Components Check (AM5/7950X)

JamieM

JamieM

JamieM

Associate
Joined
17 Jan 2009
Posts
68
Hello,

I think I'm ready to take the plunge... Upgrading from an Intel 6950X

The Thermal Paste as that's for dealing with a older laptop.

I plan to use my old GTX 1080 until either the 40xx Series or AMD's new graphics card in November, (remains to be seen)..


Concerns
Is the PSU reasonable enough for 7950X and say a RTX 4090 ?
64 GB Ram is needed, confirmation on whether 2x32GB Sticks is better than 4x16GB Sticks in terms of performance, would be great...
I believe the 360mm radiator should fit in the case.

Suggestions would go a long way, for example, this motherboard... Would performance be the same with a cheaper board for example..

Final concern is if I should really be waiting for Intels 13900k release to compare Intel latest and AMD latest.




My basket at OcUK:

Total: £3,117.88 (includes delivery: £28.02)​

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AMD Ryzen 9 7950X Sixteen Core 5.70GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DE-AM
£600 (incl. VAT)
£450 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6J4-AS
£550 (incl. VAT)
£530 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Lian Li Lancool II Mesh C performance Midi-Tower Case - Black
CA-79R-LL
£105 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-10528)
SW-18K-MS
£150 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
AC-000-AC
£8 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
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Wow that is an expensive mobo and the nvme drive is a butt clencher as well. Certainly an early adopter tax with the X670 mobos. A cheaper mobo will almost certainly work just as well , just make sure it has all the features you really need.

The psu seems a reasonable price for a 1200w platinum unit and be quiet do make good psus. Are you aware that there is a new ATX 3.0 spec for psus rolling out at the moment? will have a new smart connector that allows the gpu to communicate with the psu. Have been a few concerns over the fragility of these new connectors but no failures that I know of so may just be fear mongering.
 
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Haz123 said:
Wow that is an expensive mobo and the nvme drive is a butt clencher as well. Certainly an early adopter tax with the X670 mobos.

The psu seems a reasonable price for a 1200w platinum unit and be quiet do make good psus. Are you aware that there is a new ATX 3.0 spec for psus rolling out at the moment? will have a new smart connector that allows the gpu to communicate with the psu. Have been a few concerns over the fragility of these new connectors but no failures that I know of so may just be fear mongering.
Click to expand...

I was trying to find out what ATX3.0 was but no specification was mentioned on any of X670 boards about what ATX version they were..
 
Apart from gaming what else do you use your computer for do you need 16 cores ?

360mm cooler needs to go in the front of that case, would also get a rgb lian li aio and if you like that case get the rgb version. Usb type c port is an extra for that case £12
 
The psu to motherboard connectors are the same. Intel wanted to change them but there was push back and it did not happen. The change is the connection to the gpu and it will be able to supply 450w with a single cable and it is a smart cable to allow them to communicate in some way.
 
mickyflinn said:
Apart from gaming what else do you use your computer for do you need 16 cores ?

360mm cooler needs to go in the front of that case, would also get a rgb lian li aio and if you like that case get the rgb version. Usb type c port is an extra for that case £12
Click to expand...

I do a fair bit of programming, whilst I benefit from multiple cores, I still feel like single core performance is most important to me.

Cheers for the case information, I'll check out the Lian Li AIO and case.

Haz123 said:
The psu to motherboard connectors are the same. Intel wanted to change them but there was push back and it did not happen. The change is the connection to the gpu and it will be able to supply 450w with a single cable and it is a smart cable to allow them to communicate in some way.
Click to expand...

I see, thanks for that information was much clearer to understand than googles results.
 
Haz123 said:
Wow that is an expensive mobo and the nvme drive is a butt clencher as well. Certainly an early adopter tax with the X670 mobos. A cheaper mobo will almost certainly work just as well , just make sure it has all the features you really need.

The psu seems a reasonable price for a 1200w platinum unit and be quiet do make good psus. Are you aware that there is a new ATX 3.0 spec for psus rolling out at the moment? will have a new smart connector that allows the gpu to communicate with the psu. Have been a few concerns over the fragility of these new connectors but no failures that I know of so may just be fear mongering.
Click to expand...
Have to agree with this.

I'd probably get an ATX 3.0 PSU if I was OP but only because they have the money and it's a long term thought.
 
Just watched a vid from Buildzoid and he took the heatsink off the VRM of an X670 mobo and it was still very low temp even with a 7950x. It looks like the manufacturers have gone crazy and overspecced every aspect of these X670 mobos and even the very cheapest will be more than good enough for the 7950x.

Massive 18 + 2 teamed power solution rated for 110A per stage​


That is the power delivery on the mobo you have picked above and Buildzoid was using a 7950x and drawing under 180A. The motherboard can deliver over 2000A so it would be utilizing 10% of its theoretical limit , that is crazily overspecced and no wonder he could not get the VRM over 75C even with the heatsink removed.

It is a great mobo with a lot of great features but I get a feeling the B650 mobos will also be more than adequate for the 7000 series as well. I get a feeling Asus are milking their loyal Hero customers , it seems to get £100 more expensive with every generation of cpu.

I would definitely wait to see what Intel 13th gen is like and also see whether the B650 mobos bring some value to the platform.

Edit - Answering one of your original questions about ram,. Definitely get 2x32gb and not 4x16. AM5 is only specced for 3600mhz with 4 sticks , it may run a lot faster than that in reality but AMD have set their bar very low with 4 slots populated.
 
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The motherboard can deliver over 2000A so it would be utilizing 10% of its theoretical limit , that is crazily overspecced and no wonder he could not get the VRM over 75C even with the heatsink removed.
Click to expand...
That's mad. Paying for features you don't need by the looks of things. Must be a marketing thing?
 
I'd wait for the 13900k / 13700k as its only 3 weeks away and since you've stuck with your current CPU a number of years a few more weeks won't hurt.
 
I think these are mostly reasonable suggestions, I will take them under advisement, I'll try wait for the 13900 or for the B boards to be released at the very least

Thanks
 
mickyflinn said:
How ?

AM5 is DDR5 only so how can it be specced for 3600mhz , you can't get DDR5 that slow.
Click to expand...
Haz123 said:
I heard it in a Jayz2cent vid so maybe he mispoke or I heard it wrong and he actually ment 4600mhz. Did seem odd at the time so I will have to check at some point.
Click to expand...
The 'rated' speed RAM is sold at is normally the 'overclocked' speed. This is why we have to go into the UEFI (often called BIOS - https://www.howtogeek.com/56958/htg-explains-how-uefi-will-replace-the-bios/) and enable XMP or DOCP or similar to get half the marketed speed (Mhz vs MT/s - https://www.kingston.com/unitedkingdom/en/blog/pc-performance/mts-vs-mhz)

Probably what Jay was referring to is the JDEC spec that DDR5 runs at. For DDR4 this speed is between 1600MT/s and 2400MT/s - https://xdevs.com/doc/Standards/DDR4/JESD79-4 DDR4 SDRAM.pdf

For DDR5 the JDEC spec is behind a paywall, so I can't reference it directly. But 3600MT/s as a spec would not surprise me.
 
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Like others have said wait to see what raptor lake can do, chances are single core performance will be better… as will multi core I suspect.

definitely bin the windows licence though… those are much much cheaper elsewhere
 
Honestly I'm in a similar boat but don't really give a flying fig about the new Intel Cpu's this time round. Sure they're possibly a little faster but what's sprung it for me for Amd is the future socket support. Heard somewhere it will be supported until at least 2025 meaning at minimum two potential upgrade cycles 8000x and 9000x cpus if they keep the same names. Intel 14th gen will require an entire platform change again.
 
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