[SOLVED] Ryzen 3600 or 3700x? With RX 5700 XT 144hz 1080p, upgrade from r5 2600. For long term use

[ceejay7]

Hello I would like to know if what CPU is the best for me. I won't be upgrading for like 5 years until my CPU dies on me. I want to game smooth enough because my cpu right now seems to have a slight bottleneck to my 5700 XT reference card.

Something is really bugging me actually, they say 3600 is enough for gaming and save money for another cpu or other things to upgrade and 3700x is for video editing, photo editing and gaming. The thing is, I WONT be upgrading anymore unless my CPU dies. I'm an IT student so there can be some programs that can use cores. I also think future games will make use of more cores. That's why my current bet is R7 3700x.

I just need some people to confirm this.

While upgrading the CPU, I will also be upgrading my motherboard to a B450m Mortar Max.

R5 2600 stock speeds
RX 5700XT
A320m pro vh plus msi mobo
16GB 3200mhz Teamgroup vulcan tuf
520w seasonic bronze PSU

 

[cdrkf]

Hello I would like to know if what CPU is the best for me. I won't be upgrading for like 5 years until my CPU dies on me. I want to game smooth enough because my cpu right now seems to have a slight bottleneck to my 5700 XT reference card.

Something is really bugging me actually, they say 3600 is enough for gaming and save money for another cpu or other things to upgrade and 3700x is for video editing, photo editing and gaming. The thing is, I WONT be upgrading anymore unless my CPU dies. I'm an IT student so there can be some programs that can use cores. I also think future games will make use of more cores. That's why my current bet is R7 3700x.

I just need some people to confirm this.

While upgrading the CPU, I will also be upgrading my motherboard to a B450m Mortar Max.

R5 2600 stock speeds
RX 5700XT
A320m pro vh plus msi mobo
16GB 3200mhz Teamgroup vulcan tuf
520w seasonic bronze PSU

I think for longevity the 3700X makes a lot of sense - the new consoles have been announced and are using 8 core, 16 thread Zen 2 cpu's (i.e. essentially a 3700X) at slightly lower clock speed (not much though, 3.5ghz all core on the console where the 3700X has a 3.8ghz base and ~ 4ghz all core turbo). I think that is going to push a lot more games to requiring 8 cores / 16 threads in the long term.

 

[Archaic59]

You have a decent CPU now. Wait for Zen 3.

 

[ceejay7]

You have a decent CPU now. Wait for Zen 3.

Yes but in games, with the combination of my rx 5700 xt card, it feels like it's not enough compared to a youtube video I watched, he gets 10-15fps more on average with the same cpu and gpu combination. And I'm using a 144hz monitor so it really feels like choppy as the combo can't even get 120 on games.

 

[ceejay7]

I think for longevity the 3700X makes a lot of sense - the new consoles have been announced and are using 8 core, 16 thread Zen 2 cpu's (i.e. essentially a 3700X) at slightly lower clock speed (not much though, 3.5ghz all core on the console where the 3700X has a 3.8ghz base and ~ 4ghz all core turbo). I think that is going to push a lot more games to requiring 8 cores / 16 threads in the long term.

I guess +1 for the 3700x then?

 

[cdrkf]

I guess +1 for the 3700x then?

Yes 100% correct. I think 8 core / 16 thread is the minimum you should be looking at if you want to keep a machine for 5+ years without upgrading. I would even be tempted to say look out for deals on the 3900X (that would really set you up long term) but those are pretty expensive right now.

I wouldn't worry about waiting on the Ryzen 4000 series desktop parts, they are at least 6 months away and will probable get pushed back given everything that is happening at the moment.

 

[RodroX]

If you can spend the extra for the Ryzen 7 3700X I'll said go for it. Specially if you wana squeeze the highest amount of FPS at 1080p from your very good GPU.

If this was about playing at 1440p, then I would probably go with the R5 3600.

Just to be clear, those 16GB of RAM you mention, are in fact 2 x 8GB sticks right ?, If not you will be loosing performance cause of the lack of dual channel. You can check dual channel is working by using cpu-z (https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html), don't even need to install it, just download the zip, extract it and run the 64 bit version, in the memory tab it should said channel: "dual".

Cheers

 

[King_V]

Yes but in games, with the combination of my rx 5700 xt card, it feels like it's not enough compared to a youtube video I watched, he gets 10-15fps more on average with the same cpu and gpu combination. And I'm using a 144hz monitor so it really feels like choppy as the combo can't even get 120 on games.

Ignore YouTube videos. Besides that, even if that YouTube user got 10-15fps more, is EVERYTHING EXACTLY the same? CPU, motherboard, GPU, RAM brand, CAS Latency, RAM speed, every single setting in the same game, resolution, etc. Even case, cooling, and so on so there's no thermal throttling?

No?

Then don't worry about it.

Beyond even that, you may be GPU limited in some games, CPU limited in other games, and monitor-limited in yet other games.

It's NOT a competition as to who can eke out one frame per second higher than the next guy.

If you want to take care of choppiness, then that's a different question entirely.

 

[EndEffeKt_24]

If I had a R5 2600 right now I would probably not upgrade. I recently got a 3700x, but as an upgrade for a 4690k. I personally do not need the 10 fps+ that you seek and half of my cpu cores sit idle in games right now.
I would keep the 2600 as long as it is capable for 80 fps in my games. That said we are talking optimised games, not stuff like Escape from Tarkov or other unoptimised stuff that is impossible to run on high framerates.

In short: I would wait until I am really cpu limited before I upgrade.

 

[RodroX]

The R5 2600 is a great CPU theres no doubt about it, but if the OP owns a 144Hz display, and want to get the best 1080p experience out of its great GPU, in terms of FPS, then the R7 3700X would be my weapon of choice.

Now if we were talking about AAA gaming at 1080p/1440p @60~75Hz then yeah the R5 2600 is great enough.

Cheers

 

[cdrkf]

In fairness there might be an argument for OP to try overclocking the 2600 before jumping on a new CPU (simply because more powerful options will be available in time e.g. 3900X will get cheaper, especially after Ryzen 4000 series drops, and the latter could be worth a look).

Might be worth investing in a good air cooler and overclcoking the 2600, should get at least 4ghz all core, quite likely 4.1 or 4.2 ghz which should give a nice boost over stock settings.

 

[ceejay7]

The R5 2600 is a great CPU theres no doubt about it, but if the OP owns a 144Hz display, and want to get the best 1080p experience out of its great GPU, in terms of FPS, then the R7 3700X would be my weapon of choice.

Now if we were talking about AAA gaming at 1080p/1440p @60~75Hz then yeah the R5 2600 is great enough.

Cheers

Yea, I mostly play AAA games and I regret that I should have kept my 60hz monitor.

 

[ceejay7]

In fairness there might be an argument for OP to try overclocking the 2600 before jumping on a new CPU (simply because more powerful options will be available in time e.g. 3900X will get cheaper, especially after Ryzen 4000 series drops, and the latter could be worth a look).

Might be worth investing in a good air cooler and overclcoking the 2600, should get at least 4ghz all core, quite likely 4.1 or 4.2 ghz which should give a nice boost over stock settings.

My motherboard can't oc and also I am aware of the reduced lifespan of components when overclocking. And I'm scared of overclocking loo

I could buy the b450m mortar max only and an a.i.o cooler which would be cheaper.

Edit: I forgot to mention that my psu is only 520w bronze but it's SeaSonic

 

[ceejay7]

Ignore YouTube videos. Besides that, even if that YouTube user got 10-15fps more, is EVERYTHING EXACTLY the same? CPU, motherboard, GPU, RAM brand, CAS Latency, RAM speed, every single setting in the same game, resolution, etc. Even case, cooling, and so on so there's no thermal throttling?

No?

Then don't worry about it.

Beyond even that, you may be GPU limited in some games, CPU limited in other games, and monitor-limited in yet other games.

It's NOT a competition as to who can eke out one frame per second higher than the next guy.

If you want to take care of choppiness, then that's a different question entirely.

My main problem isn't just that but maintaining a stable fps on my games. Somehow it bothers me where people getting stable fps during intensive moments on their games while my system cannot. They are maintaining for like 130-120 fps while mine goes 130 to 90 and stays that way until the scenarios goes away.

We have different motherboards and I'm using a stock cooler. Could that be the factor?

 

[ceejay7]

Alright guys, there are 3 possible methods I could do

One is Upgrade my cpu and motherboard

Second is the OC method, upgrade my motherboard, buy a liquid cooler, and a new reliable psu enough for OCing

Third is the Downgrade method, change my 144hz curved 1080p monitor to a 60hz monitor and be happy.

Plot twist

Fourth method, don't do anything at all.



The prices of the options will be computed later
For now I'm just showing my possible options.

 

[RodroX]

Actually, theres another method, you could simple get a R5 3600 with a better cooler (the stock one is not horrible, but isn't great either).

According to MSI your motherboard support the R5 3600 if you upgrade the BIOS: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/A320M-PRO-VH-PLUS#support-cpu


But, once again, if you already have a RX 5700XT, and a 1080p@144Hz capable monitor I see no reason (if money is not a problem) to buy a Ryzen 7 3700X + MSI B450 ..... MAX motherboard.

In this video (

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS70S1Tnrjw
) you can see that in many games the jump from R5 2600 to R5 3600 is about 15 FPS (sometimes more, other less) when you use a high end GPU, and so with the R7 3700X it should be even a little higher.

But yeah, the choice is yours, also don't pay soo much attention to the MAX FPS, 1% Low are also important.

I hope the video can explain it better than me.

Cheers

 

[King_V]

If the ONLY differences are motherboard and CPU cooler, then how about trying a better cooler on the existing 2600? That might help with the stability, since, as I understand from your last post, that's one of the only two differences between your system and the ones on YouTube.

Make sure you have good airflow overall in your case, as well as that better cooler.

If that doesn't do the trick, and you want to upgrade to a 3600 or 3700, well, you already have a better-than-stock cooler that you can use on the new CPU.

 

[Flayed]

If you care so much about 10% faster fps @ 1080p then I would suggest a 9700k

 

[cdrkf]

My motherboard can't oc and also I am aware of the reduced lifespan of components when overclocking. And I'm scared of overclocking loo

I could buy the b450m mortar max only and an a.i.o cooler which would be cheaper.

Edit: I forgot to mention that my psu is only 520w bronze but it's SeaSonic

The 2600 doesn't use that much power, even when overclocked. I personally would try getting the new motherboard and a good air cooler (I would take a high performance air cooler over an AIO simply because the AIO won't help cool the motherboard VRMs and you don't need that much cooling for a 2600, even overclocked).

I think your current psu should handle an overclock on the 2600, provided you are happy to leave the gpu at stock (pushing both to the limit will likely require a better PSU as the 5700XT can draw a lot of power when pushed hard).

You were planning on getting the motherboard anyways so it's not like you are wasting money on things you weren't already looking planning on buying. If the OC on the cpu doesn't boost frame rates enough then you can always invest in the CPU in the long run (and a decent cooler is a good idea for either cpu).

 

[Beave89]

I would keep your r5 2600 until Zen 3 arrives, then upgrade to whatever AMD is offering around the $300 mark as well as upgrade your motherboard. From the little i've read, Zen 3 will be an improvement over Zen 2 in a similiar vein to what Zen 2 is over Zen + and Zen. Maybe they'll even add more cores for the price point? Even if they don't, 2 extra cores + the IPC improvements would make for quite a worthy upgrade. Should last you at least 5 years.

 

[King_V]

Another thought - what's the exact brand and model of your monitor? Am I correct in assuming that it has FreeSync?

If so, enable FreeSync, and set Chill globally, give it whatever minimum you want, but for the maximum, try, say 75 fps. Maybe try increasing it here and there until you start noticing framerate variations or choppiness.

The latest Radeon drivers allow you to set global settings for that, then you can tailor separate min and max settings for each individual game.

 

[Vic 40]

5700 XT is perfectly valid for 1080p if you have a high refresh rate monitor.

Is about a year old thread, no need to drag it out of the dust.