AM4 workstation to AM5 gaming upgrade...

[BahnStormer]

Budget (including currency): No real target, but GBP £800 seems reasonable (probably ~USD$900 once we allow for cheaper US prices / lack of VAT on advertised prices)

Country: United Kingdom

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: mostly gaming (almost only Rust and DayZ, with some Fortnite and Minecraft when my kids want company).

 

I am only really looking to replace the CPU (and therefore motherboard and RAM).

 

I'm reasonably experienced at this, but just wanted to sense-check this with like-minded individuals.

 

My mindset is:

No RGB at all - machine is hidden away and even when I can see it, I prefer stealth.

I was waiting for the 9800X3D to come out, but I don't need the efficiency savings and performance seems likely to be the same.

Motherboard: I was VERY tempted by the Asrock B650 Pro RS Wifi, but the lower end of the X670 range is isn't THAT much more and gets me slightly higher spec hardware all-round.

A new cooler isn't really required, but the Arctic Colling III 280mm should fit in my case fine and it has a larger, quieter VRM fan.

 

Proposed change is: 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£324.06 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£60.82 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X670 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£202.02 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  (£106.93 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £693.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-22 17:06 BST+0100

 

Existing build:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor  (£226.20 @ NeoComputers) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler 
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1 g Thermal Paste  (£7.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL14 Memory 
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£239.58 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB Video Card 
Case: Lian Li O11 Air Mini ATX Mid Tower Case  (£109.00 @ Computer Orbit) 
Power Supply: Corsair HX850i 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan  (£29.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan  (£29.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan  (£29.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Monitor: Dell U2412M 24.0" 1920 x 1200 60 Hz Monitor 
Monitor: Asus ProArt Display PA248QV 24.1" 1920 x 1200 75 Hz Monitor  (£179.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Monitor: Gigabyte M27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  (£249.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Keyboard: Logitech G815 Lightsync RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard 
Mouse: Logitech G502 Hero Wired Optical Mouse  (£40.98 @ Currys PC World) 
Headphones: Sony WH1000XM4  Headset 
Speakers: Logitech X-540 70 W 5.1-Channel Speakers 
Webcam: Logitech C925e Webcam 
Total: £1239.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-22 17:02 BST+0100

 

and therefore....

 

Final Build:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£324.06 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (£60.82 @ Amazon UK) 
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1 g Thermal Paste  (£7.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X670 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£202.02 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  (£106.93 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital Red Plus 8 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£239.58 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: NVIDIA Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB Video Card 
Case: Lian Li O11 Air Mini ATX Mid Tower Case  (£109.00 @ Computer Orbit) 
Power Supply: Corsair HX850i 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan  (£29.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan  (£29.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Case Fan: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan  (£29.98 @ CCL Computers) 
Monitor: Dell U2412M 24.0" 1920 x 1200 60 Hz Monitor 
Monitor: Asus ProArt Display PA248QV 24.1" 1920 x 1200 75 Hz Monitor  (£179.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Monitor: Gigabyte M27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  (£249.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Keyboard: Logitech G815 Lightsync RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard 
Mouse: Logitech G502 Hero Wired Optical Mouse  (£40.98 @ Currys PC World) 
Headphones: Sony WH1000XM4  Headset 
Speakers: Logitech X-540 70 W 5.1-Channel Speakers 
Webcam: Logitech C925e Webcam 
Total: £1707.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-22 17:04 BST+0100

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, BahnStormer said:

Motherboard: I was VERY tempted by the Asrock B650 Pro RS Wifi, but the lower end of the X670 range is isn't THAT much more and gets me slightly higher spec hardware all-round.

I do want to say this assumption that the X670 boards are better isn't really true. The low end X670 boards generally have the feature set of a B650 board, so while it may have the extra chipset it doesn't really do anything useful. Most of the X670 range doesn't make much sense unless you need a very specific feature. Personally for a motherboard, I'd get the b650 Eagle AX, since it's rather cheap and has most of the features you'd need on a motherboard anyway (the only thing it's really missing is 2.5GbE, which I don't really consider that big of a loss, but if you do the B650 Gaming X AX V2 is $10 more). 

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9HpYh3

[monopoly_hater]

I only suggest changing the X670 Gaming X (Gaming Xs are hot garbage in general), with a X670E PG Lightning or B650E PG Riptide.

[191x7]

1 hour ago, BahnStormer said:

Budget (including currency): No real target, but GBP £800 seems reasonable (probably ~USD$900 once we allow for cheaper US prices / lack of VAT on advertised prices)

...

Don't do that. Simply get a 5700X3D or 5800X3D and your gaming performance with the 3080 will improve significantly.

[BahnStormer]

Thanks guys.

 

@RONOTHAN## - any reason for the memory recommendation? I'm not sure why I'd downgrade the RAM to CAS32 on a lesser-known brand? It's only a £10 saving and certainly based on my DDR4 experience, GSkill have tended to have very high spec memory modules and normally very well supported for running at the advertised spec (or better most of the time).

 

Thanks to both of you - you made me at least sense-check the motherboard I was considering and I'm definitely changing very slightly at least!

 

The Gigabyte B650 Eagle AX looks like an interesting option if I wanted to save some cash, but honestly not for me: it would probably be FINE for a 7800X3D, but it has fairly weak VRM design (semi-reasonable number of VRMs, but poor quality components) and pretty weak on a few of features (mostly USB2 rather than USB3, not many included on the rear IO, only one M.2 heatshield and only 1Gbps ethernet).

 

I would like to stick with 2.5Gbps ethernet as I've just upgraded to "2Gbps" broadband (2 x 1Gbps on a multi-WAN router and it's load-balanced right now, but I'm in the process of working out how to bond them!)... so if I get that working, I'll be kicking myself for "only" having 1Gbps ethernet  

 

The original B650 boards I was looking at were:

1) Asrock B650 Pro RS Wifi - this is £30 MORE than the X670 Gaming X, but virtually everything else has the same spec. Sadly not available in my market any more

2) Asrock B650E PG Riptide WiFi, but that was also MORE than the Gigabyte I'd considered.... with one fewer M.2 and very slightly lower spec VRMs, although all of these fared very well in the Hardware Unboxed VRM stress tests. 

 

I looked into it and the only reason I had considered changing to the Gigabyte X670 Gaming X was because  the Gigabyte B650 Gaming X actually came highly recommended in the initial reviews... but no mention of the AX V2 variant and Gigabyte DOWNgraded the VRM spec when they released the "V2".... might explain why the "v1" is ~£20 more!

 

 

[BahnStormer]

If I'm going for a B650 board, the ASUS B650E TUF Gaming WiFi is only a fraction more than the Eagle AX with 2.5Gbps LAN and better VRMs.

 

Compared the Gigabyte X670 Gaming X, it's ~£70 less.... the main sacrifices are:

1 fewer M.2 slots (not really required right now)

1 USB2 and 3 fewer USB 2 ports on the rear IO (useful)

Doesn't have the integrated heatshields on all M.2 slots (nicer than the hassle of installed those Rocket heatpipes)

 

Still thinking about it...

[GuiltySpark_]

2 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

and better VRMs.

For some context (because misunderstanding this part is extremely common), you'd have to buy the very worst possible A620 board to have a VRM issue with a 7800x3D. And even then i'm sure it would be fine for most tasks.

 

At a certain point, and that point is quite low, more impressive on paper VRM's are more of a marketing exercise than actually beneficial, even doubly so with such a low power chip.

[BahnStormer]

1 hour ago, 191x7 said:

Don't do that. Simply get a 5700X3D or 5800X3D and your gaming performance with the 3080 will improve significantly.

I actually have a 5800X3D, but it's in my son's Fortnite rig right now. The 5800X3D definitely beats the stock 5900X in gaming and without the risk of dual CCD latency...

 

I was looking at staying with it, but my overclocked 5900X boosts to around 4.9Ghz-5Ghz on as many cores as any game can handle, so there wasn't a lot in it between them. The deciding factor was that my son would have needed a new PSU to upgrade his old 2700X to an overclocked 5900X that pulls ~180W and I was still doing some core-heavy work on the 5900X, so decided to stay with it a bit longer.

 

Now I'm only gaming with this PC and itching to upgrade  

[BahnStormer]

1 hour ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

For some context (because misunderstanding this part is extremely common), you'd have to buy the very worst possible A620 board to have a VRM issue with a 7800x3D. And even then i'm sure it would be fine for most tasks.

 

At a certain point, and that point is quite low, more impressive on paper VRM's are more of a marketing exercise than actually beneficial, even doubly so with such a low power chip.

I know: even the most budget AM5 VRM's would probably be stable with a 7800X3D in any gaming scenario... those VRM stress tests are 1 hour 16-core Cinebench soak-tests, so nothing like the gaming load I'll generate, but slight overkill means that they run WELL within their limits and they'll run 20-30C cooler.

 

In his defence: in those Hardware Unboxed reviews, Steve is pretty clear about it regarding that "as long as the bar graph is a blue, it's a pass".... and after that, people should choose based on features and price, which I am to a large extent... with VRM temps as the tie-breaker. That said, there are some B650M boards that run 70C hotter than others....

 

As much as I will have a lower load, there other environmental factors that are different from his tests too: he's in a 21C air-conditioned office and the little "Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs" that in can get up to 35C in summer - homes don't have aircon in Europe

I'm genuinely considering a new graphics card with a lower power draw as the 350W "space heater" of a 3080Ti is a nuisance and the room that my son games in has better airflow.... but that can wait a year.

[RONOTHAN##]

46 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

any reason for the memory recommendation? I'm not sure why I'd downgrade the RAM to CAS32 on a lesser-known brand? It's only a £10 saving and certainly based on my DDR4 experience, GSkill have tended to have very high spec memory modules and normally very well supported for running at the advertised spec (or better most of the time).

CL30 and CL32 perform identically, since it's CL30-40-40 and CL32-38-38. You're trading 2 ticks of tCL for 2 ticks of tRCD, and that practically results in no net performance change. As for the lesser brand, it doesn't matter with DDR5 anywhere near as much as it did with DDR4, since even the OEM PCBs overclock memory quite well (for quite a while, and maybe even still now, there were some OC records taken with green PCB sticks). They all use the same Hynix based memory ICs, and those are very consistent so it's not like you could argue that G.Skill's binning is better for overclocking (the best to the worst chips are ~2 ticks on any given primary timing at any given voltage). 

 

As far as I'm concerned, you're getting the exact same product for £10 less. 

 

52 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

it would probably be FINE for a 7800X3D, but it has fairly weak VRM design (semi-reasonable number of VRMs, but poor quality components)

And this matters why? It can handle a 7950X without overheating, that's all that matters. When you're drawing 1/3 the power, they actually run more efficient than the higher end boards because they're closer to the peak in their efficiency curve. 

 

Plus you have a Liquid Freezer with its VRM fan, so the VRM temps matter even less. 

 

VRM temps only matter when they are dangerous. VRMs are designed to run near full load for years with no problem as long as they're below TJMAX, so as long as they stay below that threshold so the motherboard doesn't need to throttle performance to keep the board from exploding, they're don't matter. 

 

12 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

but slight overkill means that they run WELL within their limits and they'll run 20-30C cooler.

No it doesn't. The further you get away from the max load, the closer these boards all get. In games, the difference from one board to the next will be less than 10C from one to the next, which is practically nothing. 

 

 

57 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

but no mention of the AX V2 variant and Gigabyte DOWNgraded the VRM spec when they released the "V2"....

I've used that board, it's fine. The VRM doesn't get hot when used with a 7800X3D, as in the heatsink barely feels warm when running stress tests. 

 

I don't know where you're seeing that it was downgraded anyway, both use 8 60A power stages for the main VCore power rail, and the VDD_MISC rail on the V2 is a two phase rather than a single phase (this doesn't matter though, VDD_MISC only draws a few watts at most). 

[191x7]

47 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

I actually have a 5800X3D, but it's in my son's Fortnite rig right now. The 5800X3D definitely beats the stock 5900X in gaming and without the risk of dual CCD latency...

 

I was looking at staying with it, but my overclocked 5900X boosts to around 4.9Ghz-5Ghz on as many cores as any game can handle, so there wasn't a lot in it between them. The deciding factor was that my son would have needed a new PSU to upgrade his old 2700X to an overclocked 5900X that pulls ~180W and I was still doing some core-heavy work on the 5900X, so decided to stay with it a bit longer.

 

Now I'm only gaming with this PC and itching to upgrade  

I had the 5900x in my system. The 5700x3d or 5800x3d runs circles around it in most games, no OC on the 5900x can reach that.

 

Have you considered going another route, sidegrading the CPU but upgrading the GPU and maybe a faster monitor?

 

[BahnStormer]

31 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

CL30 and CL32 perform identically, since it's CL30-40-40 and CL32-38-38.

the memory I'm looking at is "DDR5-6000 CL30-38-38-96"

[RONOTHAN##]

12 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

the memory I'm looking at is "DDR5-6000 CL30-38-38-96"

Still, you're not going to notice 2 ticks lower on any of those timings, and spending $10 more on it doesn't make too much sense. If you really want a CL30 kit though, get this instead

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/QzP8TW/teamgroup-t-create-expert-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-ctcwd532g6000hc30dc01

Then you have 6000 CL30-36-36. 

[BahnStormer]

35 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

I had the 5900x in my system. The 5700x3d or 5800x3d runs circles around it in most games, no OC on the 5900x can reach that.

 

Have you considered going another route, sidegrading the CPU but upgrading the GPU and maybe a faster monitor?

 

Agreed on the 5800X3D being ahead of a 5Ghz 5900X on any game. There didn't seem to be THAT much in a few quick tests, but the 5800X3D was always ahead.

 

The monitor is a consideration, but that can wait.... 1440P 27" and 165Hz are fine for now - I can't go any bigger than 27" and 165Hz is enough for most of what I need - I'm not THAT competitive on Fortnite and it's been a while since I playge CSGO (never played CSGO2)... the games I'm playing (Rust / DayZ) are mostly CPU-limited when the servers get v busy - everybody takes a fps hit on those, but the guys with the X3D chips take less of a hit.

 

8 cores is plenty though.

 

5800X3D remains a viable option, but I'm loathed to buy a £300 5800X3D when the 7800X3D is only £330 and the RAM can be put to good use right now.

 

I might just do a test swap with my son (and not OC the CPU, so it only pulls ~110W instead of 150W-180W under load) as my PSU needs to stay with the 3080Ti.... he'll probably use the extra cores more as he's started streaming and editing videos for YouTube.

 

Main consideration for the upgrade was the desire to move to the X3D chip, with the 7800X3D being only 10% more cost than the 5800X3D, plus I was comforting myself that he'll put my "old" RAM to good use as he's only got 16Gb 3200MT/sec CAS16 RAM so 32Gb of 3600MT/sec C14 would be a nice step up....

 

Plus I had some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket, so now seemed to be a good time to upgrade before the wife spends it on home decor 

[BahnStormer]

12 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

get this instead

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/QzP8TW/teamgroup-t-create-expert-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-ctcwd532g6000hc30dc01

Then you have 6000 CL30-36-36. 

Definitely a very valid and nice option! That one is now top of the shortlist, thanks for taking the time to explain.

[191x7]

18 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

Agreed on the 5800X3D being ahead of a 5Ghz 5900X on any game. There didn't seem to be THAT much in a few quick tests, but the 5800X3D was always ahead.

 

The monitor is a consideration, but that can wait.... 1440P 27" and 165Hz are fine for now - I can't go any bigger than 27" and 165Hz is enough for most of what I need - I'm not THAT competitive on Fortnite and it's been a while since I playge CSGO (never played CSGO2)... the games I'm playing (Rust / DayZ) are mostly CPU-limited when the servers get v busy - everybody takes a fps hit on those, but the guys with the X3D chips take less of a hit.

 

8 cores is plenty though.

 

5800X3D remains a viable option, but I'm loathed to buy a £300 5800X3D when the 7800X3D is only £330 and the RAM can be put to good use right now.

 

I might just do a test swap with my son (and not OC the CPU, so it only pulls ~110W instead of 150W-180W under load) as my PSU needs to stay with the 3080Ti.... he'll probably use the extra cores more as he's started streaming and editing videos for YouTube.

 

Main consideration for the upgrade was the desire to move to the X3D chip, with the 7800X3D being only 10% more cost than the 5800X3D, plus I was comforting myself that he'll put my "old" RAM to good use as he's only got 16Gb 3200MT/sec CAS16 RAM so 32Gb of 3600MT/sec C14 would be a nice step up....

 

Plus I had some spare cash burning a hole in my pocket, so now seemed to be a good time to upgrade before the wife spends it on home decor 

Do that, try the 5800X3D in your system, and test the games.

 

And if buying new, spending 300 on a 5800X3D makes no sense when there's the 5700X3D for almost 100 less while being 2-5% slower.

 

Supposedly, a 5500X3D will come soon. It would be like a 5600X3D made from 5800X3D and 5700X3D, with two cores disabled but a few hundred MHz less and available globally. Maybe that one would be a good option for your son.

 

The 7800X3D isn't just 330 GBP, you'd have to change the board and the RAM, which makes it way more. Considering a 5800X3D reaches the 7600X, 7700, and 9700X in most games unless using an RTX 4090, I don't think you need a whole platform upgrade. If you needed it for work, that's a different story, but then we would be talking about the 7900X, 7950X, 7950X3D, ...

 

Btw, with an X3D chip the RAM speed doesn't matter as much as with regular Zen 3. Your son isn't limited by 3200 MT/s. 

And adding more ram to his system is still cheaper than upgrading your platform.

 

For the rest of the cash, why not get a mouse upgrade (to something newer and light), other peripherals (AMP, DAC), a new chair?

[BahnStormer]

Thanks for the tips - I think we're on the same wavelength most of the way.

 

On 8/22/2024 at 9:24 PM, 191x7 said:

with an X3D chip the RAM speed doesn't matter as much

I know - the cache buffers the memory, so there's a MUCH bigger impact on chips like the R7 5700 (16Mb L3 cache), then less impact on the R7 5700X (32Mb) and even less on the 5700X3D (96Mb) - I saw the Hardware Unboxed deep dive on that when the 5700 non-X came out.

 

 

On 8/22/2024 at 9:24 PM, 191x7 said:

needed it for work, that's a different story, but then we would be talking about the 7900X, 7950X, 7950X3D, ...

 

Note "needed", past tense   No more virtual machines, big vlookups/macros or code compiling that I needed in 2022  (when I bought the 5900X).

 

This only performance work that this PC is used for is now is gaming. 7950X3D was a consideration, but 8 cores is definitely enough, so I know core parking is getting better, but no need to complicate things with a dual CCD chip.

 

On 8/22/2024 at 9:24 PM, 191x7 said:

Do that, try the 5800X3D in your system, and test the games.

I still want to get the AM5 sometime soon, but I'm interested to give the 5800X3D a longer run - more just for interest's sake: I think I'll just "borrow" the 5800X3D from his PC when he goes on his next school camp at the start of term (2-3 weeks) and then decide which CPU I put back in his PC for his return.... might even just pop the 5900X in there and see if he notices  

 

The overall "office toys" budget to spend is not £800. If it's not overtly gaming-focussed and can be used for work, then I can swing it as expenses though my (own) company. Budget is realistically 10x that for just about anything other than a GPU, which I probably need to buy out of my own cash - it's all essentially own cash, but  the dedicated gaming stuff will be bought after I've been taxed on it.

 

£800 was my target budget for a CPU "bump up" in the games that I play. I don't want to throw money away (buying another AM4 CPU feels like it would be), but I really don't mind spending a fair amount when it seems like I'll use the parts for a while.

 

RE: So with that in mind, you've mentioned some of the other things I'm considering (outside of the £800 target for CPU)....

 

My mouse is already on the list of upgrades, but I hadn't included it in this thread/budget as it didn't seem on topic for "PC builds" - currently I use the OG Logitech G502 (Proteus Core that I got when it came out in 2014), so the last time I considered replacing my mouse was about 5 years ago and I just took the extra 50g of weights out, to get it down to 120g  

 

I've had such good experiences with Logitech over the last ~20 years (still using my MX Performance from 2006 and several MX Anywhere1/2/3's) that I'm almost certainly going to get the Logitech G Pro X Superlight2. £110 for the newer one with USB-C charging.

 

Chair:  again, felt off-topic for this thread, but it is long overdue for replacement - I was after something breathable and discreet as I work from home a lot. I was considering the Herman Miller Aeron (£1150) or Secret Labs Titan Evo in a dark "SoftWeave" (£500). Open to suggestions though... dark, discreet and breathable. The main worry every time I go to buy one is that it needs to 

 

GPU is likely to get upgraded once the RTX5000 and RX8000 series come out... and I'll aim for roughly similar GPU raster performance as my 3080Ti (RTX5070?), but with the deciding factor being the heat output, so if it was right now, it would probably be the RTX4070TiS as it's about 70W lower TDP than the 3008Ti. I really don't think I need any more GPU performance, but I know my son would love an upgrade (to my RTX3080Ti) as he's gaming on our old LG C2 with a GTX1660S, so most of the time he's playing games at 1080P... that said, Fortnite performance mode at 4k is actually REALLY impressive for a £230 card from December 2019!

 

Screen is a slight consideration, but definitely no rush: it would still be 27" (physical space limitations as I need to keep the three screens), likely still 1440P as I think that's the sweet-spot for 27".... but would just look at a decent gaming OLED with proper HDR... but I'm not rushing into it as I still need this one for work and the gaming OLED screens still seem a little compromised for office (text) work. This one is fine for now, but I'll spend as much as is needed as soon as I see the "right" one.

[191x7]

12 minutes ago, BahnStormer said:

Thanks for the tips - I think we're on the same wavelength most of the way.

 

I know - the cache buffers the memory, so there's a MUCH bigger impact on chips like the R7 5700 (16Mb L3 cache), then less impact on the R7 5700X (32Mb) and even less on the 5700X3D (96Mb) - I saw the Hardware Unboxed deep dive on that when the 5700 non-X came out.

 

...

Considering all that, here's something more to think about. The Zen5 isn't a noticeable upgrade over Zen4. And Zen3 X3D comes close to Zen4.

Zen5 X3D might be a step up to upgrade to, but judging by the performance of the base Zen5 I don't think there will be a reason to upgrade.

There are talks about Zen6 having more cores per CCD and a slightly different architecture (maybe even the next socket, AM6), that might be a worthwhile upgrade over Zen3 X3D.

 

My idea would be - to stick with a 5700X3D or 5800X3D till Ryzen 9000 X3D or Ryzen 10000 come out. Do the platform then, with the new features, better connectivity, etc. Maybe then 32GB of RAM won't be enough and the new GPU-s might need more CPU power cause 1440p will be a lot easier to drive in 2-3 years than it is now.

 

If you intend to stay with about the same GPU power for the next couple of years, you don't need more than AMD's 4th-best X3D CPU (assuming the 7800X3D, 7950X3D, and 7900X3D are better than the 5800X3D). 

 

How much would a 5700X3D cost you? And how much can you sell the 5900X for? The 5900X, in most games, performs like a Ryzen 5600, and in some even worse.

Don't look just at the peak framerate and average framerate, with the X3D chips the 1% and 0.1% lows get a huge bump in almost every game.

It becomes smooth. The 5900X was bottlenecking my 6950XT in PUBG 1440p, the frame drops were the same as with my old 5700XT, and the 5800X3D solved that.

 

As for the mouse, the Superlight 2 should be great, at least judging by the upgrades over the Superlight I have been using since 2022. 

[BahnStormer]

You're forgetting about the inevitable upcoming 7600X3D  

 

Jokes aside and to answer your question:

5800X3D = just under £300 new

5700X3D = just under £200 new

5900X = £180-£190 resale

 

If I go this route, I would definitely go with the 5800X3D... but then the "bloke maths" kicks in (US translation: "male math?")..... as soon as I get to that, I keep thinking I'd rather throw another ~£200 (extreme budget motherboard and RAM bundle) at a £330 7800X3D.

 

I know it's double the budget, but if I'm going through the hassle of an upgrade and spending ~£550, I'd rather add another ~£100 again do it properly.

 

Yes, I've now taken a potential £300 upgrade and turned it into £600-£700, but then I'll be on a viable platform until 2027 CPU releases, which will probably keep me happy until 2 years after the end of AM5, which is due to be supported until 2027+.

[BahnStormer]

I feel a little bad as I did take on some of the advice, but was pushed to make the purchase ASAP, so I've ended up going slight overkill (and therefore disregarded some of the "test a 5800X3D" advice).

 

Purchased items (relevant to the main build) include:

Ryzen 7 7800X3D

AC Freezer3 280mm AIO

Asrock Steel Legend X670E

32Gb Teamgroup Create-T DDR5-6000C30 (as advised  )

M.2 2Tb Samsung 990Pro

G Pro X Superlight 2

.... and also a Thermal Grizzly "Carbonaut" pad

 

To go with the existing:

RTX3080Ti FE

M.2 1Tb WDSN850

M.2 1Tb WDSN550

2x SATA 8Tb WD80EFAX

Corsair HX850

LianLi O11 Air Mini (3x extra NF-A14's)

Monitor: Gigabyte M27Q (27"/1440P/170Hz)

Monitor: Asus PA248 (24"/1200P/60Hz)

Monitor: Dell WFP2408 (24"/1200P/60Hz)

G815 kbd

 

Thanks for the input though!

 

My son will get the 32Gb 3600MT/s C14 RAM kit for his rig and I'll sell the 5900X and X570 on with my son's 16Gb 3200MT/s C16 RAM kit, while those are still worth something.