Ryzen 7 1700 or i7 7700

[GrayTech]

The ASUS Prime B350-Pro is one of the more popular B350 boards. It is a very basic board with an old audio chip and only 3 fan connectors including the one for the CPU cooler but appariently it gets its job done. Most other B350 boards from MSI like the tomahawk are decent. The thing that I don't like about those is that most of them only feature 4 SATA ports as far as I know. And if you want to go for a SLI setup you need a X370 board.

[Geotropism]

Just now, GrayTech said:

The ASUS Prime B350-Pro is one of the more popular B350 boards. It is a very basic board with an old audio chip and only 3 fan connectors including the one for the CPU cooler but appariently it gets its job done. Most other B350 boards from MSI like the tomahawk are decent. The thing that I don't like about those is that most of them only feature 4 SATA ports as far as I know. And if you want to go for a SLI setup you need a X370 board.

I only have an SSD + HDD so the lack of SATA ports isn't a problem for me. Thanks for the recommendation.

[GrayTech]

Just now, Geotropism said:

I only have an SSD + HDD so the lack of SATA ports isn't a problem for me. Thanks for the recommendation.

But make sure to read reviews for the motherboard you want to buy. I have no experience with those boards.

[Jurrunio]

9 minutes ago, Geotropism said:

Thanks for the reply. Personally, I don't know what VRM is. I honestly have no clue what determines a low end motherboard from a mid end motherboard. Could you recommend a motherboard that you think is suitable for the 1600/1700? And as for the RAM, the motherboards I were looking at had "2400 MHz, 2133 MHz, 2667 MHz, 2933 MHz (O.C.), 3200 MHz (O.C.)" etc on them. I saw the "(O.C)" past the 2933MHz mark so I just presumed I'd have to overclock my motherboard for it to accept 3000MHz RAM, and I'm not into overclocking, well for now atleast.

VRM is the power delivery system of the CPU. I'd recommend this mobo because it has more than enough slots to hold future upgrades.

 

7 minutes ago, Geotropism said:

I'm just not sure whether I will actually upgrade in the future. By the time it's advantageous for me to upgrade, I most likely will not have the time for gaming due to college etc. Hence why future-proofing is a big factor for me choosing a new CPU. If I get the 1700 over the 1600/1600x then I presume the 2 extra cores might make it less likely that I'll need to upgrade later.

My guess on "if the trend of getting more cores continues", then 3-4 years later when the last gen AM4 CPU comes out, both 1600 and 1700 will be in the same state as locked Haswell i5 chips are now: Good enough, but not great anymore. If the trend stopped at 8 cores max then both 1600 and 1700 will be in the same state of being "just fine" due to the 4GHz barrier both chips get.

[Geotropism]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

VRM is the power delivery system of the CPU. I'd recommend this mobo because it has more than enough slots to hold future upgrades.

 

My guess on "if the trend of getting more cores continues", then 3-4 years later when the last gen AM4 CPU comes out, both 1600 and 1700 will be in the same state as locked Haswell i5 chips are now: Good enough, but not great anymore. If the trend stopped at 8 cores max then both 1600 and 1700 will be in the same state of being "just fine" due to the 4GHz barrier both chips get.

Would there be any benefits of the motherboard you recommended over this motherboard? 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y4kwrH/msi-b350-tomahawk-atx-am4-motherboard-b350-tomahawk

 

[Jurrunio]

2 minutes ago, Geotropism said:

Would there be any benefits of the motherboard you recommended over this motherboard? 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y4kwrH/msi-b350-tomahawk-atx-am4-motherboard-b350-tomahawk

 

Comparing an mATX board with an ATX one?

[Geotropism]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

Comparing an mATX board with an ATX one?

Pretty much, yeah. I know next to nothing about motherboards.

[Jurrunio]

Just now, Geotropism said:

Pretty much, yeah. I know next to nothing about motherboards.

That doesn't really make sense. It's like asking whether a hatchback or a saloon is a better car for a city. They have too much difference between them to be compared.

[The Benjamins]

1 hour ago, GrayTech said:

Get the Ryzen 5 1700 or 7700K. Even if you don't overclock, get the 7700K instead of the 7700.

i7 7700:   3.6GHz Base 4.2GHz Turbo

i7 7700K: 4.2GHz Base 4.5GHz Turbo

The big advantage Intel has over Ryzen is its frequenzy. And getting a locked intel CPU which runs at a "slow" frequency doesn't make much sence.

it basically makes it buy a 7700k or AMD. a slight OC of 3.8Ghz on a 1600 or 1700 would be a lot better then a 7700 or lower from intel.

[Geotropism]

5 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

That doesn't really make sense. It's like asking whether a hatchback or a saloon is a better car for a city. They have too much difference between them to be compared.

From what I've read, an ATX is just a bigger version of a mATX and has more features. I guess I'll go with the ATX then, since the one you recommended is only €6 less than the one I had in mind. Thanks for the suggestion, and excuse me for my ignorance.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

28 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

That doesn't really make sense. It's like asking whether a hatchback or a saloon is a better car for a city. They have too much difference between them to be compared.

Not really: the main difference is the number of expansion slots, which most people don't use anyway. Someone planning to plug a GPU and call it a day may very well be indifferent between mATX and ATX, or even ITX, other things equal...

 

It's more like comparing the 2-door version and the 4-door version of a car: they are not the same, but the difference will matter little for someone travelling alone