Upgrading my old man's Gaming PC

SPARTAN VI

[H]F Junkie
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Jun 12, 2004
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My pop is ready to shed his Core i7 2600K and set a ~$500 budget for upgrading his core components (CPU, motherboard, RAM, M.2 SSD). This price range tends to land us in the Core i5 9600K or Ryzen 2700 range when spec'd out at Microcenter.

1) Purpose: 80% Gaming @ 3440x1440; 15% photo editing; 5% 1080P video editing.
2) Budget: $550 before tax.
3) Location: Orange County in California. We will be shopping at Microcenter in Tustin, CA.
4) Parts: CPU, RAM, Motherboard, M.2 SSD
5) Reusing parts: EVGA SuperNOVA 550W G2, RTX 2070, Corsair Hydro H60 AIO, 1TB 860 EVO, HDDs, ATX case.
6) Overclocking: Yes.
7) Resolution: 3440x1440, 35"
8) When: Build and buy within the next few weeks.
9) Desired motherboard features: SLI is a plus, but not required. Compatibility with Corsair H60 is required.
10) OS: Already have Win 10 x64

I'll personally build it for him, so I'm leaning toward the i5 9600K rig. I'm unfamiliar with Ryzen and surprises that come with that, so my preference for the i5 build is mostly risk aversion. I also realize that I'll need an AM4 bracket in order to use the H60 cooler on the Ryzen build, which adds $5 + tax and shipping to the cost.

Intel Option:
  • Core i5 9600K
  • Asus Prime Z390-P
  • G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 CL16
  • Crucial MX500 250GB M.2 SSD
  • Total: $518 before tax
AMD Option:
  • Ryzen 7 2700
  • Asus TUF X470-Plus
  • G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 CL16
  • Crucial MX500 250GB M.2 SSD
  • Total: $534 before tax
Other options???
 
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If it's games 80% I'd stick with Intel. Unless there's a purpose to getting 8/16 core/threads - higher single thread performance will be better bang for the buck.

Also, AMD Ryzen is more more finicky with ram than Intel I've found from my own recent switch from Intel to AMD. I just finished last night, and I'm still working out some hopefully simple bugs so FWIW (I had 4x16gb G.Skill Ripjaw V's in my 5930K rig and it was running quad channel at 3200 no problem. I just migrated it to my new 2700x rig and I think it's only running at 2133).
 
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I'd wait till after CES (a week) so we know when to expect the new AMD stuff....
 
At that resolution the difference between the 2700 and 9600k will be minimal. But since he's into overclocking I think he'll have more fun tinkering with the 9600k, so I'd go that route.
 
At that resolution the difference between the 2700 and 9600k will be minimal. But since he's into overclocking I think he'll have more fun tinkering with the 9600k, so I'd go that route.

The 9600K will give more overclocking headroom but as Darkswordz says at that res it will make almost no difference, he will be GPU bound. Newer RAM modules tend to play nice with the Ryzen 2xxx and as Kyle pointed out in an earlier [H] review the PB2 and other settings tend to do a damn fine job of boosting clocks on their own for hassle-free overclocking. If editing is ever going to increase down the road or more intensive multitasking the Ryzen might be worth consideration especially since the AM4 socket will be around for awhile for another upgrade cycle or two for lower TCO.
 
The Inland pro 512GB nvme drives are a good bang for the buck if you can swing some more $$$, probably 2nd the 9600k. Intel will probably make a new socket by time of upgrade though so a plus of AM4 is longevity, not to mention ces rumors od 8c16t 5ghz chips.
 
Thanks for the recommendations all.

I'd wait till after CES (a week) so we know when to expect the new AMD stuff....

This is proving likely for reasons I'll get to below.

An i5-8400 and a bigger SSD?

My mistake, I forgot to mention he'll be reusing a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO. Not sure if that changes your recommendation at all.

The Inland pro 512GB nvme drives are a good bang for the buck if you can swing some more $$$, probably 2nd the 9600k. Intel will probably make a new socket by time of upgrade though so a plus of AM4 is longevity, not to mention ces rumors od 8c16t 5ghz chips.

So here's the curve ball I was just given: My coworker has gifted me a Gigabyte AB350-Gaming motherboard. I'm waiting on an AMD Boot Kit to determine if this board works, so hopefully that will all come together when we learn more information about AMD's 3rd gen Ryzen plans. If the board doesn't work (he mentioned getting random black screens, but never troubleshooted the issue properly to narrow it down to any one component/s), then we're back to square one... but I personally like the idea of longevity with the AM4 socket.
 
if hes already running an ssd i wouldnt spend any money on a nvme drive. he wont notice a difference for the most part. if he needs more storage just go with a solid hdd and capacity that works best for him. if your buying from MC you may not even need the gifted mb. with the $30 combo deal you can usually pick up a solid mb for chump change.
 
If it's games 80% I'd stick with Intel. Unless there's a purpose to getting 8/16 core/threads - higher single thread performance will be better bang for the buck.

Also, AMD Ryzen is more more finicky with ram than Intel I've found from my own recent switch from Intel to AMD. I just finished last night, and I'm still working out some hopefully simple bugs so FWIW (I had 4x16gb G.Skill Ripjaw V's in my 5930K rig and it was running quad channel at 3200 no problem. I just migrated it to my new 2700x rig and I think it's only running at 2133).

Am having the same issue, I'm up to 3066 here, but with relaxed timings, and voltage jump. I will be stress testing soon to see if even that is stable.. ram is 3200 fyi.
 
So now we know Radeon VII is coming in February and Ryzen 3 sometime around Q2 - Q3, so I guess we'll wait. Trying to avoid the feeling of standing in the checkout line at Microcenter only to find your new rig is outdated before you've left the store. :banghead:

Is he also going to make Fallout mods?:D

You remember that? :ROFLMAO:
 
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