[SOLVED] upgrading from 4790k...should I go AMD?

Umeed

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So I've always used Intel and I've had this 4790k since 2012 and honestly I don't have a problem with it. But I figured it's time for an upgrade (soon probably mid-next year) for fear of bottleneck.

I like to game in 4k which from what I've gathered is more gpu dependent than CPU so that's part of the reason why I held off for so long.

I really only need to change mobo+cpu+ram. I have a 3080 ftw3 UG on it's way.

My confusion really is around what CPU to upgrade to. Based on some Linus Tech videos it seems AMD is better route nowadays?

I do SOME 3D rendering but as a hobby and very here and there so I don't think I need the Ryzen 9 5900x but I definitely want to cover my 4K (and eventual 8K) gaming and movies, and would prefer not to need to upgrade for another 8-10 years.

What I'll be carrying over to the new build

multiple ssds
evga 3080 ftw3 ultra gaming (replaced my 1080ti)
kraken x62 (compatible with AM4 motherboards)
900w psu

all advice is greatly appreciated!
 
Solution
so long as you go with a b450 or better motherboard you will be able to upgrade to the 5000 series down the line. a 3600 is a great choice still and will game very well. it pairs well with your 3080 you already have. you don't really need the 8 core or more cpu's unless you do a lot of stuff besides gaming. i went with a 3700x in june since i use vm's a lot and needed the extra cores/threads to spread around multiple vm's running at a time. but if i was just making a gaming machine then a 3600 would be ample

if you recall the fx series amd had where they kept cranking up the power to squeeze a few more mhz out of it. they had nothing new so we ended up with 350w cpu's!! well that's what intel is doing right now. they got nothing new...

Math Geek

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right now amd is the better way to go. the 5000 series is faster than anything intel has out, uses MUCH less power and is all around cheaper for the full upgrade considering you can buy a budget mobo and still overclock and you won't need massive cooling the power hungry intel chips need.

who knows when intel will have something new to release. this is a topic you should revisit when you are actually ready to buy cause things change all the time. by middle of next year, intel may have something on the market worth getting. but we won't know until then.

but if you are buying right now, amd is the clear choice.
 
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Umeed

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right now amd is the better way to go. the 5000 series is faster than anything intel has out, uses MUCH less power and is all around cheaper for the full upgrade considering you can buy a budget mobo and still overclock and you won't need massive cooling the power hungry intel chips need.

who knows when intel will have something new to release. this is a topic you should revisit when you are actually ready to buy cause things change all the time. by middle of next year, intel may have something on the market worth getting. but we won't know until then.

but if you are buying right now, amd is the clear choice.

oh i didn't even think about power consumption! this is great thank you, do you think I need a Ryzen 9? I don't really know much about AMD's processors but would it be i5/Ryzen 5, i7/Ryzen9 ?

Looking around I think I could do a ryzen 5 3600x and then upgrade to a 9 5600x later when it drops in price without changing motherboards?
 
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Math Geek

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so long as you go with a b450 or better motherboard you will be able to upgrade to the 5000 series down the line. a 3600 is a great choice still and will game very well. it pairs well with your 3080 you already have. you don't really need the 8 core or more cpu's unless you do a lot of stuff besides gaming. i went with a 3700x in june since i use vm's a lot and needed the extra cores/threads to spread around multiple vm's running at a time. but if i was just making a gaming machine then a 3600 would be ample

if you recall the fx series amd had where they kept cranking up the power to squeeze a few more mhz out of it. they had nothing new so we ended up with 350w cpu's!! well that's what intel is doing right now. they got nothing new right now so they keep cranking up the power. 250w+ is easy to do with the i5's they got out and breaking 300w is easy on the higher end chips!!
 
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Umeed

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so long as you go with a b450 or better motherboard you will be able to upgrade to the 5000 series down the line. a 3600 is a great choice still and will game very well. it pairs well with your 3080 you already have. you don't really need the 8 core or more cpu's unless you do a lot of stuff besides gaming. i went with a 3700x in june since i use vm's a lot and needed the extra cores/threads to spread around multiple vm's running at a time. but if i was just making a gaming machine then a 3600 would be ample

if you recall the fx series amd had where they kept cranking up the power to squeeze a few more mhz out of it. they had nothing new so we ended up with 350w cpu's!! well that's what intel is doing right now. they got nothing new right now so they keep cranking up the power. 250w+ is easy to do with the i5's they got out and breaking 300w is easy on the higher end chips!!


Perfect, thank you very much! heading to canada computers now to grab the cpu since it's on sale lol
 

Eric92

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I'm amazed you managed to get a 4790K 2 years before it was released :eek:

But in all seriousness you'll likely be happy as I am right now with any upgrade. I've gotten a 5800X to replace my 4790K and it's fantastic. Super snappy on desktop and doing more than its part in games. It's a long time to wait for a new CPU but now is a good time do go for it (despite stock shortages).

5600X is gonna be great if you can find it and if you want a bit more of "future proofing" you can go for the 8 core 5800X but you'll likely not notice any difference for a long time.
 

Deer87

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i went from a 4690k to the 3700x and it is night and day. i imagine a straight jump from 4790k to the 5600x would be enough to just short out your brain trying to keep up with how much is getting done :)
I currently have 4690K, and have been happy with it so far, but you are saying its getting old? Im asking because I read that the Clockspeed outranks nr. of cores, and I don't really know if 3.5 (3.9) GHZ is weak by todays standards?
 

xravenxdota

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I currently have 4690K, and have been happy with it so far, but you are saying its getting old? Im asking because I read that the Clockspeed outranks nr. of cores, and I don't really know if 3.5 (3.9) GHZ is weak by todays standards?
I have a R5 2600 that boost single core to 3.9ghz and all core boost 3775ghz and i never ran into a game/software that gave me any problem so far.
 

Math Geek

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I currently have 4690K, and have been happy with it so far, but you are saying its getting old? Im asking because I read that the Clockspeed outranks nr. of cores, and I don't really know if 3.5 (3.9) GHZ is weak by todays standards?

it's not about clock speed. it is about IPC, instructions per clock. a cpu can get a certain amount of work done every clock cycle known as IPC. the more IPC, the more work gets done per cycle. clock speed is how many cycles per second the cpu can manage. a mhz is 1 million cycles per second and a ghz is 1 billion cycles per second!! you have to put both of those things together to get the full picture of how a cpu will perform.

for instance the old amd FX chips could hit 5 ghz but it's IPC was so low, that it could not do as much work as the 4000 series intel chips of the time that stayed around 4 ghz. (like the 4690k you have now). 2 different cpu's with the same IPC can be compared by speed alone as now the faster chip gets more done because they have the same IPC but more cycles to work with. this is why you see many cpu tests done with the speed locked to a certain amount. take a dozen cpu's and set them all at 4 ghz, then you can see how the IPC stacks up for each since they are the same speed. difference in total work done is now based on IPC since they all have the same speed.

this is how we know which cpu's have better IPC. only if you are talking about the same generation chip from the same brand can you really look solely at clock speed.

with that said, depending on what you are doing will determine which is more important. if you are using 8 cores flat out, a smaller IPC can still outperform a 4 core chip with a higher IPC since you get 8 times that IPC instead of 4 times. but faster clock speed can make up the difference on the 4 core chip and so on and so on. think of it as basic math totalworkdone = IPC x clock speed. making either better or worse effects the work done.

i upgraded my 4690k not because it is slow, in fact it is still used by the kids for their gaming rig and they are not complaining at all. i upgraded because i use a lot of vm's and needed more cores to spread around. a vm reserves cores and ram and nothing else gets to use those resources while the vm is running. so only having 4 cores/4 threads limited what i could do. now with 8 cores/16 threads i can give multiple vm's 4 cores each and still have plenty left over to run the host system and work on it as well. the much better IPC of the 3700x i went with is just a nice happy bonus.

if i recall right, the ryzen 1000 series finally caught the 4690k in IPC (that's how far behind amd was!!) the 3000 series caught up to current intel chips and now the 5000 series has taken the crown and has better IPC than anything intel has. so if you look at roughly the difference between the 1600 and the 3600, that's roughly what you can expect for IPC gain going from the 4690k to a 3600. that's a sizable upgrade in IPC. again not perfect numbers but close enough for estimating the gains.
 
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Deer87

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Okay, that makes sense. I was reading a bit, and it looks like I, if it wasn't so darn expensive, would benefit from an upgrade to i7-4790k. I really want to wait with getting a new mobo, ram and so. At least it looks like i can reuse my Noctua U12S cooler. But all that is for future me to worry about ^^
The Ryzen 5 3500 looks interesting (im trying to keep power consumption somewhat down).

But thankts for the answers :)
 

Math Geek

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i looked into a 4790k myself and they just cost to much for their age. so i waited until i could do a full upgrade.

it's really not that expensive to do if you can reuse other parts like your psu, case, hdd's and so on. about $300 will get you a 3600, mobo and 16 gb ram!! that's pretty low considering what you get. as you know another $100-150 can get you to a 5600x if you can swing the budget.

of course that's current pricing, it will get better down the road as supply evens out and you can get parts at retail prices and not scalper prices being charged right now.
 
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Deer87

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I agree. I looked it up and a 4790k is just too expensive.
I'm awaiting my Christmas Bonus to see my budget (it's not strictly a limit, but my wife and I have an agreement that this sort of extra incomes can be earmarked personal luxury).
I might get me a 3500 or 3600, or even jump onto third generation immediately, or at least get a mobo that can handle third generation. Unless I can get a good deal on a. Intel CPU. Who knows.
And I have fallen in love with the Sapphire Pulse 5600 XT.
So my little "I wanna upgrade my gtx 960" has kinda blown up in my face ^^