5820k + Vega 56 upgrade ideas/options

theaterix

theaterix

theaterix

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Newcastle, England
Hello, long time since I have been on here, longtime inactive in the PC scene too…
I have a 5820k, 32gb DDR4 and a Vega 56, a 512gb M.2 and some SATA SSDs, I am looking to bring it upto date so I can play some games (iracing, Arc Raiders, CS:GO) are the list for now, it feels a bit sluggish since I plugged it in yesterday, (been moved in my own house for 9 months but only just plugged it in) but that’s probably from the years of files on it plus old HDDs still connected.

Is there any updates I can do to bring it upto date, I am on a bit of a tight (ish) budget as I have a newborn due very soon, so some creative ideas are very welcome. Bang for buck is the key I am looking for.

Any other questions please ask away.

Cheers
Jake
 
theaterix said:
Probably 500-1000 tops but I’d like to keep it below the top end ideally

It is 2x16gb corsair vengeance 3600MHz and a Samsung 970 EVO 500gb M.2
Click to expand...
How old is your current OS install?

Try reinstall Windows and see if that helps.

Otherwise, a new GPU (maybe like a 9070XT) and PSU should make a huge difference to your performance and then if you need more performance, an AM4 CPU and motherboard is a cheap upgrade.
 
You're fortunately in a very good position, sometimes trying to run more than two sticks of RAM on AM4 can be a bit rough. RAM prices are through the absolute roof right now, so the fact you have 2x16 is an excellent start point, although it does limit you to a slightly older system.

I would source an AMD 5600 or 5700, you can find 5600 (do not get the G or GT versions, they've limited L3 cache and it cripples their gaming performance) for around £100 and a B550 motherboard for roughly the same.

A windows reinstall isn't going to make something as old as a Vega56 and 5820K run better in a modern game like Arc Raiders, hold in mind it's a hexa-core with the IPC of Sandy/Ivy bridge from back in 2012.

Then buy these at the top end of your budget:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £877.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Or simply one of these at the lower end if you don't want added storage:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £847.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​
​
Your current PSU should be fine for either.​
 
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-SPR-03983
£770 (incl. VAT)
£660 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 Solid State Drive
STO-KIO-07152
£240 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
PowerColor Radeon RX 9060 XT Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-PWC-05257
£420 (incl. VAT)
£400 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Palit GeForce RTX 5060 Ti White OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-PAL-05740
£470 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Last edited:
JollyJamma said:
How old is your current OS install?

Try reinstall Windows and see if that helps.

Otherwise, a new GPU (maybe like a 9070XT) and PSU should make a huge difference to your performance and then if you need more performance, an AM4 CPU and motherboard is a cheap upgrade.
Click to expand...
Very old, could be a very good idea, tbh the full pc could do with being wiped and reset fully… Years of stuff allover the place, clear of malware but always suspected there was something hiding in the depths.

The PSU is a 850W 80 plus gold seasonic I believe or a Corsair RM850, definitely 80 plus gold 850w
 
Gray2233 said:
You're fortunately in a very good position, sometimes trying to run more than two sticks of RAM on AM4 can be a bit rough. RAM prices are through the absolute roof right now, so the fact you have 2x16 is an excellent start point, although it does limit you to a slightly older system.

I would source an AMD 5600 or 5700, you can find 5600 (do not get the G or GT versions, they've limited L3 cache and it cripples their gaming performance) for around £100 and a B550 motherboard for roughly the same.

A windows reinstall isn't going to make something as old as a Vega56 and 5820K run better in a modern game like Arc Raiders, hold in mind it's a hexa-core with the IPC of Sandy/Ivy bridge from back in 2012.

Then buy these at the top end of your budget:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £877.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Or simply one of these at the lower end if you don't want added storage:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £847.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​
​
Your current PSU should be fine for either.​
Click to expand...
My brother bought some 32gb kits of DDR5 for £150 before the price spike, he has 1 left so he said I could get that off him if I need it, so that’s a possible option…?
 
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-SPR-03983
£770 (incl. VAT)
£660 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 Solid State Drive
STO-KIO-07152
£240 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
PowerColor Radeon RX 9060 XT Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-PWC-05257
£420 (incl. VAT)
£400 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Palit GeForce RTX 5060 Ti White OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-PAL-05740
£470 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Gray2233 said:
You're fortunately in a very good position, sometimes trying to run more than two sticks of RAM on AM4 can be a bit rough. RAM prices are through the absolute roof right now, so the fact you have 2x16 is an excellent start point, although it does limit you to a slightly older system.

I would source an AMD 5600 or 5700, you can find 5600 (do not get the G or GT versions, they've limited L3 cache and it cripples their gaming performance) for around £100 and a B550 motherboard for roughly the same.

A windows reinstall isn't going to make something as old as a Vega56 and 5820K run better in a modern game like Arc Raiders, hold in mind it's a hexa-core with the IPC of Sandy/Ivy bridge from back in 2012.

Then buy these at the top end of your budget:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £877.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Or simply one of these at the lower end if you don't want added storage:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £847.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​
​
Your current PSU should be fine for either.​
Click to expand...
However these seem great options, which is better out of the 9060XT and 5060Ti? Is the 9070 worth nearly double the price of the 9060?
 
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-SPR-03983
£770 (incl. VAT)
£660 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
KIOXIA EXCERIA G3 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe 5.0 Solid State Drive
STO-KIO-07152
£240 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
PowerColor Radeon RX 9060 XT Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-PWC-05257
£420 (incl. VAT)
£400 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Palit GeForce RTX 5060 Ti White OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-PAL-05740
£470 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
theaterix said:
My brother bought some 32gb kits of DDR5 for £150 before the price spike, he has 1 left so he said I could get that off him if I need it, so that’s a possible option…?
Click to expand...

If you've a 32gb DDR5 set at hand it absolutely is.

See here:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £417.96 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

The only reason I'm suggesting an M-ATX motherboard when you have a regular ATX is price and availability on OCUK. If your case doesn't have windows or you don't care much about aesthetics it's very hard to beat for the price.

The 7500X3D is a bit of a forgotten gem when it comes to gaming CPU's.

After that just choose whichever GPU suits you the most, I'd opt for the 9070XT personally as prices are ramping up to the point that the value proposition between low-mid tier cards is decreasing.

Do not go for anything with less than 16gb of VRAM.

See here for relative performance at various resolutions for the GPU's: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-9060-xt-pulse-oc/33.html

You'd need to decide on whether it's worth it or nay, but hold in mind the 9070XT is not double the cost it's roughly 50% more than the 5060ti or 9060XT.
 
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tbh get a new gpu first see how it goes. the card will be holding you back a lot. either way you need a newer gpu so you havent lost out.

if thats fine if you didnt know you should look into some of the x99 server cpus they are cheap as hell you can literally put in like a 14 20 core cpu.
 
~>Dg<~ said:
tbh get a new gpu first see how it goes. the card will be holding you back a lot. either way you need a newer gpu so you havent lost out.

if thats fine if you didnt know you should look into some of the x99 server cpus they are cheap as hell you can literally put in like a 14 20 core cpu.
Click to expand...

While I agree that getting the GPU first is a good shout, a 20 core server CPU isn't going to do a damn for gaming over a 5820K.

It's also going to bottleneck hard even with the cheaper GPU's suggested.
 
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Gray2233 said:
If you've a 32gb DDR5 set at hand it absolutely is.

See here:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £417.96 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

The only reason I'm suggesting an M-ATX motherboard when you have a regular ATX is price and availability on OCUK. If your case doesn't have windows or you don't care much about aesthetics it's very hard to beat for the price.

The 7500X3D is a bit of a forgotten gem when it comes to gaming CPU's.

After that just choose whichever GPU suits you the most, I'd opt for the 9070XT personally as prices are ramping up to the point that the value proposition between low-mid tier cards is decreasing.

Do not go for anything with less than 16gb of VRAM.

See here for relative performance at various resolutions for the GPU's: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-9060-xt-pulse-oc/33.html

You'd need to decide on whether it's worth it or nay, but hold in mind the 9070XT is not double the cost it's roughly 50% more than the 5060ti or 9060XT.
Click to expand...
Will be able to save on the cooler as I have a 240mm AIO, will need to find a bracket for it though, the performance gain of minimum 64% on the 9070 XT vs 9060 seems worth it…
 
Gray2233 said:
While I agree that getting the GPU first is a good shout, a 20 core server CPU isn't going to do a damn for gaming over a 5820K.

It's also going to bottleneck hard even with the cheaper GPU's suggested.
Click to expand...
Gray2233 said:
While I agree that getting the GPU first is a good shout, a 20 core server CPU isn't going to do a damn for gaming over a 5820K.

It's also going to bottleneck hard even with the cheaper GPU's suggested.
Click to expand...
Do you think there would be much bottleneck with the 9070XT with the 5820k…? Or even if I got a cheap 5960X (£45 on eBay?) just for now until I could free up some more finances…? I mean I can probably swing the AM4/5 bundle and the 9060, but longer term I’d probably want the 9070 most short term…?
 
theaterix said:
Do you think there would be much bottleneck with the 9070XT with the 5820k…? Or even if I got a cheap 5960X (£45 on eBay?) just for now until I could free up some more finances…? I mean I can probably swing the AM4/5 bundle and the 9060, but longer term I’d probably want the 9070 most short term…?
Click to expand...

Much more moderate GPU's will bottleneck on more modern processors.

It does to a point depend on the resolution, but you're on a platform and CPU that's over 15 years old. A 5960X will do very little to change this in gaming unfortunately, and hold in mind you're looking to run very modern games. You're not going to get magically good results with the games you're playing by pumping up cores with tiny IPC uplift, you're just going to make whatever GPU you buy unable to reach its potential.

I am not a fan of bottleneck claims in most instances, but you're absolutely in that situation right now. That said, buy whatever GPU first and see how you feel before looking at a platform update. Regardless, I would absolutely not pair a 9070XT with such an old CPU for a multiplayer game.

A 9060XT would lose around a third to half of its performance at 1080-1440P on your system at my (rough, kind) estimate.
 
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Gray2233 said:
Much more moderate GPU's will bottleneck on more modern processors.

It does to a point depend on the resolution, but you're on a platform and CPU that's over 15 years old. A 5960X will do very little to change this in gaming unfortunately, and hold in mind you're looking to run very modern games. You're not going to get magically good results with the games you're playing by pumping up cores with tiny IPC uplift, you're just going to make whatever GPU you buy unable to reach its potential.

I am not a fan of bottleneck claims in most instances, but you're absolutely in that situation right now. That said, buy whatever GPU first and see how you feel before looking at a platform update. Regardless, I would absolutely not pair a 9070XT with such an old CPU for a multiplayer game.

A 9060XT would lose around a third to half of its performance at 1080-1440P on your system at my (rough, kind) estimate.
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Yeah… the last paragraph kind of makes me feel the need to upgrade the full lot at once… As I very much know that’ll be the case and I’ll only end up doing it straight after anyways
 
Doing the GPU first would be interesting and help give you an idea which games need the CPU grunt more than the others.

If you're wanting to save some dosh, you could just postpone the troublesome games till a later date, though I know that would be disappointing with a new shiny to play with.

If you're planning to upgrade the monitor (higher res) then I'd go with a 9070 or 5070, at least, especially for 4K.

Be wary of large core count CPUs. I don't know much about your socket, but large core counts tend to boost lower and when you have a dated CPU you'll need all the clock speed you can get. More than 6 cores is in diminishing returns territory for the majority of games.
 
Gray2233 said:
While I agree that getting the GPU first is a good shout, a 20 core server CPU isn't going to do a damn for gaming over a 5820K.

It's also going to bottleneck hard even with the cheaper GPU's suggested.
Click to expand...
tbh the 5820k is fine overclocked as he has it. depends on res he plays. 5820k with a decent gpu is still fine.
 
theaterix said:
Yeah… the last paragraph kind of makes me feel the need to upgrade the full lot at once… As I very much know that’ll be the case and I’ll only end up doing it straight after anyways
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be too hard on it. At 4.6 Ghz, that CPU will cope fine with many games.

I'd say at least equivalent to the performance of a 9600K, in these benches.

It'll chug in some of the newer more demanding games.

 
~>Dg<~ said:
tbh the 5820k is fine overclocked as he has it. depends on res he plays. 5820k with a decent gpu is still fine.
Click to expand...

The 5820K is certainly a longevity king, I actually recommended it to people way back in the day on other forums over quads when they rarely upgraded.

It's just going to throttle hard even at 4K with most games with the current GPU's, the OP might be happy with perf running a throttled 9060XT but buying a 9070XT would be worse again when a cheaper card + a platform update would be much faster in most instances than just buying the higher end GPU.

I would buy a 9060XT 16gb to see how I got on, I would not buy a 9070XT by the same logic unless I intended to upgrade the rest, either way you're losing performance.
 
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Tetras said:
Doing the GPU first would be interesting and help give you an idea which games need the CPU grunt more than the others.

If you're wanting to save some dosh, you could just postpone the troublesome games till a later date, though I know that would be disappointing with a new shiny to play with.

If you're planning to upgrade the monitor (higher res) then I'd go with a 9070 or 5070, at least, especially for 4K.

Be wary of large core count CPUs. I don't know much about your socket, but large core counts tend to boost lower and when you have a dated CPU you'll need all the clock speed you can get. More than 6 cores is in diminishing returns territory for the majority of games.
Click to expand...
Res will probably be staying at 2560x1080 for the foreseeable future, albeit may switch to my partners 144hz which is 1080 or 1440 can’t remember which need to check
 
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