Need help with my upgrading path!

[FullStop.]

Howdy! A fresh newbie to the forums here.

My Specs:

- Motherboard: MSI H270m Bazooka (micro atx) 

- CPU: Intel Core i5 7400 3.0GHz

- RAM: 8Gb G.Skill Aegis 3000Mhz

- GPU: Asus Geforce 1070 OC 8Gb

- PSU: 650W EVGA 

- Storage: 250Gb WD M.2 NVMe for system and programs / 1Tb SeaGate Barracuda for games and big files.

My Workload: A LOT of gaming ranging from AAA games (BattleField 1/ Tomb Raider games etc...) to indie games. I also use it for all of my creative projects/programs such as DAWs (digital audio workstations) for music and PhotoShop/Drawing programs for art. And I do use Premiere and video editors but not usually.

The Path That Needs Help: I'm thinking of keeping my Graphics Card (for obvious reasons) as well as my RAM, PSU and Storage. I want to move to AMD and get into Ryzen because of the backwards compatibility with AM4 sockets and such. But this means I need to choose a new Motherboard and CPU. I have no idea what would work best with the parts I want to keep, choosing a motherboard is so confusing for me because of the chipsets, I don't need RGB or Wi-Fi, nothing unnecessary. Just a full ATX motherboard with solid I/O I can benefit from, and that runs really well with Ryzen CPUs. As for the CPU itself, I'm thinking 3600x? Maybe 5600? Something that's affordable and would last me a long while. Oh and the RAM! I need to get another 8Gb stick. Since it's running in SINGLE CHANNEL mode right now... Don't know if I'm better off selling the current one with my motherboard or keeping it and adding another one to get 16Gb instead of buying new ones.

Side note: My M.2 isn't gen 4 and I think my ram is 16-18-18-38/ 16 latency (don't know what those ram numbers exactly mean tbh) 

I hope someone sees this and helps me do the right choice!! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day ^-^ 

[Chris Pratt]

AM4 is now reaching the end of its life. Right now, that's not in itself a good enough reason to switch to AMD, as you can realistically get as much upgrade potential on an Intel board at the moment.

 

3600 vs 5600X is mostly going to come down to cost and availability. If you can get the 5600X at retail for MSRP, the $100 cost difference is probably worth it. Otherwise, the 3600 is a very good CPU that will serve you well.

 

If you do go AMD, you need fast RAM, though. You *could* use the existing 8GB 3000Mhz stick, but you'd be leaving performance on the table. Much better to just get a new 2x8GB 3600Mhz kit. The timings are a little black magic. It gets complex very quickly, but you can get by just paying attention to the first number, the CAS latency (CL). You ideally want a CL 1/2000 of the advertised clocks, or less. For example, for 3600Mhz, CL18 is good, CL16 is even better. Avoid CL19 or higher.

 

Finally, for the motherboard, just get B550.

[Bombastinator]

GPUs are all messed up right now and you’ve got a decent enough one so that bit is a “wait”.  Intel is more forgiving with slower memory than AMD and while that memory once was fast it no longer is.  I don’t know what requirements are for DAW.  It used to be not very much, but I understand that has changed some.  How much or in what direction I do not know. Ignoring that bit, the stuff you describe tends toward high clock speed.  Intel is still pretty good at that.  I would say an intel 8 core of some sort, change out your motherboard and cpu.  It allows you to keep your memory for a savings in the $120 range.  

[FullStop.]

On 4/20/2021 at 8:55 PM, Chris Pratt said:

AM4 is now reaching the end of its life. Right now, that's not in itself a good enough reason to switch to AMD, as you can realistically get as much upgrade potential on an Intel board at the moment.

 

3600 vs 5600X is mostly going to come down to cost and availability. If you can get the 5600X at retail for MSRP, the $100 cost difference is probably worth it. Otherwise, the 3600 is a very good CPU that will serve you well.

 

If you do go AMD, you need fast RAM, though. You *could* use the existing 8GB 3000Mhz stick, but you'd be leaving performance on the table. Much better to just get a new 2x8GB 3600Mhz kit. The timings are a little black magic. It gets complex very quickly, but you can get by just paying attention to the first number, the CAS latency (CL). You ideally want a CL 1/2000 of the advertised clocks, or less. For example, for 3600Mhz, CL18 is good, CL16 is even better. Avoid CL19 or higher.

 

Finally, for the motherboard, just get B550.

Ah yes, that reason for the switch wasn't what I meant. What I meant is that AM4 is for most of the ryzen gens to my knowledge. Meanwhile with intel you have to get a new board with every two gens. For example my motherboard only support 6th and 7th gen, I feel like that's very limiting to my choices. Please correct me if I'm wrong in that. 

I'm not against an intel upgrade at all though!! I would love to hear your suggestions on what I might get for the best value!

As for the 5600x or 3600x I think that will have to wait when I have saved enough money to upgrade all together.

Thanks a lot for your time!! 

 

[FullStop.]

On 4/20/2021 at 9:02 PM, Bombastinator said:

GPUs are all messed up right now and you’ve got a decent enough one so that bit is a “wait”.  Intel is more forgiving with slower memory than AMD and while that memory once was fast it no longer is.  I don’t know what requirements are for DAW.  It used to be not very much, but I understand that has changed some.  How much or in what direction I do not know. Ignoring that bit, the stuff you describe tends toward high clock speed.  Intel is still pretty good at that.  I would say an intel 8 core of some sort, change out your motherboard and cpu.  It allows you to keep your memory for a savings in the $120 range.  

Yes my GPU is keeping up so far. As for DAWs it's mainly the CPU and RAM, no graphics included just processing. I would love to get an 8 core intel but that would need a new motherboard anyways because mine only supports 6th and 7th gen... I'm guessing it will be worth it if I keep my memory. I'll have to look into both sides. Do you know if the chipsets (motherboard) matter at all?

Thanks a lot for the info!  

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, FullStop. said:

Yes my GPU is keeping up so far. As for DAWs it's mainly the CPU and RAM, no graphics included just processing. I would love to get an 8 core intel but that would need a new motherboard anyways because mine only supports 6th and 7th gen... I'm guessing it will be worth it if I keep my memory. I'll have to look into both sides. Do you know if the chipsets (motherboard) matter at all?

Thanks a lot for the info!  

Your motherboard afaik only supports 4core unless you can find a six core to drop on it.  I understand they can be hard to find.  I suspect if you can do a 6 core you’re limited to only a few chips.  6/6 seems to have no significant advantage over 4/8.  The new Consoles are 8/16 but a fairly slow 8/16 so a significantly faster 6/12 could be enough to keep a cpu playing through the life of the consoles. 8/16 merely removes the possibility of it not working. It’s cpu/motherboard or cpu only.  Saving the motherboard could be another $50-150 depending on costs and resale prices.  If you can get a 6 core that fits your mobo and you think it has enough grunt to go the distance I strongly suggest getting something multithreaded. 6/6 CPUs are already having trouble with some newer releases.