[SOLVED] Torn for CPU upgrade

Jan 28, 2021
7
1
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Right now I'm running a Ryzen 3600 on an ROG B550-F board. Looking at the new Ryzen 5000 series, the only choice within my budget that appears to be a "reasonable" choice according to the majority of the PC community, is the 5600x. In Canada, it's $439, the 5800x is $639, and the 5900x is $779. Currently I just play games but going to be looking into streaming a little video editing here and there.

Question is: 5600x, push for 5800x, or stick with 3rd gen and get a 3700x ($409)? The 5900x is a little high for me and I think would be way overkill for what I'm going to be doing with my system. I've also got an RTX 3070 as my GPU and a 240mm AIO as my cooler.
 
Solution
Start with the 3600 performance that you now have.
It has 12 threads and a passmark rating of17866. That is when all 12 threads are fully busy.
Not likely when gaming, more so with heavy multitasking and streaming.
The single thread rating is 2585.
Most games will depend on the performance of the single master thread.
To do better I would be looking at current gen with good IPS increases.
That would be ryzen 5000 series or intel 11th gen.
A ryzen 5600x would be a good upgrade with the same 12 threads and a rating of 22191/3382.
5800X with 16 threads and a rating of 28656/3507.
On the intel side, I5-11600K has 12 threads and a rating of 19694/3348.
I7-11700K has 16 threads and a rating of 26044/3573.
The i9-11900K is a better binned...

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
If you plan on streaming your going to need at least a R7 5000 series processor, or higher. If you settle for the R5 5000 series, you will need to dial down your gaming or streaming settings. I wouldn't invest in yester years technology, instead move forward, provided you won't face a financial crunch spending on the processor(considering the time we're in right now isn't...ideal).

One thing to note, make sure your BIOS is to the latest version regardless of your processor upgrade endeavor. Most often, it's a good thing to be on the latest AGESA code for AMD's concurrent platforms.
 
Depends on the usage.
If you need those 8 cores and 16 threads, then push for 5800X, if you dont have the money 3700X would still be good.
Get the 5600X if your main goal is gaming, it is better than both 3600 and 3700X in gaming, not that different from 5800X.
I'd say a 5600X is a really good option again, if your main goal is gaming/streaming.
 
Jan 28, 2021
7
1
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Depends on the usage.
If you need those 8 cores and 16 threads, then push for 5800X, if you dont have the money 3700X would still be good.
Get the 5600X if your main goal is gaming, it is better than both 3600 and 3700X in gaming, not that different from 5800X.
I'd say a 5600X is a really good option again, if your main goal is gaming/streaming.

So that stuff about the 5800x being a terrible price-performance is a bunch of baloney? I feel as though if I'm spending that much money as it is, it would be better to just spend the extra 100+ for the 5900x for "futureproofing" reasons.
 
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Right now I'm running a Ryzen 3600 on an ROG B550-F board. Looking at the new Ryzen 5000 series, the only choice within my budget that appears to be a "reasonable" choice according to the majority of the PC community, is the 5600x. In Canada, it's $439, the 5800x is $639, and the 5900x is $779. Currently I just play games but going to be looking into streaming a little video editing here and there.

Question is: 5600x, push for 5800x, or stick with 3rd gen and get a 3700x ($409)? The 5900x is a little high for me and I think would be way overkill for what I'm going to be doing with my system. I've also got an RTX 3070 as my GPU and a 240mm AIO as my cooler.
Hello Anarchy

Have you tried streaming and video editing with your 3600? I have the same cpu albeit with a 2070
And i can do both without issues, i would argue that an upgrade is not needed

Unless you got that upgrade itch to scratch i guess ;)

Are you encountering any issues?
 
the 3700X would do almost nothing, gaming-wise, above what the 3600 is already doing...

So if you still feel compelled to upgrade, we'd have to presume the 3600 is no longer adequate?

Ergo, I'd think only a 5600 and 5800X should be in any real decision...
 
How well is your current setup doing the job?
Adding in a little of anything, like streaming is not going to change things much.
Heavier multitasking may need more ram.
See how you do with the new workload first.
Then, you will have a better idea on what you might need for an upgrade.

If you have money in your pocket and are itching to spend it, look, perhaps at a larger/higher resolution/faster gaming monitor that can be more immersive.

If you still use a HDD for active work, look at changing out to ssd devices.
 
Depends on what video card you have. If you have a Turing or Ampere Nvidia card, then you'll be fine streaming with what you have. H.264 encoding is ok on these cards.

If you have any other video card, I'd use CPU encoding to get a much cleaner output while streaming. That means you'll need probably at least 2 CPU cores to dedicate to encoding.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
So that stuff about the 5800x being a terrible price-performance is a bunch of baloney? I feel as though if I'm spending that much money as it is, it would be better to just spend the extra 100+ for the 5900x for "futureproofing" reasons.

Yes and no. When it comes to gaming ability, the 5800x offers a good chunk more than the 5600x in many titles, but not as good as the 5900x. The 5900x also considerably surpasses both in production efforts. This leaves the 5800x as a middle man. It's considered by reviewers as 'meh' for that reason, the 5600x price point and gaming ability vs the 5900x production.

The same was said of the 3700x, 10700k etc when based against the 3600x and 10900k. The middle cpus are 'jack of all trades, masters of none', really decent at anything, just not on the extremes.

If looking for maximum fps, obviously the 5900x is boss, but the 5600x isn't all that far behind, well ahead of many other cpus and costs less, making it more than 'good enough' for most.

But to me, the 5800x offers more, is better all around than the 5600x and the additional cost is only 1 tank of gas a year more over its lifespan.
 
I would definitely try streaming on your current setup before spending any money on upgrades. Your setup should be capable of streaming and gaming without need for upgrade, but you might not be able to have the highest stream quality settings selected. I recall a gamers nexus video where they showed most people are not going to notice the difference between high and lower stream quality settings, so it doesn't really matter.

Your system should be sufficient for video editing too.
 
Jan 28, 2021
7
1
15
How well is your current setup doing the job?
Adding in a little of anything, like streaming is not going to change things much.
Heavier multitasking may need more ram.
See how you do with the new workload first.
Then, you will have a better idea on what you might need for an upgrade.

If you have money in your pocket and are itching to spend it, look, perhaps at a larger/higher resolution/faster gaming monitor that can be more immersive.

If you still use a HDD for active work, look at changing out to ssd devices.

My current setup can do a somewhat stable 1080p60fps stream, along with almost always keeping above 60fps in game. Only issue is that I own a 1440p 165hz monitor, and I'm trying to take advantage of the higher refresh rate for a smoother gameplay.

Currently using 4x8 3600mhz Vengeance Pro ram. Boot drive is a WD Black SN750, have most of my games on a 1TB WD Blue SN550. I only use my HDD for video files and other programs that I rarely use or don't much care about speed.

My GPU certainly helps, but I guess I'm just hungry for better performance. The games I play appear to be more on the CPU intensive side as well, which is why I'm considering all options, even switching back to an Intel platform, possibly a 10700k or a 10850/10900k since the prices are pretty decent right now. The 10900k is even cheaper than the 5800x where I am, and it's actually in stock, too.
 
Jan 28, 2021
7
1
15
I would definitely try streaming on your current setup before spending any money on upgrades. Your setup should be capable of streaming and gaming without need for upgrade, but you might not be able to have the highest stream quality settings selected. I recall a gamers nexus video where they showed most people are not going to notice the difference between high and lower stream quality settings, so it doesn't really matter.

Your system should be sufficient for video editing too.

I agree, it gets the job done, but I'm more looking for a performance boost in games because I use a high refresh rate 1440p monitor. I realize I'm not going to get crazy FPS gains with a CPU upgrade from a 3600, but I'm hoping that it should be enough to get me by, and for a few years longer, too.
 
Jan 28, 2021
7
1
15
Hello Anarchy

Have you tried streaming and video editing with your 3600? I have the same cpu albeit with a 2070
And i can do both without issues, i would argue that an upgrade is not needed

Unless you got that upgrade itch to scratch i guess ;)

Are you encountering any issues?

A part of me argues that it isn't either, but an itch for an upgrade is definitely in play here. This is my first build on Ryzen, and the initial USB problems kinda punched me in the gut and made me consider going back to Intel as it is, having really no issues whatsoever with my 3570k and 7700k. Considering all options though, switching back to an Intel platform is growing on me as the 10900k is cheaper than the 5800x. Going Intel might even save me a bit of money if I manage to sell my CPU + mobo for a decent price. On the flipside though, Ryzen continues to push out huge gains on Intel and Zen 3 definitely seems appealing, except for the price tag.

Ultimately I'm aiming for a system that will do me well as I head into University, as I'm not really looking to put another near grand into my system, at least not until I'm done school. the way it seems, even though the 3600 itself has proven to be a great CPU, may not achieve this in the next couple of years. In other words, I'm trying to make this my last necessary CPU upgrade for at least 3-4 years.
 
Start with the 3600 performance that you now have.
It has 12 threads and a passmark rating of17866. That is when all 12 threads are fully busy.
Not likely when gaming, more so with heavy multitasking and streaming.
The single thread rating is 2585.
Most games will depend on the performance of the single master thread.
To do better I would be looking at current gen with good IPS increases.
That would be ryzen 5000 series or intel 11th gen.
A ryzen 5600x would be a good upgrade with the same 12 threads and a rating of 22191/3382.
5800X with 16 threads and a rating of 28656/3507.
On the intel side, I5-11600K has 12 threads and a rating of 19694/3348.
I7-11700K has 16 threads and a rating of 26044/3573.
The i9-11900K is a better binned 11700 processor with higher 5.3 turbo.
Today, it is very pricey, but the i9-11900KF seems to be relatively cheap.
Any one of them would be a good upgrade depending on what your prices are.
It would seem that overclocking is not what it used to be.
The motherboards will allow turbos for favored cores and that seems more useful to me for games than all core overclocking.

For other options, use passmark ratings as a guide as to capability, and importantly the single thread capability.
 
Solution

Herr B

Commendable
May 29, 2020
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1,690
I add my self to some of the other opinions. First of all, try out your current setup. It looks reasonable to me to stream most of the games. The new gen does not seem to be that big of an upgrade for me to be worthwhile. the 400 bucks (but thats opinion of course)