Help me pick a gaming upgrade.

[GeorgeStorm]

Yeah, it is on a certain "import" site/market, but a lot of people have bought them without issue, the price does fluctuate a bit however and with word of mouth spreading they might have went up a bit in price.

I'd say at under £150 they're a bargain tbh.

I struggle to justify the 7600's at their current price point.

Yeah I got mine from ali quickly, no issues just didn't see any cheaper than £125ish, could get them in the UK but I think £140 or so was the cheapest I saw, but yeah even at that price I think it's a great buy.
I would also consider shopping around for 7700x/9600x as both could be had for under £200 2nd hand when I was looking.

 

[Journey]

Sensible option here:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory
Storage: Kingston NV3 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Total: ~£420

Imported Ryzen 7 7700, AM5 platform, basic but capable board, good RAM, chose what ever SSD you like but they make no difference to performance at all for day to day use anymore, so the NV3 is excellent value at ~£45 per TB.

 

[MoridinUK]

If you're not comfortable with bundles/imports for the 7400F/7500F I'd consider a 8400F as a cheap boxed entry point to AM5. They're not ideal, but they perform fine and you'll have a nice upgrade path available.

AMD's latest China-exclusive CPUs benchmarked — Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F aren't much slower than costlier models

Zen 4 without the RDNA 3 graphics

www.tomshardware.com

That's a lot of board for a 7600X I'd be inclined to go cheap, but not sure if this has already been discussed here too. I just think ~£150 odd is the most you really need to pay for a board to pair with a 7600X.

I'm just not sure about the imports, what's real what are fakes etc. and the 8400f just didn't seem like much of an upgrade next to the processors I was looking for.

Yes, the board is a lot for 7600x but I need an AM5 board whatever happens. And if I intend to replace the 7600x with a bigger CPU in a year or two I was thinking if I had this board I wouldn't need to buy a new one then but you are right I could put that off to later and save some cash.

The air cooler will work just fain if you want to save £70 on the AIO, also a good B650E board will save you around £100 to

But the cheapest I can see b650e on overclockers is still £209 Though Tetras did once point me a lga1700 board in the store I can not find without using his direct link. (which is very odd)

In general agree with this, although didn't realise the 7500F could be found for quite that cheap! Cheapest I found a month or so ago was ~£125 or so, at £100 that is a complete no brainer (even at £140 I'd consider it a no brainer to be honest)

I have found what looks like a crazy bundle I mean it's too good to be true, I really worry I'm just looking at ripped over parts somehow. I know we can't discuss competitors so I can't say more.

I can't find a single 7500f from a retailer I recognise.

Yeah, it is on a certain "import" site/market, but a lot of people have bought them without issue, the price does fluctuate a bit however and with word of mouth spreading they might have went up a bit in price.

I'd say at under £150 they're a bargain tbh.

I struggle to justify the 7600's at their current price point.

This is the same place I just found a bundle which I can't believe my eyes I wish I could ask people's opinions.

if the 7600x is at a bad price point is the 9600x at that much of a better one?

 

[MoridinUK]

Yeah I got mine from ali quickly, no issues just didn't see any cheaper than £125ish, could get them in the UK but I think £140 or so was the cheapest I saw, but yeah even at that price I think it's a great buy.
I would also consider shopping around for 7700x/9600x as both could be had for under £200 2nd hand when I was looking.

Second hand is how I got stuck with my current faulty cpu!

 

[Gray2233]

if the 7600x is at a bad price point is the 9600x at that much of a better one?

That's up to you to decide, I'd suggest properly reading reviews rather than scanning averages/breakdowns.

It on average is not that much better, but sometimes as stated it very much can be, there's the odd title where it's 20% + uplift which I'd argue is very much worth it for £30 and to boot you're at least getting a current gen CPU.

Some suggest the 7700 but it'd need to be sub £150 for me to consider, it might be if you look at the same place where the 7500F is cheap, but the extra cores are unlikely to help in 99% of games. If they're within the same price range then sure, it's a damned good buy and a better option than the 7500F.

You're much more likely to find uplift from a 9600 in games than you are from the extra cores of a 7700.

 

[Journey]

I'm just not sure about the imports, what's real what are fakes etc.

When you see a seller with 3000+ sales of the same item with glowing 5 start reviews, and pictures galore from happy buyers you know it'll be fine, also PayPal.

 

[MoridinUK]

When you see a seller with 3000+ sales of the same item with glowing 5 start reviews, and pictures galore from happy buyers you know it'll be fine, also PayPal.

Wish I'd checked this thread again before clicking go... 16 sold lol all 5 stars though.

I will end up with this for £529.97:

Ryzen 5 7500f
GIGABYTE B650M GAMING WIFI Micro-ATX
32 gb 6000cl30 ram
1tb gen 4 t500 m.2
32 165mhz 1440dp freesync samsung monitor

As it's am mATX board I can fit it with my current cooler.

 

[WARburton]

But the cheapest I can see b650e on overclockers is still £209 Though Tetras did once point me a lga1700 board in the store I can not find without using his direct link. (which is very odd)

yes they may have started to fade them out but this look like a good board for £150

Asrock B850M Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard

Order Asrock B850M Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

EDIT if you need wifi or BT for a game pad go with the
GIGABYTE B650M GAMING WIFI Micro-ATX

 

[GeorgeStorm]

Second hand is how I got stuck with my current faulty cpu!

What really? Don't think I've ever had an issue and I've abused my fair amount of cpus almost none of which were bought new originally!
Sounds like you'll have a nice system, would personally look to spend a little more to try and get a 2tb drive as they seem to fill up quicker than ever!

 

[WARburton]

What really? Don't think I've ever had an issue and I've abused my fair amount of cpus almost none of which were bought new originally!

ive had a few, both new and used

 

[MoridinUK]

What really? Don't think I've ever had an issue and I've abused my fair amount of cpus almost none of which were bought new originally!
Sounds like you'll have a nice system, would personally look to spend a little more to try and get a 2tb drive as they seem to fill up quicker than ever!

ive had a few, both new and used

It took ages to figure out. The 2nd core ran 5-8 degrees hotter than the others. Prime95 would always crash until I tried cancelling the problem core then it would run steady as a rock, even with an overclock on it.
But it took me ages to figure out it was the cpu and the ebay seller wasn't interested in helping out, claimed it was perfect when he took it out of his old machine so....

But what I have coming is not MUCH better than this was so all good.

 

[WARburton]

It took ages to figure out. The 2nd core ran 5-8 degrees hotter than the others. Prime95 would always crash until I tried cancelling the problem core then it would run steady as a rock, even with an overclock on it.
But it took me ages to figure out it was the cpu and the ebay seller wasn't interested in helping out, claimed it was perfect when he took it out of his old machine so....

But what I have coming is not MUCH better than this was so all good.

ive had a few AM4 chips that worked until they just didnt post one day