Osga53

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Apr 5, 2019
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So I have an ASUS z170 gaming PRO MotherBoard with an i5 6500 and I was thinking I would just upgrade to a newer cpu if I could find a good deal on Black Friday.

But then I learnedthat the best I could go for without switching platforms is an i7 7700k processor... which goes for the same as the newer 9700k.

So now I am wondering wether I should try and find a good deal for the 7700k or try to invest on a newer platform either intel or Ryzen.

I will be doing gaming and animation/compositing . I would like to prioritize the latter. I am studying animation, my workload isn't the most demanding yet but it will be increasing and hoppefully this upgrade should last untill I get a job (or you know, the means to invest on new hardware)

Normally I wouldn't have much troublechoosing since I only gamed on my PC untill recently but now I want to focus on productivity so I don't know what to pick, especially when it comes to motherboards
I see a lot of debate between R7 3700x and 9700k where usually AMD comes on top prductivity wise. But because I would need to buy a motherboard those would probably be over my budget. The other option would be a 2700x but is it worth it in the long run?
Then theres my biggest question: What MotherBoard to get. (or what to look for).
I have no idea what to look for in a motherboard thats geared for animation renders etc. On a gaming pc it's usually the flashiest with the big GAMING and PRO letters.
Should I go for a less expensive B450 or invest in the newer x570 with the new PCIe 4.0? Would someone without the means to buy high end components ever benefit from these features?

I was thinking of spending 300€ on a CPU. I can go little higher since I need a mobo and I will be hunting black friday deals.
 
Definitely a new CPU over the i7 7700k, and the 3700x over 9700k or 2700x.

A motherboard is a motherboard. Nothing really to look at for creators specifically, but the features of the board itself are important.

Currently only very expensive SSDs benefit from PCIe 4, and even the latest high end graphics cards are not limited at all by PCIe 3.

I would look for MSi B450 MAX motherboards as they are cheap and are guaranteed to support Ryzen 3000 without a BIOS update. Other B450 motherboards may require a BIOS update to support 3rd gen, which may require an older CPU on many boards.

This board has been proven to handle all current Ryzen CPUs well, including the 16 core 3950x.
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product...awk-max-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-tomahawk-max

Or the slightly cheaper board that will work close to just as well.
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product...-max-atx-am4-motherboard-b450-gaming-plus-max
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
"LGA1151" isn't a chipset, it is a socket and spans four chipset generations and two pairs of (officially) incompatible CPU generations.

Where performance per dollar is concerned, nothing from Intel comes close to Ryzen 2700/3600/3700X and a compatible B450 motherboard.
 

Osga53

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Apr 5, 2019
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Thanks for the replies. The poll will be closing in an hour. I failed to understand how to remove it.

I see the error, I confused chipset with socket. Really I should have said z170 or z370.

I am learning Maya atm and for now I have used both Maya Software and Arnold. My workload for now isn't anything heavy, won't be rendering more than FHD for now. But I expect this build to last at least 2 years and in that ammount of time I will probably want to do more intense scenes and my i5 6500 will probably struggle.

Anyway I see x570 is out of question. They are way to expensive for me rn and unlikely to have a good discount.
Between x470 and B450 I think I am going b450 cause I can really only stretch my budget to 400€. Also I don't plan on overclocking. Thanks for the feedback.
If I have to get a cheaper CPU should I go R7 2700x or consider a R5 3600X?

EDIT: Also, when choosing between different B450 motherboards, like the two NightHawk mentioned, what exactly am I giving away from choosing the less expensive Msi Gaming-Plus over the Tomahawk, for example?
 
Last edited:

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
EDIT: Also, when choosing between different B450 motherboards, like the two NightHawk mentioned, what exactly am I giving away from choosing the less expensive Msi Gaming-Plus over the Tomahawk, for example?
If you are thinking of getting 3rd-gen Ryzen, then the Tomahawk has the benefit of CPU-less BIOS update so you don't have to worry about what BIOS version comes pre-loaded for CPU compatibility, just download the latest BIOS to a thumb-drive, plug it into the recovery "flashback" port, power up the board without CPU installed, let it update and you should be good to go.

IIRC, the VRM heatsink is also a bit bigger on the Tomahawk.

For the most part, there is very little difference between the cheapest B450 and most expensive ones in a given form factor aside from how much RGB they slap on it. Most VRMs are fundamentally the same design even across manufacturers until you get above "budget" x470/570 models, more differentiated by heatsinks and overall looks than function. Just make sure whatever board you pick also has the IO complement you need as board manufacturers do have to pick how they are going to split the chipset's HSIO lane complement between extra PCIe x4/x2/x1 slots, SATA, M.2 (SATA/PCIe) and USB3.x(-C).
 

Osga53

Reputable
Apr 5, 2019
13
0
4,510
If you are thinking of getting 3rd-gen Ryzen, then the Tomahawk has the benefit of CPU-less BIOS update so you don't have to worry about what BIOS version comes pre-loaded for CPU compatibility, just download the latest BIOS to a thumb-drive, plug it into the recovery "flashback" port, power up the board without CPU installed, let it update and you should be good to go.

IIRC, the VRM heatsink is also a bit bigger on the Tomahawk.

For the most part, there is very little difference between the cheapest B450 and most expensive ones in a given form factor aside from how much RGB they slap on it. Most VRMs are fundamentally the same design even across manufacturers until you get above "budget" x470/570 models, more differentiated by heatsinks and overall looks than function. Just make sure whatever board you pick also has the IO complement you need as board manufacturers do have to pick how they are going to split the chipset's HSIO lane complement between extra PCIe x4/x2/x1 slots, SATA, M.2 (SATA/PCIe) and USB3.x(-C).
Thanks.
I get it, I am deffinitly going with the tomahawk. Everyone says it's good and I just found one for 95€. Just need to wait for a good deal on the CPU's.
 

TJ Hooker

Titan
Ambassador
If you are thinking of getting 3rd-gen Ryzen, then the Tomahawk has the benefit of CPU-less BIOS update so you don't have to worry about what BIOS version comes pre-loaded for CPU compatibility, just download the latest BIOS to a thumb-drive, plug it into the recovery "flashback" port, power up the board without CPU installed, let it update and you should be good to go.
The MSI Gaming Plus has the same flashback feature as the Tomahawk (as do most of MSI's B450 boards).

Or you can spring for the MSI B450 "MAX" boards, which are guaranteed to come with a BIOS that supports Ryzen 3K out of the box.
 
For most people genuinely concerned about productivity, overclocking is not an option as a single avoidable crash or data corruption event can easily wipe out any gains, especially when those gains are in the neighborhood of only 5%.
Depends what productivity. If you do a ton of rendering for example overclocking would potentially save you time. If you were REALLY into that sort of stuff you’d have a render farm not a PC
 

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