Really Need Good Advice

Hardware & Tech Questions
1

Hi chaps,

I’d be interested to hear thoughts on my upcoming upgrade. I’m keeping my 4080 and SSDs, it’s just about a new mobo, CPU and RAM.

I’ve been very content with my current rig, but I really feel it’s time to upgrade, especially after reading some good stuff about the latest AMD processors (including one here - can’t remember who posted, but someone said going from a 9700k to a 7x Ryzen made a huge difference).

I don’t want to spend a fortune - I’m looking at a budget of £700

Current rig:
i5 9600k (4.5GHz)
32GB DDR4 4200
Gigabyte Z390D

This is what I’m planning on ordering, tomorrow:

MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 5600 CL40

Price (incl cooler etc): £695

I’m just not sure how much of a difference the 7700X would be, over a 5800X.
Obviously the 58 is great price-wise, but I don’t want to end up disappointed. I haven’t used AMD since Athlon64, so no idea how they are, but only hear good things these days - I’ve no idea how the performance differs between 5x, 7x, 9x series at all. Over the years I never bought an i7, for example, cos the i5 is better bang for buck imho.
So if the 5800X is plenty good enough, I’d be happy to get that with the Tomahawk instead of the 7 series. Deffo don’t want to go over £300 on the cpu, though.

I’ll be doing more research in the meantime, but would appreciate opinions on the kit I have listed.

Thanks.

PS - I’m tempted to wait for Black Friday, but have done that before and ended up saving nothing, so not sure on that.

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2

Erm, my research has led to me an indecision - now I’m pondering the following:

i5 13600k
Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 5600
MSI Z790 Gaming Pro

cost: £689

3

Currently, the AMD chips are far better bang/buck/watt than the intel offerings. The latter use so much power, the high end ones become impossible to properly cool.
For AMD, is the -X3d version affordable for you? Or you might want to keep that in mind as a later drop-in upgrade. The extra low level cache memory really shines in sims like ours.

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4

Yes, thanks - I’ve been thinking about upgrade options and so on.

oh - also decided the 5800X3D may be a better choice for me.

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5

@schurem - what do you think - 7700X or 5800X3D? It’s hard to find comparisons that make big sense to an old duffer who has been too long out of the latest hardware game.

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6

Never mind - done! Arrives over the next few days.

upgrade

I have no patience when it comes to upgrades!

With cooling, it cost me less than £650 in the end.

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7

Oh dear. Although I went for a 5800X3D myself when I upgraded last summer, I wouldn’t recommend going that route. You see, of the things you just bought, only the RAM can go on to serve another round.

See, the 5800x3D uses the AM4 socket, while the newer ones use the AM5 socket. AMD sockets can serve for ages unlike intel ones that change every chip generation. So cancel that order, or send back the CPU. It won’t fit, and it’s obsolescent.

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8

oh crap! thanx for spotting that . I already cancelled one complete upgrade order today so Amazon are not going to be happy with me, but I’ll try now…

edit: phew! The order actually didn’t go through for some reason, so I can relax.

So I need to either look at an AM5 processor or buy a different motherboard. More headache-inducing reading…

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9

Revised list:

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 5600
Asus TUF Gaming B650 Plus

does exceed my budget by £20 but I can live with that.

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10

I can recommend the 7800x3D, seems to be a good processor especially for gaming/simming.

I went with newer X670E platform:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-X670E-TOMAHAWK-WIFI-Motherboard/dp/B09YCV8XQG

No complaints so far.

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11

Are the 7900X3D and 7950X3D worth it?
Difference seems to be in the cache sizes…?

12

I’m a little late but that is exactly what I’d reccomend. Good choice, and good save on the AM5 motherboard/AM4 Processor!

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13

The 7900X3D and 7950X3D have 2 chiplets, but only have the 3D V-cache on one of the chiplets. This can cause issues, and generally leads to slightly less performance in games.

On top of that, they’re more expensive, use more power, thus generate more heat, etc etc

The 7800X3D really is the ultimate gaming processor and is especially good at flight sims! Not all games benefit from the cache, but flight sims seem to get a lot of use out of it.

@Johnny that is a great set that will last you years! Exactly what I would recommend too! The B650 has more than enough PCI lanes for a flight simmer and that CPU and RAM are going to be awesome in CPU-limited sims.

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14

Thanks a lot for the input, guys. I’ve made the order and really looking forward to seeing the difference.

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15

Yes I’ve seen plenty written about the fact that people with the 5800X3D have no need to upgrade to anything right now, but of the newer gen the 7800X3D is the one to get because of the aforementioned chiplet design issues on the 79xx3D.

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16

Im looking to upgrade my computer as well and going to take advantage of the research you have done Johnny and the advice offered here.
Hope that’s okay Johnny.
What video card would you guys recommend?
I had not intended to build my next computer, but when I went to speak to my computer guy, his wife advised he had passed three weeks ago. It was a shock for his loss and lost in terms where to go next with my computer upgrade/build.
Johnny you have provided the opportunity I was looking for. Much appreciated, I’m lost as far as building computers go these day.

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17

I got one fall of last year and have been very happy with DCS performance. I then paired it with a 4090 this year, and in my experience it’s a pretty even pairing. Neither is ‘unequally yoked’, but both pull hard together. That said, when I bought last year, I knew I was buying the previous generation as the next gen was coming out. I got it and the Mobo for a steal.

Today, I’d go with the current gen, unless I was very budget sensitive and the 5800X3D was substantially cheaper.

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18

Not sure what the situation is like on your side of the Atlantic, but over here it’s pretty expensive, still more than €300. I am guessing the price stays high due to many people already owning an AM4 board: the CPU does not compete against current gen CPUs, but against current gen CPU+MoBo+RAM.

19

Yeah, that’s my understanding as well. For the $ spent on a 5800X3D right now, a current-gen X3D processor isn’t much more. So for a new build, it makes sense to go with the newest gen, upgrading a build the 5800X3D is a good pick.

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20

I believe the other main difference is the 7xxx use DDR5 and the 5xxx use DDR4. So that factors into upgrading costs, but for a new build it’s just a slight price change now that DDR5 has come down closer to 4 prices.

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