Upgrading AMD Ryzen 2700x to 5950x - cooling

[kzar]

I'm thinking of upgrading my 2700x with a second hand 5950x, it seems to be a quick/cheap way to improve compiling performance for now without needing to replace my (x470 Taichi Ultimate) motherboard etc. I think in the future I'll go with a bigger AM5 upgrade, but the current chips don't seem worth the cost considering what I have already.

I'm not sure about cooling though, currently I'm using the stock 2700x cooler. My questions:

1. Would that stock cooler be enough?
2. If not, what would be a good choice? I'd like an air cooler that fits in my Fractal Define R6 case, is quiet/silent, and ideally one I can re-use if I upgrade to an AM5 chip in the future.
3. Anything else you think I'm missing?

Cheers, Dave

 

[Tetras]

I'm not sure about cooling though, currently I'm using the stock 2700x cooler. My questions:

1. Would that stock cooler be enough?

Yes, if you have good airflow then you can cool these CPUs with a prism, though it'll run hot.

2. If not, what would be a good choice? I'd like an air cooler that fits in my Fractal Define R6 case, is quiet/silent, and ideally one I can re-use if I upgrade to an AM5 chip in the future.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £24.95
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02665) = £29.99
• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE Dual Tower CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02723) = £36.94

Total: £95.88 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

3. Anything else you think I'm missing?

Don't forget to update your BIOS before you install the new CPU, especially if you don't have USB flashback available.

it seems to be a quick/cheap way to improve compiling performance for now

Is this definitely fully multithreaded? If it isn't, I'd get the 5700X instead.

 

[kzar]

Thanks that's really helpful, appreciate the help!

Yea, I'm compiling Chromium, and while there are differences with how I'm doing it I found this benchmark Gamers Nexus put out while I was looking into the 9950x. That's what got me thinking the 5950x might be a good option.

 

[Tetras]

That's what got me thinking the 5950x might be a good option.

Yeah, it is still a very competitive CPU if the workload is fully multithreaded!

 

[TrojanWhore]

I've got a 5950x running under a Thermalright Assassin King (£17), but it does get to around 80 degrees and a bit noisy on full load.
If you don't mind spending £30-40 I'd definitely go for one of the 2 Thermalrigt coolers Tetras has listed (they're basically twice the size of mine so will handle it easily!).
Happy to run a bench or two for you if it helps make the decision, as long as they're free and pretty easy to set up

 

[eeii]

you can run these cpus in 65 watt mode and not loose much performance.

 

[JediFragger]

If it's for gaming then try to stretch to a 5700/5800X3D, they'll bury it and last a LOT longer.

 

[kzar]

I upgraded the CPU and cooler today, it all went smoothly . Chromium build time (using Reclient) came down from around 30 minutes to around 10 minutes, so a great improvement, very happy with that! Thanks again for all the help.