Questions upgrading from i7-5820K to Ryzen 7950X

[Brendan3]

I'm working on upgrading my personal computer from an old Intel i7 to a Ryzen 7950X. I run Fedora Linux and don't game, mostly compile software, run BOINC/World Community Grid, and some occasional machine learning.

 

Keeping from the old build:

- SSD: Samsung 870 2 TB

- GPU: EVGA RTX 2060

- PSU: Corsair 550 Watt

- NIC: HP 10 Gbps SFP+ (with an optical SFP+)

 

...and buying:

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX

- CPU: Ryzen 7950X

- RAM: Kingston FURY Beast Black 32 GB 5200 MT/s DDR5 CL40 XMP 3.0

- Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black

 

 

I have a few concerns with this build:

- Is my 550 watt power supply be enough? If not, would getting rid of the GPU and using the onboard graphics save power? (I don't game)

- PC Part Picker says it's all compatible but the motherboard doesn't support ECC and the Kingston RAM has "on die ECC". Is this okay?

- Is my fan enough to keep this CPU cool? I'd rather not water cool unless absolutely necessary

 

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

Brendan

[WereCat]

Make sure to get two sticks of RAM and if you can get 5600CL36 it can be another 10% in CPU performance

[Brendan3]

Just now, WereCat said:

Make sure to get two sticks of RAM and if you can get 5600CL36 it can be another 10% in CPU performance

Thanks for the suggestion. Planning on getting 4 sticks of RAM.

 

I selected 5200 MT/s sticks because the CPU says it supports "DDR5-5200". Am I wrong in assuming that the 5200 refers to the max RAM speed?

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

10 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

I'm working on upgrading my personal computer from an old Intel i7 to a Ryzen 7950X. I run Fedora Linux and don't game, mostly compile software, run BOINC/World Community Grid, and some occasional machine learning.

 

Keeping from the old build:

- SSD: Samsung 870 2 TB

- GPU: EVGA RTX 2060

- PSU: Corsair 550 Watt

- NIC: HP 10 Gbps SFP+ (with an optical SFP+)

 

...and buying:

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX

- CPU: Ryzen 7950X

- RAM: Kingston FURY Beast Black 32 GB 5200 MT/s DDR5 CL40 XMP 3.0

- Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black

 

 

I have a few concerns with this build:

- Is my 550 watt power supply be enough? If not, would getting rid of the GPU and using the onboard graphics save power? (I don't game)

- PC Part Picker says it's all compatible but the motherboard doesn't support ECC and the Kingston RAM has "on die ECC". Is this okay?

- Is my fan enough to keep this CPU cool? I'd rather not water cool unless absolutely necessary

 

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

Brendan

That power supply is likely fine, but I wouldn't trust that old of a PSU with such an expensive CPU. That ram is a bit slow, I'd recommend going for DDR5 5600 at least but ideally 6000. The Hyper 212 is horrifically outdated even for low end chips. It it dramatically hopelessly under powered for a chip like the 7950x. I'd get a Noctua D15 or Deepcool AK620, and you can still avoid watercooling if you want to.

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

1 minute ago, Brendan3 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. Planning on getting 4 sticks of RAM.

 

I selected 5200 MT/s sticks because the CPU says it supports "DDR5-5200". Am I wrong in assuming that the 5200 refers to the max RAM speed?

That the default spec. Anything beyond that is technically ram OC so they don't list it like that. I would recommend 2 16gb sticks of DDR5 6000 cl36 or lower CAS latency. This generation from AMD they call it "AMD EXPO", it used to be called XMP etc.

[Vishera]

2 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX

Do you need Wi-Fi in your setup?

3 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

- RAM: Kingston FURY Beast Black 32 GB 5200 MT/s DDR5 CL40 XMP 3.0

Fast CPU and slow RAM...

4 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

- CPU: Ryzen 7950X

 

- Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black

This cooler may work with the Ryzen 9 7900, but not with the 7950X.

[WereCat]

3 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. Planning on getting 4 sticks of RAM.

 

I selected 5200 MT/s sticks because the CPU says it supports "DDR5-5200". Am I wrong in assuming that the 5200 refers to the max RAM speed?

If you plan to get 4 sticks then in that case 5200 is fine as some motherboards still have issues with handling higher speeds when all 4 slots are used.

But for 2 sticks going with 6000CL30 is most ideal while 5600CL30 is more cost effective.

[Brendan3]

2 minutes ago, Vishera said:

Do you need Wi-Fi in your setup?

Nope. No need for WiFi but most (all?) of the boards PC Part Picker recommends have it.

 

Based on the comments in this thread I'll definitely look into a different cooler and do some more research about the RAM.

 

Will RAM with "on die ECC" work with a motherboard that doesn't support ECC?

[Vishera]

2 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

Will RAM with "on die ECC" work with a motherboard that doesn't support ECC?

I recommend to check the QVL list of your motherboard.

[WereCat]

24 minutes ago, Brendan3 said:

Nope. No need for WiFi but most (all?) of the boards PC Part Picker recommends have it.

 

Based on the comments in this thread I'll definitely look into a different cooler and do some more research about the RAM.

 

Will RAM with "on die ECC" work with a motherboard that doesn't support ECC?

All of DDR5 has on die ECC for single bit internal errors. It's not the same as actual ECC.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Buy some 6000c32 rams cause hynix a die (8000+ capability) so if you upgrade to next (next) gen later on all you gotta do is overclock the rams to get optimal performance rather than buying a new kit, dont bother with lower cl thats a ripoff, and dont go for higher cl cause those are likely mediocre ics like samsung 16gbit b die (~6600 max)

 

H212 is outdated overpriced rubbish, peerless assassin 120 will do just fine cooling a 7950x

 

Otherwise parts choices are pretty decent

[Brendan3]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone - I truly appreciate it!

 

I've decided to do 4 x 16 GB RAM sticks of faster RAM instead of 4 x 32 GB sticks of slower RAM and swap the cooler for the DeepCool AK620.

 

Someone mentioned that my PSU might be too old. I replace my PSU in early 2020 (don't remember why) so it's only about 3 years old.

 

Final parts list:

- SSD: Samsung 870 2 TB

- GPU: EVGA RTX 2060

- PSU: Corsair 550 Watt

- NIC: HP 10 Gbps SFP+ (with an optical SFP+)

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX

- CPU: Ryzen 7950X

- RAM (4 sticks): Kingston Fury Renegade Silver 16GB 6000MT/s DDR5 CL32

- Cooler: DeepCool AK620

 

[igormp]

22 hours ago, Brendan3 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. Planning on getting 4 sticks of RAM.

 

I selected 5200 MT/s sticks because the CPU says it supports "DDR5-5200". Am I wrong in assuming that the 5200 refers to the max RAM speed?

Be aware that, if you're going with 128gb, you may not be able to go past 4400~4600MHz.

21 hours ago, Brendan3 said:

Thanks for all the feedback everyone - I truly appreciate it!

 

I've decided to do 4 x 16 GB RAM sticks of faster RAM instead of 4 x 32 GB sticks of slower RAM and swap the cooler for the DeepCool AK620.

 

Someone mentioned that my PSU might be too old. I replace my PSU in early 2020 (don't remember why) so it's only about 3 years old.

 

Final parts list:

- SSD: Samsung 870 2 TB

- GPU: EVGA RTX 2060

- PSU: Corsair 550 Watt

- NIC: HP 10 Gbps SFP+ (with an optical SFP+)

- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX

- CPU: Ryzen 7950X

- RAM (4 sticks): Kingston Fury Renegade Silver 16GB 6000MT/s DDR5 CL32

- Cooler: DeepCool AK620

 

Try to go with 2x32gb instead of 4x16gb, current DDR5 platforms (both intel and amd) have problems running 4 sticks.

[Brendan3]

6 hours ago, igormp said:

Try to go with 2x32gb instead of 4x16gb, current DDR5 platforms (both intel and amd) have problems running 4 sticks.

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately I already ordered everything.

 

Hopefully the much larger CPU cache on the 7950X vs my current i7-5820K will make up for any RAM slowness

[Deadpool2onBlu-Ray]

On 2/25/2023 at 8:57 PM, Brendan3 said:

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately I already ordered everything.

 

Hopefully the much larger CPU cache on the 7950X vs my current i7-5820K will make up for any RAM slowness

You'll be more than fine dude. The 7950x is a BEAST

[Brendan3]

The company I ordered the Gigabyte B650 motherboard from (Wayfurb Inc) said that a group broke into their warehouse and stole everything. They just got a shipment of Asus motherboards and are offering to upgrade me to either an Asus X670P or X670E motherboard. They said their insurance will reimburse them for the price difference.

 

The guy said that the X670P is slightly better but only has PCIE 4 instead of PCIE 5 on the board I ordered and no onboard wifi which I don’t care about.

 

PCIE 4 should be enough to handle my 2060 SC and a 10 Gbps NIC, correct?

 

 

 

 

EDIT:

They ended up shipping me an ASUS Strix X670E-E. Looks like I got a significant upgrade and PCI speeds are not an issue.

[Brendan3]

Thanks for the help everyone! This CPU is a beast!

 

Was only able to get 1 stick of RAM working at a time but I'm done tinkering for today. Also it took me forever to figure out how to get this to boot Linux due to UEFI stuff. I tried every possible combination of boot settings in the BIOS until it magically started working

 

As expected the CPU runs hot and the fan is a bit noisy. Think I might look into getting an AIO in the future.

 

 

 

 

Temps before and after the upgrade + system information: