Ultimate AMD 9950

[Mark Ware]

So my existing 9900k is due and upgrade being some 7 years old.

Money no object build list.

CPU 9950x

As rock nova motherboard? No WiFi less version ?

AIO suggestions ? Was going noctua air but won’t fit in Evo case.

RAM 64gb of? Confused on speeds vs timing - thoughts please.

Have 2x gen 4 nvme Samsung drives.

Gfx is currently a rtx 4080 but may upgrade later if needs be.

Screen res G sync LG @ 3440x1400 again may upgrade.

Thoughts or suggestions welcomed please, it’s been a while.

 

[Tetras]

Money no object build list.

What do you use the PC for?

As rock nova motherboard? No WiFi less version ?

Do you care about USB4? What LAN speed is needed?

Do you plan to add more M.2 drives in the future, on top of the 2 you already have?

So my existing 9900k is due and upgrade being some 7 years old.

If gaming primarily, which games are you having the most trouble with or not getting sufficient FPS?

 

[Mark Ware]

Thanks for the reply.

90% gaming - some audio video editing that might increase.

USB 4? Well don’t having anything that uses it at the moment but I’m guessing future proofing makes sense?

LAN wise it’s connected via optical cable that’s doing 10gb atm

M.2 will be a max of two as I’ll upgrade as I go along. I do have spare 1tb ones kicking about but don’t want the extra storage to make the rest of the pc suffer.

FPS wise on ultimate, fps games tend to suffer frame rates. Bf6 killed it totally, although that’s a beta of course.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Tetras]

LAN wise it’s connected via optical cable that’s doing 10gb atm

Hmm, the Nova is not 10Gb. You can find a spreadsheet linked in this thread to help find some 10Gb boards (it has been updated):

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/xvvl9b/spreadsheet_of_x670_and_b650_features/

I must say though, 10Gb boards aren't cheap, whereas 5Gb boards are more affordable (MSI have 5Gb on most of their range).

USB 4? Well don’t having anything that uses it at the moment but I’m guessing future proofing makes sense?

It does and it doesn't. USB4 has drawbacks in terms of lane sharing on AMD, so it can actually be more of a nuisance if you're never going to use it.

The Nova doesn't have this problem because it only has 1x CPU connected M.2 slot (USB4 steals the other lanes on most boards) and doesn't try to provide more than 1x PCI-E 5.0 M.2 slot.

M.2 will be a max of two as I’ll upgrade as I go along. I do have spare 1tb ones kicking about but don’t want the extra storage to make the rest of the pc suffer.

In that case, B850 would be sufficient, though you're unlikely to get 10Gb LAN or USB4 on a B850 board.

CPU 9950x

90% gaming - some audio video editing that might increase.

For 90% gaming I'd be getting the 9800X3D, because that will give you the best uplift in FPS and better framerate consistency.

The non-X3D CPUs are still decent at gaming, but the 9950X is really meant for to be used for a heavy productivity load, not 90% gaming.

The 9950X3D would give you the best of both worlds, albeit costly. The rumour is that the next-gen (e.g. 10800X3D) CPU will have 12 cores on a single CCD (9950X3D is 8 with 3D cache, 8 without), that would be a great mixed usage CPU.