Help with choosing CPU/Mobo bundle

Kyrocera · 5 Oct 2021 at 14:47

Hey everyone,

I'm looking at upgrading my current system

i5-2500k [email protected]
EVGA Superclocked GTX1070

I have the option to purchase one of these bundles for roughly the same price (£350) but I really dont know which one is best or if they are even worth it. My machine is primarily for gaming.

Z390 Pro + I7-9700k (+cooler) + 32Gb Memory
or
Z490-H + I7-10700k (no cooler or memory)
or
ASUS TUF B550 + 3700X (stock cooler, no memory)

If I buy either of the Intels, I will need a new PSU because my current one does not have the extra 4 pin motherboard connector.

Are these worth it?
Should I be looking at something else?
Should I wait until the next gen AMD's get released so the older CPUs drop in price?

I'm not in any rush to upgrade but if there is a deal to be had then ill go for it.

Joxeon · 5 Oct 2021 at 14:52

I'd wait a month for Intel 12 gen release and see how that performs, at the very least you'll probably find the current Intel and AMD parts receive a price cut.

The extra 4 pin is only for LN2 overclocking so only the 8 pin is needed.

Kyrocera · 7 Oct 2021 at 10:21

Joxeon said:
I'd wait a month for Intel 12 gen release and see how that performs, at the very least you'll probably find the current Intel and AMD parts receive a price cut.

The extra 4 pin is only for LN2 overclocking so only the 8 pin is needed.

Thanks for the reply. If the prices do drop, im still unsure which of these options would be best.

mickyflinn · 7 Oct 2021 at 10:44

9700k with motherboard and 32gb of memory is a decent upgrade for £350 .

32gb of memory is £150 or 16gb is £70 so you have to add that to the other 2 options .

Haz123 · 7 Oct 2021 at 13:00

Either wait a month to see what Intel bring to table and see if that is worthwhile or drops other prices.

Imo none of those options are sensible and B550+5600x is a better option. Look for a bundle with 16gb of DDR4. Or a bundle with decent PSU included if you need a new one. You do not always need that extra 4 pin cable and will almost always work with just the 8 pin.

EsaT · 7 Oct 2021 at 20:32

Kyrocera said:
If I buy either of the Intels, I will need a new PSU...

You likely need that anyway, unless it's newer than your CPU.
(or top quality model of the time)

JollyJamma · 7 Oct 2021 at 21:12

Kyrocera said:
Hey everyone,

I'm looking at upgrading my current system

i5-2500k [email protected]
EVGA Superclocked GTX1070

I have the option to purchase one of these bundles for roughly the same price (£350) but I really dont know which one is best or if they are even worth it. My machine is primarily for gaming.

Z390 Pro + I7-9700k (+cooler) + 32Gb Memory
or
Z490-H + I7-10700k (no cooler or memory)
or
ASUS TUF B550 + 3700X (stock cooler, no memory)

If I buy either of the Intels, I will need a new PSU because my current one does not have the extra 4 pin motherboard connector.

Are these worth it?
Should I be looking at something else?
Should I wait until the next gen AMD's get released so the older CPUs drop in price?

I'm not in any rush to upgrade but if there is a deal to be had then ill go for it.

Do you need 32 gigs of ram?

10700K bundle gets my vote but it’s up to you. Get a new PSU for now though and see if you can get a complete bundle (RAM CPU and mobo) for a very discounted price.

Kyrocera · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:31

EsaT said:
You likely need that anyway, unless it's newer than your CPU.
(or top quality model of the time)

My PSU is newer than my CPU, I would guess around 5 years old maybe less.

JollyJamma said:
Do you need 32 gigs of ram?

No not at all, its just that the bundle i was looking at on ebay came with it.

JollyJamma · 12 Oct 2021 at 11:18

Kyrocera said:
My PSU is newer than my CPU, I would guess around 5 years old maybe less.

No not at all, its just that the bundle i was looking at on ebay came with it.

Why are you buying from eBay? What is the model of your PSU? Need exact model code. YOu can get variations between models within the same brand with the same specs and one can be a turd and the other can be amazing.

Kyrocera · 12 Oct 2021 at 11:44

JollyJamma said:
Why are you buying from eBay? What is the model of your PSU? Need exact model code. YOu can get variations between models within the same brand with the same specs and one can be a turd and the other can be amazing.

Just looking at 2nd hand bundles for a good deal.

PSU is a Corsair CX600M

Craig_d1 · 12 Oct 2021 at 14:05

what speed ram is it?

Kyrocera · 12 Oct 2021 at 16:01

Craig_d1 said:
what speed ram is it?

The item has ended now, think it went for £360. RAM Speed was 2666Mhz

Craig_d1 · 12 Oct 2021 at 16:19

Kyrocera said:
The item has ended now, think it went for £360. RAM Speed was 2666Mhz

Well if that's off table I'd leave other two. If on a budget seen MSI B550 Gaming edge wifi up for grabs(says never been used)..no one bidding and will look at a bid...That's a great mobo. Pair that with a 5600x and you've got the basis of a great gaming machine

EsaT · 12 Oct 2021 at 17:42

Kyrocera said:
PSU is a Corsair CX600M

That design was outdated low end already decade ago.
And while performance as new was good for budget, third tier C(r)apXon capacitors aren't good for longevity.
Measly 3 year warranty tells it wasn't designed to last in heavier use.
So would certainly plan on upgrading it inside year or two.

Kyrocera · 13 Oct 2021 at 08:31

Craig_d1 said:
Well if that's off table I'd leave other two. If on a budget seen MSI B550 Gaming edge wifi up for grabs(says never been used)..no one bidding and will look at a bid...That's a great mobo. Pair that with a 5600x and you've got the basis of a great gaming machine

The 5600X is what i keep coming back to and think im just gonna have to dive in and do it.

EsaT said:
That design was outdated low end already decade ago.
And while performance as new was good for budget, third tier C(r)apXon capacitors aren't good for longevity.
Measly 3 year warranty tells it wasn't designed to last in heavier use.
So would certainly plan on upgrading it inside year or two.

Yeah i know im gonna have to replace it at some point but while its working I dont have to worry about it.

coombs said:
Looking at upgrading myself too but can’t decide on AMD or intel.

Ive been edging towards AMD more than Intel but not ruling out Intel if something great comes along.

JollyJamma · 13 Oct 2021 at 11:05

coombs said:
Looking at upgrading myself too but can’t decide on AMD or intel.

Intel are a good budget build platform. Their high end offerings are not good value for money when compared to AMD.

AMD's lower spec CPUs are very expensive relative to Intel's offerings. That being said, the 5600X is an amazing CPU and is closer to the performance of an 8 core than a 6 core processor.

There are new B2 revisions coming from AMD so we may see a non X 5600 CPU come along. That being said, there's no such thing as a bad option these days, just bad value.

Craig_d1 · 13 Oct 2021 at 11:26

JollyJamma said:
Intel are a good budget build platform. Their high end offerings are not good value for money when compared to AMD.

AMD's lower spec CPUs are very expensive relative to Intel's offerings. That being said, the 5600X is an amazing CPU and is closer to the performance of an 8 core than a 6 core processor.

There are new B2 revisions coming from AMD so we may see a non X 5600 CPU come along. That being said, there's no such thing as a bad option these days, just bad value.

the new am4 5000 series with 3d v cache cpu are coming Q1 next year...they'll offer a 15% uplift in gaming compared to current 5000 series, so getting amd 5600x not a bad shout...upgrade path up to 5950x with the new 3d v cache further down the line. That'll outperform intel current offering in current gen upgrade paths....
or wait for alderlake. cpu can run with ddr4 as well as ddr5, so start with ddr4 and upgrade ram to ddr5 when price/performance improves. Be good to get an idea of the new mobo prices too

Haz123 · 13 Oct 2021 at 11:44

coombs said:
is ddr5 going to be much better ?

In some circumstances DDR5 systems will be amazing whilst in others they may at first be worse. Gaming performance may be worse on DDR5 to start with but over time the DDR5 modules will get faster and have better timings and will improve.

Wait until Alderlake is in the hands of independent reviewers before making a decision on DDR5. Currently Intel will be cherry picking what to show and that will be the absolute best case scenarios for DDR5 and ADL and not the ones where they do badly.

JollyJamma · 13 Oct 2021 at 15:00

coombs said:
is ddr5 going to be much better ?

It's going to be very expensive as it'll be a brand new tech. Rather wait for DDR5 to mature a little before getting it.

EsaT · 13 Oct 2021 at 15:15

coombs said:
is ddr5 going to be much better ?

For memory bandwidth intensive use it's clear performance step forward.
But for latency intensive use like gaming performance regression is likely.

While new memory type has always been at first slower in access time than good existing gen memory, DDR5's timings simply suck donkey balls:
For example this kit has 40 cycle primary timings for 4800MHz.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...00c40-4800mhz-dual-channel-kit-my-0an-tg.html
In absolute time that's same what 20 cycles would do at low end for DDR4 2400 MHz speed.
And that 20 cycles would be mediocre even for lot shorter cycle 3600 MHz DDR4:
3600MHz standard latency is 18 cycles and good memories are at 16 cycles.

So it's no wonder that Alder Lake+DDR5 has 90+ ns memory latency:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gear-4-mode-tested-on-alder-lake
(that's with monolithic die without Intel yet having chiplet design)

For comparison current DDR4 Intels run routinely at 50ns memory latency.
Also Ryzens achieve around 60ns with good memory.
And compared to Ryzens Alder Lake is also going to have small cache to try to mask memory latency: 32MB vs 64MB of higher Ryzens.
While at the same time AMD's Zen3 winter refresh with 3D stacked L3 is going to triple L3's size to 192MB.