• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

The Sandy, Ivy and Haswell (Hazzy?) Upgrade Thread

Soldato
OP
Joined
12 May 2011
Posts
6,153
Location
Southampton
I've gone from a 4770k to 3700x and the difference is not that great. The most noticeable thing is load times where I've gone from a DDR3 1600 to DDR4 3600 (plus faster CPU and also nvme storage). Games feel pretty similar to before, perhaps slightly smoother (I.e. Less stutter and better minimum frame rates) but then I play at 1080p 60Hz.

At the moment I'm not sure it's been worth it.
I would say I can (possibly) upgrade to a 16/32 chip in a year but that might be pushing it on a mid range x470!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
26 May 2012
Posts
16,601
It’s at 4.7 with 2400 RAM.
you'll see a marginal single core performance improvement going to ryzen 3000...i'm guessing raw speed is about 10%-ish improvement
but the main difference would be in core count.
probably wouldn't go to a 3600/x; 3700x makes the most sense...slight single core improvement, and core count doubling.
3900x/3950x wouldn't help with games that much currently
 
Associate
Joined
27 Mar 2010
Posts
1,468
Location
Denmark
I've gone from a 4770k to 3700x and the difference is not that great. The most noticeable thing is load times where I've gone from a DDR3 1600 to DDR4 3600 (plus faster CPU and also nvme storage). Games feel pretty similar to before, perhaps slightly smoother (I.e. Less stutter and better minimum frame rates) but then I play at 1080p 60Hz.

At the moment I'm not sure it's been worth it.
I would say I can (possibly) upgrade to a 16/32 chip in a year but that might be pushing it on a mid range x470!

To really push that 3700X you need a 144hz monitor with a nice upper ranged graphic card as that's where you will see a noticeable difference in games vs a 4770k.
Getting a 16 threaded 3700X is also about future proofing so you are all set on the CPU side, and I'm guessing that 60hz monitor is very old now so maybe next year its time to upgrade that ;)
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
11 Aug 2019
Posts
6
you'll see a marginal single core performance improvement going to ryzen 3000...i'm guessing raw speed is about 10%-ish improvement
but the main difference would be in core count.
probably wouldn't go to a 3600/x; 3700x makes the most sense...slight single core improvement, and core count doubling.
3900x/3950x wouldn't help with games that much currently
What's overclocking like on a 3700x? On a B450M Mortar? I guess I'll also get the benefir of faster RAM and a proper nVME drive with the Ryzen.
 
Joined
27 Jul 2005
Posts
13,051
Location
The Orion Spur
Too really push that 3700X you need a 144hz monitor with a nice upper ranged graphic card as that's where you will see a noticeable difference in games vs a 4770k.
Getting a 16 threaded 3700X is also about future proofing so you are all set on the CPU side, and I'm guessing that 60hz monitor is very old now so maybe next year its time to upgrade that ;)

I agree, I think sometimes people neglect their monitors when it comes to upgrading when really it's one of the most important things, it's the window to your whole system, and on a high end rig it can actually be a bottleneck, a couple of years ago with (the system in my Sig) I choose to upgrade my monitor instead of my CPU/GPU, it's honestly been one the best upgrades I've ever done, seeing over 60hz for the first time was a revelation for me, I think I was stuck in that old school mentality of "60fps is the pinnacle!", I have recently upgraded to an 8700 based system with a 2070s and now I can really see the benefit of that upgrade.
 
Last edited:
Associate
Joined
2 Aug 2006
Posts
476
This ! My best upgrade has been my monitor, I went for the AW3418DW, I look back at my older 60hz 1080p and think why didnt I do this sooner !

Then you also realise how much ummphh you need to drive a monitor at bigger resolutions =D
 
Last edited:
Permabanned
Joined
28 Nov 2006
Posts
5,750
Location
N Ireland
I use mine to drive 4k at 120hz strobed on a 1080. It was 240hz for a while and if the engine is optimized like the Overwatch engine i can peak at 170fps in 4k mode with Nvidia driver setyings at the highest quality settings.


That is all 4 cores and the 4 HT used and my card at 99%. So im planning 2080ti in a week or two and diving back to 240hz at Christmas time. And i am keeping the 4770k at 4300mhz because it is not the cpus fault people cannot code.

/strokes nice 4770k
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jan 2005
Posts
8,556
Location
Liverpool
I've been toying with the idea of upgrading my old 4790k for a while now, although I'm not sure if I should hold off as it doesn't really struggle with anything clocked at 4.5GHz, I just fancy an upgrade.

I mainly use my PC for gaming with the odd bit of Lightroom and have a V64 GPU and ultrawide monitor. I was torn between a 9700k or 3700x as they both work out at a similar price when board and RAM is factored in but don't know if it's worth it yet.
 
Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2007
Posts
795
This ! My best upgrade has been my monitor, I went for the AW3418DW, I look back at my older 60hz 1080p and think why didnt I do this sooner !
Then you also realise how much ummphh you need to drive a monitor at bigger resolutions =D

Ha! did exactly that upgrade while I was running a GTX970 but the deal on the monitor was just too good.
The 20xx series were on the verge of coming out so survived playing the nostalgia trip that is Two Point Hospital dreaming of double digit fps in modern AAA games.

My 4690K is still chugging along quite happily, more so now it has 16GB of RAM too.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Posts
147
After a little advice as I have been hanging on to upgrade for around a year now things seem to be settling a little now pricewise so I currently have an asus hero mobo running a i7 4790k with 32gb ddr3 the cpu is overclocked to 4.5mhz
I am an intel fan and always liked asus motherboards but the current crop don't seem to impress. I am in the same boat as Street (post above) I do mainly play fps games like bf5 and find my pc showing its age now I have around £900 to spend on a board cpu memory and a possibly faster hardrive. I could save a little by getting the 3700x as I think I could use my cooler which is the Noctua NH-D15S I am still torn moving from intel though and feel I could squeeze more out of my 1080ti getting the 9700k is that correct ? I have a ultrawide running at 3440 x 1440 advice appreciated thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,189
Location
West Midlands
I have around £900 to spend on a board cpu memory and a possibly faster hardrive

First question to ask yourself is this, how much better will my experience be for £900?

A GTX 1080 Ti at 3440x1440 is for the most part but going to be CPU bound, yes some game woul benefit, but by how much? 1% lows will be better, and you might get double digit gains in some titles at the higher end, but is a cost of £50-75 per extra frame worth bothering?
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jan 2005
Posts
8,556
Location
Liverpool
I've priced it up and it would be just over £600 to upgrade my 4790k to a 9700k (slightly cheaper to go to that than a 3700x). I could obviously sell my old chip, board and RAM so should be able to get a couple hundred back on that but it would still be around £400. But saying that, if I get another 4-5 years use out of it, it's not too bad.
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Sep 2013
Posts
2,890
Location
Exmouth, Devon
Somewhat agree with Journey. But if you fancy an upgrade I'd say the 9700k is on an EOL platform and at your resolution the difference between the AMD and 9700k would be nothing. So if you have ££ burning a hole then I'd go Ryzen 2 route.

To show the differences between CPU's, reviewers have to use a 2080ti and a 1080p resolution. The higher the resolution, the difference in gaming perf is only 'measurable', some of which is down to margins of error.

I'd wait another month to see what the 3950X does to prices for AMD and intel Also the BIOS's for Zen 2 are immature currently so maybe let them mature a bit.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Mar 2003
Posts
5,776
Location
Birmingham
Somewhat agree with Journey. But if you fancy an upgrade I'd say the 9700k is on an EOL platform and at your resolution the difference between the AMD and 9700k would be nothing. So if you have ££ burning a hole then I'd go Ryzen 2 route.

To show the differences between CPU's, reviewers have to use a 2080ti and a 1080p resolution. The higher the resolution, the difference in gaming perf is only 'measurable', some of which is down to margins of error.

I'd wait another month to see what the 3950X does to prices for AMD and intel Also the BIOS's for Zen 2 are immature currently so maybe let them mature a bit.
Any news on B550 boards too?
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
91,323
Somewhat agree with Journey. But if you fancy an upgrade I'd say the 9700k is on an EOL platform and at your resolution the difference between the AMD and 9700k would be nothing. So if you have ££ burning a hole then I'd go Ryzen 2 route.

To show the differences between CPU's, reviewers have to use a 2080ti and a 1080p resolution. The higher the resolution, the difference in gaming perf is only 'measurable', some of which is down to margins of error.

I'd wait another month to see what the 3950X does to prices for AMD and intel Also the BIOS's for Zen 2 are immature currently so maybe let them mature a bit.

Have to say I'm not really inspired by the problems I'm seeing with Zen 2 - especially after the 2000 series being a relatively matured and trouble free platform. Seems to be new game performance issues and the odd game not working at all, OS and RAM incompatibilities, etc. being found almost daily and BIOS updates fixing one thing but breaking another.
 
Back
Top Bottom