I am upgrading my current PC to an Intel build, but don't know which CPU to use

[moonlight-strider]

I must preface this post with a few things:

1) I am 17, which means I am not capable of getting my own credit of any kind.
2) I know that going self-built is a much better option, and if I could go self-built, I would, and I also would be using AMD, not Intel.

With that out of the way, here's the situation:

I have a job at McDonald's, meaning that I can now spend exorbitant amounts of money on computer hardware, which is exactly what I plan to do. With this job, I am making roughly $484 USD a month. Originally, I was going to build my own Ryzen 7 1700 based system, but due to the upfront cost (it totaled to around ~$1,600 USD), and time it would take me to save that kind of money (around 4 or 5 months), I have decided not to go that route. Here is the pcpartpicker list for that build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/athlon-power/saved/#view=97BL23

For this new PC, I wanted a fairly large performance boost from my current PC, a Dell Inspiron 5676. I have upgraded it a little from its factory original specs, and this is what it's sitting on right now:

AMD Ryzen 5 1400
12GB DDR4 2400MHz
2 1TB HDDs, one for boot and one for games
AMD RX 570 4GB

My mother has bought quite a large amount of items from Dell, including two different gaming laptops, the first one was an AMD FX based laptop with an RX 560, and the second was a Dell G5 with a Core i7 and a GTX 1060 6GB. She also bought my current desktop there, and a ~$600 USD laptop for my stepsister, among many other things, so Dell has entrusted her with a hefty ~$3,000 USD in credit. I talked to her, and she said she would be willing to use the credit to purchase a desktop and have me pay for the credit bill every month. Because of this, I looked around on Dell for an hour or so, and have decided that my best bet will be to get an Alienware Aurora of some kind. While there are higher-end models of the Dell Inspiron gaming desktop line, the maximum GPU the Intel builds can use is a GTX 1060 3GB and the maximum GPU the AMD builds can use is an RX580. Even though those desktops have more powerful processors, the graphics upgrades would either be minimal, or a downright downgrade from my RX570.

The Alienware Aurora is limited to Intel processors only. I will, based on research I've done on all the processors, either be using an Intel i7 8700 or an Intel i7 9700K. I will be using an RTX 2070, because paying $200 USD more for a marginal increase in performance (the RTX 2080) is a waste of money. The i7 9700K is $100 more, again, for a marginal increase in performance, however, there is one large difference between the 9700K and 8700: HyperThreading. Taking from all of the garbage I've heard about MDS, and the many conflicting viewpoints on whether you should disable HyperThreading or not, whether disabling HyperThreading takes a lot or a little performance away from your processor, I am rightly confused. I have studied computers for ~4 years, but I've studied vintage/semi-modern computers- I can tell you which processor is best for a 2003 build as opposed to a 2008 build, or a 1995 build as opposed to a 1999 build, but I can't tell you about anything past ~2010 as readily.

With the 9700K, there's no HyperThreading at all. Nothing to disable, nothing extra to worry about, zip, zlich, nada. But it is $100 more expensive than the i7 8700, and it doesn't perform a massive amount better in any sort of workload, from what I've gathered.

I want to finish this by expressing my intense irritation that the only AMD builds the Alienware series of computers have are Threadripper builds, which are extremely expensive for fairly ech performance. The lowest-costing one is ~$2,700 USD, and it uses a GTX 1050Ti! I also wish that the Inspiron series of desktops allowed you to use higher-end GPUs in them, or change what GPUs they use period, but they have nearly 0 customization. So, I am stuck using a build with one of these processors. Here are the desktops I'm talking about:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/pdp/spd/alienware-aurora-r8-desktop

I will not be going below the ~$1,400 USD desktop as anything lower than the i7 8700 does not give an adequate enough performance boost for me to justify paying that amount for. If I'm going to pay over $1,000 USD for a desktop, I really would like the upgrade to provide a large amount of improvement over my prior computer. Thanks to anybody who decides to drop by and read this novel of a post!


 

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 minute ago, moonlight-strider said:

AMD Ryzen 5 1400
12GB DDR4 2400MHz
2 1TB HDDs, one for boot and one for games
AMD RX 570 4GB
 

why not just slap a 1700 in there? or if dell somehow gets around to making a bios update, zen 2?

[LienusLateTips]

Not worth upgrading until at least Ice Lake comes out

 

 

Would agree on just slapping a Ryzen 7 1700 in your current rig and calling it a day.

[moonlight-strider]

The Inspiron does support a CPU upgrade like that, and I have already thought about doing something like that, but I also would like a better graphics card- this case uses a special bracket for the RX570, and as far as I can tell, the bracket is not removable, nor is it interchangeable with other video cards. I would have a better processor, but I would not be able to upgrade my graphics card- I would be stuck in the same situation as the one I would be in if I decided to buy the Inspiron with the RX580.

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, moonlight-strider said:

The Inspiron does support a CPU upgrade like that, and I have already thought about doing something like that, but I also would like a better graphics card- this case uses a special bracket for the RX570, and as far as I can tell, the bracket is not removable, nor is it interchangeable with other video cards. I would have a better processor, but I would not be able to upgrade my graphics card- I would be stuck in the same situation as the one I would be in if I decided to buy the Inspiron with the RX580.

That's a shipping GPU holder, and isn't needed in day to day use. You can also just find other reference AMD cards that are the same size, if you really wanted to use one....

[Herman Mcpootis]

6 minutes ago, moonlight-strider said:

The Inspiron does support a CPU upgrade like that, and I have already thought about doing something like that, but I also would like a better graphics card- this case uses a special bracket for the RX570, and as far as I can tell, the bracket is not removable, nor is it interchangeable with other video cards. I would have a better processor, but I would not be able to upgrade my graphics card- I would be stuck in the same situation as the one I would be in if I decided to buy the Inspiron with the RX580.

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/inspiron-5676-gaming-desktop_service-manual_en-us.pdf page 44, shows you the screw holes on the support brace.

[moonlight-strider]

1 minute ago, LienusLateTips said:

That's a shipping GPU holder, and isn't needed in day to day use. You can also just find other reference AMD cards that are the same size, if you really wanted to use one....

The only other reference GPUs that are similar are the Vega series and other RX series GPUs, from what I can tell.

Even if I remove it, that also brings up upfront cost. I'm not going to get away with getting a CPU/GPU upgrade that provides a decent amount of improvement without spending ~$700-$800. I'm one of those annoying people who are fairly impatient, and when provided with an opportunity to receive that large of an upgrade that quickly, without much work besides getting the new one out and throwing it on the desk, I become extremely tempted to jump on that. So I apologize for that.

A Ryzen 7 1700 costs around $210, and something like the Radeon VII would cost ~$600, or the 2070 would cost ~$500.

[LienusLateTips]

3 minutes ago, moonlight-strider said:

The only other reference GPUs that are similar are the Vega series and other RX series GPUs, from what I can tell.

Even if I remove it, that also brings up upfront cost. I'm not going to get away with getting a CPU/GPU upgrade that provides a decent amount of improvement without spending ~$700-$800. I'm one of those annoying people who are fairly impatient, and when provided with an opportunity to receive that large of an upgrade that quickly, without much work besides getting the new one out and throwing it on the desk, I become extremely tempted to jump on that. So I apologize for that.

A Ryzen 7 1700 costs around $210, and something like the Radeon VII would cost ~$600, or the 2070 would cost ~$500.

Buy the Radeon VII or 2080 this month, and a R7 3700 next month, and you'll have a better PC than you would have buying a whole new one, and you can buy yourself some munchies and maybe new peripherals.

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 minute ago, moonlight-strider said:

The only other reference GPUs that are similar are the Vega series and other RX series GPUs, from what I can tell.

Even if I remove it, that also brings up upfront cost. I'm not going to get away with getting a CPU/GPU upgrade that provides a decent amount of improvement without spending ~$700-$800. I'm one of those annoying people who are fairly impatient, and when provided with an opportunity to receive that large of an upgrade that quickly, without much work besides getting the new one out and throwing it on the desk, I become extremely tempted to jump on that. So I apologize for that.

A Ryzen 7 1700 costs around $210, and something like the Radeon VII would cost ~$600, or the 2070 would cost ~$500.

dell sells their own parts, https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/accessories/apd/aa404901 wait for this if you can, otherwise get this for the GPU: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/pny-geforce-rtx-2070-blower-graphics-card-gf-rtx-2070-8-gb-gddr6-pcie-30-x16-dvi-hdmi-2-x-displayport/apd/aa388015/graphic-video-cards

the 1700 you can get on ebay for $140.

[moonlight-strider]

2 minutes ago, LienusLateTips said:

Buy the Radeon VII or 2080 this month, and a R7 3700 next month, and you'll have a better PC than you would have buying a whole new one, and you can buy yourself some munchies and maybe new peripherals.

I'd have to wait two months, with the $484 limit, because both GPUs are roughly $600.

Also, I'm going to be perfectly honest, I want a new, shiny thing as well. Every upgrade I've had has provided that so far, so once I get a new one, I like the shiny aspect.

My first build ever was made in late 2016, a modified Dell studio 540 with a Core2Quad Q6600, 8GB of DDR2 800MHz RAM, and an AMD Radeon HD 6770.

My second one was a modified Dell Inspiron 620, with a Core i5 2310, 8GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM, and a nVidia GTX 1050ti.

My third upgrade was the Inspiron 5676- every time, I've gotten a whole new system, and I think that's spoiled me for a bit. The most expensive system I've had yet has been the Inspiron 5676, as the total for the Inspiron 620 was roughly $400, and the total for the Studio couldn't have been more than $100.

[moonlight-strider]

4 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

dell sells their own parts, https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/accessories/apd/aa404901 wait for this if you can, otherwise get this for the GPU: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/pny-geforce-rtx-2070-blower-graphics-card-gf-rtx-2070-8-gb-gddr6-pcie-30-x16-dvi-hdmi-2-x-displayport/apd/aa388015/graphic-video-cards

the 1700 you can get on ebay for $140.

I had zero clue you could get parts like that from Dell. I knew you could get memory upgrades (that's why I now have 12GB of RAM, rather than 8). Oops. That does make that option far more appealing.

Also, my mother has roughly $300 worth in credit on NewEgg, so I could theoretically offput the GPU on Dell and the CPU on NewEgg and pay for it as I go.

[megaderp19xx]

but may i ask why you want to upgrade? becouse the system you have right now is already pretty good

 

[Herman Mcpootis]

10 minutes ago, moonlight-strider said:

I had zero clue you could get parts like that from Dell. I knew you could get memory upgrades (that's why I now have 12GB of RAM, rather than 8). Oops. That does make that option far more appealing.

Also, my mother has roughly $300 worth in credit on NewEgg, so I could theoretically offput the GPU on Dell and the CPU on NewEgg and pay for it as I go.

The 1700 is OOS at newegg, the 1700x is $190 but at that price i'd recommend checking if your bios can be updated or already supporting the ryzen 2700.

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

38 minutes ago, moonlight-strider said:

AMD Ryzen 5 1400
12GB DDR4 2400MHz
2 1TB HDDs, one for boot and one for games
AMD RX 570 4GB

better get a ssd for OS first.

this sys is fine for 1080p gaming, as side upgrade, the dell g5 you have is slightly better

intended to upgrade monitor first?

[moonlight-strider]

Just now, megaderp19xx said:

but may i ask why you want to upgrade?

  

1) This computer does okay, but I've upgraded roughly each year since I first got into this whole jig. It's on the 10 month mark, and this is the first time I've ever had my own income. I'm not exactly rich, so being able to get a high-end machine has always been a dream of mine. With the money I'm getting from my job, I can now do just that.

2) I enjoy streaming occasionally, and this system just doesn't have the horsepower to stream, say, the new Battlefront II, or games of similar spec.I will get dropped frames very often, and I have Charter Spectrum internet, so my internet is not what's bottlenecking. I have a brand new router, and I am connected to it via a Cat6 ethernet cable, so nearly every internet-related bottleneck I can think of is eliminated here. On the same note, my video card is incapable of streaming DOOM 2016 due to buggy driver issues. The capture software I use (OBS) refuses to pick the game up. Looking it up online, I found that due to software issues (which still haven't been patched, by the way) are the root cause.

3) Faster usage in general. I use an HDD for both boot and games, and while I used to strongly dislike the idea of using an SSD, I am now acutely aware of how slow things load off of the good old spinning disks. Also, other models support faster RAM (which may or may not really affect performance- but that part sort of ties in with the latter of reason 1).

4) No integrated CD/DVD drive. While I do have an external USB CD writer, I also need to write DVDs when I'm working with, say, my 2008 Core2Quad Q9550 build, for which I need a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, or for bootable Linux DVDs for various projects, etc. (The front panel on this thing is also solid- I'd have to damage the front panel permanently to get a DVD drive in there).

There are various other reasons, but these are some of the larger points of contention.

[moonlight-strider]

4 minutes ago, dgsddfgdfhgs said:

better get a ssd for OS first.

this sys is fine for 1080p gaming, as side upgrade, the dell g5 you have is slightly better

intended to upgrade monitor first?

The G5 isn't mine, it's my mom's, so until she's done using it (which she's expressed that she won't be done with it for another 1.5 to 2 years), I won't be able to use it. By then, it will be fairly outdated compared to other upgrades I could seek.

[LukeSavenije]

8 minutes ago, moonlight-strider said:

I enjoy streaming occasionally, and this system just doesn't have the horsepower to stream,

tried to do some gpu streaming?

 

btw, i can make up a full build, name your budget, country and preferences

[megaderp19xx]

4) you can make usb drives that can do the same for it so no need for a dvd drive in my opinion. 

and it might be me but if you trew in a 1700 or maybe even try the thing herman mcpootis said and put in a 2700 with a ssd.

you already have a mutch faster system and maybe later on trow in 16 instead of 12 gb of ram. and well im no experts in gpus but the 2070 for 450 once it comes out seems like a pretty daim good deal to me and i thing by then you only have put in like 700 dollar or some thing.

[FlappyBoobs]

9 minutes ago, moonlight-strider said:

I used to strongly dislike the idea of using an SSD

I know that you now know the reasons for using one, but why did you ever "strongly dislike" SSDs?

 

I ask because it is the only PC upgrade I have ever done that has truely transformed the system and been insanely noticeable day to day. Loading times of games isn't the one you notice the most, it's the boot time of the whole system, I literally can't press the power button and sit down in my chair before the PC is on the logon screen from a cold boot. 

[moonlight-strider]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

tried to do some gpu streaming?

 

btw, i can make up a full build, name your budget, country and preferences

I did enable GPU acceleration, if that's what you meant, to limited success. The program I use automatically uses GPU accelerated streaming, I think.

I don't prefer to do a custom build as there is a much higher up front cost and I'll have to save money for several months- at least, to achieve the results I'm currently looking for.

[megaderp19xx]

i get that but it makes more sense in my eyes to upgrade then to get a whole new system becouse to be honest if you put in a new cpu and a good ssd then you are pretty mutch set already.

[moonlight-strider]

1 minute ago, FlappyBoobs said:

I know that you now know the reasons for using one, but why did you ever "strongly dislike" SSDs?

 

I ask because it is the only PC upgrade I have ever done that has truely transformed the system and been insanely noticeable day to day. Loading times of games isn't the one you notice the most, it's the boot time of the whole system, I literally can't press the power button and sit down in my chair before the PC is on the logon screen from a cold boot. 

This originally formed from my interest in older computers. Early on, I wasn't as... versed as I am now, and I was generally distrustful of any technologies which strayed very far from the status quo formula we have been using for decades (CPU, RAM, HDD, Video Card, Sound Card, Etc.).

For me, making chips like that into a primary storage medium made no sense. I was also referencing ancient reports, back when SSDs were unstable- of course, that has improved greatly. I was of the thought process that we had perfected HDDs over the course of decades, and we had not yet done that with SSDs. I felt that they were glorified flash drives being adapted to be used as HDDs, and it seemed like a bad idea to me in general.

[LukeSavenije]

if we're talking about stability and reliability, a hdd is worse

 

why? moving parts

 

it makes sense to write on chips, and it's a heck of a lot faster too

 

it's like sticking to a pentium 3 because they've been around for longer

 

you can also start with a weaker system and upgrade from there, custom or not.

 

that machine above could actually be a good example

[moonlight-strider]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

if we're talking about stability and reliability, a hdd is worse

 

why? moving parts

 

it makes sense to write on chips, and it's a heck of a lot faster too

 

it's like sticking to a pentium 3 because they've been around for longer

 

you can also start with a weaker system and upgrade from there, custom or not.

 

that machine above could actually be a good example

I never insinuated that my thought process was completely derived from logic. It was dumb, but for a little while, I genuinely thought that way.

Funnily enough, I have two Pentium III systems- one has a PIII Katmai @500MHz and the other has a PIII Coppermine @600MHz.

[Stefan Payne]

Careful, the BOard _ONLY_ supports 65W TDP Parts the way it is right now.

And there is a BIOS Update available. You might want to download GPU-Z first and look what Version your Bios is. The latest one is from October 2018 - wich means that it should support 2000 series. So the Ryzen 7/2700 would be possible.

 

 

What I'd do:
Get a 1TB Crucial P1 and put it into the NVMe SSD Slot (right next to the WiFi Card).

 

GPU:
Is the 570 you have right now a bit annoying or why do you want to replace it?

 

And there is the Question of the PSU and the Connectors or the Spec of the PSU...

Can you make a pic of the Label of the PSU and upload it here?