I need help choosing an CPU

[erbond12]

Hi guys,

so I have a setup with an AMD FX-6300 and a GTX 980 from MSI and have the feeling, that the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU. I also want to slowly upgrade it because of the slow processing times.

I am doing mainly gaming, but want to start with programming with the Unity engine and don't know which CPU to choose. I want also to leave AMD and want some Intel processor.

I have a Gigabyte 970a-ud3p Mainboard and would also like to keep the amount of the USB ports (8 in the back).

 

I thank everyone who takes his time to bother with me

[Colin Donoghue]

Ryzen 5 1600 or ryzen 7 1700 if you need the extra cores and threads

[erbond12]

5 minutes ago, Colin Donoghue said:

Ryzen 5 1600 or ryzen 7 1700 if you need the extra cores and threads

Oh sorry I posted it by mistake and wasn't quite finished. 

[Jonathan Lemmens]

12 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

Hi guys,

so I have a setup with an AMD FX-6300 and a gtx 980 from msi and have the feeling, that the CPU is bottlenecking the GPU. I also want to slowly upgrade it because of the slow processing times.

Upgrading the CPU on an AM3+ platform isn't worth it imo, the FX-8370 would be the best CPU that fits your mobo (barring the FX-9590) but it'll probably still bottleneck the 980 a little.

 

Your best bet it to upgrade the mobo, CPU and RAM to either Ryzen R5 or R7 (or R3 on a tight budget) or Intel's i7 7700K if gaming is all you do and you can afford it.

[Colin Donoghue]

2 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

Oh sorry I posted it by mistake and wasn't quite finished. 

Not worth upgrading to a fx processor

[erbond12]

1 minute ago, Jonathan Lemmens said:

Upgrading an AM3+ platform isn't worth it imo, the FX-8370 would be the best CPU that fits your mobo (barring the FX-9590) but it'll probably still bottleneck the 980 a little.

 

Your best bet it to upgrade the mobo, CPU and RAM to either Ryzen R5 or R7 (or R3 on a tight budget) or Intel's i7 7700K if gaming is all you do and you can afford it.

Is 16Gb enough of RAM? And could an i5 take also care of it?

[Jonathan Lemmens]

1 minute ago, erbond12 said:

Is 16Gb enough of RAM? And could an i5 take also care of it?

16GB is more than enough. An i5 is fine if you can get it used for cheap, but I wouldn't buy it new right now, it gets beaten in almost every benchmark by the R5 1600(x)

[erbond12]

2 minutes ago, Jonathan Lemmens said:

16GB is more than enough. An i5 is fine if you can get it used for cheap, but I wouldn't buy it new right now, it gets beaten in almost every benchmark by the R5 1600(x)

Is there an unwritten rule, how long an CPU can be used? And does it mean, that the R5 1600X is as strong as a weak i7?

[Jonathan Lemmens]

14 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

Is there an unwritten rule, how long an CPU can be used?

Not really. An i5 is still a great chip for gaming, but at the same price the R5 is a lot better as it has 1.5x the cores and 3x the threads of the i5. Therefore I wouldn't buy an i5 for retail price.

 

14 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

And does it mean, that the R5 1600X is as strong as a weak i7?

That depends on the type of benchmark/game you care about. The R5 1600X is meant as a competitor to the i5 lineup, not really to battle against the i7, but its $100 cheaper.

Also, on Kabylake there are only two i7 CPU's, the i7 7700 and 7700K, basically the same chip, but the K variant is unlocked for overclocking. So there is no "weak i7" to speak of really.

[erbond12]

I am really sorry to bother you any longer but I have one last question (at least I think so xD).

Would the i7 6700 fit my purposes? I have seen a video about CPUs and don't really know if it fit me

 

[Jonathan Lemmens]

3 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

I am really sorry to bother you any longer but I have one last question (at least I think so xD).

Would the i7 6700 fit my purposes? I have seen a video about CPUs and don't really know if it fit me

 

It depends, I have a few questions to fire back:

What games do you play?

On what monitor resolution are you playing? 

What do you (want to) do besides gaming?

What is your budget?

 

edit: you're not bothering at all, this is my hobby  

[erbond12]

Most of the time I play CS Go but also the trending games like: Dark Souls 3, the Batman Series, Metal Gear Solid: 5, Deus Ex Mankind divided and Prey.

The resolution is 1920 x 1200.

I want to start programming with the Unity (and later maybe the Unreal) Engine, also to watch videos on youtube and also emulating.

Well for the budget I have right now maybe 150€ so I couldn't buy any of these processors, but if I have to I would go up to 300€.

 

Oh this is nice to hear

 

[Jonathan Lemmens]

39 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

Most of the time I play CS Go but also the trending games like: Dark Souls 3, the Batman Series, Metal Gear Solid: 5, Deus Ex Mankind divided and Prey.

The resolution is 1920 x 1200.

I want to start programming with the Unity (and later maybe the Unreal) Engine, also to watch videos on youtube and also emulating.

Well for the budget I have right now maybe 150€ so I couldn't buy any of these processors, but if I have to I would go up to 300€.

In that case an Intel i7 doesn't make much sense for you. Do you have $300 for just the CPU or CPU+mobo+RAM? Remember that any new platform (Intel or AMD) will need new DDR4 memory as well.

Get the R5 1500X or preferably the R5 1600 non-X if your budget can stretch that far, the two extra cores on the 1600 will help in programming and rendering tasks.

 

[erbond12]

It is just the money for the CPU and I had to buy a motherboard later. And does a new platform (Intel or AMD) work with a DDR3? A quick disclaimer I don't know much about CPUs as you couldn't guess by now  but I don't know anything than that there is a fx series and ryzen series and wanted to ask if there is a better one than the R5 1600 (if it wouldn't be for the money)?

[Jonathan Lemmens]

2 minutes ago, erbond12 said:

It is just the money for the CPU and I had to buy a motherboard later. And does a new platform (Intel or AMD) work with a DDR3? A quick disclaimer I don't know much about CPUs as you couldn't guess by now  but I don't anything than that there is a fx series and ryzen series and wanted to ask if there is a better one than the R5 1600 (if it wouldn't be for the money)?

New Intel and new AMD stuff won't work with DDR3 and you won't be able to use a Ryzen or Intel CPU with your current motherboard unfortunately. With your current PC there is no real way to gradually upgrade it part by part. You are basically looking at a full upgrade of your PC (almost a replacement at this point), that means a new CPU, motherboard and DDR4 memory, that won't be easy under $400... 

The R5 1600 seems to be the sweet spot for your use case, that's a 6-core 12-thread CPU, but the 4-core 8-thread R5 1500X is a good choice too if you want to save a bit.

[erbond12]

And in case I would buy a completely new PC should I get then an i7 7700 or is the 6700better?

[Jonathan Lemmens]

1 minute ago, erbond12 said:

And in case I would buy a completely new PC should I get then an i7 7700 or is the 6700better?

the 7700 is slightly better, but its more expensive than Ryzen for negligible benefits in your case.

[erbond12]

And in that case which Ryzen would you recommend? 

 

[Jonathan Lemmens]

Just now, erbond12 said:

And in that case which Ryzen would you recommend? 

 

As I said in my earlier post:

The R5 1600 seems to be the sweet spot for your use case, that's a 6-core 12-thread CPU, but the 4-core 8-thread R5 1500X is a good choice too if you want to save a bit.

 

For a motherboard pick any that says "B350", has the I/O ports you need and looks cool to you  

 

For memory, you'll need DDR4 obviously. Higher speeds are better for Ryzen but anything over 3200Mhz is a bit overkill and may not even work. 2600Mhz is fast enough and a lot cheaper. There used to be some issues regarding ram speeds and compatibility on Ryzen, but I believe most of them have been fixed by now.

You may want to check out @stealth80's Ryzen RAM Guide for more info on this:

 

[erbond12]

2 minutes ago, Jonathan Lemmens said:

As I said in my earlier post:

The R5 1600 seems to be the sweet spot for your use case, that's a 6-core 12-thread CPU, but the 4-core 8-thread R5 1500X is a good choice too if you want to save a bit.

 

 

Oh I thought I could buy a more powerful one if I decided to build a completely new PC?  Else I could it wouldn't make sense to upgrade the ram. I probably missing something and am sorry if so.

[Jonathan Lemmens]

Just now, erbond12 said:

Oh I thought I could buy a more powerful one if I decided to build a completely new PC?  Else I could it wouldn't make sense to upgrade the ram. I probably missing something and am sorry if so.

There are more powerful CPU's in the Ryzen lineup: the R7 1700(x) It's an 8-core 16-tread CPU fits in the same motherboard I mentioned above and requires DDR4 as well.

But as you said, it probably makes more sense to put that money towards faster memory rather then an R7 CPU instead of R5.

[ThatTechKid]

You want to re-use the DDR3 I hear? Do you really want to not get new ram and just get a new motherboard?. Tell me all you want and I will try to think of what you could use.

[erbond12]

Well I wanted, in the beginning, get away from AMD but as it seems it is better to buy one of the newer Ryzen chips and with that a new Motherboard, which does support the R5 1600. If I have enough money left and if I think I need it, I could buy also faster memory as in DDR4. So I think it is all set.

And Thank you Jonathan Lemmens. You are a Hero!