Do you even want to buy a CPU right now?

Have 7820X in the signature, almost since launch. Don't really have a 'need' but I'm starting to have an inch for 'want'. Although prices are not really enticing me to upgrade.
 
Snagged a 5900x from Amazon when they were going for $499. Should last for 5-6 yrs I hope.

Just scoping for a motherboard now..
 
I recently got a 10600K to put into the spare ITX PC (it used to have a 4770K) and I got it for a good price. Power consumption was the limiting factor and only later did I realize I should have probably gotten a 3700X or something on ebay for similar money. XD Oh well!

Last March I got a 10900K and it performs very well -- and will probably hold me for a good while until DDR5 platforms become more developed.
 
I made a new machine last year with a 3600xt. I'm good. Not sure what I have to gain right now. Then I got a 3600 sitting here to upgrade my son's from a 4790k. Heck, the 4790k is still pretty good in its own right. So, nope, we are good on the cpu front.
 
Snagged a 5900x from Amazon when they were going for $499. Should last for 5-6 yrs I hope.

Just scoping for a motherboard now..
If you get a chance, take a look at the MSI X570 Tomahawk Wifi. I snagged mine on Amazon for under $225 with free shipping. A buddy of mine has the 5900X with the same board. With a few bios tweaks, his chip boosts to 5.1-5.2Ghz and my 5800X boosts up to 5.0-5.1Ghz. This board does not disapoint.
 
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If you get a chance, take a look at the MSI X570 Tomahawk Wifi. I snagged mine on Amazon for under $225 with free shipping. A buddy of mine has the 5900X with the same board. With a few bios tweaks, his chip boosts to 5.1-5.2Ghz and my 5800X boosts up to 5.0-5.1Ghz. This board does not disapoint.
Will do! I’m also considering a gigabyte x570s aorus master. Something beefy as socket am4 is basically EOL.
 
Do I want to replace my 4790k yet... Not really, but my mainboard has had alot of boot problems as of late. So if it dies I would rather upgrade and find another z87/z97 board down the road and make a WinXP and Linux test bed on this chip.

Would like to hold out and see what Alder/Raptor/Meteor-lake bring, I feel like this could be another netburst moment for intel :eek:

This is my issue. I have a i7-4770k on the Asus Z87-Pro. My old 7970 GPU stopped working so no idea if it is the card or the board. An old GT 610 is working other than minor hiccups. I now keep getting CPU fan errors and already replaced the cooler once. Then of course it also likes to randomly freeze sometimes if I try to watch a youtube clip.

With all the craziness and stock issues, I feel like waiting but seeing cards getting a little easier to get I may just have to dive in before the next gen.
 
My old 7970 GPU stopped working so no idea if it is the card or the board.

The 7970 and especially the 7970 GHz Edition cards had notoriously high failure rates. AMD was pushing their silicon too hard and the heat and power consumption were out of control, which was probably the reason for the high failure rates. Cracked BGA and/or failed mosfets were common, but so was poor QC. I remember buying new-in-box 7970 GHz edition only for it to be DOA, RMA'd it and got another new-in-box DOA card. Returned that one for a refund and got an R9 280x instead. It was essentially the same as the 7970 GHz Edition, but it was more refined and had a significantly lower failure rate. My R9 280x also eventually failed after about 5 years, but thankfully it had a lifetime warranty and I got an RX570 as a replacement.

You could try to hot air reflow the GPU ASIC, or find someone to reball it and get a bit more life out of the card, assuming that's what's wrong with it. I've saved a number of video cards with failed BGA joints with hot air reflows and they went on to work a long time after that. Just don't throw it in your oven or microwave...


With all the craziness and stock issues, I feel like waiting but seeing cards getting a little easier to get I may just have to dive in before the next gen.

If you were fine with your 7970, you may just consider getting an older used card, which still have somewhat sane pricing. Fleabay has 7970 cards in the $150 range, which isn't terrible. People can't get much for them anymore since mining requires more RAM than the GPUs have. GPUs with less than 4 GB are fairly cheap.
 
Sitting on my EVGA x299 Dark and a 10980xe that I upgraded to last year, picked up used for $500. Runs at 4.5Ghz. I really don't see any point in anything with more cores. Hell, its probably way more cores than anyone will need for the next 5 years, at least. I thought Win 11 might make a difference, but .... nope.

Honestly, I could have stuck with my i9-7900x from back 4 years ago, because from a real world use case, I don't see much of a difference, but I had an itch... and some extra scratch. Now it sits as a back up system.
 
The 7970 and especially the 7970 GHz Edition cards had notoriously high failure rates. AMD was pushing their silicon too hard and the heat and power consumption were out of control, which was probably the reason for the high failure rates. Cracked BGA and/or failed mosfets were common, but so was poor QC. I remember buying new-in-box 7970 GHz edition only for it to be DOA, RMA'd it and got another new-in-box DOA card. Returned that one for a refund and got an R9 280x instead. It was essentially the same as the 7970 GHz Edition, but it was more refined and had a significantly lower failure rate. My R9 280x also eventually failed after about 5 years, but thankfully it had a lifetime warranty and I got an RX570 as a replacement.

You could try to hot air reflow the GPU ASIC, or find someone to reball it and get a bit more life out of the card, assuming that's what's wrong with it. I've saved a number of video cards with failed BGA joints with hot air reflows and they went on to work a long time after that. Just don't throw it in your oven or microwave...




If you were fine with your 7970, you may just consider getting an older used card, which still have somewhat sane pricing. Fleabay has 7970 cards in the $150 range, which isn't terrible. People can't get much for them anymore since mining requires more RAM than the GPUs have. GPUs with less than 4 GB are fairly cheap.

Unfortunately not sure if it is the GPU or the mobo itself and I don't have a spare PC to check with these days.

I was only fine with it since I kept waiting for a game to make me want to upgrade. It ran The Division 2 well enough when I was playing that after the $3 sale. This is the longest I have gone without upgrading so the itch has been growing worse and worse. The new Battlefield is looking decent enough and I got a copy of New World free which is just sitting here. My plan has been to replace everything since I am so long overdue. I have looked at buying an old card, but would hate to do it especially with today's prices only to find out it is also something with the mobo. I will probably just keep waiting and hope the itch goes away. I find the longer I go without gaming the less desire I have to really play again until we see something significant change in the gaming space whether that be new tech or new AI improvements or something else entirely.
 
Unfortunately not sure if it is the GPU or the mobo itself and I don't have a spare PC to check with these days.

If the GT 610 works in the same slot the 7970 was in, the motherboard is fine, the card is the problem. The CPU fan error you were having is entirely unrelated to the PCIe slot. It could have genuinely been a failed fan, the hall effect sensor used in fans to get the RPM readings can fail, I've seen it happen numerous times over the years.
 
Sitting on my EVGA x299 Dark and a 10980xe that I upgraded to last year, picked up used for $500. Runs at 4.5Ghz. I really don't see any point in anything with more cores. Hell, its probably way more cores than anyone will need for the next 5 years, at least. I thought Win 11 might make a difference, but .... nope.

Honestly, I could have stuck with my i9-7900x from back 4 years ago, because from a real world use case, I don't see much of a difference, but I had an itch... and some extra scratch. Now it sits as a back up system.

Woooooow, that's a sick setup tbh, and amazing price for that 10980xe.
 
If the GT 610 works in the same slot the 7970 was in, the motherboard is fine, the card is the problem. The CPU fan error you were having is entirely unrelated to the PCIe slot. It could have genuinely been a failed fan, the hall effect sensor used in fans to get the RPM readings can fail, I've seen it happen numerous times over the years.

It works but the PC still randomly just stops working same what happened with the 7970 before eventually I just couldn't even boot into Windows. I also haven't tried to play a single game since using the 610. No idea if it is really the issue but it started with embedded video. Netflix trailers on the Netflix site 100% lock the PC up regardless of browser. Youtube randomly locks up the computer and then the PC will just freeze while idle with no browser open. I got tired of trying to troubleshoot it.

If it is the CPU fan, it would be the third or fourth one to die on this PC. First was the stock Intel one and then I replaced the fan which also started with errors about a month later. Then I replaced it with the Cooler Master 212 in 2019 which worked for about 6 months before fan errors started showing up again at boot so I replaced those fans. In the last 6 months it has started again. First boot generally fails with CPU fan error and if I shut it off and back on it boots fine. I have had issues with the PC off and on since day one so it is really no surprise.
 
It works but the PC still randomly just stops working same what happened with the 7970 before eventually I just couldn't even boot into Windows. I also haven't tried to play a single game since using the 610. No idea if it is really the issue but it started with embedded video. Netflix trailers on the Netflix site 100% lock the PC up regardless of browser. Youtube randomly locks up the computer and then the PC will just freeze while idle with no browser open. I got tired of trying to troubleshoot it.

Sounds like a failing power supply or bad RAM to me. Both would definitely cause issues like that.
 
I upgraded the spare itx PC from a 4770k to a 10600k last weekend and got it all set up on Sunday. NGL, it's pretty phenomenal for what I need it to do (primarily 1080p gaming with other light tasks). Max frames are a bit better, but minimum frames are far better and stutter feels nonexistent as far as I can tell.
 
I need a new CPU. Running an i7-2600K that was overclocked to 5GHz for a very long time, and now isn't stable at stock speeds for more than a day with no load.

Can't decide if i should get a 10th/11th gen or wait for the 12th as I have a 3080 Ti sitting in a box to go into this new build
 
I need a new CPU. Running an i7-2600K that was overclocked to 5GHz for a very long time, and now isn't stable at stock speeds for more than a day with no load.

Can't decide if i should get a 10th/11th gen or wait for the 12th as I have a 3080 Ti sitting in a box to go into this new build
I’m very happy with both 10th gen boxes I built. I intentionally skipped 11th, but 12 is intriguing. Although I might wait since most of the scheduler stuff to make that work is supposedly in windows 11; and I ain’t touching that till next fall with the first major service update.
 
I need a new CPU. Running an i7-2600K that was overclocked to 5GHz for a very long time, and now isn't stable at stock speeds for more than a day with no load.

Can't decide if i should get a 10th/11th gen or wait for the 12th as I have a 3080 Ti sitting in a box to go into this new build
I would wait for 12th gen if money is no issue and willing to deal with bugs of a new platform. Otherwise 10/11th will serve you well for a while.
 
I need a new CPU. Running an i7-2600K that was overclocked to 5GHz for a very long time, and now isn't stable at stock speeds for more than a day with no load.

Can't decide if i should get a 10th/11th gen or wait for the 12th as I have a 3080 Ti sitting in a box to go into this new build

I'd recommend an i9-10700k or i9-10850k if you want more cores. 11th gen isn't that much of an improvement and runs even hotter. You'll need a beefy liquid cooler in either case though. 240/280mm radiator at least, 360/420mm would be better if you have heavy loads that use lots of threads. If you want something that produces less heat, a Ryzen 5600x or 5800x would be better choices.
 
I need a new CPU. Running an i7-2600K that was overclocked to 5GHz for a very long time, and now isn't stable at stock speeds for more than a day with no load.

Can't decide if i should get a 10th/11th gen or wait for the 12th as I have a 3080 Ti sitting in a box to go into this new build
Another vote for 10th gen here. My 10850K is a beast and it runs everything very well paired with a 3090.
 
Another vote for 10th gen here. My 10850K is a beast and it runs everything very well paired with a 3090.
I think 10th gen is where i am going to end up, but any reason not to take the 10900K? also should I go with a Z590, or will there be no benefit since I'm not using an 11th gen?
 
I think 10th gen is where i am going to end up, but any reason not to take the 10900K? also should I go with a Z590, or will there be no benefit since I'm not using an 11th gen?
You need stellar cooling to keep temps down.
Even the 10700K runs pretty hot with 2 less cores +HT.
Thats the only reason I didnt get a 10900K.

I read something yesterday that suggests 590 mobos allow 10xxx CPUs to run a little better.
 
I think 10th gen is where i am going to end up, but any reason not to take the 10900K? also should I go with a Z590, or will there be no benefit since I'm not using an 11th gen?
I tried a few Z590 boards (Aorus and an Asus), and wasn't impressed with their stability so I went back to a Z490 board. The 10th gen cpus run warm but not that hot as everyone says IMO. I have used a Noctua D15S and my current 360mm AIO and both keep temps relatively close. My cpu is idling at 28C now and usually gets in the mid to upper 40's C when gaming.
 
I have a 9900K and I'm itching to upgrade. Almost went with a 5950X but I am definitely going to Alder Lake now.
 
With Alder Lake just around the corner, I would likely wait for that unless you can get a 10/11th gen CPU with a Z590 board very, very cheap. I would wait for the reviews before buying in case it does not perform well.
 
im running a 10400 on a 510h board and I'll be upgrading to the fastest alder lake I can get.
 
I've already decided once I finish my next little (3100) ITX fun build, I'll be moving on to Intel for Alder Lake. Not sure what rig it will replace (likely the gaming rig) but while the Ryzens have been fun - I definitely want to try something new.

My current 5950, 5800, 5600, 3900 and (soon 3100) all work well but PC tinkering fun is a journey and not a destination.
 
I'm hoping to get one more iteration of Zen3 for socket Am4 with the rumored stacked cash so I can continue using the X570 chipset for a couple more years. According to this rumored roadmap I may get it after all.
AMD roadmap.png
 
The 7970 and especially the 7970 GHz Edition cards had notoriously high failure rates. AMD was pushing their silicon too hard and the heat and power consumption were out of control, which was probably the reason for the high failure rates. Cracked BGA and/or failed mosfets were common, but so was poor QC. I remember buying new-in-box 7970 GHz edition only for it to be DOA, RMA'd it and got another new-in-box DOA card. Returned that one for a refund and got an R9 280x instead. It was essentially the same as the 7970 GHz Edition, but it was more refined and had a significantly lower failure rate. My R9 280x also eventually failed after about 5 years, but thankfully it had a lifetime warranty and I got an RX570 as a replacement.

You could try to hot air reflow the GPU ASIC, or find someone to reball it and get a bit more life out of the card, assuming that's what's wrong with it. I've saved a number of video cards with failed BGA joints with hot air reflows and they went on to work a long time after that. Just don't throw it in your oven or microwave...




If you were fine with your 7970, you may just consider getting an older used card, which still have somewhat sane pricing. Fleabay has 7970 cards in the $150 range, which isn't terrible. People can't get much for them anymore since mining requires more RAM than the GPUs have. GPUs with less than 4 GB are fairly cheap.

Any tips for re-balling joints? I have a hot air gun but no idea how to go about it.
 
Personally, not anytime soon. Maybe alder lake or am4 maybe not. The plan was to build a 5900x, 3080/6800xt x570 tomahawk build last year. 😂 Trying to find a cpu and gpu for 6-8 months killed the bug(buying hardware shouldn't be your fing job).
On the other hand i buy cpus pretty regularly for builds but generally nothing very exciting (doesn't really count in this context). The last batch were used 8700ks for a trio of desktops. So i do get to enjoy the finer parts of the hobby, configuring and building gear. For me that's become the most rewarding part of custom building.
 
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Alder Lake S will have 8 very fast cores and the E cores are supposedly skylake level IPC rather than a warmed over atom core. Even if the windows scheduler is initially dumb about it I am quite excited about this first high performance post 14nm desktop CPU with apparently such a large jump forward (to be seen if true of course). I even think it will help AMD accelerate their pace and rethink some of their prices.
 
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Alder Lake S will have 8 very fast cores and the E cores are supposedly skylake level IPC rather than a warmed over atom core. Even if the windows scheduler is initially dumb about it I am quite excited about this first high performance post 14nm desktop CPU with apparently such a large jump forward (to be seen if true of course). I even think it will help AMD accelerate their pace and rethink some of their prices.
Rethink their prices? :confused:
 
Intel's 12400 ES/QS samples are beating 5600x in leaked data, using DDR4. 10400 and 11400 were about $185 with integrated graphics. $160 - $170 without graphics. That's $100 less than a 5600x.
5600X are slightly above MSRP lately at $310, I've had one in my wish list to finish my new build just waiting on pay day at the first of the month. Sucks that I already bought an AM4 board but I did get a good price on it, NIB, here.
 
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Intel's 12400 ES/QS samples are beating 5600x in leaked data, using DDR4. 10400 and 11400 were about $185 with integrated graphics. $160 - $170 without graphics. That's $100 less than a 5600x.
Leaks aren't reality until it releases. The 5600X is what - a year old? I'd hope that something new coming out would beat it. Now we wait to see what AMD does.

My 3960X beats the pants off a 7980XE - does that say that the 7980XE was poorly priced, or that generational changes made it less competitive/valid since it's older? Heck, Intel used to charge 2k for those - the 10980 dropped because of threadripper, so I'd say those arguments go both ways on pricing.

As for the 10400/11400 - I rarely pay attention to mid-range kit, but that's good pricing to make it competitive with an (arguably) better architecture. Good on Intel. Lets you decide if you want to pay for the architecture, or save and just get cores.
 
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