Please sanity-check my tax-optimised upgrade

[ooloops]

Budget (including currency): $1100+ AUD

Country: Australia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:

Primarily a work machine for data analytics. Mainly working on CPU/memory-heavy datasets using Python and various desktop applications: Chrome, PowerBI, way too many excel sheets open at once

 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I'm working from home like many of you and my 4770k system is starting to show a bit of age. I was considering getting another 16GB of DDR3 memory to tide me over for another year but as it's almost tax time I can claim significant deductions on home office equipment here in Aus so I figure why not take advantage now while I have the option.

 

Two slightly annoying constraints is that I have to spend at least $1100 before 30 June and each component must be under $300 to take full advantage of the tax deductions. So I'm looking at what I can buy today that will be a good investment long term. My 980ti is going just fine so I'll keep that for now.

 

Does the following plan make sense to anyone else? What would you change?

1. Buy the following mid-June:

• B550 motherboard ~$200 AUD I'm guessing
• Corsair 1x32GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM $245.0
• Das Keyboard DK4 Ultimate $289
  • Keyboard recommendations welcome, I'd like to replace my current Cherry blue switch Razer with something with browns I can take to the office later in the year. (I know the link shows blues)
• One of these NVME drives $255
  • If someone can explain if this Corsair one that's listed here is actually that much better than the cheaper M.2 offerings I'd really appreciate that.
• ???? $100
  • New case/power supply? Increase budget for motherboard? New chair?

2. When Zen 3 launches in a few months either:

• Grab the 3700X or 3900X if the prices come down
• OR pick up one of the new offerings if they're compelling value.
• AND Throw in another 32GB stick leaving myself 2 slots if I need an upgrade over the life of that b550 board.

Clearly it's unfortunate to buy all that hardware just to have it sit around until Zen 3 launches but the tax incentives are so big that it seems like the best option. I was considering getting a 3300X in the meantime but I know I'll want something better in 6 months and I'd rather not deal with trying to flip it later. Also X570 isn't a great option since I can't get a board with WiFi under $300.

 

Thanks all

[BlackManINC]

Everything you actually have listed looks fine. The B550 motherboard promises to be worth the salt of the earth, so you should be good there. For a work station PC, I often see people recommend no lower than an R9 3900X instead of the 3700X, with no less than 32 gbs of ram. But if the Zen 3 CPU's offer a meaningful bump in performance, then I'd just get one of those. That SSD looks cool. I have the case linked below if that's what you are looking for, its a damn fine specimen. I don't know which specific power supply you should get though, others may be able to tell you more on that front. 

 

Link: Crystal Series™ 570X 

 

[ooloops]

43 minutes ago, BlackManINC said:

I have the case linked below if that's what you are looking for, its a damn fine specimen.

Neat thanks for your help.

[Shrekpad]

1 hour ago, ooloops said:

Budget (including currency): $1100+ AUD

Country: Australia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:

Primarily a work machine for data analytics. Mainly working on CPU/memory-heavy datasets using Python and various desktop applications: Chrome, PowerBI, way too many excel sheets open at once

 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I'm working from home like many of you and my 4770k system is starting to show a bit of age. I was considering getting another 16GB of DDR3 memory to tide me over for another year but as it's almost tax time I can claim significant deductions on home office equipment here in Aus so I figure why not take advantage now while I have the option.

 

Two slightly annoying constraints is that I have to spend at least $1100 before 30 June and each component must be under $300 to take full advantage of the tax deductions. So I'm looking at what I can buy today that will be a good investment long term. My 980ti is going just fine so I'll keep that for now.

 

Does the following plan make sense to anyone else? What would you change?

1. Buy the following mid-June:

• B550 motherboard ~$200 AUD I'm guessing
• Corsair 1x32GB 2666MHz DDR4 RAM $245.0
• Das Keyboard DK4 Ultimate $289
  • Keyboard recommendations welcome, I'd like to replace my current Cherry blue switch Razer with something with browns I can take to the office later in the year. (I know the link shows blues)
• One of these NVME drives $255
  • If someone can explain if this Corsair one that's listed here is actually that much better than the cheaper M.2 offerings I'd really appreciate that.
• ???? $100
  • New case/power supply? Increase budget for motherboard? New chair?

2. When Zen 3 launches in a few months either:

• Grab the 3700X or 3900X if the prices come down
• OR pick up one of the new offerings if they're compelling value.
• AND Throw in another 32GB stick leaving myself 2 slots if I need an upgrade over the life of that b550 board.

Clearly it's unfortunate to buy all that hardware just to have it sit around until Zen 3 launches but the tax incentives are so big that it seems like the best option. I was considering getting a 3300X in the meantime but I know I'll want something better in 6 months and I'd rather not deal with trying to flip it later. Also X570 isn't a great option since I can't get a board with WiFi under $300.

 

Thanks all

Get dual channel memory, its noticeable better than single channel. Also the Corsair ssd is very expensive because of PCI-E gen 4, which the B550 chipset will support. It is faster than PCI-E gen 3, but it may not be worth it if the price difference is big. Otherwise it looks good.

[ooloops]

40 minutes ago, Shrekpad said:

Get dual channel memory, its noticeable better than single channel. Also the Corsair ssd is very expensive because of PCI-E gen 4, which the B550 chipset will support. It is faster than PCI-E gen 3, but it may not be worth it if the price difference is big. Otherwise it looks good.

Any guesses/links to how much difference dual channel makes on AM4? If I go 2x16GB then I'll max out at 64GB with 4 slots which I'm concerned won't be enough long term.

Cheers for the PCIe gen 4 explanation that helps a lot - I'd just assumed it was the 4th revision of that product not the PCIe standard .

[Shrekpad]

3 minutes ago, ooloops said:

Any guesses/links to how much difference dual channel makes on AM4? If I go 2x16GB then I'll max out at 64GB with 4 slots which I'm concerned won't be enough long term.

Cheers for the PCIe gen 4 explanation that helps a lot - I'd just assumed it was the 4th revision of that product not the PCIe standard .

https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3
this does a good job of showing differences. 
 

dual channel is always better than single, but it is a fair point that you’ll be limited to 64 rather than 128. As for price it’s practically the same.

 

this would be a good 2x16 kit:

https://www.umart.com.au/Kingston-HyperX-32GB--2x16GB--HX426C16FB3AK2-32-Fury-RGB-2666MHz-DDR4-RAM_52179G.html

 

its cheaper, but you’ll have to figure out yourself which you think is more important. IMO I think that by the time applications use that much ram you’ll most likely have other upgrades to do. And a new motherboard in the future will be based on DDR5.

[ooloops]

1 hour ago, Shrekpad said:

IMO I think that by the time applications use that much ram you’ll most likely have other upgrades to do. And a new motherboard in the future will be based on DDR5.

Fair point I'll have a think. ty