Upgrading from i5 6500

[islingsby]

To my understanding, anything released from AMD in their 3000 lineup and 5000 lineup, as well as intel 9th and 10th gen, will be more capable than my current CPU right? The internet is full of everyone saying "this one is better than that one" because of this specific benchmark. 2600 vs 3600 vs 5600. 3700x vs 9700x. 3300 vs 1600. 6 cores vs 8 cores. Old gen 8 cores vs current gen 6 cores. It's all just too much information. I'm not looking to render 4k video on a daily basis, but I do use premiere pro @1080p, and I play mostly open world games with a 1660ti at 1080p @60fps (ie GTA 5, Witcher 3, BO Cold War is exception) I'm just looking for the most bang for buck CPU I can get. I'm not team blue or team red. I have information overload right now and need the communities input. 

 

my 6500 overclocked to 4.5 ghz is really showing its age. What are your thoughts from the perspective of experiencing a noticeable day-to-day improvement to my current CPU? I really cant go wrong with anything released post 2019 right? 

 

For what I'm seeing, I'm stricken by the whole "future proof" as much as you can mentality. Obviously AMD is in short supply, but if I can get a $150 cpu that lasts me for the next 2-4 years, I'm for sure going to do that. 

[Zenedge]

a ryzen 5 5600x or 3600 can get the job done. good balance between gaming and productivity.

It should be fine for the next 2-4 years too. Just because a better cpu comes along. doesnt mean your current one is gonna suck.

 

or you can get an i5 10400. still very decent. and iirc 10th gen mobos are compatible with the upcoming 11th gen(if you get a z490). so you do have an upgrade path

[boggy77]

you're right, all the cpus you mention will be an upgrade over what you have.

what's your country and budget? given the current situation with prices and availability, i'd just get any 6 or 8 core i'd find that has hyperthreading.

so 2600, 2700, 3600, 3700, 5600, 10400, 10600

[islingsby]

5 minutes ago, boggy77 said:

you're right, all the cpus you mention will be an upgrade over what you have.

what's your country and budget? given the current situation with prices and availability, i'd just get any 6 or 8 core i'd find that has hyperthreading.

so 2600, 2700, 3600, 3700, 5600, 10400, 10600

Im in the US, and my budget is around $300-$500 including the necessary motherboard upgrade to go with the CPU. AMD prices are inflated along all of their generations (ie 3700x at $10 below MSRP a year and half ago, 3600x over $400 at this point,1600 is $150-$200) I'm glad to see that anything is going to be noticeably better than what I have. 4 cores 4 threads is a little rough right now.  

16 minutes ago, Zenedge said:

a ryzen 5 5600x or 3600 can get the job done. good balance between gaming and productivity.

It should be fine for the next 2-4 years too. Just because a better cpu comes along. doesnt mean your current one is gonna suck.

 

or you can get an i5 10400. still very decent. and iirc 10th gen mobos are compatible with the upcoming 11th gen(if you get a z490). so you do have an upgrade path

Thanks for your input. I was thinking intel just due to the availability and historic reliability. I am loving that Intel has a true challenger now. Competition means us consumers win!

[boggy77]

17 minutes ago, islingsby said:

Im in the US, and my budget is around $300-$500 including the necessary motherboard upgrade to go with the CPU.

Given current prices and your budget, i'd go with this:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor	$155.00 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B460M DS3H AC Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard	$93.98 @ Newegg
Memory	OLOy 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	$97.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$346.97
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-17 12:37 EST-0500

 

For a significant boost over this you'd have to look at a ryzen 7 or i7, which might be a bit above $500

[SteveGrabowski0]

Newegg actually has R5 3600 in stock right now at $230, and from benchmarks I have seen that seems like enough to allow you to play Cyberpunk at 1080p60 medium with a 1660 Ti, and that's about the hardest to run game out right now. Or you could wait for the rumored R5 5600, but that'll probably be a bastard to find when it does come out even moreso that the already impossible to find R5 5600x if it really comes out a $220 like Hardware Unboxed was hinting in their 5600x review.

[Miamijim]

Hi, I built my PC 8 years ago and put in an i5 6500 on a PC Mate Zotac Board the board technically caps out at 6th Gen so my upgrade path was blocked... Yesterday I picked up a Ryzen 5 5600 for 129 Euro and a B450 Motherboard for 120 Euro it is my understanding that I have probably blocked my upgrade path with the B450 and should have gone B550 but the boost I'll be getting from 5600 over the old i5 will more than be enough to see me through until 2030 especially as I've been using the i5 since 2015... I am very happy playing games at 1080p with a good frame rate and I think the 5600 will pair nicely with my 1660 Super GPU until I can maybe get a newer GPU in say 2025... I have to be so careful with my budget.