Upgrade to Ryzen 1600/2600 or wait for Zen 2?

[maartendc]

Hello all,

 

So I am currently using an i5 6600 CPU, and my PC has been struggling a bit with Battlefield 1. The upcoming Battlefield V game will surely tax the CPU even more, so I am looking to upgrade to a 6 core or even 8 core CPU  with Hyperthreading.

 

I will also be using the PC for CAD / rendering work, so more cores is better.

 

Should I wait for Zen2 to come out in early 2019? Are big improvements expected over the current Ryzen lineup? I know they are going to a new 7nm process, so is this worth waiting for? I do want to buy something "future proof" so I am willing to wait a couple of months if it is worth the wait.

Thanks!

[Dedayog]

Only you can determine if waiting 6 months is worth it.  Zen+ is great right now, Zen2 will be better. 

 

Future proofing isn't a thing.  We can only buy things that last a while, then buy more things to last a bit, etc.

 

Get a Zen+ CPU.  Enjoy the rest of 2018 in smooth FPS and rendering style.  No sense living with a shitty machine if you don't have to.

[maartendc]

10 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Only you can determine if waiting 6 months is worth it.  Zen+ is great right now, Zen2 will be better. 

 

Future proofing isn't a thing.  We can only buy things that last a while, then buy more things to last a bit, etc.

 

Get a Zen+ CPU.  Enjoy the rest of 2018 in smooth FPS and rendering style.  No sense living with a shitty machine if you don't have to.

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

I guess my question is: What kind of improvements are expected for Zen 2? Is it going to be similar to Zen -> Zen+ (meaning only about 10%), or would it be more like 20-25%? I assume with the change to 7nm the improvements should be bigger, right?

[LePips]

1 minute ago, maartendc said:

I guess my question is: What kind of improvements are expected for Zen 2? Is it going to be similar to Zen -> Zen+ (meaning only about 10%), or would it be more like 20-25%? I assume with the change to 7nm the improvements should be bigger, right?

Should be, but that does not mean that it works that way.

Things get harder the smaller one goes and only the future can tell.

[Dedayog]

I haven't done research into what the improvements are.  They'll most likely be incremental, 20%-25% sounds a bit liberal depending on cores/threads.  No one is coming out with massive gains, it doesn't make sense to blow your wad all at once.  

 

Even if it's 25%, is it worth it to enjoy great performance NOW and UNTIL THEN?  You're not really losing money, as the prices are what they are now, and counting future dollars on this scale is a waste of time.  Save that for your 401K investments.

 

Won't the Zen2 fit in Zen+ motherboards as well?  If so, you can sell the Zen+ and get a Zen2 next year, bingo bamm done!