Interim upgrade for 3080

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Soldato
Joined
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Posts
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Location
East Lancs
With mainsteam DDR5 systems just a little too far down the road (especailly when you don't want to be an early adopter) I need a reasonably priced interim upgrade for my Skylake system so my 3080 can stretch its legs properly. I was pricing up a 5950X system but don't quite see the value with updates so close.

I'm upgrading to a AW3821DW for productivity (web developer) but need my PC to be able to game with as much quality as possible at 3840x1600. I also dabble in some 3D rendering to a decent core/thread count would be nice.

Current System
i7 6700K @ 4.5GHz
H115i AIO
Asus Maximus Hero VIII
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB PC4-25600C16 3200MHz
3080 FE
HX750 (from 2011 but is handling the 3080 just fine)

Some Preferences
  • I'm a little out of the loop but I suspect AMD is the way to go.
  • I can get an AM4 bracket for my cooler.
  • I have a little aversion to cheap motherboards, prefer a reasonably priced board with quality caps etc (similar level to my current board). Are ASUS still quality?
  • While I don't care too much about pretty lights or Wifi, I would like to take full advantage of an M.2 SSD that won't steal GPU lanes (I have SATA SSDs at the moment).
  • I also have a 2 disk RAID 1 array I'd like to keep.
  • Decent potential overclock.

What do you guys recommend without getting into silly money? I'm not setting a budget as such, under £500 would be nice but I'm variable for a little quality of life and longevity (in case the next gen is out of reach). I should get a little back selling my current MOBO/CPU/RAM so I'm open to some variance for quality but if there's a solid cheaper option that won't be a compromise I'm also open-minded.

Cheers :)
 
Going to the Ryzen 9 5950X today is good. You won't need any AM5/DDR5 in the next at least 5 years.

DDR5 is too far away from being mainstream or mature enough to offer any good performance improvements.

This said, don't go for "interim" but a lasting system today.
 
Hmmm, interesting, thanks guys.

Quick musing in the store then, bit more than I wanted to spend but if my old H115i and PSU can keep up then it's not the end of the world and £400 cheaper than when I built my current system in 2016 (including case, cooler and GPU).

Could get the TUF board (STRIX-F is barely cheaper) but STRIX has better audio and expandability for a few pennies more. RAM is pricey but CAS is important in these AMD builds I believe and 3600 should be an easy OC (I assume it'll run 1:1 from what I've read).



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,030.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)
 
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You can get a significant upgrade for just £370.

5600x £250
MSi MAG b550 Tomahawk £120
Reuse your current ram and sell the rest.

If you want more cores go for the 5800x.
 
You can get a significant upgrade for just £370.

5600x £250
MSi MAG b550 Tomahawk £120
Reuse your current ram and sell the rest.

If you want more cores go for the 5800x.

TBH I’d look for a higher end motherboard when pairing with an Ampere card because of the huge power draw and heat output. The RTX cards are way out of the ATX/Molex specs and fitting them to low end motherboard that the bean counters have screwed every last cent out of a few times over is probably asking for issues.
 
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TBH I’d look for a higher end motherboard when pairing with an Ampere card because of the huge power draw and heat output. The RTX cards are way out of the ATX/Molex specs and fitting them to low end motherboard that the bean counters have screwed every last cent out of a few times over is probably asking for issues.

The b550 range only really compromise on pcie 4 lanes, most of them have solid vrm probably more so than the variability in vrm in the x570 range.
 
I have a little aversion to cheap motherboards, prefer a reasonably priced board with quality caps etc (similar level to my current board). Are ASUS still quality?
While I don't care too much about pretty lights or Wifi, I would like to take full advantage of an M.2 SSD that won't steal GPU lanes (I have SATA SSDs at the moment).
I also have a 2 disk RAID 1 array I'd like to keep.
All brands suck and try to leech and scam you and substitute marketing excrements for good design.

All modern platforms have primary M.2 slot connected to dedicated lanes from CPU.
It's second M.2 slot where stealing lanes from something else comes into picture depending on chipset and particular board.
Also if you want PCIe v4, that limits choises.
Note that you can use adapters if having free PCIe slots.
Akasa M.2 SSD to PCIe Adapter Card= £13.99
Aqua Computer kryoM.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 adapter for M.2 NGFF PCIe SSD, M-Key= £16.99


Intel board RAID array very likely isn't transferrable to AMD board or vice versa.
But In RAID 1 data itself is in standard format and content can be accessed normally from single disk.
Might be maybe possible to have it as standard drive and add second drive and then use migrate function to "rebuild".
 
I'm upgrading to a AW3821DW for productivity (web developer) but need my PC to be able to game with as much quality as possible at 3840x1600. I also dabble in some 3D rendering to a decent core/thread count would be nice.

Just to put it out there, have you considered 12 and 16 core Ice Lake Xeon and Threadripper Pro CPUs? The point being that you can upgrade them to 48 or 64 core CPUs and massive amounts of RAM down the line.
 
With mainsteam DDR5 systems just a little too far down the road (especailly when you don't want to be an early adopter) I need a reasonably priced interim upgrade for my Skylake system so my 3080 can stretch its legs properly. I was pricing up a 5950X system but don't quite see the value with updates so close.

I'm upgrading to a AW3821DW for productivity (web developer) but need my PC to be able to game with as much quality as possible at 3840x1600. I also dabble in some 3D rendering to a decent core/thread count would be nice.

Current System
i7 6700K @ 4.5GHz
H115i AIO
Asus Maximus Hero VIII
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB PC4-25600C16 3200MHz
3080 FE
HX750 (from 2011 but is handling the 3080 just fine)

Some Preferences
  • I'm a little out of the loop but I suspect AMD is the way to go.
  • I can get an AM4 bracket for my cooler.
  • I have a little aversion to cheap motherboards, prefer a reasonably priced board with quality caps etc (similar level to my current board). Are ASUS still quality?
  • While I don't care too much about pretty lights or Wifi, I would like to take full advantage of an M.2 SSD that won't steal GPU lanes (I have SATA SSDs at the moment).
  • I also have a 2 disk RAID 1 array I'd like to keep.
  • Decent potential overclock.

What do you guys recommend without getting into silly money? I'm not setting a budget as such, under £500 would be nice but I'm variable for a little quality of life and longevity (in case the next gen is out of reach). I should get a little back selling my current MOBO/CPU/RAM so I'm open to some variance for quality but if there's a solid cheaper option that won't be a compromise I'm also open-minded.

Cheers :)
Word of caution, at that res your 3080 is taking on the heavy work. I spent a load on upgrading from i7 6700k @ 4.7 to 10850k 10 core. Sure, there is some improvement at 4K with a 3080, but not massive (which going from gtx1070 was.)
 
The OP wants a 16-core system, these people here offer him a low-end 6-core. What for? :cry:

The guy wants a solid system, they offer a mid-range motherboard.


Just go for a 12-core Ryzen 9 5900X and the MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £720.48 (includes shipping: £10.50)


Best B550 Motherboards for AMD Ryzen CPUs [2021 Guide] (cgdirector.com)

About the MSI B550-A Pro
"The VRMs have been improved quite a bit compared to the X570 variant offered by MSI at around this price and should perform much better even under extended loads. Nonetheless, I’d keep the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X away from this particular board if you need to run render workloads."

:cry:
 
Could get the TUF board (STRIX-F is barely cheaper) but STRIX has better audio and expandability for a few pennies more. RAM is pricey but CAS is important in these AMD builds I believe and 3600 should be an easy OC (I assume it'll run 1:1 from what I've read).
If you want good audio, get separate sound card (PCIe or external USB) which you can keep over PC upgrades offering longevity for money.
That's also lot surer choise for avoiding EMI.

Also while Asus corrected VRMs from scams in B450 boards, their X570 boards have chipset coolers from anus of brand overhype marketroids:
Actual heatsink under marketing excrements is really small.
And hence to really do its job relies on small fan... Constricted by more marketing BS.
With whole crud in the worst possible place directly under graphics card to be bathed in its heat.​
Should be easy to guess what happens if/when fan wears out.

MSI X570 Tomahawk is far superior design for lot less.
If you have good case airflow its chipset cooler stays passive, because of using actual proper size heatsink not buried under graphics card and marketing excrements.
MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 ATX Motherboard= £179.99


3600MHz memory is XMP "fire and forget".
 
The b550 range only really compromise on pcie 4 lanes, most of them have solid vrm probably more so than the variability in vrm in the x570 range.

It’s more than VRM circuitry. PCB design, copper tracing, Japanese caps (Rubicon etc) non doubled phases. You do get what you pay for in many regards.
 
It’s more than VRM circuitry. PCB design, copper tracing, Japanese caps (Rubicon etc) non doubled phases. You do get what you pay for in many regards.

The heavily overvolted and overclocked RTX 3080 generates so much heat that literally can melt weaker PCBs.
 
The heavily overvolted and overclocked RTX 3080 generates so much heat that literally can melt weaker PCBs.

Yeah, I think it could. That is where 6 layer PCB’s, increase copper racing and higher quality components make for a more robust machine. You simply have higher tolerance for thermal cycling and heat dissipation along with better signaling.
 
It’s more than VRM circuitry. PCB design, copper tracing, Japanese caps (Rubicon etc) non doubled phases. You do get what you pay for in many regards.
Yeah, I think it could. That is where 6 layer PCB’s, increase copper racing and higher quality components make for a more robust machine. You simply have higher tolerance for thermal cycling and heat dissipation along with better signaling.
The B550 tomahawk is a 6 layer PCB.
 
The B550 tomahawk is a 6 layer PCB.

There are better alternatives. You would need an 8-layer or higher for such a hot beast of a graphics card.
Also, the B550 is heavily limited in its feature set - lacks not only PCIe 4 lanes but also USB 3.2 ports.

It's only a lower end alternative for people under budget.
 
There are better alternatives. You would need an 8-layer or higher for such a hot beast of a graphics card.
Also, the B550 is heavily limited in its feature set - lacks not only PCIe 4 lanes but also USB 3.2 ports.

It's only a lower end alternative for people under budget.
What a load of rubbish, I'm running 2 3080s in a B450 tomahawk and that is only 4 layer. Please link some reports of a 3080 melting a 6 layer PCB board or even 4 for that matter.

PCIe 4.0 Lanes and USB 3.2 ports depend on how many devices you need to connect and the speed of gen 3.0 vs gen 4.0 is hardly noticeable for the majority of users.
 
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