seems to meet my needs with plenty of headroom. But then intel went and released Alderlake and now I'm completely thrown off as it offers great performance and some future-proofing but with that high motherboard entry cost.

So I need some help, I've narrowed my choices down (but feel free to add any):

• Stick with the 5800x at its new, lower price of £330
• Get the i5 12600k
• Wait for the Zen 3 refresh

I would go i7 12th gen but that's a lot considering the motherboard costs that come with alderlake, if that's the best option I'll try to make room for it in the budget however.

I'm also slightly nerved by i5 based on my current experience, I have the 7600k now and whilst it's served me well, the shift in cores really made my CPU seem to age a little quicker than it should have. But I also know that i5 is very capable and excellent for the price too

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Lutfij]

There's no such thing as future proofing, there is the option of staving off an upgrade for a little while longer as opposed to having to do it sooner but that isn't future proofing. You mentioned an ext in the first sentence, do you mean etc.? If so, you will need to state the entirety of your app's/gaming/tasks for the build so to get a better understanding of what to go for.

Bottom line is that if you're someone who earns money and you need to get things done fast, then Intel but please keep in mind that they are the hotter to operate when compared to AMD's Ryzen processor. I mentioned earning since DDR5 is supported with Alderlake, not with Ryzen and the higher bandwidth in memory can and will benefit content creators.

If you can wait, that would be something I'd ask you to look forward to, since if they aren't what they are rumored to be, then you can fall back on the cheaper of the options(Intel 12th gen or AMD, pre-refresh).

 

[Adam1998]

There's no such thing as future proofing, there is the option of staving off an upgrade for a little while longer as opposed to having to do it sooner but that isn't future proofing. You mentioned an ext in the first sentence, do you mean etc.? If so, you will need to state the entirety of your app's/gaming/tasks for the build so to get a better understanding of what to go for.

Bottom line is that if you're someone who earns money and you need to get things done fast, then Intel but please keep in mind that they are the hotter to operate when compared to AMD's Ryzen processor. I mentioned earning since DDR5 is supported with Alderlake, not with Ryzen and the higher bandwidth in memory can and will benefit content creators.

If you can wait, that would be something I'd ask you to look forward to, since if they aren't what they are rumored to be, then you can fall back on the cheaper of the options(Intel 12th gen or AMD, pre-refresh).

Yeah I felt a bit dirty using the word future-proofing to begin with...

Yeah that was meant to be ect, my typical task and app usage comes from Unreal, Premiere Pro, Audition, Reaper and Wwise. The DAW's aren't really super CPU intensive but Unreal and Premiere are. Gaming wise I play most stuff on my PC, including AAA titles, pretty standard stuff that the i5 would be happy to handle.

I don't earn through intense work on my PC as of right now but that could change, mainly using Unreal and DAW's.

I think my best call is, as you say, to wait it out. Although my rig is aging it still works.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

The smart buy today is the 12600K, no question. It dominates the 5800x in pretty much everything, but costs the same. It is Intel’s first truly competitive CPU in nearly a decade.

motherboards and CPU coolers haven’t quite caught up with 12th gen intel, so there is a bit of a sticking point there. I would give it a couple of months for the cheaper motherboards to come out and coolers that are specifically designed for socket 1700 become available.

 

[Adam1998]

The smart buy today is the 12600K, no question. It dominates the 5800x in pretty much everything, but costs the same. It is Intel’s first truly competitive CPU in nearly a decade.

motherboards and CPU coolers haven’t quite caught up with 12th gen intel, so there is a bit of a sticking point there. I would give it a couple of months for the cheaper motherboards to come out and coolers that are specifically designed for socket 1700 become available.

Yeah the numbers do speak volumes, which is why I was so thrown off when I saw them.

Certainly my best call here is waiting out until the zen 3 refresh hits and re-evaluating my options then.