Worth going from a i7-9700k to a AMD Ryzen 9 5900X?

Zorachus

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Currently have a i7-9700k on a Z390 Motherboard, the rest of my computer spec's are pretty good with a RTX 3080, and 32GB DDR4 memory, and Samsung SSD, a Alienware 3420 monitor, etc...

But would it be worth going to a AMD 5900X?

I mainly play Elder Scrolls Online, Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, and will be playing a ton of BF2042 starting this Fall.
 
I imagine with BF2042 (remains to be seen) that you will be CPU limited some with possible stuttering (if BFV is an indication of possible CPU usage). Doom Eternal ran great even on my old 5960x X99 setup, so you are probably fine there... lol.

However; with AMD you will also gain PCIe 4.0 for the video card (not relevant yet really) and PCIe 4.0 for the Chipset (if you go with X570). The latter of which could benefit you for future NVME drives you might buy and use.

I guess the real question is; do you notice GPU usage below 99% or do you feel stuttering in games you play? That could be a large indicator of being limited not by the GPU.
 
Short answer, probably not if its strictly for gaming. The real question is, how bad is the itch?!

LOL right.

but honestly changing out my motherboard and processor is something I don’t like to do a lot it’s more involved and a bigger process have enough to take the computer apart and put the new motherboard in and plug it all back together and then I like to start a fresh OS install at the same time it’s just a big long process.

Upgrades like video cards or memory I’ll do it more often they’re easy take the old one out put the new one and boom you’re done.

But motherboard and CPU I only like to do once every five years or so because it seems if you have a good base system there you don’t need to change those two components too often.

Unless I wait until the next GEN stuff with DDR5?
 
FWIW, you don't have to reinstall the OS if it is Windows 10. I went from Intel x99 to AMD X570 with my nvme drive on Windows 10, just threw it in, Windows 10 reconfigured on it's own (and told me on OS boot), I installed the AMD drivers afterward and I have had 0 issues for 6 months.
 
Currently have a i7-9700k on a Z390 Motherboard, the rest of my computer spec's are pretty good with a RTX 3080, and 32GB DDR4 memory, and Samsung SSD, a Alienware 3420 monitor, etc...

But would it be worth going to a AMD 5900X?

I mainly play Elder Scrolls Online, Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, and will be playing a ton of BF2042 starting this Fall.

Not unless you have a strong craving for new motherboard smell.
 
Thanks that’s good to know I was under the impression when you switch core components going from Intel to AMD that I was always good to do a fresh clean install of the OS.

Actually wouldn’t mind trying windows 11 Pro but I don’t even think that’s ready for prime time yet?
 
Thanks that’s good to know I was under the impression when you switch core components going from Intel to AMD that I was always good to do a fresh clean install of the OS.

Actually wouldn’t mind trying windows 11 Pro but I don’t even think that’s ready for prime time yet?
Old myth by us PC builders from ages ago when you DID have too... lol. Windows 10 is pretty damn smart about that stuff (and it is designed to be)... worked flawlessly for me (and many others). I don't think Windows 11 is primetime ready yet from what I have seen. I'm sure when it is, I be Dual OSing it for a bit!
 
I think I’ll hold off on the motherboard and CPU upgrade wait till next year one next gen stuff comes out.

What's the new exciting core components due next year from AMD and Intel?
 
Intel has alder lake with ddr5 and pcie5 coming out in...oct or nov and amd has am4 with ddr who knows and pcie4 or 5 coming in q2 22 i think. Ive heard am4 is going to have ddr5 then it was ddr4. Then they moved the release date to 2022 from this year. Iuno
 
Thanks that’s good to know I was under the impression when you switch core components going from Intel to AMD that I was always good to do a fresh clean install of the OS.

Actually wouldn’t mind trying windows 11 Pro but I don’t even think that’s ready for prime time yet?

Yeah, Windows is pretty good with the switch. Though I do believe it will unvalidate itself if you reinstall any motherboard. It won't stop you from letting you use windows, but if you go to activation it will tell you that you do not have a validated version of Windows anymore. I think the only thing that happens is a watermark will show up, otherwise you will have full access. Windows 10 keys are so cheap though I just pay the $12 and get it validated

Concerning upgrading. I wouldn't. AM4 is at it's end of line and your only upgrade over that would be the 5950x, and despite owning the 5950x and 5900x and loving them, I wouldn't think the performance increase would matter other than seeing 15~20fps more on your already high fps. Personally I would consider possibly upgrading to a 9900k cause they are super cheap now (like $200 from MC). You can still get a good bit for your 9700. My wife has a 9900k and she loves gaming on it.
 
Currently have a i7-9700k on a Z390 Motherboard, the rest of my computer spec's are pretty good with a RTX 3080, and 32GB DDR4 memory, and Samsung SSD, a Alienware 3420 monitor, etc...

But would it be worth going to a AMD 5900X?

I mainly play Elder Scrolls Online, Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, and will be playing a ton of BF2042 starting this Fall.
The only one of those games that has potential to max that CPU out is BF2042.

But we're talking the difference between perfectly playable to omg overkill going up to the 5900x.

Don't get me wrong, OMG overkill performance is what we all strive for just so we don't need to worry, but I'm fairly confident your 9700k will hold out for at least 2 more video card generations.

To give you an idea... I maxed out BF4 with my 2600k back in the day, and that same 2600k was still holding 60fps (albeit with a lot newer RTX2070) while playing BF:V. I upgraded to a 5800x, and while 8 of the 16 cores (8 are virtual I know) are pegged at 100% for both games, my FPS hit the 200 cap on BF4 and was pushing 120 on BF:V with graphics maxed out in DX11 modes (1080p res).

8 physical, high clocked cores is where the sweet spot is right now if you plan to max out graphics... I only say that since DICE's Frostbite engine tends to be very multi-thread heavy when compared to the rest of the industry.

My prediction is thus... that 9700k of yours with the 3080 will still max out BF2042 at respectable and extremely playable framerates, it's just a 5900x might give you an extra 20fps to push you into that "god damn that's fast" territory.

If you got the money and don't mind spending it, go for it. But I believe that money might be better served put into savings, investments, or simply getting ahead on a loan or rent payment at least until supplies catch up to demand sometime next year.
 
Totally agree with everyone here. It's just not a worthy upgrade right now and money burned for no reason.

My bare minimum upgrade thoughts have always been at the very least I better see 1/3rd performance improvement on an upgrade to get me even thinking. Preferably 50% performance, then I'll upgrade right away.

But if your saying just 20% for me? Then no way.
 
I would grab one of those refurbished x470 max boards on the egg and grab a 5600x .. Max has the flash button to upload bios for Zen 3 .. I saw the board for around $89 just no PCI Express 4 Link is the down grade from B550 /x570
 
Currently have a i7-9700k on a Z390 Motherboard, the rest of my computer spec's are pretty good with a RTX 3080, and 32GB DDR4 memory, and Samsung SSD, a Alienware 3420 monitor, etc...

But would it be worth going to a AMD 5900X?

I mainly play Elder Scrolls Online, Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, and will be playing a ton of BF2042 starting this Fall.
That's a tough one. I went from a 6th gen to the 5900X and I can tell the difference. Then again, I was also gaming on a 1080. Going from a 9th gen to a 5900X, maybe on certain areas of gaming and high end productivity but you are already running a 3080 with the 9th and what I am assuming is an m.2 Samsung SSD.

Probably save your cash and get the next gen.
 
I imagine if you ask on a message board it is for people having doing the move and the subjective experience and not the numbers but:

On a 2080TI FW3 ultra (if it is about gaming) on 1440p (I imaigne your widescreen 1440 is in between 4K and 1440p but your video card is stronger to balance that out)
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-9-5900x/17.html
https://tpucdn.com/review/amd-ryzen-9-5900x/images/relative-performance-games-2560-1440.png

relative-performance-games-2560-1440.png


That would be good money for a 2% average bump, average FPS is not everything either, the lows do matter a lot has well, but still give an idea of how much of a lateral move it could end up to be, maybe having more than 8 core in game you play will be a nice things in the near future but if that happen, you will just be in a better position option wise to upgrade (maybe the new revision of the ryzen will be out and the new intel stuff will be).
 
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I was coming in to ask the same question myself.....i7-9700 vs 5900x/5950x.....seems like the general consensus is to avoid switching, but what if the upgrade is not for gaming, is it worth it then?
 
I was coming in to ask the same question myself.....i7-9700 vs 5900x/5950x.....seems like the general consensus is to avoid switching, but what if the upgrade is not for gaming, is it worth it then?
If your losing money because of your cpu/mb, absolutely. Ditch em asap.
If not then its probably wise to hold off and read some reviews about the new gear coming out before making a choice.
 
I was coming in to ask the same question myself.....i7-9700 vs 5900x/5950x.....seems like the general consensus is to avoid switching, but what if the upgrade is not for gaming, is it worth it then?
If it is parralel work it can be a good difference, do you compile, render (on the cpu), encode (on the cpu) ?

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It depend how long - often you do those type of work, is it on a dedicated machine or the active you work on and so on, you can gain 20% on some work load and on stuff 100% in perfect parrallele like CPU 3d rendering you can go more than twice as fast:

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Going from 12 thread 2600x to a 24 thread 3900x (and gained the ability for the ram to go faster at the same time), my rebuild compile time for my 52 projects solution went down by a factor of 2.2, I could imagine something similar possible for a 9700K to 5950x depending on your compilation process.

Like said above depends if it slow you actually down or if you can work no problem on something else during the task.
 
If it is parralel work it can be a good difference, do you compile, render (on the cpu), encode (on the cpu) ?

unreal-engine-lighting.png


compiler.png


premiere-pro.png


It depend how long - often you do those type of work, is it on a dedicated machine or the active you work on and so on, you can gain 20% on some work load and on stuff 100% in perfect parrallele like CPU 3d rendering you can go more than twice as fast:

corona.png


blender.png


Going from 12 thread 2600x to a 24 thread 3900x (and gained the ability for the ram to go faster at the same time), my rebuild compile time for my 52 projects solution went down by a factor of 2.2, I could imagine something similar possible for a 9700K to 5950x depending on your compilation process.

Like said above depends if it slow you actually down or if you can work no problem on something else during the task.
Thanks!
Man, those Blender time differences.....one of the reasons I was going to start the thread was because of Blender. This is good to know. The 9700k was the best decision at the time, but only a few options then as the 9900k runs really hot and I was more worried about keeping it cool. I'll def be looking at the 59xx series now. DDR4- 3600 good to pair with it, or is DDR4-3200 fine? I'm aware that Ryzen can use faster RAM.
 
Man, those Blender time differences.....one of the reasons I was going to start the thread was because of Blender.
That CPU rendering (which can still be interesting in some case) but GPU rendering can make those figure obselete, an Rtx 2070 super rendering with optix will be more than twice has fast than a 64c threadripper in many scenarios a rtx 3080 will be twice has fast, I would look if the cpu is being used for rendering and look if it is needed first if that the case.

3200 is probably fine, dual channel 3200 bandwitch (that just over 51 gig by seconds already of max theorical data transfert) is already not that easy to sature cpu core wise from the little that I know, looking at some numbers diff between 3200 and 3600 does not seem obvious in many scenario, but I would look if possible for your exact workload on the 5900x-5950x cpus.

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https://www.crowd-render.com/single...ls-and-capacity-affect-ray-tracing-in-blender
https://infogram.com/render-time-and-ram-frequency-1hxj48pme583q2v

If you already have a lot of 3200 I would not stress with it personnaly (I added my old kits to my 3600 to have more but slower 3200 ram personnaly, did not saw a difference in speed but stopped to always have missing ram message).
 
FWIW, you don't have to reinstall the OS if it is Windows 10. I went from Intel x99 to AMD X570 with my nvme drive on Windows 10, just threw it in, Windows 10 reconfigured on it's own (and told me on OS boot), I installed the AMD drivers afterward and I have had 0 issues for 6 months.
That's strange because when I went from a 7700K/Z270 to the 5800X/X570, windows would not boot. It would loop in reboot mode. I had no choice but to do a clean OS install.
 
That's strange because when I went from a 7700K/Z270 to the 5800X/X570, windows would not boot. It would loop in reboot mode. I had no choice but to do a clean OS install.

I've seen that happen from time to time to. It's better to reinstall Windows so you know you're O.S. gets installed 100% correctly.
 
I've seen that happen from time to time to. It's better to reinstall Windows so you know you're O.S. gets installed 100% correctly.
I always do a fresh install with a major hardware upgrade. I don't want an old and possibly corrupted or screwed up OS install to be causing problems especially if it's new hardware. It makes any possible troubleshooting a hell of a lot harder and more time consuming. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing and in the grand scheme of things the extra time for the OS installation isn't going to amount to much.
 
I always do a fresh install with a major hardware upgrade. I don't want an old and possibly corrupted or screwed up OS install to be causing problems especially if it's new hardware. It makes any possible troubleshooting a hell of a lot harder and more time consuming. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing and in the grand scheme of things the extra time for the OS installation isn't going to amount to much.
I started off doing a fresh install, and didn't want to waste the time... I threw in the old NVME just to see if it worked (as some had claimed). I was actually surprised it not only worked, but with absolutely no issues for me. I'm sure YMMV, but I was happy and have been running flawlessly since I built the rig in April. But yeah, I suppose for many, the end result might also end in absolute failure.
 
I always end up doing a fresh install with a new build because my boot disk always ends up getting upgraded. Might as well clean house. Sure an image might work fine, but just because MS has figured out how to make it work the vast majority of the time doesn't mean they've figured out how to clean up all of the random crap I'm not using anymore. I also don't upgrade all that often, so we're usually talking years worth of random crap. I get a new CPU when I have a reason to get one. Not enough FPS? That's a reason. Some game might come out next year that needs more proc? Not a reason. It might be once it comes out, but it has to come out and I have to buy it first.
 
If you already have a cpu like the i7 9700 then you might as well wait for a worthwhile upgrade especially at this point. I would see how Alder lake and the new AMD chips with the stacked cache look.
 
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