CPU pair for a 3070

[VonSkip]

Budget (including currency): 

$500 (can spend more if it's really worth the cost

Country: 

USA, CA

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

Gaming at 1440p (Will likely upgrade to a 144/170 hz gsync monitor soon)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

MS Flight Simulator VR

The Last of Us 2

Control

Halflife: Alyx

 

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): 

My current build is in my signature and the CPU majorly throttles the 3070.

What CPU should I get to pair with the 3070?

 

[curiousmind34]

1 minute ago, VonSkip said:

Budget (including currency): 

$500 (can spend more if it's really worth the cost

Country: 

USA, CA

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

Gaming at 1440p (Will likely upgrade to a 144/170 hz gsync monitor soon)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

MS Flight Simulator VR

The Last of Us 2

Control

Halflife: Alyx

 

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): 

My current build is in my signature and the CPU majorly throttles the 3070.

What CPU should I get to pair with the 3070?

 

Ryzen 5th gen, it has really good single core performance for high refresh rate gaming and would always keep up with the 3070. Whether you get the 5600x, 5800x, or 5900x, that just depends how many cores you use because the 5600x should be enough for just games but more cores may be better for multitasking and productivity workloads. You probably just want a 5600x though.

[Downkey]

3 minutes ago, VonSkip said:

Budget (including currency): 

$500 (can spend more if it's really worth the cost

Country: 

USA, CA

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

Gaming at 1440p (Will likely upgrade to a 144/170 hz gsync monitor soon)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

MS Flight Simulator VR

The Last of Us 2

Control

Halflife: Alyx

 

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): 

My current build is in my signature and the CPU majorly throttles the 3070.

What CPU should I get to pair with the 3070?

 

Do you need a CPU or a CPU, RAM, and MOBO?

[VonSkip]

3 hours ago, Downkey said:

Do you need a CPU or a CPU, RAM, and MOBO?

I'm gonna need all 3.

 

What's the cheapest CPU/Mobo combo I can get that won't throttle my GPU? I'm curious to know if it's worth going with a 10400f in order to save more $$$ for another upgrade soon.

[ImperialPorpoise]

I honestly think going with a 10400f is a great idea. A budget option that honestly punches far above it's weight class, only speaking of gaming though (to my knowledge). You'll do great with a 10400f. Although I might wait and see what the 11400f is like. I don't think it'll be a big enough jump up in performance as compared to the 10400f but it's worth waiting and seeing since it'll be out in nine days. But the 10400f will be great for a RTX 3070.

[Nena Trinity]

2 hours ago, VonSkip said:

I'm gonna need all 3.

 

What's the cheapest CPU/Mobo combo I can get that won't throttle my GPU? I'm curious to know if it's worth going with a 10400f in order to save more $$$ for another upgrade soon.

Cheapest is

i5-10400F / AMD Ryzen 2700 or 3600

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16

Intel Z490/B560 or AMD B450/550

 

Not as cheap

i5-11400F / AMD Ryzen 5 3700X or 5600X

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16

Intel Z590/B560 or AMD B450/550

 

 

[VonSkip]

1 hour ago, ImperialPorpoise said:

I honestly think going with a 10400f is a great idea. A budget option that honestly punches far above it's weight class, only speaking of gaming though (to my knowledge). You'll do great with a 10400f. Although I might wait and see what the 11400f is like. I don't think it'll be a big enough jump up in performance as compared to the 10400f but it's worth waiting and seeing since it'll be out in nine days. But the 10400f will be great for a RTX 3070.

That's really helpful, thanks.

 

A few more questions:

Do I still want 3600 Mhz ram with a 10400f?
is CL 18 ok or do I really really want CAS Latency 16?

 

Re Mobo, should I buy the cheapest supported Mobo with wifi or are there other features that matter?

[VonSkip]

10 minutes ago, Nena Trinity said:

Cheapest is

i5-10400F / AMD Ryzen 2700 or 3600

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16

Intel Z490/B560 or AMD B450/550

 

Not as cheap

i5-11400F / AMD Ryzen 5 3700X or 5600X

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16

Intel Z590/B560 or AMD B450/550

 

 

Do second and third timings matter at all or just the CAS Latency?

[ImperialPorpoise]

1 hour ago, Nena Trinity said:

Cheapest is

i5-10400F / AMD Ryzen 2700 or 3600

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16

Intel Z490/B560 or AMD B450/550

 

Not as cheap

i5-11400F / AMD Ryzen 5 3700X or 5600X

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz CL16

Intel Z590/B560 or AMD B450/550

 

 

I made an account to respond to this guys thread, so that's my excuse for forgetting the fact this guy wanted cheapest lol. I wouldn't reccomend a 2700 tho for the RTX 3070. That's my two cents. I've noticed that the CPU architecture change from 2000 to 3000 ryzen made a giant jump in performance.

 

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by ImperialPorpoise
I'm writing out a better response for VonSkip

[ImperialPorpoise]

1 hour ago, VonSkip said:

That's really helpful, thanks.

 

A few more questions:

Do I still want 3600 Mhz ram with a 10400f?
is CL 18 ok or do I really really want CAS Latency 16?

 

Re Mobo, should I buy the cheapest supported Mobo with wifi or are there other features that matter?

If your budget is $500, I would go for a a RAM kit with a CAS Latency of 16 that's 3200mhz. My thought for that is while 3600mhz CL18 ram = 3200mhz CL 16 ram in performance, the i5 10400f might not like faster ram and prefer ram that has a lower CAS Latency as compared to faster speed. A mobo like the MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Edge seems to be popular and well featured. It's $220 though, and I only picked it since it was the first thing I saw that had what you wanted (excluding looking around for deals that are cheaper). That will be about $450 in total. Those paired with a i5 10400f should outperform a Ryzen 5 3600 in gaming. If I'm not completely dumb and whatnot.

Edited March 21, 2021 by ImperialPorpoise
I'm dumb and noticed your budget is $500.

[ImperialPorpoise]

1 hour ago, VonSkip said:

Do second and third timings matter at all or just the CAS Latency?

From what I understand the CAS Latencies follow a ratio. At least that's what I'd call it. A kit with a CAS latency of 18 might go 18-36-36-42 or some number like that. There's some play in those numbers, but, if a kit has a lower first stage latency the other stages will follow suite and be lower themselves. So you shouldn't have to worry about checking and fretting over every single stage of ram kits.

[Nena Trinity]

3 hours ago, VonSkip said:

Do second and third timings matter at all or just the CAS Latency?

1 and 3 is most important, tough 2 is normally same as 3... (4th doesnt matter much)

[VonSkip]

This is all super helpful.

 

If Ryzen 3600 go for 3600 ram

If 10400f, go for 3200 CL16

 

Two more questions:

It seems like motherboards with wifi are around $60 cheaper on the AMD side than the Intel side. Seems like depending on the pricing any given day, the pendulum of value might swing either way. Is that normal?

 

Do both processors come with a decent stock cooler or should I plan to get something better?

 

[Downkey]

43 minutes ago, VonSkip said:

This is all super helpful.

 

If Ryzen 3600 go for 3600 ram

If 10400f, go for 3200 CL16

 

Two more questions:

It seems like motherboards with wifi are around $60 cheaper on the AMD side than the Intel side. Seems like depending on the pricing any given day, the pendulum of value might swing either way. Is that normal?

 

Do both processors come with a decent stock cooler or should I plan to get something better?

 

Both CPUS come with decent stock coolers, but the Ryzen Stock Cooler is far superior.

[VonSkip]

Thanks for all the help.

 

What are your thoughts on AMD

Vs Intel

 

It's looking like AMD wins if I'm set on integrated wifi?

 

[Nena Trinity]

1 hour ago, VonSkip said:

This is all super helpful.

 

If Ryzen 3600 go for 3600 ram

If 10400f, go for 3200 CL16

 

Two more questions:

It seems like motherboards with wifi are around $60 cheaper on the AMD side than the Intel side. Seems like depending on the pricing any given day, the pendulum of value might swing either way. Is that normal?

 

Do both processors come with a decent stock cooler or should I plan to get something better?

 

More speed better, no matter which of the CPUs ya get...

Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz 2x8GB kits are cheap either way.