Upgrade from Ivy Bridge advice?

RatmanGB

RatmanGB

RatmanGB

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12 Jan 2010
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590
My other half's PC could really use an upgrade, it's got an i5-3470 on an MSI P67A-GD53 motherboard with 16GB of DDR3-1600... so all that needs to go.

There's a 3060ti in there along with a 2TB MX500 and a Sound Blaster Z, plus the PSU is a reasonable Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850, so it's really just CPU/MB/RAM that I'm going to need.

The PC needs to be able to game, but doesn't need to be particularly high end - it currently runs Zombie Army 4 and Diablo 3, which is about all she plays. Really it just needs to be something modern and reliable that'll run Windows 11 and probably won't be touched for about five years, barring maybe a graphics card upgrade down the line.

I'd been half thinking of another Ryzen build, but at least in CPU terms AMD seem to be more expensive than Intel.

Any suggestions?
 
Need a budget really but I'd be looking at a 12400 build with the games you've mentioned. Although if you want it to last 5 years it may be better to go for the 12600k for the additional cores and cache.
 
Ayahuasca said:
Need a budget really but I'd be looking at a 12400 build with the games you've mentioned. Although if you want it to last 5 years it may be better to go for the 12600k for the additional cores and cache.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the CPU suggestions, I'll have a look at those. Budget isn't really an issue - what I mean by that isn't that I'll just stuff the top end into the PC at any cost, but if it's worth paying a bit extra on a component then I'm happy to do that.

Any thoughts on DDR4 vs DDR5?
 
DDR5 kits are very expensive atm and offer little to no benefit in gaming. Whether that will change within the next 5 years remains to be seen. It likely will, but only at higher speeds on CPUs that are yet to be released.
 
12400f no intergrated graphics, 12400 or 12600k if you want to push the boat.

B660 or z690 motherboard The latter is more enthuiast boards .

16gb or 32gb ddr4 3200mhz or 3600mhz.

Arctic freezer e34 sports is a good and from Overclockers comes with a free skt 1700 bracket for the motherboard.
 
RatmanGB said:
Any thoughts on DDR4 vs DDR5?
Click to expand...

If it's definitely not going to be touched for 5 years, then makes sense to go DDR4.

If there is any chance at all you might be interested in an upgrade to AM5 when released, then having DDR5 would possibly save you some cost in the future (but by then faster and hopefully cheaper DDR5 will be available)
 
RatmanGB said:
My other half's PC could really use an upgrade, it's got an i5-3470 on an MSI P67A-GD53 motherboard with 16GB of DDR3-1600... so all that needs to go.

There's a 3060ti in there along with a 2TB MX500 and a Sound Blaster Z, plus the PSU is a reasonable Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850, so it's really just CPU/MB/RAM that I'm going to need.

The PC needs to be able to game, but doesn't need to be particularly high end - it currently runs Zombie Army 4 and Diablo 3, which is about all she plays. Really it just needs to be something modern and reliable that'll run Windows 11 and probably won't be touched for about five years, barring maybe a graphics card upgrade down the line.

I'd been half thinking of another Ryzen build, but at least in CPU terms AMD seem to be more expensive than Intel.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Something like this to last a good few years and match 3060ti well?
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £523.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far, are B660 boards worth considering, or is it too much of a compromise?

Also, looking at the total platform cost, the AMD 5600X doesn't seem too much more on a B550 motherboard. Should that also be in the running?
 
RatmanGB said:
Thanks for the suggestions so far, are B660 boards worth considering, or is it too much of a compromise?

Also, looking at the total platform cost, the AMD 5600X doesn't seem too much more on a B550 motherboard. Should that also be in the running?
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The 12600k has similar performance to a 5800x rather than 5600x.
The b660 boards have gen4 gpu slot and 2 gen4 m. 2 nvme slots, so I would say more comparable to x570 amd board, wih b550 boards having 1 gen4 and 1 gen 3 nvme slots.
The z690 board above has a gen5 gpu slot and 3 gen 4 nvme slots.
So the 12600k also has integrated gpuon the cpu, so can be used as a pc when a dedicated vpu isnt installed..
The z690 therefor is the most futureproof.. If trying to save money and want to go b660, then look at x570 and 5800x as a similar build(though loose integrated gpu).. Save a bit more and go b550 board... Save a bit more and if you can find a 5600x for £200 odd(seen it) with a b550, then youre saving a fair bit to the intel, but also loosing out on performance
 
The extra 4 cores in the 12600K are pretty much worthless for gaming, so unlikely to provide any future proofing from that angle. If it was me, I'd go 12400F and a midrange B660 for approx £130-£140 like the MSI B660M-A (haven't seen any reviews yet, but MSI's midrange B560 performed well @ hardware unboxed), with a decent cooler.

Since you can overclock memory on B boards now, the main advantage of Z boards is moot.
 
I had to put this upgrade on hold during February but I'm looking at it again now and wondered if the recent AMD price drops have changed any recommendations?

For example this seems like a very significant upgrade for about £400:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £405.42 (includes delivery: £10.50)​

​
 
RatmanGB said:
I had to put this upgrade on hold during February but I'm looking at it again now and wondered if the recent AMD price drops have changed any recommendations?

For example this seems like a very significant upgrade for about £400:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £405.42 (includes delivery: £10.50)​

​
Click to expand...
The 5600x is now a decent price to performance but the b450 while saves you money lacks pcie4 , you need a b550 for that.
 
mickyflinn said:
The 5600x is now a decent price to performance but the b450 while saves you money lacks pcie4 , you need a b550 for that.
Click to expand...

I could switch the board to the B550 Gaming Plus for another £55, but would you still recommend a 12400F build at that point?

Also, without wishing to get into trouble, any idea why OCUK don't sell the 12400?
 
RatmanGB said:
I had to put this upgrade on hold during February but I'm looking at it again now and wondered if the recent AMD price drops have changed any recommendations?

For example this seems like a very significant upgrade for about £400:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £405.42 (includes delivery: £10.50)​

​
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with above. A few things to be aware of to consider though...
A few people have noted that patriot viper steel struggles to run at claimed xmp profile speeds, so you may have to run at 3200 rather than 3600. OCuk recommended Corsair or crucial as alternative...below is cheapest corsair they have..
My basket at OcUK:


​
As for mobo, can't really complain at that price point. Not greatest vrm/cooling from reviews but will handle 5600X fine. Be aware B450 boards are pcie3 only, including gpu slot. You have a 3060ti which runs at gen4, so may loosed a frame or too, but that's about it. Board only has 1 m.2 nvme slot also (B550 boards will be gen4 and generally have 2 nvme slots, 1 x gen4, 1 x gen3)..X570 boards the nvme slots are both gen4. When directstorage is implemented, games will have to be on a gen3 nvme or above for it to work. Below prob best value quality B550 board that has excellent vrm's that can take 5900X if you ever feel like upgrading further. no wifi on board though...they do have lesser boards from around £90 though
My basket at OcUK:



​

Alternative would be an intel alderlake 12400F with a B660 motherboard..12400F is £165 odd, and best budget mobo would be the MSI B660M-A for £145(neither of which OCuk stock)
 
I should have known the price on that memory was too good to be true! Thanks for the warning, I use Corsair in both PCs now so I'll stick with what I know there.

I'm a bit torn on how much to spend - the main driver here is to have something for the other half that will run Windows 11 - I know that I could/should do a clean install and get it working on her existing PC but she REALLY wants everything left the way it is so the Windows Update method is the way it needs to go!

DirectStorage sounds interesting but probably more for me than her - I've only just stuck the MX500 in there, before she was on all (four!) hard drives, some ancient, which were "fast enough" (they really weren't!).

The plan is basically get her PC on Windows 11 and leave it for another few years, so don't want to underspend and buy junk (again, good tip on the memory) but it's not worth overspending either.
 
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Craig_d1 said:
A few people have noted that patriot viper steel struggles to run at claimed xmp profile speeds, so you may have to run at 3200 rather than 3600. OCuk recommended Corsair or crucial as alternative...below is cheapest corsair they have..
Click to expand...

I only had an issue with one kit not running at XMP from, lots and lots of kits, and ironically it was a 3200MHz rated kit that wouldn't hit 3200MHz, or even 3000MHz, even with 1.4v. Have you had many faulty in the build you've been doing?
 
RatmanGB said:
I could switch the board to the B550 Gaming Plus for another £55, but would you still recommend a 12400F build at that point?

Also, without wishing to get into trouble, any idea why OCUK don't sell the 12400?
Click to expand...
It's either or scenario if you take into account costs 5600x with a b550 puts you in the same ball park as 12400f and b660, probablly go intel.

Not sure why Overclockers not stocking non K alderkake cpu's, hey @Gibbo any reason why ?
 
Journey said:
I only had an issue with one kit not running at XMP from, lots and lots of kits, and ironically it was a 3200MHz rated kit that wouldn't hit 3200MHz, or even 3000MHz, even with 1.4v. Have you had many faulty in the build you've been doing?
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it was couple other forum members that said they couldn't run at stated speeds, and then the member who was doing build asking phoned OCuk about it. They were the ones that said it was unreliable and recommended crucial or corsair ram instead. Previous to that I had been putting it in builds for people as cheaper, but now I just point it out, and let the member decide..if the shop selling the ram doesn't recommend it, I'm not going to tell them they're wrong
Personally, after watching Hardware unboxed test kit from 3000 to 4400, the fps diff was marginal, so wouldn't be too unduly worried about it...the gpu will have a much bigger bearing on any fps than 3200 or 3600 ram
 
mickyflinn said:
It's either or scenario if you take into account costs 5600x with a b550 puts you in the same ball park as 12400f and b660, probablly go intel.

Not sure why Overclockers not stocking non K alderkake cpu's, hey @Gibbo any reason why ?
Click to expand...
not much in it, would look at price..12400f slightly cheaper but 5600X performs slightly better from what I've seen, and a B660 board generally has the same features as a B550 board except the 2nd nvme slot is gen4 like a x570 board, so just as much futureproofing as going AMD. For me, benefit of futureproofing is the Z690 boards where you mostly get 4 nvme slots to cater for future storage expansion and a pcie5 gpu slot so your future gpu upgrade shouldn't be effected...granted some of the b660 boards have a gen5 gpu slot, but they're also the one at the same price as the z690 boards.
Be interesting if we get a response as to why OCuk don't stock the 12100/12400/12500(all variants) and 12600 non k variants
 
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