[SOLVED] Which CPU should i buy?

Ori0n

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Hello everyone. I'm pulling my hair out thinking about my new build. the real conflict i have on parts is AMD or Intel. I'm considering i7 7700k or Ryzen 7 2700x. please help. My intentions are to use it for games 25% of the time, 35% music production in Cubase. the rest of the time watching video/browsing/audio editing. i have been know to dabble with anything though. i may at some point do streaming but i may not. will game at 1080p no higher for foreseeable future. Any refresh 60 or over is fine. I do have an incomplete pcpartpicker page probably unnecessary. pls note i probably won't upgrade again for at least another 10 years
 
Solution
Don't even bother with a 7th Gen Intel as the 8th/9th are much better. Price to performance the AMD Ryzen 2700X is a much better choice but when are you planning on building it? I ask only because in about 2 months Ryzen 3rd Gen should be released and would be better then either of your choices. The 3700(X) would be a excellent choice plus with the newer motherboards there will be PCIE 4.0 support.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html
You should not be considering the i7-7700K. It is a quad-core that has been superseded by the six-core 8700K and eight-core 9700K.

For a 10 year PC, the Ryzen 7 2700X is great. But do know that the Ryzen 7 3700X (and other 3rd-gen CPUs, all supposed to have a core count increase) will be released within the next 2-3 months.
 

WildCard999

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Moderator
Don't even bother with a 7th Gen Intel as the 8th/9th are much better. Price to performance the AMD Ryzen 2700X is a much better choice but when are you planning on building it? I ask only because in about 2 months Ryzen 3rd Gen should be released and would be better then either of your choices. The 3700(X) would be a excellent choice plus with the newer motherboards there will be PCIE 4.0 support.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html
 
Solution
Hello everyone. I'm pulling my hair out thinking about my new build. the real conflict i have on parts is AMD or Intel. I'm considering i7 7700k or Ryzen 7 2700x. please help. My intentions are to use it for games 25% of the time, 35% music production in Cubase. the rest of the time watching video/browsing/audio editing. i have been know to dabble with anything though. i may at some point do streaming but i may not. will game at 1080p no higher for foreseeable future. Any refresh 60 or over is fine. I do have an incomplete pcpartpicker page probably unnecessary. pls note i probably won't upgrade again for at least another 10 years

Of those two CPU options the 2700X is the better choice. Many new games like more than 4 cores these days, and the 2700X is much better for music production as its high core count means you can run many more instruments / channels at once.
 
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Ori0n

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Don't even bother with a 7th Gen Intel as the 8th/9th are much better. Price to performance the AMD Ryzen 2700X is a much better choice but when are you planning on building it? I ask only because in about 2 months Ryzen 3rd Gen should be released and would be better then either of your choices. The 3700(X) would be a excellent choice plus with the newer motherboards there will be PCIE 4.0 support.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html
Thanx for that. i was hoping to do a build sooner rather than later. However, do u think we can expect a similar price on the 3700x compared with the 2700x?
 

Ori0n

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You should not be considering the i7-7700K. It is a quad-core that has been superseded by the six-core 8700K and eight-core 9700K.

For a 10 year PC, the Ryzen 7 2700X is great. But do know that the Ryzen 7 3700X (and other 3rd-gen CPUs, all supposed to have a core count increase) will be released within the next 2-3 months.
i have answered a similar question from someone else. the decision to wait would rest on the expected price of the new chip.
 
Thanx for that. i was hoping to do a build sooner rather than later. However, do u think we can expect a similar price on the 3700x compared with the 2700x?

There's been lots of rumours about specs and prices on the new 3000 series parts but not a lot is known for sure. There are a few things that we do know (based on info AMD have released):

- The Ryzen 3000 series should fit existing motherboards- so you should be able to upgrade later with minimal effort
- The max core count is going to go up, there have been 12 core samples spotted, many people expect a 16 core option but this isn't confirmed
- It's expected (again not known for sure) that the 8c / 16 thread part will become the new Ryzen 5, so should be priced competitively (but as they are new I expect prices will go up a bit so hard do say how it will compare).
 

Ori0n

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There's been lots of rumours about specs and prices on the new 3000 series parts but not a lot is known for sure. There are a few things that we do know (based on info AMD have released):

  • The Ryzen 3000 series should fit existing motherboards- so you should be able to upgrade later with minimal effort
  • The max core count is going to go up, there have been 12 core samples spotted, many people expect a 16 core option but this isn't confirmed
  • It's expected (again not known for sure) that the 8c / 16 thread part will become the new Ryzen 5, so should be priced competitively (but as they are new I expect prices will go up a bit so hard do say how it will compare).
Can we rest assured though that the price of the 2700x will drop?
 
Can we rest assured though that the price of the 2700x will drop?

That is usually what happens- basically as soon as the new parts are officially announced and demoed the prices on the existing stuff is likely to go down or be put on sale as vendors clear out stock for the new parts.

That said, the 2700X has gone down in price a bit since it launched and looks pretty cheap compared to Intel gear at the moment so my prediction would be it's not going to drop massively. I think the main reason to wait for Ryzen 3000 series is they are supposed to be a fair bit faster (if you can say get the new R5 8 core for similar money)- that is based on AMD's demo showing their new 8c ryzen beating out an i9 9900k in Cinebench with otherwise equal settings. That makes it ~ 15% faster than the 2700X in that test.
 

Ori0n

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That is usually what happens- basically as soon as the new parts are officially announced and demoed the prices on the existing stuff is likely to go down or be put on sale as vendors clear out stock for the new parts.

That said, the 2700X has gone down in price a bit since it launched and looks pretty cheap compared to Intel gear at the moment so my prediction would be it's not going to drop massively. I think the main reason to wait for Ryzen 3000 series is they are supposed to be a fair bit faster (if you can say get the new R5 8 core for similar money)- that is based on AMD's demo showing their new 8c ryzen beating out an i9 9900k in Cinebench with otherwise equal settings. That makes it ~ 15% faster than the 2700X in that test.
So i've chosen a really bad time to get a timely upgrade. By that i mean i really want my new computer. But a great time if it was 3 month later me
 

WildCard999

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Moderator
Thanx for that. i was hoping to do a build sooner rather than later. However, do u think we can expect a similar price on the 3700x compared with the 2700x?
Probably like $30 or so more, If you need it soon then the 2700X is the right choice and unless there's a feature you need on the X470 motherboard then a good quality B450 board would suffice and save you some cash.
 

Ori0n

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Well thank you everyone. I now have a big decision to make. To wait or not to wait. I've waited for what seems like a lifetime to upgrade, what's another few months. But on the other hand.... IT's BEEN AGES. I'll let u all have a laugh at my system. Keep an eye out for a spec rundown.
 
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Ori0n

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Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition 61 °C
Agena 65nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 199MHz (5-3-3-9)
Motherboard
ASRock K10N78 (CPUSocket) 35 °C
Graphics
PHILIPS FTV (1920x1080@60Hz)
TS702 (1280x1024@75Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti (Gigabyte) 42 °C
Storage
149GB MAXTOR STM3160215A ATA Device (ATA) 38 °C
74GB Seagate ST380815 AS SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 38 °C
465GB Seagate ST350041 8AS SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 36 °C
698GB SAMSUNG HD753LJ SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 28 °C
698GB SAMSUNG HD753LJ SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 29 °C
3GB Disk drive (USB)
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653B SCSI CdRom Device
 
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If you wait for the next best thing, you will wait forever.
If you have a need now, buy now.

Performance of the rumored ryzen 3xxx series are not facts until you see benchmarks and real prices.
In general, though, the price/performance of new products will exceed the performance of the products they replace.
Otherwise, why make the new product anyway??


Anything you buy in the price range of a i7-7700K or ryzen 2700X
Will be a massive upgrade to your AMD Phenom X4 9950
You now have a processor with 4 threads and a passmark rating of 3013 and a single thread rating of 890.
By comparison, $300 spent on a ryzen 2700X gets you a 16 thread processor with a rating of 16987 and a single thread rating of 2194. The total rating is applicable to batch tasks that are multithread enabled.
The single thread rating is more important to games which tend to depend on the performance of the single master thread.

The $350 i7-7700K has 8 threads and a rating of 12036/2583.

Just my opinion, consider a 6 thread i5-9600K for $250 and a rating of 13473 and a single thread rating of 2684.
or, a 8 core i7-9700K for $420 with a rating of 17233 and a single thread rating of 2825.

I think it is easier to tolerate longer batch run times than to tolerate gaming glitches due to a slower processor.

Considering the advances in pc technology, you might rethink a 10 year upgrade cycle.
Buy a nice upgrade now and plan on upgrading to who knows what in 5 years.
 

Ori0n

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Mar 19, 2019
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If you wait for the next best thing, you will wait forever.
If you have a need now, buy now.

Performance of the rumored ryzen 3xxx series are not facts until you see benchmarks and real prices.
In general, though, the price/performance of new products will exceed the performance of the products they replace.
Otherwise, why make the new product anyway??


Anything you buy in the price range of a i7-7700K or ryzen 2700X
Will be a massive upgrade to your AMD Phenom X4 9950
You now have a processor with 4 threads and a passmark rating of 3013 and a single thread rating of 890.
By comparison, $300 spent on a ryzen 2700X gets you a 16 thread processor with a rating of 16987 and a single thread rating of 2194. The total rating is applicable to batch tasks that are multithread enabled.
The single thread rating is more important to games which tend to depend on the performance of the single master thread.

The $350 i7-7700K has 8 threads and a rating of 12036/2583.

Just my opinion, consider a 6 thread i5-9600K for $250 and a rating of 13473 and a single thread rating of 2684.
or, a 8 core i7-9700K for $420 with a rating of 17233 and a single thread rating of 2825.

I think it is easier to tolerate longer batch run times than to tolerate gaming glitches due to a slower processor.

Considering the advances in pc technology, you might rethink a 10 year upgrade cycle.
Buy a nice upgrade now and plan on upgrading to who knows what in 5 years.
Thank you for your input. My take away from all this planning and discussion, is not to worry so much about overall performance but to also consider the value. Being a dad of 4, including a newborn, that point is very important. As is longevity. But for gaming, It's really not so important.
So I really don't think I need to go over the top with the spec of the CPU, but to consider the price of what's available, or the price for the same item in the near future.
If someone could tell me I'd be saving a whole bundle in a few months for the same chip or pay the same for better at that point in time, I would probably hold off. What's your opinion?
 

Ori0n

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It appears that "The AdoredTV Leak" from the article (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html) mentioned further up this list is dubious at best, which leads me to not consider waiting at all.
And although these new processors may well be released soon, I'm not at all confident that a price drop on the current line will be considerable enough to warrant holding off.

This is taken directly from the article...

"AMD remains committed to delivering the new node and using it as a vehicle to deliver the new Zen 2 microarchitecture to market, but it is partnering with TSMC for manufacturing. TSMC is the industry’s premiere third-party foundry, so AMD will have to compete for wafer output with big players such as Apple, Qualcomm and Nvidia, that also use the fab’s chip production facilities. However, recent reports indicate that the 7nm node is expensive, thus leading several large players to scale back product development on leading nodes, thus leaving about 10 percent of TSMC’s 7nm production capacity underutilized. This is a double-edged sword for AMD: while the company shouldn’t have any problem sourcing wafers from TSMC, the progressively higher costs of each smaller node means we might not see big price drops with the second-gen Ryzen chips."
 
It appears that "The AdoredTV Leak" from the article (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-3000-everything-we-know,38233.html) mentioned further up this list is dubious at best, which leads me to not consider waiting at all.
And although these new processors may well be released soon, I'm not at all confident that a price drop on the current line will be considerable enough to warrant holding off.

This is taken directly from the article...

"AMD remains committed to delivering the new node and using it as a vehicle to deliver the new Zen 2 microarchitecture to market, but it is partnering with TSMC for manufacturing. TSMC is the industry’s premiere third-party foundry, so AMD will have to compete for wafer output with big players such as Apple, Qualcomm and Nvidia, that also use the fab’s chip production facilities. However, recent reports indicate that the 7nm node is expensive, thus leading several large players to scale back product development on leading nodes, thus leaving about 10 percent of TSMC’s 7nm production capacity underutilized. This is a double-edged sword for AMD: while the company shouldn’t have any problem sourcing wafers from TSMC, the progressively higher costs of each smaller node means we might not see big price drops with the second-gen Ryzen chips."

Yeah the info on Ryzen 3000 is a bit conflicted. What I would say, is that if you are looking for value for money, is there a reason you are looking at the 2700x specifically? For most uses, the R5 2600X is just as good and costs a good bit less (the 2600 / 2600X are viewed as the value for money leaders at the moment). The difference is 2600X is 6c / 12threads rather than 8C / 16 threads. In games the two perform about the same, the 2700X has a decent edge in things like rendering or video processing tasks that can tax all the cores though, so it is a case of what you plan to do with the machine.

Personally I'm running a R5 1600 at home and I've yet to find anything that really pushes it. I think CPU's have jumped way ahead of the software recently!
 
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Ori0n

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Yeah the info on Ryzen 3000 is a bit conflicted. What I would say, is that if you are looking for value for money, is there a reason you are looking at the 2700x specifically? For most uses, the R5 2600X is just as good and costs a good bit less (the 2600 / 2600X are viewed as the value for money leaders at the moment). The difference is 2600X is 6c / 12threads rather than 8C / 16 threads. In games the two perform about the same, the 2700X has a decent edge in things like rendering or video processing tasks that can tax all the cores though, so it is a case of what you plan to do with the machine.

Personally I'm running a R5 1600 at home and I've yet to find anything that really pushes it. I think CPU's have jumped way ahead of the software recently!
You pose a good question. I guess it comes down to being tight and not wanting to upgrade until i reach retirement, and that ever unknown as to what I may want to try my hand at in the future. You see I'm the kind of person who gets asked if I an do something for someone and I'll reply "I'll give it a go". So I become good at a lot of things, but master of none. It isn't unusual for me to have little projects of my own either.
 
You pose a good question. I guess it comes down to being tight and not wanting to upgrade until i reach retirement, and that ever unknown as to what I may want to try my hand at in the future. You see I'm the kind of person who gets asked if I an do something for someone and I'll reply "I'll give it a go". So I become good at a lot of things, but master of none. It isn't unusual for me to have little projects of my own either.

Fair enough, I know that feeling. The 2700X is a good cpu, no doubt about that. I mean the 'worst' thing that could happen is you buy this machine, and the Ryzen 3000 parts come out and you could have got something similar for less money- you'll still have a really good machine. It's amazing just how long a good pc will last these days, it's still possible to play most modern titles on an old Core 2 Quad or Phenom II if you don't mind turning the settings down so I can't see a 2700X being obsolete for a long time.
 
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