5600 to 5950X upgrade

Jae-So

Jae-So

Jae-So

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So currently running a rig with:
- Ryzen 5600 with Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240
- Gigabyte AMD B550M AORUS PRO-P M-ATX board
- RTX4090
- HX850 PSU

The 5600 was always a stop gap upgrade meant to be replaced.
In May, I'll get a remote working stipend of ~£450 and I'm planning to use that to upgrade some bits.
I first looked at a proper upgrade - 7950X3D, board, DDR5, PSU and case, but an ideal build was coming to close to £2,000.

Instead I'm just thinking about dropping a 5950X into my rig.
I know 5800X3D is the better gaming GPU, but I have some work and productivity use cases where I prefer the 5950X.

Just wondering about thoughts on the upgrade.
Most think this specific B550 board should be ok.

P.S. Yes I know my PSU might be cutting it a bit fine. Will think about updating that, but most sites suggest I'll be ok.
 
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If you need the cores they're (high core count AM4 CPUs like 5900/5950) still pretty competitive and decent value, depends on the prices obviously.
 
Tetras said:
If you need the cores they're (high core count AM4 CPUs like 5900/5950) still pretty competitive and decent value, depends on the prices obviously.
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Looking at OCUK (but similar elsewhere) - 5950X has come down to £360.
The 5900X might be the real star at £270 though.
 
Dreadi said:
Pick one up second hand for £150, sell the 5600 for 80ish, jobs a good un
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To be fair I haven't seen any 5900X let alone 5950X at this price. More like £200 / £275 respectively.

I'll consider this option if I can find them that cheap, but I can't use the stipend I get in 2nd hand stuff (have to show receipts).
 
Jae-So said:
To be fair I haven't seen any 5900X let alone 5950X at this price. More like £200 / £275 respectively.

I'll consider this option if I can find them that cheap, but I can't use the stipend I get in 2nd hand stuff (have to show receipts).
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Been one two 5900x on the MM go for around that recently but if second hand isn't an option then it won't be much use.
 
£650 gets you onto AM5 with a 7800X3D or a 7900 and 32GB of 6000MT/s CL30

Sell your old mobo/cpu/ran does that get you closer to an acceptable upgrade cost? Can't be far off £450 total
 
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Dreadi said:
Been one two 5900x on the MM go for around that recently but if second hand isn't an option then it won't be much use.
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If I find one really cheap then I'll go 2nd hand and use he stipend for other stuff (case and PSU). I'll keep a look out.

Minstadave said:
What do you use your pc for? If solely gaming then 5800X3D is the way to go.
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Yup I'm aware 5800X3D is the gamers chip but use this PC for a lot of productivity - As a Product Manager, it's usually normal productivity but can often have multiple design tools open as well (Figma etc) and I'm starting to dabble in some content creation (rendering etc while gaming).

I'm also getting more involved in the AI space because of work, so will dabble in Virtual Machines / Digital Twins (though the latter is usually cloud based).

So 16 cores/32 threads feels more future proof of my wider needs
 
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Jae-So said:
If I find one really cheap then I'll go 2nd hand and use he stipend for other stuff (case and PSU). I'll keep a look out.



Yup I'm aware 5800X3D is the gamers chip but use this PC for a lot of productivity - As a Product Manager, it's usually normal productivity but can often have multiple design tools open as well (Figma etc) and I'm starting to dabble in some content creation (rendering etc while gaming).

I'm also getting more involved in the AI space because of work, so will dabble in Virtual Machines / Digital Twins (though the latter is usually cloud based).

So 16 cores/32 threads feels more future proof of my wider needs
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I'd just splash on the 5950X then, it'll last you a good while.

I'm currently running one and there's nothing out tempting me at the moment.
 
Jae-So said:
So 16 cores/32 threads feels more future proof of my wider needs
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Do keep in mind that these CPUs are only competitive when you're actually using the cores/threads fully. E.g. the 5950X matches the 7900 when fully multithreaded, but when lightly threaded the 7900 is much faster. TPU's review of the 7900 gives a good idea which workloads benefit/don't.
 
Rob_B said:
£650 gets you onto AM5 with a 7800X3D or a 7900 and 32GB of 6000MT/s CL30

Sell your old mobo/cpu/ran does that get you closer to an acceptable upgrade cost? Can't be far off £450 total
Click to expand...

Haha this was my starting point and "man maths".
I think if I was to go this route though I would want to do it right:
- 7950X3D for my productivity AND gaming needs.
- 32GB of DDR5
- Decent mobo
- New case, cooler and PSU
It feels like if you're going to go with a new platform you do it right and you're right I could recoup maybe £250ish from my current rig but drop in the ocean to the £1,500+ I would be spending.

With 2 young kids and a tonne of expenses right now it felt better to just get the CPU (fully paid by work) and drop it in my current rig.

Minstadave said:
I'd just splash on the 5950X then, it'll last you a good while.

I'm currently running one and there's nothing out tempting me at the moment.
Click to expand...

Yeh definitely leaning towards that. The purchase (up to £450) so makes sense to get the best drop in chip.
 
Tetras said:
Do keep in mind that these CPUs are only competitive when you're actually using the cores/threads fully. E.g. the 5950X matches the 7900 when fully multithreaded, but when lightly threaded the 7900 is much faster. TPU's review of the 7900 gives a good idea which workloads benefit/don't.
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Gotcha was more comparing same gen to same gne here. I imagine IPC improved significantly so 7000 is better but I feel like if I jump on a new platform I may as well get the 7950X3D (compared to a drop in upgrade).
 
Jae-So said:
Haha this was my starting point and "man maths".
I think if I was to go this route though I would want to do it right:
- 7950X3D for my productivity AND gaming needs.
- 32GB of DDR5
- Decent mobo
- New case, cooler and PSU
It feels like if you're going to go with a new platform you do it right and you're right I could recoup maybe £250ish from my current rig but drop in the ocean to the £1,500+ I would be spending.

With 2 young kids and a tonne of expenses right now it felt better to just get the CPU (fully paid by work) and drop it in my current rig.



Yeh definitely leaning towards that. The purchase (up to £450) so makes sense to get the best drop in chip.
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I know the feeling and need for upgrades but you're not comparing apples to apples.

Get a platform upgrade and 7900 for now, it's within budget, it's way faster than your current rig, it's faster or the same as a 5950x. Grab the case etc later?
 
Rob_B said:
I know the feeling and need for upgrades but you're not comparing apples to apples.

Get a platform upgrade and 7900 for now, it's within budget, it's way faster than your current rig, it's faster or the same as a 5950x. Grab the case etc later?
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I get what you're saying but it doesn't need to be apples to apples (not being argumentative, hear me out).

One is a straightforward low admin swap, the other a proper platform change.
I just have a mental block here going to a new platform (and spending more overall because I would want a mobo, RAM I would keep for a while) then choosing a CPU I would replace later.
This even ignoring the case/PSU part.

Leaning towards getting the drop in 5950X then just going full platform swap in a few years.
 
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Jae-So said:
I get what you're saying but it doesn't need to be apples to apples (not being argumentative, hear me out).

One is a straightforward low admin swap, the other a proper platform change.
I just have a mental block here going to a new platform (and spending more overall because I would want a mobo, RAM I would keep for a while) then choosing a CPU I would replace later.
This even ignoring the case/PSU part.

Leaning towards getting the drop in 5950X then just going full platform swap in a few years.
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I'd do the drop in for now. You can always sell that 5950X down the line.
 
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