[SOLVED] Needing advice on partial PC upgrade build...

[Nova43]

My current PC has parts that are quite old -- 10+ years I think. But here are the specs:

Motherboard: Asus P6T
CPU: intel core i7 older generation (920 @2.67GHz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8 (model: RR-UV8-XBU1-GP, not the GTS version)
RAM: 12GB DDR3
Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Primary Drive: Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD
Secondary Drive: 1TB HDD
Power supply: Corsair TX850W 850 Watts
Computer Case: I can't remember the model

My objective is to modernize my 10+ year old PC by making the PC comparably fast as a brand new PC purchased today, but at the same time staying within in my budget of $450. So I've decided to do a partial upgrade -- only upgrading the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. So this is my partial parts list generated by pcpartspicker.com:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($223.33 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z390-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($122.90 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($73.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $420.21

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-24 19:28 EST-0500

Here is another list that's the exact same as above but only with a slower i5 processor:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-9400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.88 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z390-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($122.90 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($73.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $346.76

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-24 19:31 EST-0500

First, would either upgrade variant offer me comparable performance to modern PCs?

And how about the performance difference between the two i5 processors? Are they considerably different?

Finally, would the current old CPU cooler be sufficient for either of the new i5 processors listed here? If I have to, I'm willing to buy a new air forced cooler in order to avoid the CPU overheating and causing the PC to shut down or turn off abruptly.

I need to have the PC fast enough to make application starts very fast and application installs fast too. I also need it to speedily crunch through heavy graphics processing with Photoshop, Indesign and the like. Also need to have it handle heavy IDE use for software development with Android Studio, Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Code etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Nova43]

Any feedback guys? I'm hoping to get feedback before Black Friday to purchase the parts. Thanks.

 

[SkyNetRising]

First, would either upgrade variant offer me comparable performance to modern PCs?

Yes. But don't expect upgrade to be too significant. You're upgrading from i7 (4core/8thread) to i5 (6core/6thread). It's more like side-grade. But you'll get better single core performance.

And how about the performance difference between the two i5 processors? Are they considerably different?

Very similar. The main difference is, 9400F doesn't have iGPU.

Finally, would the current old CPU cooler be sufficient for either of the new i5 processors listed here?

Yes. You can reuse old cpu cooler with 9600k and 9400f.

 

[lqw24]

My personal advise is that why don't you use the Ryzen?I think ryzen 2600 is cheaper and better than Intel 9400.

 

[sizzling]

I agree about going Ryzen, I wouldn’t even consider the i5 range.

How old is the PSU?

 

[Vic 40]

I'm with Ryzen as well,but would look at the Ryzen 3600.

Would look something like this,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $408.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-25 06:01 EST-0500

picked a new cooler as well,the old one won't fit,is not absolute necessary since the 3600 comes with one.

Or with the latest chipset motherboard and it's features,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($148.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $437.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-25 06:10 EST-0500

 

[Nova43]

Yes. But don't expect upgrade to be too significant. You're upgrading from i7 (4core/8thread) to i5 (6core/6thread). It's more like side-grade. But you'll get better single core performance.

What do you mean by "better single core performance"? Would you recommend getting the latest intel i7 coffee lake processor? I wouldn't mind paying $100 more for the the latest i7 processor in order to experience better CPU and windows 10 performance.

Would my old CPU cooler be sufficient for an i7 coffee lake CPU?

I agree about going Ryzen, I wouldn’t even consider the i5 range.

How old is the PSU?

I want to use my Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD with the upgrade build and I read that the EVO series SSDs have problems with AMD SATA controllers and AMD CPUs. What can I do? Should I just get the latest i5 or i7 processor then?

The PSU was launched in 2008 by Corsair and I bought it in 2008 so it's about 11 Years old.

I'm with Ryzen as well,but would look at the Ryzen 3600.

Would look something like this,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $408.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-25 06:01 EST-0500

picked a new cooler as well,the old one won't fit,is not absolute necessary since the 3600 comes with one.

Or with the latest chipset motherboard and it's features,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($148.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $437.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-25 06:10 EST-0500

Looks great! But AMD has issues with Samsung EVO SSD drives. Would you recommend latest i7 then? I know getting the i7 would be about $100 more but I'm willing to consider it.

 

[Rdslw]

To the guy that said
i7 - 960 ⇉ 9400f is not an upgrade:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-960-vs-Intel-Core-i5-9400F/m778vs4051
It's at least 50%-70% uplift in all parameters. AGE MATTERS.
For reasons why ryzen:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-960-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3600X/m778vs4041
Its ~70-120% gained from that old i7.
Whatever you will pick, it will be WAY stronger than that old thing.
Take anything with good deal from 3'rd ryzen lineup OR 9-gen intel stuff.
Even i3 will be noticeably better.

 

[Nova43]

To the guy that said
i7 - 960 ⇉ 9400f is not an upgrade:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-960-vs-Intel-Core-i5-9400F/m778vs4051
It's at least 50%-70% uplift in all parameters. AGE MATTERS.
For reasons why ryzen:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-960-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3600X/m778vs4041
Its ~70-120% gained from that old i7.
Whatever you will pick, it will be WAY stronger than that old thing.
Take anything with good deal from 3'rd ryzen lineup OR 9-gen intel stuff.
Even i3 will be noticeably better.

Thanks for this info. So the Ryzen offers far better value than newest i5 or i7? The only thing that concerns me is the incompatibility of the Ryzen CPU and SATA controllers with Samsung EVO SSD drives though.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I want to use my Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD with the upgrade build and I read that the EVO series SSDs have problems with AMD SATA controllers and AMD CPUs.

Can you provide any links about this? Doesn't seem very believable.

 

[Nova43]

Can you provide any links about this? Doesn't seem very believable.

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5...0GB-causing-freezes-on-AMD-system/td-p/575813

https://community.amd.com/thread/229540

https://www.overclock.net/forum/355...eezes-samsung-860-evo-win7-10-am3-socket.html

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/al4v9h/amds_issues_with_samsung_ssds/

 

[SkyNetRising]

The issue seems to be limited to AM3 systems (AMD 9xx chipsets).

 

[Vic 40]

I have a Ryzen 1600 system with a Samsung SSD 960 EVO 250GB, 244.2 GB, NVMe and have no issues,but don't know how that wil be with a Ryzen 3600. Then again see no reason why it should have problems.

From what i read can as said AM3 have some issues. Maybe even Samsung Magician dat might not be able to do mulitple benchmarks,but you should refrain from doing that to often anyway.

 

[InvalidError]

If you want to stick to Intel, wait a few more months for Comet Lake which will bump the i5 lineup to 6c12t and should bring them on par with AMD's 3600/3600X.

 

[Rdslw]

The issue seems to be limited to AM3 systems (AMD 9xx chipsets).

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/al4v9h/amds_issues_with_samsung_ssds/

I see another post about this that is limited to samsung magican, software that can be easly replaced.
as ssd itself, I seen a lot of people pair them together.
internet would do a shitstorm if it would not work at all.

 

[Nova43]

If you want to stick to Intel, wait a few more months for Comet Lake which will bump the i5 lineup to 6c12t and should bring them on par with AMD's 3600/3600X.

I'll wait for Comet Lake to come out then, but when it does, it's probably going to be very expensive, for a while at least.

 

[Nova43]

...But would there be any potential issues like bottle necking between the old parts and the new CPU, Motherboard, and RAM that I will be getting?

 

[Simran Jeet]

Ryzen is better buy go for ryzen 5 3600 and msi b450 tomahawk max or b450 gaming carbon as of ram go with 3600 mhz 16gb. This all will be cheaper than pc part picker choice and more powerful but not in gaming as intel is better in gaming but not by much now. As for bottleneck everything in your system is fine but your gpu will bottleneck your processor but if gaming is not your priority then it's fine

 

[Nova43]

Ryzen is better buy go for ryzen 5 3600 and msi b450 tomahawk max or b450 gaming carbon as of ram go with 3600 mhz 16gb. This all will be cheaper than pc part picker choice and more powerful but not in gaming as intel is better in gaming but not by much now. As for bottleneck everything in your system is fine but your gpu will bottleneck your processor but if gaming is not your priority then it's fine

I'm having second thoughts about getting a Ryzen AMD processor as people have been having problems with it and the Samsung EVO drives. Even if they managed to resolve the problems, they still have lingering issues. I just want to avoid the headache. I'm avoiding it unless I'm convinced that I won't have any incompatibility issues between the EVO SSD drive and AMD.

I could return my Samsung EVO drive and get a comparable 3D NAND SSD drive that's a different brand, but the Samsung EVOs seems to be the most durable and long lasting, at least that's the general consensus.

By the way, I won't be using the computer for any gaming at all. I don't even play online checkers or Tetris for that matter.