Ryzen 4 Reviews Are Out.

By about $52 for the board I was looking at. However I'm scared Ill end up having to pay import tax... Just my luck.
It depends a lot on sales tax in your state/city too. Mine is 10% so a mobo+7950x is like $200 cheaper than if I were to buy locally/order from a US online store. I haven't decided whether to pull the trigger or not though.
 
Oh, FWIW the guy at microcenter said I was only the second person in all day (at the end of the day) to pick one up. So demand on these might be low.
 
Oh, FWIW the guy at microcenter said I was only the second person in all day (at the end of the day) to pick one up. So demand on these might be low.

I think demand overall is going to be low, for this and especially the new RTX 4000 series. A lot of people are "full" and don't have money for seconds.

We just got out of two years or so of insane demand for PC components as people built tons of PCs to game on during the lock down. Most people who wanted a PC already have a PC that can play just about any game they throw at it. Ignore the minuscule 5 to 30% FPS improvement that can't be detected by the naked eye.This is an enthusiast's site with dedicated hobbyists who are really in tune with the industry. All of us know when the latest and greatest is hitting the shelves and how much of an imperceptible difference in FPS that hardware brings. However, the vast majority of PC gamers don't really care about the newest PC hardware. They update their PC when it can't run the latest games, they aren't focusing on the FPS counter in the corner, comparing 90fps vs. 104fps. If the game runs alright they don't mind. Couple this with the recession and you've got a recipe for low sales.
 
I’ve been holding off upgrading due to the insane markups on gpus and so so uplift over my 9900k. Zen4 or 13th gen intel made sense to me, as I want to build a new pc and give my current rig to my daughter who wants to play sea of the thieves with her dungeons and dragons friends. I Didn’t feel like waiting 1-2 months for 13th gen, so I jumped in for a 7600xt build. Spent a lot, but plan to use this as a core for a few cpu upgrades.
 
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I'm really glad that they finally released Zen4, but I went the opposite way with this...instead of jumping onto the latest & greatest, I took advantage of the price cuts on the last gen to score me a Ryzen 9 5950x for the same price as what the 5900x USED to cost.

All the parts I wanted/needed were in stock (no having to wait for stock to catch up to demand), the CPU was deeply discounted, I don't have to use mega-expensive DDR5 RAM, my system will SIP electricity compared to the Ryzen 9 7900x or 7950x with much lower heat output (and I am VERY heat-intolerant), so I won't need any fancy cooling solution (gonna run it at stock clocks, or "maybe" VERY lightly OC'ed just for shiggles), and I don't have to worry about any "new-platform" bugs that will prevent me from getting work done.

I'm upgrading from the 7-year-old "main rig" in my signature and will be mostly using the system for video encoding (4K h.265 encodes were just PAINFUL on that system...I actually started using my laptop instead because it was MUCH faster, having an i7-11800H). I don't use GPU encoding because I want to maximize quality and minimize file sizes as much as possible. I might also do a bit of gaming from time to time if/when I want to play on desktop, but my gaming laptop with a GTX 3060 is plenty for the games I play (and FAR superior to the GTX 980 in my desktop).

I should see a HUGE leap in performance coming from the i7-4790k I'm retiring, which was purchased in 2015. If this new rig lasts 7 years or longer like my current one has, I believe it to be a very worthwhile upgrade, even with no "upgrade path" baked-in. Unless my needs for the system vastly change between now & then, or some new encoding technology comes out which this new setup can't handle (NOT moving to AV1 anytime soon), by the time I feel the need to replace this system it will require a whole new mobo/cpu/ram anyway.

New parts:
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 cooler (again, running CPU @ stock or very near to it, and love the mounting offset so you can access RAM without removing the cooler, just remove the fan from it)
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR4 3600
2x SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2 2280 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 x4, NVMe 1.3c

I will continue to use the GTX 980 for now, especially since my laptop outperforms it by a pretty good margin anyway (but even the GTX 980 is enough for what games I play), and will use the same case, PSU, and monitor. I *might* end up getting another 64GB of RAM to max it out at 128GB if I find my larger 4K video encodes are still taking too long because it can't all fit into memory at once.
 
Newegg still has the 7950x in stock, it is just tied to bundles. They had a bundle with the board I wanted anyway.

For some reason they have a boat load of bundles with 240mm aio coolers.

I ended up doing a bundle. Since I would need new memory. I honestly was thinking about 13900k but then it clicked the mobos are going to be on their last leg with z690 and intel likely is going to change socket sooner than AMD. So, I went ahead with x670e Taichi with the bundle and skill 32gb 6000mhz. I don't mind changing CPU out every year rather than board. It was a $60 bundle discount for all 3. So even if amd changed socket after 3 years I would probably upgrade just the CPU with latest gen at that time and keep the system for another few years.

Plus given we like have x3d versions of all new models I am looking to go that route down the road. I might go with that as my last upgrade in 2 years and call it a day for next few. That is the plan. I just see more lifespan with this system with just swapping CPUs might last me 5-6 so worth the board cost with all the PCIe gen 5 drive nvme slot as well.
 
I ended up doing a bundle. Since I would need new memory. I honestly was thinking about 13900k but then it clicked the mobos are going to be on their last leg with z690 and intel likely is going to change socket sooner than AMD. So, I went ahead with x670e Taichi with the bundle and skill 32gb 6000mhz. I don't mind changing CPU out every year rather than board. It was a $60 bundle discount for all 3. So even if amd changed socket after 3 years I would probably upgrade just the CPU with latest gen at that time and keep the system for another few years.

Plus given we like have x3d versions of all new models I am looking to go that route down the road. I might go with that as my last upgrade in 2 years and call it a day for next few. That is the plan. I just see more lifespan with this system with just swapping CPUs might last me 5-6 so worth the board cost with all the PCIe gen 5 drive nvme slot as well.

Little too rich for my blood on the Tachi. I went with the Steel Legend, 32gb of 6000mhz as well. Also threw in a EK 360 AIO, so I could pass down my old platform to my youngest son... and I lost the box with the am5 mount, so it stays with the intel system.

Hopefully the Steel Legend works out. Has pcie 5 on the graphics card slot and on one of the nvme and 3 pcie4 nvme. Also a boat load of usb. Kinda weird seeing so few pcie slot on all of the x670 boards. Not like I have put anything other than a gpu or sound card in one for years though.
 
Little too rich for my blood on the Tachi. I went with the Steel Legend, 32gb of 6000mhz as well. Also threw in a EK 360 AIO, so I could pass down my old platform to my youngest son... and I lost the box with the am5 mount, so it stays with the intel system.

Hopefully the Steel Legend works out. Has pcie 5 on the graphics card slot and on one of the nvme and 3 pcie4 nvme. Also a boat load of usb. Kinda weird seeing so few pcie slot on all of the x670 boards. Not like I have put anything other than a gpu or sound card in one for years though.

I honestly was looking at that as well. But the looks of taichi sold me lmao, I just didn't like the colors on Steel legend. Taichi just looked too clean lmao. Plus I took in the $60 bundle I guess. Also got this new card that gives me $300 cash back if I spend 1500. So kinda gives me some good discount on everything I guess. Plus gotta sell some old parts here that should get me 500-600 back once I am done lol.
 
Ok, so I just finished playing around with my build over the last few hours (more details here for power efficiency stuff: https://hardforum.com/threads/ryzen-7000-series-efficiency.2022218/)

For general users there's a few annoyances:
1.) ASRock BIOS lists PPT limits in mW instead of W. So to set the PPT limit to ie. 140W you have to enter 140000. Kind of annoying. You can't royally screw things up, since even if you enter 100mW (0.01W) it'll still boot and work, just really slowly, but it's counterintuitive. Hopefully Asrock changes this in a BIOS update
2.) Boot time on first boot is up to 3 minutes or so depending on how much RAM is installed. This threw me for a loop initially and I thought I had screwed something up since I wasn't getting a video output signal. Apparently after first boot it doesn't need this much time, and only takes this long after the CMOS is cleared.
3.) The installation process was weird. Coming from Epyc installs I expected to remove the plastic cover first, but apparently you are supposed to leave it on (not sure if it really matters).

Good things:
Integrated graphics and HDMI & DisplayPort outputs on the motherboard will make the upgrade process to newer gens much easier for new users. It also makes troubleshooting much easier (I have a lot of Ryzens in 1U server cases and God-forbid I ever have to access the BIOS again since there's no IPMI and no display output, and no way to install a GPU really). [Edit:] Also, if AMD is listening, instead of putting a budget APU on these maybe just enforce IPMI and BMC chips for everyone? Not sure if that's cheaper than an APU but it would be killer for server users and possibly easier on end users once they get adjusted to it (if people are confident enough to update their BIOS for a new product line they can probably find the IP of their BMC computer and do it through a web interface anyway).
 
The motherboard prices are stupidly expensive, even for AMD. And no way in hell would I pay $600 for a mATX motherboard either, it really shows how PC component prices have gone way up over the years.
 
Really not sure how to digest these three boards outside of looks, but I'm interested in the:

ASUS Prime X690E-PRO
ASUS TUF Gaming X690E-PLUS
ASRock X690E Steel Legend

I'm leaning toward the Prime (as I mentioned earlier) but I'm really not sure what the differences are other than the PCIe stats. Anyone have any insight?
 
Really not sure how to digest these three boards outside of looks, but I'm interested in the:

ASUS Prime X690E-PRO
ASUS TUF Gaming X690E-PLUS
ASRock X690E Steel Legend

I'm leaning toward the Prime (as I mentioned earlier) but I'm really not sure what the differences are other than the PCIe stats. Anyone have any insight?
Similar VRM layout, really comes down to price and which pcie layout and USB port options that you prefer.
I ordered the Steel legend, the prime looks great too. Probably would have picked it had it been in stock.
 
The motherboard prices are stupidly expensive, even for AMD. And no way in hell would I pay $600 for a mATX motherboard either, it really shows how PC component prices have gone way up over the years.
Lol you’re not kidding! The 670E Tachi at $499-$20 combo-$20 rebate seems like a steal compared to Asus boards. I’ve had great luck with Asrock so hopefully they don’t let me down this time.

As another user above noted. This platform should last a few generations of cpus. I’ve managed to hold off upgrading anything major in my pc for 4-5 years. I’m hoping to upgrade the cpu once or twice during this system’s lifetime, and keep me fast enough.
 
Lol you’re not kidding! The 670E Tachi at $499-$20 combo-$20 rebate seems like a steal compared to Asus boards. I’ve had great luck with Asrock so hopefully they don’t let me down this time.

As another user above noted. This platform should last a few generations of cpus. I’ve managed to hold off upgrading anything major in my pc for 4-5 years. I’m hoping to upgrade the cpu once or twice during this system’s lifetime, and keep me fast enough.
I had sticker shock while ordering the. Realized it wasn’t bad compared to my 9900k build.
CPU was a $150 difference, ram is $20 more than I paid back then for DDR 4. Motherboard is around $70 more after bundle discount.

So around $250 more which isn’t too bad to move from 8 to 16 core and I almost spent more than that last time nearly going HEDT.
 
I've been itching to upgrade as I've been sitting on the x99 platform since 2014. But man, the prices and the feature set is really something on these AM5 motherboards. For $1,000+, I'd expect a mobo to have just about every feature and yet that's not the case. Pretty disappointing. I didn't think it'd be the motherboard selection that would be holding me back.
 
When does the ryzen 7xxx series come out to buy?

I am really thinking about full upgrade. haven't really since 2018. Even thinking a nvidia 4080/4090 to go along with it.

EDIT: NV they are out.
 
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When does the ryzen 7xxx series come out to buy?

I am really thinking about full upgrade. haven't really since 2018. Even thinking a nvidia 4080/4090 to go along with it.

EDIT: NV they are out.
Yesterday. It's not really on Amazon...NewEgg does have some of the CPUs available
 
When does the ryzen 7xxx series come out to buy?

I am really thinking about full upgrade. haven't really since 2018. Even thinking a nvidia 4080/4090 to go along with it.

EDIT: NV they are out.
You can buy them now
 
So... I have been on PCIE 3 and with 4 NVME slots on X670...
Has anyone with a PCIE 4 SSD noticed a difference in performance vs a PCIE 3 SSD? I remember last I looked, the differences in speed were mainly in synthetic tests.

I have a 970 EVO 1TB drive for windows and my primary game/applications and a 2TB QLC Inland drive for games/storage.
 
So... I have been on PCIE 3 and with 4 NVME slots on X670...
Has anyone with a PCIE 4 SSD noticed a difference in performance vs a PCIE 3 SSD? I remember last I looked, the differences in speed were mainly in synthetic tests.

I have a 970 EVO 1TB drive for windows and my primary game/applications and a 2TB QLC Inland drive for games/storage.
Only for some of the oddball stuff I do (storage tiering / NVMEoF / etc). It's not a significant change at ALL for normal use cases.
 
My resistance is nearing the end.. I don't game, but building habit is still here. What are the top of the line cases to go along with this?
 
So... I have been on PCIE 3 and with 4 NVME slots on X670...
Has anyone with a PCIE 4 SSD noticed a difference in performance vs a PCIE 3 SSD? I remember last I looked, the differences in speed were mainly in synthetic tests.

I have a 970 EVO 1TB drive for windows and my primary game/applications and a 2TB QLC Inland drive for games/storage.
No, I haven't noticed any difference at all (normal user, not doing productivity stuff, 980 PRO on pcie3 and pcie4.0 motherboards). The only thing I've noticed has been what I assume was thermal throttling due to high temps (some weird hiccuping that made it feel slower than my older pcie3 SSD setup). On one of my motherboards the main SSD slot was jammed between the CPU cooler and the GPU and with a larger GPU and CPU heatsink it was getting pretty warm (confirmed by sensor temps). Fixing that fixed the weird slowdowns.
 
Little too rich for my blood on the Tachi. I went with the Steel Legend, 32gb of 6000mhz as well. Also threw in a EK 360 AIO, so I could pass down my old platform to my youngest son... and I lost the box with the am5 mount, so it stays with the intel system.

Hopefully the Steel Legend works out. Has pcie 5 on the graphics card slot and on one of the nvme and 3 pcie4 nvme. Also a boat load of usb. Kinda weird seeing so few pcie slot on all of the x670 boards. Not like I have put anything other than a gpu or sound card in one for years though.
Well little update. Newegg had payment issue with PayPal. Idk why so I just canceled it to redo it with Apple Pay using my card since I don’t have the card yet and Wells Fargo allowed me to link it to Apple Pay and PayPal not sure why PayPal declined. Might be because my email on order was different so who knows. Then I was feeding my cat and wow saw I had my old white lian li case just sitting there in storage, that I had in my old build a while back but it’s bare now, but still looked clean. I was like I guess I am going steel legend with the new order to go with that white theme. Ended up ordering that using my card with Apple Pay.
 
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Has anyone tried the 7950X or 7900X with a highend HSF (NH-D15 or NH-U14) and see if the boost frequency is adversely affected?
 
I fricking hate Newegg. They locked my account again. I sware don’t use Apple Pay with these idiots. I had a great account with great history. I used Apple Pay and it had my old address they blocked my entire account and told me to pound the sand and create new one with different email. I did that and used that to do this order and I can’t log in again. Something wrong with your account and I see 2 pending changes by then for 1300 on my credit card. 🤦‍♂️ Guess I am not buying from them ever again.
 
I fricking hate Newegg. They locked my account again. I sware don’t use Apple Pay with these idiots. I had a great account with great history. I used Apple Pay and it had my old address they blocked my entire account and told me to pound the sand and create new one with different email. I did that and used that to do this order and I can’t log in again. Something wrong with your account and I see 2 pending changes by then for 1300 on my credit card. 🤦‍♂️ Guess I am not buying from them ever again.
Don't use Newegg, they are garbage, period. Glad to hear you're not buying from them anymore.
 
Don't use Newegg, they are garbage, period. Glad to hear you're not buying from them anymore.
Yea I didn’t buy for over year and half from them. Given they are the only ones that had mobos I figure I would order from them. So I created another account with another email like they said and now this. May be it was the right decision not to deal with them for almost 2 years lmao.
 
I'd love to do an SFF build but I am having a hard time finding a small case that supports a 360mm rad. Any recommendations? I'd love to have the small size but also awesome airflow (will be using air cooled GPUs). With the 4xxx series over 300mm in size that's yet another challenge...

EDIT: promising: https://protondesign.io/products/i100pro
 
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I'd love to do an SFF build but I am having a hard time finding a small case that supports a 360mm rad. Any recommendations? I'd love to have the small size but also awesome airflow (will be using air cooled GPUs). With the 4xxx series over 300mm in size that's yet another challenge...

EDIT: promising: https://protondesign.io/products/i100pro
You dont need a 360mm rad to cool them it looks like. You can change some settings in the bios and get the same performance with lower power usage and temps by 20c! It is super easy to change too. I am shocked AMD didnt do this at all.

 
It's taking everything in me to not buy the $600 Asus Gene. I wont use it to its fullest, but I don't want to wait for a proper MATX board either
 
Sigh. Im planing to finally upgrade from my i7 920 and I was really hoping Zen4 was going to be a no brainer. But these MoBo prices are discouraging. And then on the other hand AM4 is sitting there perfectly capable but at the end of it's upgrade road. But then would I ever actually upgrade the cpu?

Maybe I'll wait and see what the b650 boards look like.
 
Sigh. Im planing to finally upgrade from my i7 920 and I was really hoping Zen4 was going to be a no brainer. But these MoBo prices are discouraging. And then on the other hand AM4 is sitting there perfectly capable but at the end of it's upgrade road. But then would I ever actually upgrade the cpu?

Maybe I'll wait and see what the b650 boards look like.
I mean....if you're a person that's ok upgrading from Nehalem.....you're not gonna be getting a new CPU before AM7. Just get the AM4 now!
 
It's taking everything in me to not buy the $600 Asus Gene. I wont use it to its fullest, but I don't want to wait for a proper MATX board either
Totally. I always loved the Gene series boards and wanted the AM5 one as soon as the teaser pics released. Then the prices come out and yikes. It needs to be like $200 cheaper and even then its rough.
 
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