Upgrade to an aging AMD setup

Scurra · 7 Oct 2015 at 14:05

As the title suggests I'm considering an update to my rig. I'm currently running an AMD FX6300 Black Edition overclocked to 4Ghz with 16gb of DDR3 memory in a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 revision 1 motherboard.

I'm looking to move on to an Intel CPU that can give me better performance. I primarily use the machine for gaming and editing large images in Photoshop and Lightroom.

I've been looking at the below as a potential upgrade route:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel i7-5930K 3.50GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75930K) £455.99
1 x MSI X99A SLI Plus Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £179.99
1 x Kingston Fury Black 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (HX424C15FBK4/32) £179.99
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Mid Tower Case - Gun Metal £139.99
2 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £82.99 (£165.98)
1 x Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 5g £12.95
Total : £1,149.89 (includes shipping : £12.50 Ex.VAT).

I'd be carrying over my Windows license, 2 Windforce 770 cards, a 850w Superflower PSU and a Corsair H80i along with a Crucial MX100 512GB SSD for games and software.

I've specced two additional SSDs as I was thinking about dual booting with Linux and thought a drive per OS would be a good idea.

I'd like the new system to last me a good few years.

What are everyone's thoughts? Anything you'd change? and why?

Cheers

lee32uk · 7 Oct 2015 at 15:17

Save a bit of cash and go with the 5820K. You have a few less pci-e lanes (28 rather than 40) and a slightly slower clock speed (3.3GHz rather than 3.5GHz).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - Retail (BX80648I75820K) £311.99
Total : £321.59 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

5960xNvidiaGamer · 8 Oct 2015 at 20:43

The 5820k will be in a different league than your AMD setup, defo a good move.

Scurra · 9 Oct 2015 at 12:40

Surely the extra clock speed on the 5930k will be beneficial for gaming though? Or is it the case that the overclocking potential on the 5820k is good enough not to warrant the extra outlay?

To be honest I was have a little trepidation in buying a new CPU that's clocked below 4Ghz anyhow given that seems to be the sweet spot for the Skylake i7s

5960xNvidiaGamer · 9 Oct 2015 at 12:49

Doesn't matter which one of the X99 cpu's you get, they can all be overclocked. My 5960x is on 4.7ghz stable.

TubbyGreg · 9 Oct 2015 at 13:58

You need a bretty peefy cool though

Armadillo · 9 Oct 2015 at 18:44

I went from an fx8350 to the 5820k. No regrets, not even overclocked it and get better performance in games and other tasks (video encoding etc), than the fx.

So I wouldn't worry about it only being at 3.3 at stock.

Captain · 10 Oct 2015 at 17:44

Scurra said:
Surely the extra clock speed on the 5930k will be beneficial for gaming though? Or is it the case that the overclocking potential on the 5820k is good enough not to warrant the extra outlay?

To be honest I was have a little trepidation in buying a new CPU that's clocked below 4Ghz anyhow given that seems to be the sweet spot for the Skylake i7s

the only reason to get the 5930K is to use the full x16 x16 of your 2 GPU's, the 5820K will run @ x16 x8, you won't even notice the difference.