Upgrade from AM4 to AM5 ?

[Galwegian]

I have a mini ITX computer (AM4) that I had build myself in 2021 as a workstation (not gaming PC), now I would like to build another mini ITX computer with AM5 (also for workstation), is it worth it?

Specs are:

• MBO: Gigabyte Aorus Pro Ax B550i
• PSU: Corsair (SFX) SF600W
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
• RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4, 3200MHz Corsair Vengeance
• GPU: Asus ROG Strix RX 6650 XT, 8GB, v2
• SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB for Windows, and I just ordered a Crucial P3, 4TB, for 2nd slot (as storage drive)
• Monitor: MSI 144Hz, 1s, 24" Full HD / 1080p, no need for 2K or 4K

I would like to go with:

• MBO: any B850 chipset (no need for X870)
• PSU: (SFX) 850W - 1000W
• CPU: Ryzen 9000 series, probably R9 9900X
• RAM: 128GB (2x64GB), 6000MHz, CL30
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB or similar
• SSD: Crucial T705, at least 2TB
• Monitor: Also 24" but this time I could go with 4K

Thanks in advance!

 

[tamzzy]

as a workstation

what programs?
what budget?

 

[tamzzy]

please read first post of this: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/read-first-build-and-upgrade-advice-template.19002453/

 

[Tetras]

is it worth it?

If you can answer the above then we can let you know our opinions.

 

[Galwegian]

Indeed, thank you Tetras.

Purchase timeframe: by end of '25
Exact Overall Budget: up to £1500
What exactly is the build for in terms of use? 99% for Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop and general video editing (Davinci or Premiere Pro)
Preferences: I'm not AMD fan, but they are cheaper and still great for my needs, however I prefer AMD for CPU, and GPU get points as I don't play games, so AMD again (which is good thing).
What are the exact specifications of your current hardware?

• MBO: Gigabyte Aorus Pro Ax B550i
• PSU: Corsair (SFX) SF600W
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
• RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4, 3200MHz Corsair Vengeance
• GPU: Asus ROG Strix RX 6650 XT, 8GB, v2
• SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB for Windows, and I just ordered a Crucial P3, 4TB, for 2nd slot (as storage drive)
• Monitor: MSI 144Hz, 1s, 24" Full HD / 1080p, no need for 2K or 4K

Do you require peripherals? Yes, but I can handle that by myself.
Do you have any special needs or requirements? No, I only want blazing fast & responsive computer, with highlights to CPU, RAM and SSD rather than "best GPU" out there...

Thanks!

 

[Gray2233]

If you're planning this later in the year it's best to revisit the thread then, the cost of hardware and what's available on the market could look drastically different in another 5-6 months.

 

[tamzzy]

Exact Overall Budget: up to £1500

I would like to go with:

• MBO: any B850 chipset (no need for X870)
• PSU: (SFX) 850W - 1000W
• CPU: Ryzen 9000 series, probably R9 9900X
• RAM: 128GB (2x64GB), 6000MHz, CL30
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB or similar
• SSD: Crucial T705, at least 2TB
• Monitor: Also 24" but this time I could go with 4K

no chance mate lol. either your budget goes up, or your expectations go down

 

[tamzzy]

the cost of hardware and what's available on the market could look drastically different in another 5-6 months.

it wouldn't even be possible in the next 6 months. the parts are well north of £2k, prices aren't going to suddenly tumble 25%

 

[Gray2233]

it wouldn't even be possible in the next 6 months. the parts are well north of £2k, prices aren't going to suddenly tumble 25%

Somehow missed the £1500 mark, yeah that's not happening.

A Core Ultra build should be doable with one or two parts reused, the 265K is very competitive right now.

 

[Gray2233]

If buying now this would be about the best you could hope for with a budget of £1500 for an ITX workstation unless I'm missing something:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03112) = £278.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB XMP 96GB (2X48GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-05111) = £209.99
• 1 x Asrock B860I Lightning WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 ITX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04103) = £209.98
• 1 x Intel Motherboard Master Key - Star Wars Outlaws (SKU: DIG-INT-04686) = £0.00
• 1 x Lian Li SP850 SFX Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-7B4-LL) = £119.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £399.95
• 1 x Raijintek Ophion Mini-ITX Case - Black Tempered Glass (SKU: CA-03U-RT) = £76.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 240 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03254) = £39.95

Total: £1,472.82 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Probably savings to be made, the 5060ti might actually be better for the OP's usage over the 9070XT if there's no gaming involved, Nvidia tends to be better for workloads but I've no idea to what extent.

The case is a placeholder, no idea if it's any good, there's a couple of okay reviews but they can be a little mixed.

This is assuming nothing gets reused from the old build.

The 265K rivals the 9900 AMD chips in work related tasks, sometimes even the 9950.

Worth a read:

Intel Core Ultra 200S Content Creation Review

We examine the performance of Intel's new Core Ultra 200S series desktop processors in content creation applications.

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[Tetras]

Indeed, thank you Tetras.

What exactly is the build for in terms of use? 99% for Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop and general video editing (Davinci or Premiere Pro)

MBO: any B850 chipset (no need for X870)
CPU: Ryzen 9000 series, probably R9 9900X
RAM: 128GB (2x64GB), 6000MHz, CL30
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16GB or similar

is it worth it?

RAM: putting performance differences aside, the main question is: do you use it?

If you're getting close to max RAM when you're working with your apps then that is worthwhile to upgrade, but if you're not: you will only see some marginal speed benefit from closing/opening apps and some other tasks due to Windows building a bigger cache. I wouldn't purposefully go over capacity with the RAM just because of the cache benefits.

CPU: when you're fully multithreaded the 7900X is similar in performance to the 5950X, with the 9900X another chunk faster than that (depending on the app). The gains in very long run workloads would be significant, but if you're not spending a lot of time waiting (e.g. 1 hr+), then the gains will not be meaningful.

Most apps (Adobe is no exception, though video apps are mainly multithreaded if using the CPU) are a combination of single and multithreaded, so general responsiveness in something like Photoshop would be improved by having a CPU that is faster in everything, which the 9900X is.

Graphics card: there have been some big improvements to the media part of the GPU between RDNA2 and RDNA4, but if they'd apply to your specific workloads and codecs, I don't know.

Tech Notice (YouTube) and Puget are the only sources I know of that widely review for content creation. E.g.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Content Creation Review

The AM Radeon RX 9070 XT is here for $600 msrp. How does it compare to the 5070 Ti and 5070 in content creation applications?

www.pugetsystems.com

I find it difficult to get benchmarks that show clearly what the gains are in real world usage, so I wouldn't like to promise you anything in advance, especially when it costs £500/£600+ to buy one.

If you're sure that a lot of your work is loading the CPU, my best suggestion would be to keep the 6650 XT and see what difference the CPU alone makes. If you're finding that certain things are still running too slow, then you could investigate what improvements there have been. The puget benchmarks do have individual ones for Davinci and Adobe, not just an overall score.

SSD: Crucial T705, at least 2TB

Do you have any parts of your workflow that is bottlenecked by the SSD regularly? For the most part, a good PCI-E 4.0 drive is more than sufficient and you're better off putting the money elsewhere.

 

[Gray2233]

Tech Notice (YouTube) and Puget are the only sources I know of that widely review for content creation. E.g.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Content Creation Review

The AM Radeon RX 9070 XT is here for $600 msrp. How does it compare to the 5070 Ti and 5070 in content creation applications?

www.pugetsystems.com

Interesting comparison between the 5060ti and 9070XT in Premier Pro:

PugetBench Compare Results

Warning: PugetBench for After Effects 1.0 has recently been released. Comparisons will be limited for the near future, but you can help by running the benchmark and contributing your results! Found a problem with the benchmark data or interface? Report an issue.

www.pugetsystems.com

Doesn't seem to be a lot between them on average given the hefty price difference, although some tasks seem to heavily favour one or the other.

 

[Galwegian]

no chance mate lol. either your budget goes up, or your expectations go down

it wouldn't even be possible in the next 6 months. the parts are well north of £2k, prices aren't going to suddenly tumble 25%

If buying now this would be about the best you could hope for with a budget of £1500 for an ITX workstation unless I'm missing something:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03112) = £278.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB XMP 96GB (2X48GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-05111) = £209.99
• 1 x Asrock B860I Lightning WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 ITX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04103) = £209.98
• 1 x Intel Motherboard Master Key - Star Wars Outlaws (SKU: DIG-INT-04686) = £0.00
• 1 x Lian Li SP850 SFX Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-7B4-LL) = £119.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £399.95
• 1 x Raijintek Ophion Mini-ITX Case - Black Tempered Glass (SKU: CA-03U-RT) = £76.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 240 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03254) = £39.95

Total: £1,472.82 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Probably savings to be made, the 5060ti might actually be better for the OP's usage over the 9070XT if there's no gaming involved, Nvidia tends to be better for workloads but I've no idea to what extent.

The case is a placeholder, no idea if it's any good, there's a couple of okay reviews but they can be a little mixed.

This is assuming nothing gets reused from the old build.

The 265K rivals the 9900 AMD chips in work related tasks, sometimes even the 9950.

Worth a read:

Intel Core Ultra 200S Content Creation Review

We examine the performance of Intel's new Core Ultra 200S series desktop processors in content creation applications.

www.pugetsystems.com

RAM: putting performance differences aside, the main question is: do you use it?

If you're getting close to max RAM when you're working with your apps then that is worthwhile to upgrade, but if you're not: you will only see some marginal speed benefit from closing/opening apps and some other tasks due to Windows building a bigger cache. I wouldn't purposefully go over capacity with the RAM just because of the cache benefits.

CPU: when you're fully multithreaded the 7900X is similar in performance to the 5950X, with the 9900X another chunk faster than that (depending on the app). The gains in very long run workloads would be significant, but if you're not spending a lot of time waiting (e.g. 1 hr+), then the gains will not be meaningful.

Most apps (Adobe is no exception, though video apps are mainly multithreaded if using the CPU) are a combination of single and multithreaded, so general responsiveness in something like Photoshop would be improved by having a CPU that is faster in everything, which the 9900X is.

Graphics card: there have been some big improvements to the media part of the GPU between RDNA2 and RDNA4, but if they'd apply to your specific workloads and codecs, I don't know.

Tech Notice (YouTube) and Puget are the only sources I know of that widely review for content creation. E.g.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Content Creation Review

The AM Radeon RX 9070 XT is here for $600 msrp. How does it compare to the 5070 Ti and 5070 in content creation applications?

www.pugetsystems.com

I find it difficult to get benchmarks that show clearly what the gains are in real world usage, so I wouldn't like to promise you anything in advance, especially when it costs £500/£600+ to buy one.

If you're sure that a lot of your work is loading the CPU, my best suggestion would be to keep the 6650 XT and see what difference the CPU alone makes. If you're finding that certain things are still running too slow, then you could investigate what improvements there have been. The puget benchmarks do have individual ones for Davinci and Adobe, not just an overall score.


Do you have any parts of your workflow that is bottlenecked by the SSD regularly? For the most part, a good PCI-E 4.0 drive is more than sufficient and you're better off putting the money elsewhere.

Thanks for enlightment, the idea was to slowly build that 2nd PC, and then sell the old one, where I would get decent money, but reading all comments seems like I should rather keep this "old" PC for now, and maybe do new build in 2027 or something like that.
Thanks again!

 

[Tetras]

Thanks for enlightment, the idea was to slowly build that 2nd PC, and then sell the old one, where I would get decent money, but reading all comments seems like I should rather keep this "old" PC for now, and maybe do new build in 2027 or something like that.

It can make sense to buy one now, but the main thing I was trying to get at was: where exactly is the bottleneck?

With a workstation PC, I think you're always best off really pinning down exactly what parts are slowing you down and at what point in your workflow.

When you have that kind of info, you can try and find benchmarks to help you figure out what difference you're looking at.

Without knowing this in advance, it is something like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, you could spend £2000 when all you needed was some more RAM.

 

[freddie64]

you could spend £2000 when all you needed was some more RAM.

Was thinking the same.

Never built a workstation but original spec looks good so could just add more RAM and a better GPU.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £98.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £399.95

Total: £506.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[Galwegian]

It can make sense to buy one now, but the main thing I was trying to get at was: where exactly is the bottleneck?

With a workstation PC, I think you're always best off really pinning down exactly what parts are slowing you down and at what point in your workflow.

When you have that kind of info, you can try and find benchmarks to help you figure out what difference you're looking at.

Without knowing this in advance, it is something like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, you could spend £2000 when all you needed was some more RAM.

Was thinking the same.

Never built a workstation but original spec looks good so could just add more RAM and a better GPU.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £98.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £399.95

Total: £506.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Thanks folks! I was using bottleneck calculator last few days, and my R9 5900X is perfect match with RX 6650 XT when using 1080p monitor (where primary use is CPU), however, for my photo & video editing, I could double the RAM for now and see how it goes. I also forgot to install fresh Windows, as that alway helps (work feel less lagy).

 

[Gray2233]

Thanks folks! I was using bottleneck calculator last few days, and my R9 5900X is perfect match with RX 6650 XT when using 1080p monitor (where primary use is CPU), however, for my photo & video editing, I could double the RAM for now and see how it goes. I also forgot to install fresh Windows, as that alway helps (work feel less lagy).

I'd really not put much stock in that calculator, most hardware related online calcs are questionable at best to be honest.

I just tried it out myself, it seems to think my 5800X3D is bottlenecking a Nvidia 4070, and recommends that I upgrade to 64-128gb of RAM and a Threadripper.

 

[Tetras]

I was using bottleneck calculator last few days, and my R9 5900X is perfect match with RX 6650 XT when using 1080p monitor (where primary use is CPU), however, for my photo & video editing, I could double the RAM for now and see how it goes. I also forgot to install fresh Windows, as that alway helps (work feel less lagy).

By:

I think you're always best off really pinning down exactly what parts are slowing you down and at what point in your workflow.

What I meant was identifying the bottleneck in the exact point that you're experiencing issues.

For example: if you're applying a filter in Photoshop and it is very slow, look at task manager (or other usage monitor) and check what is sitting at 100%.

Similarly, if you're always waiting for photos to import, is your HDD/SSD at 100% usage, or has your CPU boosted to the max single core boost?

That's what I'm getting at with the sledgehammer to crack a nut analogy, sure you could try and improve everything (e.g. cpu single/multithread, graphics, I/O, RAM bandwidth/capacity) and cover those slow downs, but far better to actually know where the problem is. You can only do that by monitoring your usage while you work, bottleneck calculators are no good for this at all.

 

[Galwegian]

I'd really not put much stock in that calculator, most hardware related online calcs are questionable at best to be honest.

I just tried it out myself, it seems to think my 5800X3D is bottlenecking a Nvidia 4070, and recommends that I upgrade to 64-128gb of RAM and a Threadripper.

Hm, ok, thanks for that specific advice!

By:

What I meant was identifying the bottleneck in the exact point that you're experiencing issues.

For example: if you're applying a filter in Photoshop and it is very slow, look at task manager (or other usage monitor) and check what is sitting at 100%.

Similarly, if you're always waiting for photos to import, is your HDD/SSD at 100% usage, or has your CPU boosted to the max single core boost?

That's what I'm getting at with the sledgehammer to crack a nut analogy, sure you could try and improve everything (e.g. cpu single/multithread, graphics, I/O, RAM bandwidth/capacity) and cover those slow downs, but far better to actually know where the problem is. You can only do that by monitoring your usage while you work, bottleneck calculators are no good for this at all.

Hm, valid point, I will do that over this weekend and send my findings!
Thanks in advance, I appreciate!