I want to upgrade my CPU, should i?

Dark_Ansem

Dark_Ansem

Dark_Ansem

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As per title, I would like to upgrade my CPU but I am not sure if it is worth it or how I am supposed to do it anyway. I'd appreciate any help. Which information do I need to post?
 
If you download cpuz and instal it then that program will tell you all the relevant info. You will be able to tell us what cpu , motherboard and ram you currently have.

Other relevant information is: What do you plan to do with your PC ? What GPU do you have ? What PSU do you have ? Budget ?
 
Thank you both: here is the CPU-Z data

Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel Core i9 7980XE
Codename Skylake-X
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-7980XE CPU @ 2.60GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 2066 LGA (0x2)
DMI Baseboard
vendor Alienware
model 0HJ5Y7
revision A00
serial .5QXVWM2.CN6970278Q0206.

What I plan to do with my PC? work and gaming, hopefully lots of it
my GPU is a RTX 3080
 
Tetras said:
What kind of work do you do? That's a very powerful (and very expensive, when it was new) workstation CPU.
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It was, and I'm not entirely sure I need an entirely new one now, but I am curious to know my options and maybe make it happen if the advantages outweigh the costs.

I am a teacher and do 3d modeling/very limited animation as a side hustle.
 
Dark_Ansem said:
It was, and I'm not entirely sure I need an entirely new one now, but I am curious to know my options and maybe make it happen if the advantages outweigh the costs.

I am a teacher and do 3d modeling/very limited animation as a side hustle.
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If time is money (and you spend a lot of time waiting around) then it might be worth it, but to be a meaningful upgrade, then e.g. a 5600X isn't going to cut it (since the 7980XE is a multi-threading monster). You'd be looking at something like the 13700K (if you want to keep DDR4 memory), or the 7900X, to take advantage of the newer architectures, much faster single-threaded performance (especially for games) and not drop too many cores. I'd have a look at the benchmarks puget do for workstation apps (they have a Zen 4 review up already), the 7950X review on HUB and the 7900X review at GN.
 
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Dark_Ansem said:
Thank you. Are you saying AMD + nvidia would be a good combo?
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No, I'm not making any comment about AMD (and the Intel 13th gen reviews aren't even out yet).

I'm just suggesting that you set a high minimum baseline (the i7-13700K has 16 cores and the Ryzen 9 7900X has 12 cores) to get a significant upgrade on the 7980XE for workstation use. If you watch the videos I linked and check the workstation apps (like blender) you'll get an idea how Zen 4 performs.

I think it would be pointless to replace your CPU with a mainstream part like a Ryzen 5 5600X, 7 5700X or i5-12400, that's what I'm getting at. Gaming is a different story because it doesn't use your 7890XE's 18 cores.
 
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Is there any way to check how healthy is my CPU? just to check whether I am in need of an urgent switch or it I can keep going, as I got this in 2017?
 
Run Blender and compare your scores versus other similar systems. CPUs do not really get slower as they age and the motherboard will generally be the component that fails the most often. The vendor of your PC often uses inadequate cooling for high end components so you may have throttling issues so a blender test is always worthwhile.

You have an Alienware so if you were to upgrade you would need almost a full new system. Not sure what will be reuseable because that OEM manufacturer uses custom parts that may not work with other industry standard components
 
Dark_Ansem said:
I would like to upgrade my CPU but I am not sure if it is worth it
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Run Task Manager or another CPU monitoring tool while using it. If the CPU as a whole or one of its cores gets to or near to 100% then you may benefit from a new CPU. Do note, though that your CPU has 18 full cores - performance cores in Intel's parlance - whereas new Intel CPUs top out at 8 performance cores (and varying numbers of much weaker 'efficiency' cores); AMD's highest core count desktop offering has only 16 cores. So while your CPU may be slower on a per-core basis, it may be faster when you're using all the cores. AMD also have their Threadripper Pro line with 12-64 cores, but they can be serious money.

Dark_Ansem said:
That sucks. so I'd actually have to end up getting a new system for a CPU upgrade?
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You should be able to keep the GPU and storage devices.
 
Dark_Ansem said:
That sucks. so I'd actually have to end up getting a new system for a CPU upgrade?
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You have the best cpu you can put in that motherboard so to get more performance you would have to step up to a new platform such as AM5 , so yes an entire new system. The gpu is the best and most reusable part of your PC and that will almost certainly be reuseable in a new PC. Case and PSU are most likely not compatable with other ATX specification parts.

Did you run Blender and compare your scores to systems similar to yours and other newer platforms ?
 
Dark_Ansem said:
That sucks. so I'd actually have to end up getting a new system for a CPU upgrade?
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If you can give us the model name/number, it is possible to download the specs and service manual of your system. I googled the motherboard model and surprisingly it looks like standard ATX and the PSU seems to be a minimum of 850 watt.
 
www.techspot.com

Cinebench

Cinebench 2024 utilizes the power of Redshift, Cinema 4D's default rendering engine, to evaluate your computer's CPU and GPU capabilities.
www.techspot.com www.techspot.com

Some downloads for Cinebench. Will be more results with R23 I imagine and especially for upto date cpus like the 7950x.

I just ran the test and got 15k points, I then checked your cpu on the list below and your cpu can expect to be getting 28k points so almost twice as fast in multithreaded applications. Your cpu would most likely be slower in single threaded applications and that will severely hamper the gaming performance but for productivety work your pc is great.

Intel Core i9-7980XE Benchmark, Test and specs

The Intel Core i9-7980XE is a 18 core processor. It can handle 36 threads simultaneously and was introduced in Q4/2017. The Intel Core i9-7980XE is ba
www.cpu-monkey.com www.cpu-monkey.com

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core) CPU benchmark list

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core) list with performance comparison of all CPUs in this benchmark
www.cpu-monkey.com www.cpu-monkey.com

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core) CPU benchmark list

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core) list with performance comparison of all CPUs in this benchmark
www.cpu-monkey.com www.cpu-monkey.com

Cooling. Your OEM often does special things with high end components and I suggest you run the R23 test a few times. If on the first test you get 27k+ and then it drops significantly below that afterwards then it has inadequate cooling.

Your PC should still be great so what in particular is making you want to upgrade the CPU? Which 3D modeling program do you use?
 
Tetras said:
The system, if I google the motherboard it brings up several alternatives for the system and I don't know which one it is.
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Oh it's the 2017 model of the Alienware Area-51.
Haz123 said:
Your PC should still be great so what in particular is making you want to upgrade the CPU? Which 3D modeling program do you use?
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I feel that its performance has degraded, maybe it could be a software issue, but I'm concenred about a system format.
 
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