New system Ryzen or i7

[Semper]

OK, so... my GPU has kicked the bucket, so i've decided it's time to overhaul my rig, she's aged well, but there's bigger and better out there.... i'm assuming. With her on-board audio dead, the aging CPU, and the dead GPU, I figured it's time for a fresh start.
I've been out of the loop on keeping up with CPU's for a couple years now, as life has kept me away from the tech culture like I was one able, however i'm going to assume that we're still on a tick-tock style refresh.  I've done some reading around before coming here, however any additional input is always helpful!

 

Current ("dead") rig can be found in specs. It's primarily going to be a gaming rig, with light workstation use with the Adobe suite. Currently 2x 1080p monitors, looking to upgrade to 1440k secondary, 4k primary soon, however.

What i'm considering:

 

i7:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($328.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: MSI - Z270 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($163.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW DT GAMING Video Card  ($479.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT - H440 (Glossy White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Dell - S2417DG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor  ($398.75 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1811.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-12 04:20 EDT-0400

 

Ryzen:
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($347.76 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - X370 SLI PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($120.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW DT GAMING Video Card  ($479.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT - H440 (Glossy White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Dell - S2417DG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor  ($398.75 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1787.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-12 04:25 EDT-0400

The Glacer 240L, storage solutions, and peripherals will be transferred over from the "dead" build.

Any recommendations or changes are always welcomed! As stated previously, it'll be primarily a gaming rig. Over my current setup, what real-world performance increases would you expect to see over the 4790k (stock speeds) with both platforms (again, stock speeds to remove the variable)

 

[Guest]

keep 4790k

i7 6700k/7700k is better for just gaming

[PascalSignifica]

Go for the Ryzen 1700 (non X)

[Kommanche]

Personally, I'd just buy a new motherboard and a new GPU. You aren't going to see much, if any, performance increase from changing your CPU.

[DrMikeNZ]

If you are going to change platform, then I would go for the Ryzen 1700, it is the same as the 1700X, just cheaper. You likely won't notice any significant real-world improvement for most things.

Is the Glacier 240L AM4 compatible?

[Jurrunio]

4790k is good imo, since performance improvement in Intel CPU (especially high-end) between generations is not very significant. With that budget, get a 1080Ti and strap it onto the old rig. It will be a good match with your monitor.

 

If you really want to get rid of it (though I will still recommend using a cheap sound card to replace the dead audio), then I'd pick the Ryzen build with some changes.

R7 1700X to 1700: You can overclock the 1700 to 1700X level if you want. All ryzen chips are unlocked (AMD is apparently so used to leaving the clock multiplier unlocked they forget about adding "K" suffix on the name).

X370 board to B350 board: B350 supports overclocking too. Just pick a board with more power delivery phases and you are good to go. Only extra feature from X370 is SLI support. Unless you want SLI, B350 is much better (especially for your wallet).

32GB 2400MHz to 16GB 3000MHz. Ryzen relies heavily on RAM speed, not capacity. Mind you mobos are quite picky on suitable RAM, so make sure you buy one that is marked to be compatible at 2933MHz.

GTX 1080 to 1080ti.  With a monitor like that, you will need more graphical horsepower than a 1080.

[You_are_a_cunt]

I'd keep the 4790k, slap a decent OC on it and get a new GPU and mobo

 

As far as the Ryzen build, I'd go for a 1600x w/ a decent OC (4GHz+) and faster memory (Ryzen likes faster memory)

[OliverBryant]

We all know that intel have better ipcs which is important in games, and as you have a 4790k which is still a very good CPU I'd recommend keeping it. It shouldn't bottleneck the 1080 at all so performance increases would be minimal with a 7700k. You have 16gb of RAM and upgrading that to DDR4 might improve your scores in synthetic benchmarks but not so much in the real world. This means you'll save a couple hundred $$$ so maybe you could splash out on a 1080Ti?? 

 

To be safe I'd also upgrade that 550W power supply to a 650W - not because you'll need it but because better power efficiency, quieter fans and better upgrade path.

 

 

[PascalSignifica]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

X370 board to B350 board: B350 supports overclocking too. Just pick a board with more power delivery phases and you are good to go. Only extra feature from X370 is SLI support. Unless you want SLI, B350 is much better (especially for your wallet).

32GB 2400MHz to 16GB 3000MHz. Ryzen relies heavily on RAM speed, not capacity. Mind you mobos are quite picky on suitable RAM, so make sure you buy one that is marked to be compatible at 2933MHz.

The MSI B350 PC-MATE is the best mobo for the price imo and the ballistix sport LT works upto 2933MHz on it as well (cl18-18-18-18-48 @ 1.4V)

[grimreeper132]

If your gaming on this new machine, only gaming and nothing but gaming then get the i7 7700K

 

if your doing anything else which is even remotely multi-threaded get the R7 1700 and overclock as it's almost as good as the i7 for gaming (when overclocked) and it's much better in heavily multi threaded tasks

[PatrickK]

4 minutes ago, grimreeper132 said:

If your gaming on this new machine, only gaming and nothing but gaming then get the i7 7700K

 

if your doing anything else which is even remotely multi-threaded get the R7 1700 and overclock as it's almost as good as the i7 for gaming (when overclocked) and it's much better in heavily multi threaded tasks

Which he is, light working ofcourse as he said, but to have it future proof, i would go for the ryzen 1700 myself for sure. 

[grimreeper132]

1 minute ago, PatrickK said:

Which he is, light working ofcourse as he said, but to have it future proof, i would go for the ryzen 1700 myself for sure. 

Hey, I'll be honest I didn't read the description, I put the reply which sums up the entire PC space at the moment on what CPU to buy. 

[Aereldor]

Neither of those. This Ryzen build will serve you better. A 1700 with fast RAM will by far outperform a 1700x with slow RAM - RAM operating frequency makes an enormous difference to Ryzen CPU performance. I also managed to fit in a 1080 Ti, which is the most powerful consumer GPU currently available. It's powered by a Cosair CXM 550, which may seem anemic at first, but the TDP of your system is barely 400W, so 550 is more than sufficient and has ample room for both CPU and GPU overclocking. For CPU overclocking, I included a fairly beefy cooler- the Cryorig H7.

I downsized it to a Micro-ATX build and picked what I think is one of the nicest cases on the market today- the InWin 301 compact MicroATX tempered glass case.

The motherboard only has two memory slots, so I put in a 1x16GB stick of DDR4-3200 memory, so you can upgrade to 32GB later on down the line.

As for storage, I assume you already have yours sorted.
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($299.44 @ OutletPC) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($40.66 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Motherboard: MSI - B350M GAMING PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($78.94 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (1 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($124.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Gaming OC 11G  Video Card  ($683.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Inwin - 301 Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($58.98 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: Dell - S2417DG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor  ($398.75 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1755.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-12 05:19 EDT-0400

 

[Semper]

31 minutes ago, DrMikeNZ said:

If you are going to change platform, then I would go for the Ryzen 1700, it is the same as the 1700X, just cheaper. You likely won't notice any significant real-world improvement for most things.

Is the Glacier 240L AM4 compatible?

Not even in workstation applications?

To my understanding, the Am3+ and Am4 sockets have the same dimensions, and as such, the same mounting brackets. If this is indeed the case, it should be a simple swap of the bracket and off we go :P. 

43 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

keep 4790k

i7 6700k/7700k is better for just gaming

36 minutes ago, Kommanche said:

Personally, I'd just buy a new motherboard and a new GPU. You aren't going to see much, if any, performance increase from changing your CPU.

31 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

4790k is good imo, since performance improvement in Intel CPU (especially high-end) between generations is not very significant. With that budget, get a 1080Ti and strap it onto the old rig. It will be a good match with your monitor.

 

If you really want to get rid of it (though I will still recommend using a cheap sound card to replace the dead audio), then I'd pick the Ryzen build with some changes.

R7 1700X to 1700: You can overclock the 1700 to 1700X level if you want. All ryzen chips are unlocked (AMD is apparently so used to leaving the clock multiplier unlocked they forget about adding "K" suffix on the name).

X370 board to B350 board: B350 supports overclocking too. Just pick a board with more power delivery phases and you are good to go. Only extra feature from X370 is SLI support. Unless you want SLI, B350 is much better (especially for your wallet).

32GB 2400MHz to 16GB 3000MHz. Ryzen relies heavily on RAM speed, not capacity. Mind you mobos are quite picky on suitable RAM, so make sure you buy one that is marked to be compatible at 2933MHz.

GTX 1080 to 1080ti.  With a monitor like that, you will need more graphical horsepower than a 1080.

27 minutes ago, revsilverspine said:

I'd keep the 4790k, slap a decent OC on it and get a new GPU and mobo

 

As far as the Ryzen build, I'd go for a 1600x w/ a decent OC (4GHz+) and faster memory (Ryzen likes faster memory)

This is exactly why I came here. All the stats I was reading on them were showing 25-35% increases on synthetic stress tests between the 7700k/4790k. If i'm not going to see a noticeable improvement anywhere around, better to just save the money and drop it on a new GPU.

I've got my audio running through a Fulla 2, perusing through the files when the onboard died seemed to come highly recommended. Can't say I have any complaints with it at all, it was just more along the lines of "it's just another reason to  change platform" :P.

 

25 minutes ago, OliverBryant said:

We all know that intel have better ipcs which is important in games, and as you have a 4790k which is still a very good CPU I'd recommend keeping it. It shouldn't bottleneck the 1080 at all so performance increases would be minimal with a 7700k. You have 16gb of RAM and upgrading that to DDR4 might improve your scores in synthetic benchmarks but not so much in the real world. This means you'll save a couple hundred $$$ so maybe you could splash out on a 1080Ti?? 

 

To be safe I'd also upgrade that 550W power supply to a 650W - not because you'll need it but because better power efficiency, quieter fans and better upgrade path.

 

 

 

By my best math, both systems should be coming in at right around 400w at stock clocks. Not opposed to picking up a 650, just not sure I see your logic through here. The only reason I've a 1k PSU at the moment is it was 1k, or 1200 in the DF series form factor. One of the reasons i've decided on a new case, in fact...

Not sure how a higher wattage PSU would lead to quieter fans, and in real-world practice, the efficiency difference should be within the margin of error from unit to unit (even of the same wattage), no?

[porina]

Given the monitor chosen is a high refresh one, and the system is stated as being primarily for gaming, I'd lean towards Intel for this scenario. It does of course depend on the games of interest, but in a recent test I did my 1700 OC'd lagged far behind a stock 6700k with the same GPU.

[Guest]

The benefit in gaming between a 4790k and a 7700k is not worth the extra money on motherboard, RAM and CPU. It's very small. I would suggest keeping i7 4790k for now.

[DrMikeNZ]

1 minute ago, Semper said:

Not even in workstation applications?

To my understanding, the Am3+ and Am4 sockets have the same dimensions, and as such, the same mounting brackets. If this is indeed the case, it should be a simple swap of the bracket and off we go :P. 

If you can use all 8 cores fully, you will notice an improvement.

AM3+ and AM4 have different mounting hole positions. If the cooler mounts to AM3+ using the 2 clip method, it will be compatible. Otherwise it will need a new mounting bracket. The exception to this is the Asus X370 Crosshair VI Hero motherboard has backwards compatible mounting holes not standard on AM4 motherboards.

[Jurrunio]

52 minutes ago, OliverBryant said:

We all know that intel have better ipcs which is important in games, and as you have a 4790k which is still a very good CPU I'd recommend keeping it. It shouldn't bottleneck the 1080 at all so performance increases would be minimal with a 7700k. You have 16gb of RAM and upgrading that to DDR4 might improve your scores in synthetic benchmarks but not so much in the real world. This means you'll save a couple hundred $$$ so maybe you could splash out on a 1080Ti?? 

 

To be safe I'd also upgrade that 550W power supply to a 650W - not because you'll need it but because better power efficiency, quieter fans and better upgrade path.

 

 

First of all, Haswell is compatible with DDR3 only, so no DDR4.

 

On PSU, higher efficiency means a higher 80 plus rating, not necessarily capacity. However, the cost of getting a more efficient PSU will offset the better looking power bill. Besides, unless OP decides to go multi-GPU, 550W is plenty.

[DrMikeNZ]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

First of all, Haswell is compatible with DDR3 only, so no DDR4.

I think you misunderstood their post. They were talking about the platform upgrade (to the 7700K).

[OliverBryant]

52 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

First of all, Haswell is compatible with DDR3 only, so no DDR4.

 

On PSU, higher efficiency means a higher 80 plus rating, not necessarily capacity. However, the cost of getting a more efficient PSU will offset the better looking power bill. Besides, unless OP decides to go multi-GPU, 550W is plenty.

Yeah i know but yes there are performance improvements with DDR4 but not massive in games.

 

Efficiency curves the higher Wattage the power supply then the middle area will be the most efficient

[OliverBryant]

1 hour ago, Semper said:

Not even in workstation applications?

To my understanding, the Am3+ and Am4 sockets have the same dimensions, and as such, the same mounting brackets. If this is indeed the case, it should be a simple swap of the bracket and off we go :P. 

This is exactly why I came here. All the stats I was reading on them were showing 25-35% increases on synthetic stress tests between the 7700k/4790k. If i'm not going to see a noticeable improvement anywhere around, better to just save the money and drop it on a new GPU.

I've got my audio running through a Fulla 2, perusing through the files when the onboard died seemed to come highly recommended. Can't say I have any complaints with it at all, it was just more along the lines of "it's just another reason to  change platform" :P.

 

 

By my best math, both systems should be coming in at right around 400w at stock clocks. Not opposed to picking up a 650, just not sure I see your logic through here. The only reason I've a 1k PSU at the moment is it was 1k, or 1200 in the DF series form factor. One of the reasons i've decided on a new case, in fact...

Not sure how a higher wattage PSU would lead to quieter fans, and in real-world practice, the efficiency difference should be within the margin of error from unit to unit (even of the same wattage), no?

Larger power supply = cooler working = slower fan = quiter