[SOLVED] Upgrading PC from Intel CPU to AMD Ryzen 9 5900X for 3D programs

[m.kolp]

Hello!
I want to upgrade my CPU with the sole purpose to enhance simulation/animation/viewport speed in 3ds Max.
Currently the job is done by this one: Intel Core i7-7700K 4,20GHz Boxed CPU
Want to replace it with AMD Ryzen 9 5900X . Just waiting for the price to drop a little more.
As far as i gathered info, it wont fit in my current socket: Asus Z170-A Mainboard Socket 1151 (ATX, Intel Z170, 4x DDR4-Memory, USB 3.1, M.2 )...

So my question is: Which MB would you recommend that fits with the rest of my specs? Also it should have room for another GPU, for rendering purposes. Not sure, if i can mix 2 different GPUs... in any case the MB should be compatible with RTX 3000 series.
My budget for it is between 100-200$...

Hope i could explain this clear enough and didnt talk to much nonsense. Not much experienced with PC Hardware so correct me if im wrong.
Thank you in advance and best regards!

My specs:
Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Asus Z170-A Mainboard Socket 1151 (ATX, Intel Z170, 4x DDR4-Memory, USB 3.1, M.2 )

Intel Core i7-7700K 4,20GHz Boxed CPU

Noctua NH-D9L, Premium CPU Cooler mit NF-A9 92mm

Asus Turbo GeForce GTX1070-8G Gaming GPU (Nvidia, PCIe 3.0, 8GB DDR5x Memory, HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort)

Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS2K8G4D240FSB Desktop Gaming Memory Kit (2400 MHz, DDR4, DRAM, 16GB (8GB x4), CL16)

Samsung 960 EVO MZ-V6E250BW Intern Solid State Drive (250GB)

Samsung S22D300H 54,61 cm (22 Zoll) PC-Monitor (VGA, HDMI, 5ms, 1920 x 1080 Pixel)

 

[Eximo]

ASUS PRIME X570-P is about the minimum you would want for the job, at $160.

You would probably also need new memory. 2400Mhz is rather slow. Ryzen works best with 3200Mhz or 3600Mhz memory.

Also a good time to pick up NVMe storage. You are very likely going to need to do a complete re-install if you switch to AMD.

Intel i9 10th gen CPUs are 10 core and readily available as well, still requires a new motherboard. Z490 would be a choice that supports your multiple graphics cards and is still relatively inexpensive. i9-10900 is about $375, the overclocked versions are around $75 more, but realistically, you aren't going to get much past 5.3Ghz anyway, which is stock for the K series.

Might also have to re-install for the Intel, I will be trying that myself in the next few days. 7700k -> 10900F

 

[m.kolp]

So basically, if i upgrade CPU to AMD i´d need to rebuild almost whole spec? Is your advice a minimum or recommended? Or asked in another way, if i just change the CPU and MB, can i use the system, or will there be no benefits due to bottlenecks?

I like the 5900X, because of the pretty high Single and Multithread mark. Comparing on this site:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+9+5900X&id=3870

Would of course upgrade the rest too, but not right now, my budget wont allow it.

 

[Eximo]

No? Technically you could just replace the CPU and Motherboard. You should replace the memory for an AMD build. AMD CPUs are build with multiple CPU dies and an I/O die. They communicate through the substrate over what AMD branded Infinity Fabric. This runs at the speed of the system memory. So, the faster the system memory the faster the CPU cores can talk to each other.

Intel CPUs are more forgiving when it comes to memory speeds, though 2400Mhz is still pretty slow, latest chips support 3200Mhz out of the box. 10th gen CPUs support 2933, but with a Z board you can 'overclock' them to run XMP profiles.

 

[m.kolp]

Ok i see now. With the old RAMs, the systems memory would be bottlenecked. You also mentioned the storage, is it the next bottleneck after the RAM?
Before i pick wrong RAMs and storage, do you have a link with examples?
And in regards of the MB, which one would be the most suitable, when ASUS PRIME X570-P is the minimum?
Thank you for your help by the way, much appreciated!

 

[Karadjgne]

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New ram. 16Gb of 2400MHz on a Ryzen is going to hurt. It could double the amount of time required per project, especially in heavy ram amount situations that can force pagefile use. 32Gb 3600/3800 is what 5x series Ryzens are built for.

Large files are exactly what NVMe were built for, normally they run similar to SataIII speeds with small files but large file transfers are where they really shine upto double that of the older SSDs.

With a 5800x/5900x you aren't going to get away with a Noctua D9L for very long. A full render is going to see very high % core use and Ryzens start slowing cores above 60°C. Intel high core cpus are worse as they far exceed listed TDP on most motherboards unless strictly power limited.

Asus Tuf Gaming X570 Plus (wifi) is also an excellent mobo for mid range boards that'll handle a 5900x.

 

[Eximo]

Well, moot point, board has sold out...

Try this one, covers most of what I had written below. And you might want 32GB of memory for that type of work, depends on your budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S chromax.black 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($199.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($93.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $362.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-05-13 16:47 EDT-0400

Costs will start to go up as features do. X570 is already the premium board, offers PCIe 4.0 on all slots. Dual GPUs isn't really a thing anymore, but it still offers an 8x/8x configuration on the two x16 slots, which is about equivalent to dual PCIe 3.0 x16 slots.

Additional features would be things like faster networking, enhanced audio, additional SATA ports, USB ports, WiFi. Overclocking friendly features, troubleshooting displays, additional fan headers, RGB and ARGB headers for lighting... Just all depends what you want.

If the goal is to have this thing sit in a corner and compute a good chunk of the time it is running, you might not need the fancy features.

CPU cooler was the next thing, yes. Probably want something a little better, though it would at least function for you.

 

[m.kolp]

Thank you both for the guidance, went through it now. Beside the hardware you mentioned, which SDD should i replace my current one with, since it would cap system perfomance too, if i understand correctly?
Next would be my PSU. Is it still up to the task after the upgrades?

The main thing the CPU should do is everything but rendering images. My whole projects are optimised for GPU rendering. I will of course replace the GPU some time later, but right now this one does the job well.
So i guess i dont need any of the MB features, except the overclock(?)... it does mean, to increase CPU performance, right? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but im really not sure 💫

And finally will all this still fit in my current mid-tower case?

 

[USAFRet]

Beside the hardware you mentioned, which SDD should i replace my current one with, since it would cap system perfomance too, if i understand correctly?

Except for size, there is nothing wrong with your current Samsung. It is not a "cap" on anything.

 

[m.kolp]

Except for size, there is nothing wrong with your current Samsung. It is not a "cap" on anything.

Ok, whataout the PSU and case? Are these alright?

 

[m.kolp]

Hi, i would really like to clarify these questions. Im still unsure, if this upgarde will match with the rest of my spec.

 

[Eximo]

Yes, they are fine. 650W may be a little low depending on the GPU you look at in the future, but anything up through the RTX3070 is fine I would say. Pretty sure 650W is Nvidia's recommendation. RTX3080, maybe go up a notch, and another for a 3090/3080Ti.

Also, success, 7700k -> 10900F with zero issues. Little disappointed it doesn't seem to let you run it faster than 4.6Ghz all core, but it's dual and quad performance are certainly a step up from my old 5Ghz 7700k. Runs a bit cooler as well (which is saying something, since I pulled 190W out of it, I think the surface area increase helps out in this case)

 

[helper800]

Personally, I would recommend this motherboard. Very good VRMs, 6 layer PCB, cheap, lots of connectivity, and 2.5gb LAN.

 

[m.kolp]

Ok thank you all for the input. Last question regarding the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor. Is 579€ a good deal or should i wait for it to drop a little more?
@Eximo
Congratz for the successful upgrade, hope mine goes as smooth, too.
@helper800
This one right?

 

[helper800]

This one right?

That's the one. And 580 Euros seems a bit higher than MSRP but what can you do? Not too much more so not a bad deal just not a good deal. Just lucky you can find one in stock.

 

[Eximo]

Agreed. When the 5900X is in stock, best to grab it immediately.

 

[m.kolp]

The 5950X just dropped to 819€. Now i want to upgrade to max. But is it worth the price/performance ratio compared to 5900X? Damn sorry if this is getting annoying for you guys

 

[Eximo]

Not sure that would make a huge difference unless you can really load up the CPU's cores, just depends on your software.

 

[m.kolp]

Yes you´re right. Single threads are what i depend on most and those are almost equal according to PassMark. (Hope the site is accurate)
5900X
5950X

 

[Eximo]

Passmark is kind of the industry standard, yes.

 

[m.kolp]

Regarding the Mobo, i should look for a version with a "-Z" or something like that at the end, if i want to overclock it, right?
Also is there problem, if i add my old Memory to the both you mentioned?

 

[Eximo]

AMD's high end platform is X570, B550 is also capable of overclocking, but doesn't meet your other requirements.

As mentioned earlier 2400Mhz memory is quite slow for a Ryzen system. 3600Mhz recommended, 3200Mhz would be okay.

Since you've chosen a CPU with two internal dies, you want the memory to be that fast. It sets the communication speed between the CPUs and the I/O die and each other.

 

[m.kolp]

What i meant was to use these Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory and fill the remaining 2 slots with my old memory. Or will this setup cap the speed to 2400Mhz?
X570 does have 2 GPU slots right?

 

[egda23]

What i meant was to use these Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory and fill the remaining 2 slots with my old memory. Or will this setup cap the speed to 2400Mhz?
X570 does have 2 GPU slots right?

Mixing RAM is the worst idea. You can end up with a PC not even booting

 

[Eximo]

Yes, X570 has 2 or more x16 slots. Typically 3. PCIe 4.0 8x/8x or PCIe 3.0 8x/8x, pretty sure if you install a 3.0 card in there, it drops both slots to 3.0, though I am not sure on that one. Third slot would also be PCIe 4.0, but through the chipset rather than the CPU.

Yes, if you added in the 2400Mhz memory you would have to run all the memory at 2400Mhz.