CPU and Motherboard recommendations for upgrade

[Abernus]

Hi all,

 

  I am looking to upgrade my curent PC, and with the state of play with Intel Vs AMD at the moment I am thinking of moving to AMD after being with Intel for so long. My current old PC is Intel i5 2500 With an Asus P8P67b Mobo. I will be keeping my RTX 2060 GFX and my Corsair HX620W PSU but the rest is getting upgraded and my budget is about £1000 for CPU, Mobo and RAM

 

  My question, is it worth paying the extra for the Ryzen 9 3900X or saving a few and getting the Ryzen 7 3800X. Also based on what is suggested is there a preferred Motherboard for these CPU's?

 

  The PC will be mainly used for gaming. However I will be doing some Phot and Video Editing on it.

 

Thanks

[Ajukrezi]

ryzen 7 should be plenty for that usecase.
 

[5x5]

Get a 3700X - it's almost identical with the 3800X but much cheaper. Pair it with an X570 board from Asus or ASarock and you're golden

[Mateyyy]

As mentioned above, a 3700X would be enough for what you need. Here's what I'd go for:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	£281.38 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	£184.99 @ AWD-IT
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£92.99 @ Amazon UK
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£559.36
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-28 11:31 BST+0100

 

[Abernus]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, Looking at the PC Part Picker list coming in cheaper all the time

[Stahlmann]

38 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Get a 3700X - it's almost identical with the 3800X but much cheaper. Pair it with an X570 board from Asus or ASarock and you're golden

Got the 3700X myself and i'm blown away by the Performance.

The only things maxing it out are when i download a game from steam with 1Gbps or of course synthetic Benchmarks. The steam download thing is surely a luxury problem on my part.

[Guest]

Wait for B550. They are due on the 16th June. Or if going X570 then I would pre-order the MSI X570 Tomahawk wifi. Much better than the other £200 X570 boards.

[Nena Trinity]

3800X but you could save cash with a 3700X, OC isn't worth it that much so might as well go with a higher end B450/B550 board with decent VRM cooling.

[dobuybuildgo]

I think it really depends on if you want to "Upgrade" again sooner than later.  If you plan on getting it and using for a while like your old 2500, then definitely spend the extra now for the 3900x!  The price has recently come down and really for $400~ you can't go wrong.  On the other hand, there are new CPU's on the horizon, both short term and long term.  The upgraded spec xt models will be here in a month and the 4000 series should be here in the fall or at the latest in the new year.  If you're good with an interim solution, a Ryzen 5 3600 is a steal at $175 and won't lose as much value as say a 3800x or 3900x will in the mean time.  You could then easily sell that processor and upgrade to the new 4000 series equivalent of the 3900x.  That would be my recommendation.  Even if you decide to stick with the 3600 longer, you will be limited by the 2060 at that point anyway.

 

But as for motherboard, again with new motherboards on the horizon you have some choices.  You could go with a B450 and save some $$$ now and the best one of the bunch is the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max which can be found for around $115.  MSI will ensure it will have Ryzen 4000 support and will be perfect for your 3900x or whatever you choose.  With that being said, newer B550 boards are being released in the short term and they basically add PCIe 4.0 support and Ryzen 4000 support along with some better USB 3.1 support.  If that's not important to you or you do not plan to upgrade to a Ryzen 4000, then a B450 board is the right choice now.  Additionally X570 boards have the support the B550 boards have and then some additional features but as already pointed out, carry a price premium.  If you are planning on keeping the system as is or upgrading in the near future, you can't go wrong here....unless you go for a "cheap" x570 board.  The cheapest one I would consider is the ASUS X570 Tuf Gaming and it can be found for around $170 and $190 with built in Wi-Fi.  But I'd probably step up to an ASUS x570 ROG Strix-F or even another step to a Strix-E.  Also on my list would be the Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite or step up Ultra.  From MSI avoid x570 boards like the Gaming Pro Carbon, or Gaming Plus and get a x570 Tomahawk when they come out next month or spend more on MSI x570 Ace or Unify.

 

After I've said all that, personally, I would get a B450 Tomahawk Max with a Ryzen 5 3600, for $300.  Sell your 2060 for around $250 and buy a 5700XT for $400 or a 2070 Super for $500 and then get 32GB of DDR4 3600 CL16 for $150, which puts my math at $600 - $700 now and save the $300 for the Ryzen 4000 in the fall.