Upgrade time, need CPU Mobo and RAM...

Jed Shields

Jed Shields

Jed Shields

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Hi guys and gals,

my motherboard has died after 5 years of glorious service so I'm now looking at a long overdue upgrade. My system was a water cooled 2700k with a Saphire 390x 8Mb graphics card, 4x 4Gb RAM, running at 2560x1600 resolution. I use it mainly for gaming, but also some heavy Excel duties for work as well as Lightroom photo editing. My initial thoughts are for a Ryzen 1700 with more expensive (capable) motherboard for overclocking, something like the Asus ROG CrosshairVI Hero . Is 16Gb RAM still recommended, or should I look at 32Gb?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-...hz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-39x-am.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ocket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-69e-as.html

Will I need to get a new water block, or are they all standard fitting? I'm going to assume that I'll need a new one...

Also, I'm going to buy this through my business in this FY, so I've got until the end of the month to make a decision :)

Cheers,

Jed
 
With your description 16Gb of memory should be sufficient - you would always have the option to upgrade in the future if your usage changed.

If I was upgrading now I too would be looking at AMDs offerings as they offer so much bang for buck - but I have read that some motherboards were a bit flaky on initial release, needing BIOS flashes to get things stable (or in some cases people waiting for BIOS releases.). I know Asus was one of the companies that had some of these issues but know a lot of these issues are being sorted via BIOS releases - best to double check. Worst case scenario is that you would need to flash the BIOS as soon as the system is built...

As to your water block compatibility this may help (fittings are slightly different when screwed to motherboard) - link
 
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I don't want to end up tracking down a second hand motherboard for the 2700k with no idea how long before that one dies, or the CPU dies. They're both over 5 years old and have been used almost every day. I think I'd rather bite the bullet and get a new system... plus I deserve it :p
 
Yeh I'd probably buy a new setup and sell the 2700k unless you know someone who is selling a known good mobo.

I'm plenty pleased with my 6700k setup i built just before Christmas myself.
 
I've been out of the loop for a while, what's the difference between the 6700k Skylake and 7700k Kaby Lake? They're both a similar price by the looks of it.
 
About 200mhz and that's about it :p

I think there are other minor differences though. I think 4k video decoding on the 7700k and also a better on chip gpu and lower power rating.

But performance wise they are the same, barring that 200mhz clock speed bump.
 
Buy whichever is cheaper...

Factor in the cost of the motherboard though. The z270 boards seem quite a bit more expensive. You can of course use a 7700k in a z170 board, but it would need the bios flashing first....
 
I doubt you'll notice any real difference between the two in everyday use - but the ROG bundle would be an exciting build - but I am slightly biased as i'm waiting for the dust to settle in the zen chips and be buying one myself.

AMD will stick with the AM4 socket for a while, plus it's great to see AMD back in the mix and hopefully dragging down respective INTEL prices (I've been INTEL now since the T-bird - so looking forward to the change).

BIOS and drivers are improving all the time with the AMD chips - so, if you can afford it, it's more about personal choice, as performance wise you won't notice the difference between any of the builds your looking at when paired with a decent gfx card.

Consider, cost, longevity of socket, and more importantly what you feel will give you the most fun.
 
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