Looking for opinions on what i should upgrade to from my 4790k

[SuperCookie78]

Budget (including currency): uncertain how much i am willing to spend yet

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Chrome (450-500 tabs), War Thunder, Valorant, Fallen Order, OBS, Premiere Pro 

Other details 

 

My main rig is currently running on a 4790k. its overclocked to 4.5Ghz. i have 32gb of ram, a gtx 1080, a arctic liquid freezer II 280 (rev.4), evga ex650g. I have been running this system since about 2014. I can play the games i play at 1080p just fine but it feels like i am at the upper limit. I am one of those people who has hundreds of chrome tabs open at once. it for sure affects my gaming performance. i feel as more intensive games come out i won't be able to play them without closing everything and putting it on low. So i want to upgrade. i held off on ryzen 5000 because i knew ryzen 7000 was going to be a new platform and i didn't want to "get stuck" on an older platform. i didn't upgrade my cpu for so long for two reasons, ddr4 was expensive for a while and until intel's 9th gen/ryzen 3000 the performance was enough to get me to upgrade. now with both companies moving to ddr5 platforms it would be nice to have so i don't get stuck with an old ddr gen again. My dilemma comes in with 7000 high temps and high price. If i am going to upgrade i would want the top chip the 7950x but it seems like it wouldn't be great to cool with my 280mm AIO. if der8auer's deliding experiment leads deliding 7000 easy with that 20C drop i think i could pull it off with my current cooler. The high price of not only the cpu but the motherboards and ram also makes me hesitant to upgrade. while i can go to a microcenter where they are offering a free 32gb kit of ddr5 with every 7000 chip, it still is a little hard to swallow. I know i could wait for a B series board but i think that microcenter promotion might be over by then and the cheaper board would be canceled out by having to buy ram.

 

Another option is to go for ryzen 5000. the 5800x3d performed very well against ryzen 7000 in gaming. ik it only has half the threads of the 7950x but still, that gaming performance plus a cheap platform is very enticing. the only problem is that my only upgrade path would be getting a 5950x. and i would be stuck with ddr4.

 

The last option i see is intel 13th gen. i am buying anything until those reviews come out but if they are competitive with rzyen 7000 for what might be a lower price it makes it hard to go amd. My only problem with this that i refuse to upgrade to windows 11. i am sticking with windows 10. but that means reduced performance because windows 10 doesn't handle the e core p core allocation well. I doubt it every will so microsoft can force more people onto 11. 

 

 

To recap i want to upgrade from my 4790k and want to get the most out of it. my choices i am considering are ryzen 7000, 5800x3d, intel 13th gen. each with their own pros and cons. I would like to know what you would do in my shoes. 

 

[Darker1243]

5800x3d is bit strong for GTX 1080 on 1080p resolution.

Better choice would be something like i5-12600K

If u want to upgrade to 5800x3d u will have to buy stronger GPU or alternatively pick any processor (12gen intel or Zen 3 AMD) thats inside budget and is optimal for GPU and resolution youre playing on

Hope this helps u narrow your choices down.

 

[Lord Szechenyi]

Chrome tabs are more a ram thing than a cpu thing

 

As for gaming, Intel is usually the better choice for it's single thread performance, I'd say wait for 13th gen, or even get a 12th gen cpu now and upgrade to (same socket) 13th gen later.

 

I mean, the 4790k is still barely able to work, after EIGHT years, I'm sure an entry level cpu should work for at least 3-4 years just fine

[Zando_]

13 minutes ago, SuperCookie78 said:

My dilemma comes in with 7000 high temps and high price. If i am going to upgrade i would want the top chip the 7950x but it seems like it wouldn't be great to cool with my 280mm AIO.

Non-issue. They're designed to run up to 95C, the 5000 series also is designed to run 95C on 6c chips, only 90C on the higher core count models, so this isn't new for Ryzen. Those temps would only be an issue if you manually OC (and thereby pull out of spec current through the chip at high temperatures), it is not an issue in stock operation. 

14 minutes ago, SuperCookie78 said:

I would like to know what you would do in my shoes. 

I'd go Intel 13th, purely because I prefer Intel's platforms, no other reason. Both Intel 12th/13th and Ryzen 7000 support DDR5 and the latest PCIe standards, and both are wicked fast, pushed near the limit stock so you don't need to worry about manually OCing. Both have options for great multicore performance and damn good single core, I think Intel has a minor lead still - but unless you're playing CSGO on a world stage that doesn't matter for anything but questionable bragging rights. 

 

Windows 11 has an obnoxious right click menu, BUT they just put in dark mode task manager which makes it the best windows version to ever exist so... I'd say it isn't bad. Have a VM box running 24/7 at work with Windows 11 as the host OS, running VMware Workstation 16, it hasn't had a single issue so far (that wasn't misconfig on my part). It runs a 3700X and RX550 though, so modern but not cutting edge hardware. 

[Darker1243]

6 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

and both are wicked fast

Gotta watch out to not bottleneck it

 

With 13th gen processor and GTX 1080, going for upgrade to 2k res might not be so optimal.

[SuperCookie78]

2 minutes ago, Lord Szechenyi said:

Chrome tabs are more a ram thing than a cpu thing

 

As for gaming, Intel is usually the better choice for it's single thread performance, I'd say wait for 13th gen, or even get a 12th gen cpu now and upgrade to (same socket) 13th gen later.

 

I mean, the 4790k is still barely able to work, after EIGHT years, I'm sure an entry level cpu should work for at least 3-4 years just fine

ik chrome tabs are a ram thing, but when i only have 4 cores/8 threads chrome running as a background task with that many tabs and probably a yt video playing does drop my fps. in fallen order at 1080p low i get stutters. i close everything they go away. I used to have a 4690k which didn't have hyper threading, and i would get stutters in valorant as well. even while my avg fps was about 150. i upgraded to a 4790k for cheap and it went away. i also have edge and firefox open at the same time (each running like 10 tabs max) so i can have different accounts open on websites i use a lot at the same time. (ik its a stupid system and i could probably change it with different chrome profiles but it works for me and i don't feel like changing it). thats why i am looking at the higher end chips like the 7950x, 13900k. the only reason i am considering the 5800x3d is its really good single threaded performance for its price.

[SuperCookie78]

12 minutes ago, Darker1243 said:

5800x3d is bit strong for GTX 1080 on 1080p resolution.

Better choice would be something like i5-12600K

If u want to upgrade to 5800x3d u will have to buy stronger GPU or alternatively pick any processor (12gen intel or Zen 3 AMD) thats inside budget and is optimal for GPU and resolution youre playing on

Hope this helps u narrow your choices down.

 

i have 280hz monitors and i would like to use them. currently i'll get about 60fps in war thunder. if i close everything it jumps to 90fps. with a better cpu all my background applications can stay open and not affect performance like they do now and i could get higher fps and actually use the monitors i have to the fullest. 

[Zando_]

14 minutes ago, Darker1243 said:

Gotta watch out to not bottleneck it

 

With 13th gen processor and GTX 1080, going for upgrade to 2k res might not be so optimal.

No. 

 

Having the CPU outrun the GPU is what you want. If it's the other way round you'll get stuttering, ideally the CPU is always a bit ahead of the GPU as it's what feeds important information to the GPU, while managing the rest of the PC and its own physics tasks and such. 

 

Yes, a modern CPU can handle a lot more GPU than a 1080, but you won't have any issues running just the 1080. And you won't have to get a new CPU again if you get a much faster GPU, you're set through a good few hardware cycles usually. Such as in OP's case, where they got a good CPU at the time (4790K) and it's held them over till today. 

[brob]

49 minutes ago, SuperCookie78 said:

 

To recap i want to upgrade from my 4790k and want to get the most out of it. my choices i am considering are ryzen 7000, 5800x3d, intel 13th gen. each with their own pros and cons. I would like to know what you would do in my shoes. 

 

I would wait at least into the new year. Let the early adopter shine dim and wait for more practical, (read better priced), motherboards to appear. Higher speed DDR5 should also start appearing by then and prices should moderate.

 

54 minutes ago, SuperCookie78 said:

My only problem with this that i refuse to upgrade to windows 11.

 

I recall when Windows 10 made its first appearance. Massive number of enthusiasts and others refused to upgrade. I ran 95 SE until forced to adopt XP.

 

At some point in the next few years you will have to switch to 11 or 12 or whatever. Software and hardware will take advantage of e-cores and other new tech not supported in 10. Drivers will no longer support 10.

 

[SuperCookie78]

47 minutes ago, Zando_ said:

No. 

 

Having the CPU outrun the GPU is what you want. If it's the other way round you'll get stuttering, ideally the CPU is always a bit ahead of the GPU as it's what feeds important information to the GPU, while managing the rest of the PC and its own physics tasks and such. 

 

Yes, a modern CPU can handle a lot more GPU than a 1080, but you won't have any issues running just the 1080. And you won't have to get a new CPU again if you get a much faster GPU, you're set through a good few hardware cycles usually. Such as in OP's case, where they got a good CPU at the time (4790K) and it's held them over till today. 

this and i will probably upgrade my gpu next. i was going to get a 4080 but those prices are insane.