Upgrade or go to new platform?

[GameRetro]

I am planning a pretty significant refresh for me and my SO around Xmas. We both have Ryzen systems with Asrock B450 Steel Legend boards. She does a lot of high resolution Photoshop work and always complains that she manages to gunk up photoshop and make it run super slow. I do programming, some video editing, photo editing etc and am generally all-around productivity oriented but at the same time more patient and never have had major gunk-ups in any app.

 

That being said the point of the upgrade is to make our machines faster with focus to what we each need, while at the same time make the best decision.

My machine has 32gb ddr4 3200 RAM and hers has 64GB ddr4 RAM. Mine has the 3700X and 2060S 8GB, hers has a 3600 and 1060 6GB. Both have 650W gold psus and relatively similar other specs (storage, ssd, m2 etc). We have 150W TDP cooler (Pure Rock 2 FX) and pretty good airflow cases (o11 air mini with 7 case fans each).

 

I definitely plan to upgrade at least the Graphics cards and CPUs. We both game occasionally so that's also a consideration but productivity is the primary goal (I think gaming will be fine either way with good productivity machines).

 

So, my dilemma:

 

What's the best bang for buck upgrade that will give a significant increase in productivity here? OFC I will be monitoring pricing and expect a bit of a price loosening in the coming month or two due to B650 boards coming out as well as Intel 13th gen. I am partial to windows 10 but I think my SO wouldn't care if she were to switch to windows 11 if that gives better performance in Photoshop/drawing apps.

 

GPU: Definitely looking for a GPU upgrade in similar rank so this should be separate to the CPU/Motherboard/Ram question. Get good GPUs (3060ti or 3070/ti) depending on availability and pricing. Maybe a Radeon GPU for photoshop?

 

CPU + Mobo + RAM:

 

Option A: Upgrade the CPU on the same platform - go for ryzen 5700X on both machines, that should be a good 30-40% increase for her and 20-30% for me. In photoshop it would also be decently better. This will be the cheapest option and honestly our other hardware is decent enough. I don't have a gen4 or gen5 PCI hardware that can take advantage of fancier motherboards and as far as I can see DDR5 doesn't yet bring much to the table.

 

However there are 20-30% more CPU performance to be had if going with a different platform.

 

Option B: Intel 12600K (at least for my SO for photoshop) + DDR4 motherboard. I have checked out some reviews and it does seem like the 12600K at the same price point as 5800X roughly where I live gives a decently better performance in PS. This would mean that I would just be buying a new motherboard as extra to OPTION A, or two if I go with intel 12th gen myself... but I really don't like where windows 11 is at the moment. Is windows 10 sorted out for the fancy new intel scheduling? In any case this would give efficiency cores + better performance at the cost of some worse power consumption. This would also maybe mean that the 650W PSU if I go with a 3070ti would be edging it really close - so it might mean a PSU upgrade or two as well... But let's say we go with one intel board + 3060ti on that front it should be fine.

 

Option C: go bonkers and get new platforms (ryzen 7000 or intel 13 gen ddr5) - As I was writing this I answered this question for myself at least - I see no point in doing this. Yes the CPU performance might give us 20%+ more performance but I'd have to dish out a lot of money to get there and I don't think it would be cost effective. I'd better invest that in a new WACOM or XPPEN or whatever the latest and greatest is for my SO and call it a day.

 

I don't think the new platforms have nearly enough performance benefits in comparison to the current ones to justify switching to ddr5 just yet, or even the new sockets for intel given they just might put 14th gen on a new socket. AMD I could see going for but even then motherboards are too expensive, power consumption is through the roof and the performance just isn't that much better over the 5000 series considering the increase in power and thermals (warranting a new PSU, CPU coolers etc.).

 

----------------------------

 

If you managed to read it all and thus far I thank you if just for that. If you have any advice or discussion points I am VERY open to any suggestions/ideas and or discussion on the matter.

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

4 minutes ago, GameRetro said:

She does a lot of high resolution Photoshop work and always complains that she manages to gunk up photoshop and make it run super slow.

Do you know what the bottleneck is? My first thought was a RAM upgrade could be in order, but then you say she already has 64GB. Does she fill that up? If so, the most cost effective upgrade for her would be 128GB of RAM.

 

Some quick searching, and I found this:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-photoshop-cc-performance.html#:~:text=By default%2C Photoshop uses 70,adjust the Memory Usage slider.

 

70% is the default according to this, so her Photoshop might be limited to 64 * .7 = 44.8GB of RAM. More performance could be a slider away if she is filling that up.

[cyndagon]

My votes an AMD CPU + new GPU if you can squeeze it in with the 650w PSU. I'm not sure about final numbers, but a 3060ti or a 6600xt would probably be your best bet for performance/$$$

[PDifolco]

20 minutes ago, GameRetro said:

I am planning a pretty significant refresh for me and my SO around Xmas. We both have Ryzen systems with Asrock B450 Steel Legend boards. She does a lot of high resolution Photoshop work and always complains that she manages to gunk up photoshop and make it run super slow. I do programming, some video editing, photo editing etc and am generally all-around productivity oriented but at the same time more patient and never have had major gunk-ups in any app.

 

That being said the point of the upgrade is to make our machines faster with focus to what we each need, while at the same time make the best decision.

My machine has 32gb ddr4 3200 RAM and hers has 64GB ddr4 RAM. Mine has the 3700X and 2060S 8GB, hers has a 3600 and 1060 6GB. Both have 650W gold psus and relatively similar other specs (storage, ssd, m2 etc). We have 150W TDP cooler (Pure Rock 2 FX) and pretty good airflow cases (o11 air mini with 7 case fans each).

 

I definitely plan to upgrade at least the Graphics cards and CPUs. We both game occasionally so that's also a consideration but productivity is the primary goal (I think gaming will be fine either way with good productivity machines).

 

So, my dilemma:

 

What's the best bang for buck upgrade that will give a significant increase in productivity here? OFC I will be monitoring pricing and expect a bit of a price loosening in the coming month or two due to B650 boards coming out as well as Intel 13th gen. I am partial to windows 10 but I think my SO wouldn't care if she were to switch to windows 11 if that gives better performance in Photoshop/drawing apps.

 

GPU: Definitely looking for a GPU upgrade in similar rank so this should be separate to the CPU/Motherboard/Ram question. Get good GPUs (3060ti or 3070/ti) depending on availability and pricing. Maybe a Radeon GPU for photoshop?

 

CPU + Mobo + RAM:

 

Option A: Upgrade the CPU on the same platform - go for ryzen 5700X on both machines, that should be a good 30-40% increase for her and 20-30% for me. In photoshop it would also be decently better. This will be the cheapest option and honestly our other hardware is decent enough. I don't have a gen4 or gen5 PCI hardware that can take advantage of fancier motherboards and as far as I can see DDR5 doesn't yet bring much to the table.

 

However there are 20-30% more CPU performance to be had if going with a different platform.

 

Option B: Intel 12600K (at least for my SO for photoshop) + DDR4 motherboard. I have checked out some reviews and it does seem like the 12600K at the same price point as 5800X roughly where I live gives a decently better performance in PS. This would mean that I would just be buying a new motherboard as extra to OPTION A, or two if I go with intel 12th gen myself... but I really don't like where windows 11 is at the moment. Is windows 10 sorted out for the fancy new intel scheduling? In any case this would give efficiency cores + better performance at the cost of some worse power consumption. This would also maybe mean that the 650W PSU if I go with a 3070ti would be edging it really close - so it might mean a PSU upgrade or two as well... But let's say we go with one intel board + 3060ti on that front it should be fine.

 

Option C: go bonkers and get new platforms (ryzen 7000 or intel 13 gen ddr5) - As I was writing this I answered this question for myself at least - I see no point in doing this. Yes the CPU performance might give us 20%+ more performance but I'd have to dish out a lot of money to get there and I don't think it would be cost effective. I'd better invest that in a new WACOM or XPPEN or whatever the latest and greatest is for my SO and call it a day.

 

I don't think the new platforms have nearly enough performance benefits in comparison to the current ones to justify switching to ddr5 just yet, or even the new sockets for intel given they just might put 14th gen on a new socket. AMD I could see going for but even then motherboards are too expensive, power consumption is through the roof and the performance just isn't that much better over the 5000 series considering the increase in power and thermals (warranting a new PSU, CPU coolers etc.).

 

----------------------------

 

If you managed to read it all and thus far I thank you if just for that. If you have any advice or discussion points I am VERY open to any suggestions/ideas and or discussion on the matter.

 

Option A  any day: sell your 3600 and 3700X, say for $200, and replace then with 2x5900X for $900

Overall cost $700, minimal work (just update BIOS and replace chips), performance gains in productivity tasks around x2 (12 faster cores vs 6 or 8 older)

Only thing I'm not sure is if your boards will take it, but you'd be good unless you have crap A420 or such 

 

Swapping everything for current Intel 12600K will give you less perf than a 5900X for much higher cost, upgrading to Zen4 will give you say +30% to Zen3 but for an absolutely huge cost (say $2500 for 2 rigs !!)

 

[GameRetro]

Thanks! Didn’t even consider 5900 but I can look into it. I think even with 5700x I am looking at noticeable improvements especially with GPU benefits. 

 

I think the 64gb of ram is more than enough from what I read and I think the slider has been adjusted. The motherboards don’t support more than 64gb anyway. The only improvement there I could think of is try to get the ram to better timings (tuning guides) or to ddr4-3600 with 5000 series cpus. 

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

48 minutes ago, GameRetro said:

I am planning a pretty significant refresh for me and my SO around Xmas. We both have Ryzen systems with Asrock B450 Steel Legend boards. She does a lot of high resolution Photoshop work and always complains that she manages to gunk up photoshop and make it run super slow. I do programming, some video editing, photo editing etc and am generally all-around productivity oriented but at the same time more patient and never have had major gunk-ups in any app.

 

That being said the point of the upgrade is to make our machines faster with focus to what we each need, while at the same time make the best decision.

My machine has 32gb ddr4 3200 RAM and hers has 64GB ddr4 RAM. Mine has the 3700X and 2060S 8GB, hers has a 3600 and 1060 6GB. Both have 650W gold psus and relatively similar other specs (storage, ssd, m2 etc). We have 150W TDP cooler (Pure Rock 2 FX) and pretty good airflow cases (o11 air mini with 7 case fans each).

 

I definitely plan to upgrade at least the Graphics cards and CPUs. We both game occasionally so that's also a consideration but productivity is the primary goal (I think gaming will be fine either way with good productivity machines).

 

So, my dilemma:

 

What's the best bang for buck upgrade that will give a significant increase in productivity here? OFC I will be monitoring pricing and expect a bit of a price loosening in the coming month or two due to B650 boards coming out as well as Intel 13th gen. I am partial to windows 10 but I think my SO wouldn't care if she were to switch to windows 11 if that gives better performance in Photoshop/drawing apps.

 

GPU: Definitely looking for a GPU upgrade in similar rank so this should be separate to the CPU/Motherboard/Ram question. Get good GPUs (3060ti or 3070/ti) depending on availability and pricing. Maybe a Radeon GPU for photoshop?

 

CPU + Mobo + RAM:

 

Option A: Upgrade the CPU on the same platform - go for ryzen 5700X on both machines, that should be a good 30-40% increase for her and 20-30% for me. In photoshop it would also be decently better. This will be the cheapest option and honestly our other hardware is decent enough. I don't have a gen4 or gen5 PCI hardware that can take advantage of fancier motherboards and as far as I can see DDR5 doesn't yet bring much to the table.

 

However there are 20-30% more CPU performance to be had if going with a different platform.

 

Option B: Intel 12600K (at least for my SO for photoshop) + DDR4 motherboard. I have checked out some reviews and it does seem like the 12600K at the same price point as 5800X roughly where I live gives a decently better performance in PS. This would mean that I would just be buying a new motherboard as extra to OPTION A, or two if I go with intel 12th gen myself... but I really don't like where windows 11 is at the moment. Is windows 10 sorted out for the fancy new intel scheduling? In any case this would give efficiency cores + better performance at the cost of some worse power consumption. This would also maybe mean that the 650W PSU if I go with a 3070ti would be edging it really close - so it might mean a PSU upgrade or two as well... But let's say we go with one intel board + 3060ti on that front it should be fine.

 

Option C: go bonkers and get new platforms (ryzen 7000 or intel 13 gen ddr5) - As I was writing this I answered this question for myself at least - I see no point in doing this. Yes the CPU performance might give us 20%+ more performance but I'd have to dish out a lot of money to get there and I don't think it would be cost effective. I'd better invest that in a new WACOM or XPPEN or whatever the latest and greatest is for my SO and call it a day.

 

I don't think the new platforms have nearly enough performance benefits in comparison to the current ones to justify switching to ddr5 just yet, or even the new sockets for intel given they just might put 14th gen on a new socket. AMD I could see going for but even then motherboards are too expensive, power consumption is through the roof and the performance just isn't that much better over the 5000 series considering the increase in power and thermals (warranting a new PSU, CPU coolers etc.).

 

----------------------------

 

If you managed to read it all and thus far I thank you if just for that. If you have any advice or discussion points I am VERY open to any suggestions/ideas and or discussion on the matter.

Usually I would recommend an upgrade to zen 3 (5900x/5800x etc.) but the new Zen 4 7700x/7900x etc. are absolutely GOD TIER in Adobe Apps for some reason, I think it's the clock speed. 

 

I would personally wait until AMD inevitably drops the price of the 7900x/7700x and cheaper b650 boards. If you don't want to wait, grab a used 5900x for your wife and 5700x for you. The extra cores/threads will do wonders for your wifes workload

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

25 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

 

Option A  any day: sell your 3600 and 3700X, say for $200, and replace then with 2x5900X for $900

Overall cost $700, minimal work (just update BIOS and replace chips), performance gains in productivity tasks around x2 (12 faster cores vs 6 or 8 older)

Only thing I'm not sure is if your boards will take it, but you'd be good unless you have crap A420 or such 

 

Swapping everything for current Intel 12600K will give you less perf than a 5900X for much higher cost, upgrading to Zen4 will give you say +30% to Zen3 but for an absolutely huge cost (say $2500 for 2 rigs !!)

 

Idk where you're getting your numbers from. I've seen used 5900x for $300 usd and brand new for $350. Would definitely be the best option for OP's wife. He could sell the 3600 and 3700x for maybe $250 total and grab a 5900x for $325 and 5700x for $199. Total upgrade cost would only be like $275 bucks

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

28 minutes ago, cyndagon said:

My votes an AMD CPU + new GPU if you can squeeze it in with the 650w PSU. I'm not sure about final numbers, but a 3060ti or a 6600xt would probably be your best bet for performance/$$$

I think those PSU's will be inadequate. When you're hammering photoshop all day you really don't want to be cutting it close power wise. OP, invest in a good 1000w unit

[Guest]

So from what I have read on sites like Puget systems, a 5900X isn't worth it for Photoshop, as anything above 8 cores will see minimal gains. A 12900K for example outperforms it.  

 

The best option is to look at benchmarks for the software being used, and then determine what the best component upgrades would be.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Adobe-Photoshop-139/Hardware-Recommendations

[PDifolco]

30 minutes ago, CHICKSLAYA said:

Idk where you're getting your numbers from. I've seen used 5900x for $300 usd and brand new for $350. Would definitely be the best option for OP's wife. He could sell the 3600 and 3700x for maybe $250 total and grab a 5900x for $325 and 5700x for $199. Total upgrade cost would only be like $275 bucks

Yeah, I put random resell values for 3000s and European price new for 5900X. Anyway this just add to the advantages of option A

 

27 minutes ago, CHICKSLAYA said:

I think those PSU's will be inadequate. When you're hammering photoshop all day you really don't want to be cutting it close power wise. OP, invest in a good 1000w unit

650W PSU will be fine in terms of power, a 5900X + 6600/6600XT needs less than 500W or so

But they should be good PSUs for daily intensive use, and that we don't know

 

[GameRetro]

The two PSUs we have are a Corsair RM 650 and a Riotoro Enigma G2 (Seasonic OEM PSU).