Best CPU for the Ampere 3000 Series?

[Daniel L.]

Hi I'm planning to upgrade to the 3000 series either the 3070 or the 3080 and I know my i5 9600k ain't gonna cut it Here are my Specs:

 

Intel i5 9600k

Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED

MSI Z390 A PRO

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB Dual Channel 

Kingston A400 240 GB SSD

Seagate Barracuda Compute 2TB

MSI Geforce RTX 2060 Gaming

Cooler Master Masterbox Pro RGB

EVGA BQ 500W 80+ <------(This Will be upgraded too suggestions would be appreciated) 

 

My plan is to get the i7 9700k or the 8700k but if I can get a better price to perfomance deal from AMD I would be willing to switch Ryzen I would have to switch my motherboard though.

 

[Slottr]

1 minute ago, Daniel L. said:

and I know my i5 9600k ain't gonna cut it

How do you know?

 

Wait for benchmarks. 

[Guest]

Nothing wrong with your chip now, except lacking HT. 

 

If you're looking for better performance, Over-clock what you already have, unless of course you want more threads.

 

[Som3a]

3 minutes ago, Daniel L. said:

Hi I'm planning to upgrade to the 3000 series either the 3070 or the 3080 and I know my i5 9600k ain't gonna cut it Here are my Specs:

 

Intel i5 9600k

Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED

MSI Z390 A PRO

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB Dual Channel 

Kingston A400 240 GB SSD

Seagate Barracuda Compute 2TB

MSI Geforce RTX 2060 Gaming

Cooler Master Masterbox Pro RGB

EVGA BQ 500W 80+ <------(This Will be upgraded too suggestions would be appreciated) 

 

My plan is to get the i7 9700k or the 8700k but if I can get a better price to perfomance deal from AMD I would be willing to switch Ryzen I would have to switch my motherboard though.

 

As the others in this thread said, you can't know anything yet. Wait for benchmarks and decide later. If you really want a new CPU with HT go Ryzen but since desktop 4000 series CPUs are coming by the end of the year I recommend waiting a bit more.

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, Daniel L. said:

if I can get a better price to perfomance deal from AMD I would be willing to switch Ryzen

That is usually the case. The ryzen 5 3600 tends to fill the same role as the i7-8700, but over $100 cheaper. You could go for 4th gen too but you'd have to wait (won't be a big problem since the i5-9600k ain't bad anyway)

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 minutes ago, Slottr said:

How do you know?

 

Wait for benchmarks. 

From what nvidia said, a 3070 = 2080TI, if not better. I would definitly get a new cpu. Pairing a 9600k with a 2080TI would mke no sense, even just on power.

[bellabichon]

2 minutes ago, TheTechWizardThatNeedsHelp said:

From what nvidia said, a 3070 = 2080TI, if not better. I would definitly get a new cpu. Pairing a 9600k with a 2080TI would mke no sense, even just on power.

Not necessarily. The degree to which a program is bottlenecked is determined entirely by how much it uses your CPU and GPU, and that can vary a lot between programs. Most modern games, for example, are so GPU-bound that nearly any modern CPU will do just fine with barely any noticeable bottleneck. In any case, wait for reviews with multiple different test bench configs, and go from there.

[soxsure]

Hey, read through this.

I basically had the same question. Cpu's should be almost on par, don't count me on that tho.

Got really good answers here^^

[Guest]

1080P gaming is Cpu horse power, 2160 gaming is GPU horse power.

 

Thread count matters with some titles. If a game can ping a 9600K 100%, it's time for threads.

[Slyceth]

17 minutes ago, Som3a said:

As the others in this thread said, you can't know anything yet. Wait for benchmarks and decide later. If you really want a new CPU with HT go Ryzen but since desktop 4000 series CPUs are coming by the end of the year I recommend waiting a bit more.

Are you absolutely sure? Because I've been meaning to upgrade from my i7-4790K and 980 Ti for a while now. When the 3900X came out I wanted to upgrade to a 2080Ti/3900X build but someone just like you told me to hold off until the 3000 series cards. Well 3000 is here, and now you're telling me to wait until the Ryzen 4000? Are you sure?

 

Maybe there's an intel CPU that's newer and better value than the 3900X by now because I want to buy a full build in 2 weeks when the 3800 comes out.

[Som3a]

1 minute ago, Slyceth said:

Are you absolutely sure? Because I've been meaning to upgrade from my i7-4790K and 980 Ti for a while now. When the 3900X came out I wanted to upgrade to a 2080Ti/3900X build but someone just like you told me to hold off until the 3000 series cards. Well 3000 is here, and now you're telling me to wait until the Ryzen 4000? Are you sure?

 

Maybe there's an intel CPU that's newer and better value than the 3900X by now because I want to buy a full build in 2 weeks when the 3800 comes out.

Hmm.. A brand new 3rd gen Ryzen will last a long time. if you really want the system now, do it but trust me on this one the buyers remorse will hurt, a lot...

[Slyceth]

Just now, Som3a said:

Hmm.. A brand new 3rd gen Ryzen will last a long time. if you really want the system now, do it but trust me on this one the buyers remorse will hurt, a lot...

How can I have buyer's remorse when I need a computer now? My current system doesn't have the PSU power to use the GTX 3080 at the moment. I have to get a new CPU as well because my motherboard is super outdated. So what CPU do you recommend I buy?

[Som3a]

2 minutes ago, Slyceth said:

How can I have buyer's remorse when I need a computer now? My current system doesn't have the PSU power to use the GTX 3080 at the moment. I have to get a new CPU as well because my motherboard is super outdated. So what CPU do you recommend I buy?

What's your CPU budget?

[Slyceth]

Just now, Som3a said:

What's your CPU budget?

Anywhere from 400-700 I guess?

[Som3a]

1 minute ago, Slyceth said:

Anywhere from 400-700 I guess?

The 3900x is 500 bucks iirc, you can maybe get a 3950x for a bit more. But the 3950x doesn't come with a cooler so you'll need something beefy

[Slyceth]

3 minutes ago, Som3a said:

The 3900x is 500 bucks iirc, you can maybe get a 3950x for a bit more. But the 3950x doesn't come with a cooler so you'll need something beefy

I know but you said yourself that I would regret buying one since the next generation might come in just a few months. Isn't there an alternative for the same budget from Intel?

[Som3a]

Just now, Slyceth said:

I know but you said yourself that I would regret buying one since the next generation might come in just a few months. Isn't there an alternative for the same budget from Intel?

Oh right, my bad, I forgot you had an intel CPU, you will have to stay on Coffee lake if you want to keep your board. So maybe a 9900K ? With 10th gen releasing 9th gen should have dropped in price.

 

EDIT: Just checked the 9900K costs 400 bucks on newegg, the 10700K costs the same too, but because the 10900K costs 900 dollars you could get the 10700k and use the extra budget for a Z490 board. Again i'm sorry for the misunderstanding at first

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Slyceth said:

I know but you said yourself that I would regret buying one since the next generation might come in just a few months. Isn't there an alternative for the same budget from Intel?

If you want to build a Ryzen system now, get a 500 series board so that you can upgrade seamlessly to the Ryzen 4000 CPUs should they interest you. 400 series boards will technically support Ryzen 4000 but only on a beta BIOS. Buy a 3000-series now, sell it for a 4000-series later should you want to. That would be my recommendation since you need a computer right now.

 

As for Intel, both an i9-10850k and i7-10700k would be suitable competitors to the 3900X, with the former being slightly more expensive, and the latter being about $100 cheaper.

 

The prices for B550 and Z490 motherboards are actually quite similar.

[Slyceth]

19 minutes ago, Pooky said:

If you want to build a Ryzen system now, get a 500 series board so that you can upgrade seamlessly to the Ryzen 4000 CPUs should they interest you. 400 series boards will technically support Ryzen 4000 but only on a beta BIOS. Buy a 3000-series now, sell it for a 4000-series later should you want to. That would be my recommendation since you need a computer right now.

 

As for Intel, both an i9-10850k and i7-10700k would be suitable competitors to the 3900X, with the former being slightly more expensive, and the latter being about $100 cheaper.

 

The prices for B550 and Z490 motherboards are actually quite similar.

Okay, so if I got this right, I'll need to buy a 3900XT, and the motherboard must have "AMD B550" enabled under Chipset in PcPartPicker to qualify as "500 series board", correct?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Slyceth said:

Okay, so if I got this right, I'll need to buy a 3900XT, and the motherboard must have "AMD B550" enabled under Chipset in PcPartPicker to qualify as "500 series board", correct?

Either B550 or X570, yes.

[Slyceth]

3 minutes ago, Pooky said:

Either B550 or X570, yes.

Okay, I just read up a bit, and learned about the difference between B550 and X570. Apparently the PCI lanes are 3.0 on the B550 and 4.0 on the X570. The PCI lanes are where my graphics card plugs in, correct? Shouldn't I get the X570's 4.0 lanes if I want my 3080 to run as optimal as possible?

Because I don't see any price difference when I look at the best+most rated motherboards on PcPartPicker for the X570 and the B550. Or are there some hidden benefits?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Slyceth said:

Okay, I just read up a bit, and learned about the difference between B550 and X570. Apparently the PCI lanes are 3.0 on the B550 and 4.0 on the X570. The PCI lanes are where my graphics card plugs in, correct? Shouldn't I get the X570's 4.0 lanes if I want my 3080 to run as optimal as possible?

Because I don't see any price difference when I look at the best+most rated motherboards on PcPartPicker for the X570 and the B550. Or are there some hidden benefits?

X570 boards are the top of the stack for consumer boards, so AIBs go all out with better power delivery and VRM cooling, etc. That's not a given, but it is generally true. We don't yet actually know what kind of performance can be expected with Ampere on PCIe 3.0 vs 4.0, but if B550 and X570 are the same prices for you, I would choose X570.

The only caveat I can think of is that the X570 chipset requires active cooling in the form of a small fan attached to its heatsink. If you're building a silent watercooled system then that might deter you but it's really not that big of a deal.

[Slyceth]

54 minutes ago, Pooky said:

X570 boards are the top of the stack for consumer boards, so AIBs go all out with better power delivery and VRM cooling, etc. That's not a given, but it is generally true. We don't yet actually know what kind of performance can be expected with Ampere on PCIe 3.0 vs 4.0, but if B550 and X570 are the same prices for you, I would choose X570.

The only caveat I can think of is that the X570 chipset requires active cooling in the form of a small fan attached to its heatsink. If you're building a silent watercooled system then that might deter you but it's really not that big of a deal.

Okay, I think I've got the list ready. I hope it's not bad form to submit a partpicker list but I think it might be good to summarize all the things I learned today (I'm not sure about the PSU, took the highest scoring one at 850W since that's required, and I don't know if the case will fit considering I put in the 2080 Ti temporarily and I don't think the size matches up. I also took the highest performing RAM option before it starts doubling in prize with minor improvement, and the Noctua cooler is one I've been eyeing for a while for being one of the quietest coolers out there):

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$479.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$89.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard	$164.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$138.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Founders Edition Video Card	$1899.00 @ Amazon
Case	NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.00 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RM (2019) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$154.99 @ Corsair
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$2995.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-01 19:27 EDT-0400

 

[Guest]

It looks very nice. You can find the 3900XT for $30 less on eBay. That level PSU is also totally unnecessary and you can save some money there. I hope you don't actually plan to buy a 2080ti unless it's from people liquidating on eBay for <$700.

 

Cheers

[Slyceth]

15 hours ago, Pooky said:

It looks very nice. You can find the 3900XT for $30 less on eBay. That level PSU is also totally unnecessary and you can save some money there. I hope you don't actually plan to buy a 2080ti unless it's from people liquidating on eBay for <$700.

 

Cheers

So I just looked at a Linus video from 3 months ago, where he talked about the I9-10900K and according to test benches that CPU is marginally better for gaming than the Ryzen 3900X. And on top of that, the motherboard would be compatible for at least a generation Intel CPU's after that.

 

Wouldn't that make it a no-brainer to choose team blue right now?