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Ryzen 9 3900x to 5950x worth the upgrade today.

Admetos

Admetos

Admetos

Soldato
Joined
19 Jun 2009
Posts
4,133
I have a Ryzen 9 3900X and considering upgrading to 5950X.

The computer is used for a lot of computation / VM's / software dev. The motherboard is an Gigabyte X570 AORUS MASTER, and I'm running 64GB of Micron 2666 ECC memory (4 x 16GB). I installed the ECC memory to be belts and braces on the calculations the computer does. There is a WD Black NVMe and WD Blue NVMe, plus 3 2TB Western Digital Gold HDD's, graphics card is just an Nvidia RTX T400 workstation card, Seasonic Prime 750 watt GOLD PSU. CPU cooler is an Artic i36 with dual push / pull fans, Silverstone FT02 case with triple 180mm fans.

Given how much PC parts are especially memory, was considering upgrading the CPU to extend the computer for another couple of years.

Also will I need a new Windows license, i'm already running Windows 11. From everything I've read the Windows key goes from the motherboard anyway.

Cheers
 
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Admetos said:
Also will I need a new Windows license, i'm already running Windows 11. From everything I've read the Windows key goes from the motherboard anyway.
Click to expand...
No, new CPU should not trigger a reactivation. The exception is if you're running something tied to the TPM like Windows Hello/Bitlocker, since TPM resets can cause issues even with a simple BIOS update.

I assume the computation is heavily multithreaded? If so, then yeah, very much worth it.

Software work, it depends, often that's just a quick burst for the compiler and the rest of the time idle/near idle.
 
Tetras said:
No, new CPU should not trigger a reactivation. The exception is if you're running something tied to the TPM like Windows Hello/Bitlocker, since TPM resets can cause issues even with a simple BIOS update.

I assume the computation is heavily multithreaded? If so, then yeah, very much worth it.

Software work, it depends, often that's just a quick burst for the compiler and the rest of the time idle/near idle.
Click to expand...

Yes what I'm doing is very heavy multi-threaded.

Thanks for the heads up on TPM, but I don't have any special software or settings running that use TPM. You have just reminded me, in the past I upgraded the BIOS and think I went though a Microsoft login process to log in again, I guess that would have been a TPM reset.
 
Admetos said:
You have just reminded me, in the past I upgraded the BIOS and think I went though a Microsoft login process to log in again, I guess that would have been a TPM reset.
Click to expand...
Hmm, are you sure you're not using Windows Hello? If you have a pin, then you are.

Admetos said:
Yes what I'm doing is very heavy multi-threaded.
Click to expand...
4 extra cores and an uplift in single, it could cut some ~30% or more (in time) from something that is long-run multithreaded (like 5+ minutes duration).
 
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Tetras said:
Hmm, are you sure you're not using Windows Hello? If you have a pin, then you are.


4 extra cores and an uplift in single, it could cut some ~30% or more (in time) from something that is long-run multithreaded (like 5+ minutes duration).
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Yes I am.using Windows hello I login with 4 pin numbers. What is the procedure to reset once TPM resets.

Its been a few years since I've built a PC, this PC started life as a Windows 10 machine.
 
Update on this.

I have still not upgraded the CPU, however I'm about to pull the trigger on a 5900XT (16 core). I was not aware the 5900XT even existed until recently.

One reason I like that CPU is it should run marginally cooler over the 5950X as I'm air cooled.

Also when I first posted I got my motherboard wrong, it's actually an X570 AORUS ELITE (Rev. 1.0). Also I got my CPU cooler mixed up it's an Artic 34 CO (not an i36) with an extra fan added for push pull.

I do have the now discontinued Silverstone FT02 with the 3 180mm fans at the bottom, so motherboard cooling is good.

This is my motherboard.

I'm really just putting a final shout out before buying in case anyone knows of any issues with the 5900XT and that motherboard.

Again I should have upgraded from 3900x some years ago, but I've been a bit caught out with the memory price increase. My computer has 64GB of ECC memory in it. Normally by now I would do a full upgrade, but I looked at what 64GB of ECC DDR5 costs :eek: , cost wise even at this late stage it's worth upgrading my current PC.
 
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I'd make the move, decent IPC uplift, more cores and not super expensive.

Good way to update your system without needing to cough up for current DDR5 prices.

Make sure you update your BIOS before upgrading.
 
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Also be aware that after updating bios you might need to reflash the same version over again for everything to work right. I had to for the X570 master version (see the thread on that board, last page).
 
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Admetos said:
I have a Ryzen 9 3900X and considering upgrading to 5950X.

The computer is used for a lot of computation / VM's / software dev. The motherboard is an Gigabyte X570 AORUS MASTER, and I'm running 64GB of Micron 2666 ECC memory (4 x 16GB). I installed the ECC memory to be belts and braces on the calculations the computer does. There is a WD Black NVMe and WD Blue NVMe, plus 3 2TB Western Digital Gold HDD's, graphics card is just an Nvidia RTX T400 workstation card, Seasonic Prime 750 watt GOLD PSU. CPU cooler is an Artic i36 with dual push / pull fans, Silverstone FT02 case with triple 180mm fans.

Given how much PC parts are especially memory, was considering upgrading the CPU to extend the computer for another couple of years.

Also will I need a new Windows license, i'm already running Windows 11. From everything I've read the Windows key goes from the motherboard anyway.

Cheers
Click to expand...
I have a 3900X and a 7950X(running @Eco 65 which gives around the same performance as a 5950X @ full power). The extra boost clocks give single threaded work a nice jump and the extra cores are nice. Think it would be ~1.5-2x faster than the 3900X for multi-threaded loads.
 
Thanks for everyone that replied, I've ordered the 5900XT.

One final question, I need thermal paste, I know the subject has been done to death but probably going to order MX-7.

I use to use IC Diamond but can't get that any more. I liked IC Diamond as it's performance was good, but it stayed consistent for years. Looks like MX-7 might be a good alternative to IC Diamond.
 
It's much of a muchness - MX-7 is obviously the latest and greatest but in all honesty it's probably within the margin of error of almost any other decent Thermal paste these days.

Pump out is largely overrated on CPUs (unlike GPUs / Laptops / Direct die), so even older compounds like MX-2 or MX-4 last for years without performing noticeably worse.
 
Admetos said:
Thanks for everyone that replied, I've ordered the 5900XT.

One final question, I need thermal paste, I know the subject has been done to death but probably going to order MX-7.

I use to use IC Diamond but can't get that any more. I liked IC Diamond as it's performance was good, but it stayed consistent for years. Looks like MX-7 might be a good alternative to IC Diamond.
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Nice! Youll enjoy the huge improvement.

Buy any good thermal paste but don't overthink it, it's not worth overthinking.

You could get the Thermaltake contact frame for AM4 if you're truly worried about thermals but do some testing first and see how you get on.
 
Admetos said:
Thanks for everyone that replied, I've ordered the 5900XT.

One final question, I need thermal paste, I know the subject has been done to death but probably going to order MX-7.

I use to use IC Diamond but can't get that any more. I liked IC Diamond as it's performance was good, but it stayed consistent for years. Looks like MX-7 might be a good alternative to IC Diamond.
Click to expand...
Reply back and let us know if you thought the upgrade was worth it. Im in a similar predicament.
 
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