Which route to take

S33A

S33A

S33A

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6 Aug 2013
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I'm waiting to place a pre-order for a 4090 and a subsequent complete new build. I've struggled through with my old 1080ti, which has been having some challenges recently. My useage is both work (artwork / video) and gaming (on the same machine).

The question sits as:

Do I go Intel Raptor Lake or AMD 7000 series. I've been Intel for years, but not adverse to a change.

Then, is DDR5 worth it, or stick with DDR4 (my concern is it becoming out of date / obsolete etc).

Thoughts appreciated. The rest of the system will be overhauled at the same time.
 
I wouldn't try to make a decision based on a few benchmarks and pre-order pricing and that's partly going to dictate your second question (about DDR4/DDR5).
 
If you want longevity I'd probably get DDR5 and the 7950X, looks to be amazing at multi-processing, since that's on AM5 you can upgrade to the latest processor in 2025 if you need to - don't bother with the 7600X and 7700X as they are not worth it.

On the Intel side, it depends on the benchmarks, here I'd be leveraging the fact that I can get cheap DDR4 RAM and hopefully all the offerings should be good value this time around - Intel really need to compete so should be aggressive in pricing against AMD. All the chips should do well in gaming, take a look at the benchmarks for video encoding performance to pick the correct SKU.

So to save some money go with Intel, but for the long term I would go for AMD.
I expect both run pretty hot so invest good liquid cooling for both, I doubt air cooling will suffice for the top end chips.
 
S33A said:
I'm waiting to place a pre-order for a 4090 and a subsequent complete new build. I've struggled through with my old 1080ti, which has been having some challenges recently. My useage is both work (artwork / video) and gaming (on the same machine).

The question sits as:

Do I go Intel Raptor Lake or AMD 7000 series. I've been Intel for years, but not adverse to a change.

Then, is DDR5 worth it, or stick with DDR4 (my concern is it becoming out of date / obsolete etc).

Thoughts appreciated. The rest of the system will be overhauled at the same time.
Click to expand...
So it sounds like you've got the budget for a high end machine and I'll tell you what I would do with your money if it was me.

Sounds like you can also make use of many cores as you're in the rendering area.

I just need to ask a couple questions: How good are you at trouble shooting problems on your PC? AMD can be a bit iffy with early BIOS versions (Intel have had their own issues too but AMD tends to be worse).

Do you use CPU or Cuda cores to render with? Either is fine. Cuda tends to be faster, CPU tends to be more accurate. If you use a bit of both, that's fine.

I would go AMD 7900X with a B650 motherboard when they launch soon and cheap DDR5. Even if you went Intel, I'd still go DDR5. You probably need capacity more than actual speed and DDR5 is finally cheap enough to justify in certain use cases.

I would also match your PSU to your GPU (when we know more about which models of the 4090 use ATX 3.0 PSUs).

Do I think it's a touch early to pull the trigger on the 4090 without seeing reviews first? Yes. Do I think it matters that much to your use case? No. You'll still make good use of a 4090 given that it's for work.

You could get a 3090 on sale mind you and save a bunch of cash. You could also get a 13th gen Intel CPU and pair it with a Z690 motherboard and save some cash.

Do I think AMD are expensive? Yes. Do I think AMDs new CPUs are very very impressive? Also yes.

The best bit is that there is finally some choice. You're probably going to be happy with either.

We can put together a build ex chassis which you can choose yourself.
 
Disclosure: AMD claim that AM4 coolers work with socket AM5, this has not been tested. Also, I don't know if this PSU will be enough for a 4090 but I think it should be.
and yes, I know that AMD recommends DDR5 6000 speeds for AM5. I saw the reviews, I don't think it's worth spending twice the money for the performance gain.

I might just go the full fat 7950X in your case. It's just that for the money, the motherboard is relativity expensive. It's not beyond justifying in a work case as more cores is more better.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,539.96 (includes delivery: £11.10)​

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Intel option (I probably like this better as the motherboard is a little cheaper). I like that they increased the number of cores (8P+16E) which means you can put those 16E cores to render whilst you play a game with the remaining 8P cores.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,571.00 (includes delivery: £11.10)​

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I'you're going new
JollyJamma said:
Disclosure: AMD claim that AM4 coolers work with socket AM5, this has not been tested. Also, I don't know if this PSU will be enough for a 4090 but I think it should be.
and yes, I know that AMD recommends DDR5 6000 speeds for AM5. I saw the reviews, I don't think it's worth spending twice the money for the performance gain.

I might just go the full fat 7950X in your case. It's just that for the money, the motherboard is relativity expensive. It's not beyond justifying in a work case as more cores is more better.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,539.96 (includes delivery: £11.10)​

​
​
​
Click to expand...

I've seen a number of reviewers show you that an AM4 cooler without a backplate works fine.

If the cooler has a backplate look at the manufacturers website to see if its compatible or they'll hopefully supply an adaptor. At least one company with a backplate are offering an adaptor on their website.
 
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S33A said:
Then, is DDR5 worth it, or stick with DDR4 (my concern is it becoming out of date / obsolete etc).

Thoughts appreciated. The rest of the system will be overhauled at the same time.
Click to expand...

What CPU/RAM do you currently have?

Presumably if you've got some half reasonable DDR4 (3200 or better) you could save money with a DDR4 Intel board
 
Firstly, can I say thank you for the great responses so far. It's brilliant to have so much feedback so quickly.

In answer the question on what I already own. I do have decent DDR4, but it's now quite dated. It is GSkill DDR4 - G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F4-3600C16D-16GTZR). However, because it's a small kit, I really need more head room for work (and even gaming is often at capacity). My current CPU is a i7 8700k, running on a Asus Rog Maximus X Hero Z370 board.

In an ideal world, I'd be going for 64gb of RAM, albeit if it's DDR5, I've done little reading up on this on what configuration etc I actually need / should need etc.
 
S33A said:
Firstly, can I say thank you for the great responses so far. It's brilliant to have so much feedback so quickly.

In answer the question on what I already own. I do have decent DDR4, but it's now quite dated. It is GSkill DDR4 - G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F4-3600C16D-16GTZR). However, because it's a small kit, I really need more head room for work (and even gaming is often at capacity). My current CPU is a i7 8700k, running on a Asus Rog Maximus X Hero Z370 board.

In an ideal world, I'd be going for 64gb of RAM, albeit if it's DDR5, I've done little reading up on this on what configuration etc I actually need / should need etc.
Click to expand...
If you’re in need of higher capacity, DDR5 is basically your best bet.

AMD suggests DDR5-6000 as the sweet spot for AM5 but looking at reviews, AM5 does see a performance gain with 6400 speed ram.

That being said, I would just get 64gigs of cheap DDR5 over spending a fortune on the fastest speed RAM as you will struggle to justify the huge price increase over cheap RAM.

64gigs seems an awful lot though. That’s a lot of 3D rendered furry images.

2 times 2 by 16 gigs 5200 kit (as below) is roughly half the price of the same capacity but at 6000.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit

Order Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
 
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if you want faster, Kingston fury Beast 32gb (2*16) 6000C32 can be had for £212
I'd couple with the Rysen 7950X if you have the budget, or 7900X
above is 7900x review..7950x already been reviews so results are already up there, so you can see both
gamernexus review too..
B650 boards should be out next month, and s/b a lot cheaper
 
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