Should I upgrade to Ryzen 2 Zen+?

[Jsimenhoff]

The next phase in the AMD Zen CPU architecture is now out in the wild. These second-generation Ryzen processors are manufactured using an optimized 12nm LP node, based on what is called the Zen+ architecture. Zen+ promises higher frequencies, more sophisticated multi-core boost rates, and faster memory/caches. In our review we found the stock Ryzen 7 2700X "delivers a great performance boost that rivals its overclocked predecessor in every one of our tests."

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[Martell1977]

I'm one of those people that upgrades when needed. At this time my CPU handles everything I throw at it and at the performance levels I want.

I do however expect to be building a new system when the next generation of CPU's comes out and at that point I will be getting whatever the best bang for my buck is at my price points. Be it AMD or Intel.

 

[WildCard999]

This is pretty neat, following for future results.

 

[btmedic04]

logically, I shouldn't upgrade from my ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.8ghz but part of me wants to. I think the more wise option for me is to wait until next year for Zen 2 and skip Zen+

 

[Flyfisherman]

I'm quite happy with my current system and it can candle everything I use on it from AutoCad, Adobe CS6 Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects etc. to any fun games like:
GTA V, Crysis 2-3 (very demanding), Far Cry 3-4-5, Battlefield 3-4-1-Hardline, COD WWII (demanding), Metro Last Light-2033 Redux (demanding), Deus Ex Mankind (very demanding).

Mobo: Asus Z97 Deluxe
RAM: 16GB DDR3 2133MHz
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K Devils Canyon @4.6GHz OC
Storage: Intel SSD 520 180GB (system), Samsung SSD 850 Pro 1TB, MyDigitalSSD BPX M.2 NVMe 480GB + 3 Hdd (TB drives).
Graphics: Asus Radeon RX480 8GB OC
Chassis: Antec P193 V3 - with lots of fans - and it is cool & silent.
Monitors: one 24" TN + one 24" IPS
Internet: Fiber 100 Mbit/s
O/S: Windows 10 x64 Pro

So for the moment I have no plans to upgrade, but in the future or if somethings happen to my system, I could very well switch over to AMD Zen+ or newer with perhaps chipset Z490 - which btw. is not yet available only rumors.

Best regards from Sweden

 

[-Fran-]

In all honesty, my i7 2700K at 4.6Ghz still pulls its weight flawlessly and I have zero need for an upgrade, but... Damn if I'm not tempted to give AMD some money. I'm still wondering about a few things around Zen v1.5, so I'm waiting on more information from reviews, but everything points in the right direction for AMD. The most important bit I'm waiting on for the new platform, is Linux compatibility.

Cheers!

 

[AnimeMania]

I have been wanting to upgrade to a new computer for a while, but I was waiting (and am still waiting) for a single graphic card that could game with a 4K monitor. Now that video card and memory prices are not reasonable, I decided not to upgrade to a new computer and just upgraded the video card to something that can handle most games without having an inflated price (GTX 1060 3GB). Since I am just a casual gamer playing typically older games, I don't feel compelled to upgrade. I would like to upgrade the computer every 5 years, but I think my computer is closer to 8 years old and if the video card prices don't drop, I might never upgrade.

 

[why_wolf]

missing LGA 1151 socket for us Skylake and above people.

Anyways while I am tempted to upgrade, for the cores as I do transcode a lot of media. I have other expenses that take priority so I'm probably out of the game for the next few years. New homeowner in the house.

 

[randomizer]

I don't think it's worth the upgrade. Long live Nehalem!

 

[Barty1884]

Completely happy with my 4790K right now.

From what I've seen so far, and what I do with my rig, any upgrade would simply be to scratch the itch of an "upgrade" while netting minimal performance gains.

With the way things are trending, I'll definitely be considering AMD heavily when the time does come to upgrade..... but won't be for a while yet.

 

[Druidsmark]

I need to build a new pc to replace my A10 7800, how ever I need a cpu that is both strong in single as well as multi threaded tasks so I'm still thinking my next pc will be a i7 8700k as the prices are very reasonable here in Canada right now for this cpu. I'm just waiting for the z390 motherboards to be released before I make a final decisions on what new cpu I buy.

 

[imrazor]

I already have a Ryzen 7 1700, but it’s a pre-built which limits overclockability. If performance of the 2700X is significantly increased and my OEM provides a BIOS update for my X370 board, I *might* upgrade the CPU later this year.

 

[FD2Raptor]

I'm on a budget 2nd-hand PC, i5 3470 +8GB DDR3 so I'll be upgrading soon. Wanted to go all the way to either 8700k or 2700x but was unable to find the preferred parts for the build's color scheme so I'll settle with the 2600/2600x whichever is available first in my region.

 

[elbert]

On the 3rd and 4th questions it didn't offer choices I want. On the 3rd for example I would like to have put waiting for memory prices to return to normal. On the 5th would be the yet to launch B450 as I have no need for a second video card thus no need for SLI or crossfire. Ram costs and video cards are major problem these days.

 

[theonerm2]

Here's what I think. Upgrade when you want to do more with your PC than you can currently do. If you never want to do more with your PC it should last forever or at least until the parts quit working. A gamer is constantly wanting to do more with their PC because games come out every year and each year requires more than the last. Though it is more often the graphics card that needs to be upgraded than the CPU. Whether or not a gamer needs to upgrade the CPU depends greatly on which graphics card they want to use and games they want to play.

 

[10tacle]

What I find interesting is that 40% of the respondents (so far as of this posting) are running one of three older Intel chipsets (Sandy, Ivy, Haswell). Compare that to the three newer chipsets with only 14% of respondents having either a Kaby Lake, Skylake, or Coffee Lake. That's pretty telling about how many do not feel the need to upgrade their older Intel builds.

Anyway I'm running a four year old Haswell i5 4960K/Z97 build and the only thing I upgraded was memory to 16GB and a GTX 1080 Ti from 970 SLI. I could keep that chipset for several more years, but I'm in need of getting more cores with hyperthreading as I'm doing a lot more video rendering now. This means I'm looking for more of a balance in my next build and Ryzen 2 seems to fit the bill over Intel. Gaming at 1440p won't hurt Ryzen 2 vs. Intel.

But for now I'm holding off and waiting to see if there are any bugs that crop up. I figure by this summer we'll know if Ryzen 2 is a problematic-free release or not. Hopefully by then memory will be down a little in pricing. It's absurd right now.

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

I'm very happy with my i7-6700. My Core2Duo E6750 lasted me about eight years before I needed to upgrade, we'll see how long this one stays powerful enough to serve my needs.

I might want to add another 16GB stick of RAM when the prices come down though. We'll also see if I need to justify upgrading my RX470 when the next Battlefield drops.

 

[Martell1977]

Here's what I think. Upgrade when you want to do more with your PC than you can currently do. If you never want to do more with your PC it should last forever or at least until the parts quit working. A gamer is constantly wanting to do more with their PC because games come out every year and each year requires more than the last. Though it is more often the graphics card that needs to be upgraded than the CPU. Whether or not a gamer needs to upgrade the CPU depends greatly on which graphics card they want to use and games they want to play.

The most CPU intensive game I run is Forza Horizon 3 and it runs perfectly on high setting with no hiccups. When playing it uses over 10gb of my system RAM, but only about 3gb of my GPU RAM. I don't get screen tearing, lag or anything like that.
Considering I haven't even overclocked it yet, I have time still before I need to upgrade the CPU. I have upgraded the GPU twice now in this machine though, from a Radeon 6870 to 2x 6870's in crossfire to R9 390 I have now, and the reason I got the 390 was because at the time, the VRAM, of lack thereof, was the issue.

I'm looking at Zen 2 and whatever Intel is offering at the time for my next build. By then, I believe the upgrade will truly be worth it. Kind of hoping for PCIe 4 to be out by then as well, or maybe 5 as I remember reading that 4 will be a short run due to 3 being so long in the tooth and 4 delayed to a point that 5 is almost ready.

 

[guanyu210379]

I need my PC mainly for content creation and I can game on it as bonus.
Currently, my main PC is still on E3-1231V3+16GB RAM+GTX1080.
I am already on my way looking for an update but still trying to hold on as long as I can.
I bet Intel will launch something to answer Ryzen 7 2xxx very soon.

 

[pianoplayer88key]

My 4790K falls short in some areas (sluggish encoding 4K H.265 video, only supports 32GB RAM). However, there isn't a big enough jump in the ~$300 CPU price range to warrant me upgrading. For example I'd like to be able to have at least 256-512GB RAM (or more) on a non-HEDT platform.
As for video editing - with the settings I use, I'm lucky if I can get 1 or 2 fps in handbrake encoding 4K video. I'd like my next system to get *at least* 30 or 60 fps _before_ factoring in GPU acceleration.
Also, my 4790K's single-threaded Cinebench R15 CPU score is more than double that of my dad's old Core 2 Duo laptop's multi-threaded score. I'd like my next CPU to leapfrog the 4790K the same way. (And be a beast at multithreading too, of course.)
I'm hoping Zen 5 / DDR5 / AM5 / PCI Express 5.0 will be awesome. Sometime around 2021 or 2022 was about the time frame I was originally anticipating upgrading.

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

For example I'd like to be able to have at least 256-512GB RAM (or more) on a non-HEDT platform.

Dude, whoa...

 

[Jsimenhoff]

missing LGA 1151 socket for us Skylake and above people.

Woops! Right you are. Please fill in the "Other" option with LGA 1151. Sorry Skylake peoples!

 

[Philballer17]

In all honesty, my i7 2700K at 4.6Ghz still pulls its weight flawlessly and I have zero need for an upgrade, but... Damn if I'm not tempted to give AMD some money. I'm still wondering about a few things around Zen v1.5, so I'm waiting on more information from reviews, but everything points in the right direction for AMD. The most important bit I'm waiting on for the new platform, is Linux compatibility.

Cheers!

Once an Intel user, you should always be an intel user. Wait for a worth intel chip upgrade.

 

[-Fran-]

In all honesty, my i7 2700K at 4.6Ghz still pulls its weight flawlessly and I have zero need for an upgrade, but... Damn if I'm not tempted to give AMD some money. I'm still wondering about a few things around Zen v1.5, so I'm waiting on more information from reviews, but everything points in the right direction for AMD. The most important bit I'm waiting on for the new platform, is Linux compatibility.

Cheers!

Once an Intel user, you should always be an intel user. Wait for a worth intel chip upgrade.

Uh? Why? xD

Cheers!

 

[Philballer17]

In all honesty, my i7 2700K at 4.6Ghz still pulls its weight flawlessly and I have zero need for an upgrade, but... Damn if I'm not tempted to give AMD some money. I'm still wondering about a few things around Zen v1.5, so I'm waiting on more information from reviews, but everything points in the right direction for AMD. The most important bit I'm waiting on for the new platform, is Linux compatibility.

Cheers!

Once an Intel user, you should always be an intel user. Wait for a worth intel chip upgrade.

Uh? Why? xD

Cheers!

Because Intel's slowest i7 chip still delivers better Gaming Performance than AMD's best Ryzen chip. Unless you are 100% productivity. Intel is going to provide you with better long term value.