Upgrading from Xeon E3-1245 v3 to ???

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Svetgar

Weaksauce
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Apr 17, 2008
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So I have an odd system I put together a few years back. Its a Xeon E3-1245 v3, 32gb DDR3, SSD boot drive, and a 1060 6gb card. I recently got a dell 2k 27" monitor, and moved my old Dell 24" IPS as a second.

Everything has gotten so slow and laggy lately. Sitting here right now typing this task manager says 40% CPU 67% Memory and 15% GPU. And I don't even have my work stuff up. I run a LOT of applications at the same time. I use the computer for both work and fun, often at the same time.

I will often have about 30 - 60 browser tabs, Adobe Acrobat Pro, 5-10 word documents, outlook, 2 or 3 spreadsheets, and a few other things I'm forgetting for work.

I also have discord, twitch, every damm game launcher there is, spotify, etc running. I also like to play Black Desert Online but will keep that minimized to tray so I can AFK fish or lifeskill. From time to time I will fire up some other game, kill a few dudes and get back to work.

So I want to upgrade, but I'm not sure what I should be getting. It has been a very long time since I looked at hardware. I'm OK with spending some coin since I use my computer literally more than any other object I own except maybe my phone. I will say that my number one priority by a mile is stability and reliability. I don't care about RGB or anything like that.

Any suggestions?
 
Firstly, while it sounds like your PC is obviously older, I'm assuming you've considered reinstalling Windows and such? The idea of idling at 40% CPU when you don't have your stuff running would typically indicate something *is* running, even if you didn't intend it to do so.

Assuming you've done all that and it's really just that slow now, for almost *everyone*, my recommendation would be to go AMD. Their value proposition is essentially unbeatable and if you need high CPU core count they're basically playing in their own league. Get a Ryzen 5 3600 (or X, if it's the same price and sometimes it is) if 6 cores would do you, or a 3700X (or 3800X, again if it's the same price) if you want 8 cores. The Ryzen 9 CPUs are also available if you want 12 or 16 cores. Plop it on an inexpensive B450 motherboard because you don't need PCIe 4.0 nor SLI, so there's no reason to splurge for a more expensive X570 board. Grab a decent 32 GB DDR4 3600 kit (2x 16GB please) and keep the rest of your components and you should be pretty golden.

I can make specific recommendations if you like, but that oughta get you started in the right direction.
 
I've not done the reinstall yet.

I'm really torn. I have the computer build itch but I hear some big stuff is coming out later this year. So maybe I should just do a re-install and wait.
 
I don't think a PC upgrade now is necessarily a bad idea, especially given that you're likely to experience a significant uplift today that you could enjoy for a while. Supposedly the next-gen Ryzen shit is going to be compatible with current platforms as well, but that's obviously not a guarantee.
 
Svetgar said:
I've not done the reinstall yet.

I'm really torn. I have the computer build itch but I hear some big stuff is coming out later this year. So maybe I should just do a re-install and wait.
Click to expand...
Theres always going to be something just around the corner. Where the consumer is coming out ahead right now is they can pick an AM4 AMD setup right now that suits their needs and then still have the ability to upgrade should the next generation be something you need/want.

What you describe as your typical usage would overwhelm pretty much any quad core anyway. At least to the point you would notice a performance hit with that many applications and games running at once. You need a very fast hexacore at minimum, really I would recommend a 3700X or 3800X. If you can swing it the 3900X and 3950X are obviously monstrous desktop CPUs.
 
A Haswell quad core chip with SMT only goes so far these days. But I’d still determine where all your idle resources are going - that’s a lot of hardware power being funneled into nothing perceptibly beneficial to you. As for the upgrade recommendation, a 3700x with a be quiet! Dark Rock 4 or similar heatsink to enable sustained boost clocks and 64GB of DDR4 would knock your current build into next week. It’s not a bad time to upgrade - competition’s returned to the industry but your Xeon’s just not getting the job done for you.
 
I agree about the wasted resources. I've installed and un-installed quite a few things that I know are still lingering. Took me a while to figure out what programs and such I needed.

Alright, so new build it is. 3700x seems pretty good at $330. I have a Noctua cooler I'm using on the Xeon and Noctua will send me a free kit to use it on AM4. So really no point in x570 now? The most popular b450 is the Tomahawk priced at $115, for $50 more I can get a x570....

If I go with 64gb should it be 2x32 or 4x16?

For video, I'm thinking the new AMD 5600xt
 
If you do the B450 Tomahawk go for the Tomahawk Max. It's only $5 more but has a number of benefits over the vanilla.
 
If you have a microcenter locally, be sure to check them out. Their CPU+Mobo combo deals generally beat out internet pricing. I got my 3700X + Asrock B450 Pro4 from them, and the Asrock board was $30 after the promo bundle and the CPU was the same price as anywhere else online.
 
Bummer there.

As for your memory question, most the 32 GB DIMMs I've seen were 2666 speed. You'll want better than that for Ryzen, 3600 would generally be your target. That said, lots of boards don't like running at top-end memory speeds when you're running 4 DIMMs. I don't have much personal experience with that, since I just run 32 GB in a 2x16 config.
 
What do you guys think about me getting that $85 Ryzen 1600 chip and putting it with a $100 B450 board?

Edit- Thanks for the info sinisterDei. I found some 3200 32gb chips, but that was the best there was.
 
It's certainly an inexpensive option, and it *would* be faster than your current setup. You, however, don't strike me as someone who upgrades often - your current CPU came out in 2013. If this is your upgrade for the next 7 years, I'd swing for the fences a tiny bit more.
 
Yeah, I've been slow to upgrade these past few years. I didn't have much time to do anything, much less game and when I did I just played on the xbox. Things changed alot these past 2 years and I practically live on my computer now.
 
I literally just built a new system for my wife based around the new $85 Ryzen 1600AF and a B450 Tomahawk Max. Since that CPU is literally a rebadged 2600, its hands down the best bang for buck out there. I was able to effortlessly set it at 4.2Ghz and ram at XMP 3200Mhz CL16. Highly recommend.
 

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Well is $50 more wort it for a pcie4 nvme drive speed? If you don't go that route I suggest a phision e12 controller pcie3 drive for your boot drive. Luckily 2x16gb ddr4 is pretty cheap sub $130. So the question is if you have 4 slots and need to get beyond 64gb in the future then maybe 2 32gb but bang for buck is not there.

For cpu the 3600 is a good place holder at 180, but for long term I think the 8c chips are better. I personally went from the 1231v3 to 1700 and was about equal, where the 3600 was a pretty big boost in single cor over that.
 
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