i7 or wait for zen

[Narrdarr]

so this a copy and paste from another forum that is use, but i would like your guys thoughts on this

It official my oc as taking a toll on my i5 6500 killing the 4th core. Currently running 3 cores 3 thread at 4.3ghz. But games are having a tough time.

So I have a Asus z170 gaming pro. 16gb ram spec at 2400 but oc to 2600ish via black oc. Gtx 1080 ftw.
running 1440p 144hz panel

Should I just pick up a i7 7700k or switch platforms and grab zen2 (thinking 3700x With mid range x570mobo)?

Almost always for gaming not so much productivity.

Personally i don't feel spending 500-700$ on a new cpu, mobo and faster ram to take advantage of the new zen2 cpu is worth it. But of course neither is a i7-7700k at 250$.
What do you guys think?

 

[Johan45]

In the end it's up to you, the 7700k is an instant upgrade for half the cost. If the other components are still working fine that's likely the best route and will game great with the higher boost compared to your 6500

 

[EarthDog]

Seems like you've made a choice already in not wanting to spend the money for Zen2....not sure we can help ya out here.

That said, a quad with HT is the minimum I would get today for gaming... a hex+ is preferred if you are keeping this cpu for a few years...

 

[UltraTaco]

And this is why taco runs a edit: 6 core xeon

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

Poor life choice you could make is buying a 6 core xeon.

A good life choice would be to save your pennies and wait for the zen 2 benchmarks come out.

Also, you wont have to buy new ram. DDR4 will still work with zen 2. so the CPU and motherboard would be your only concern.

 

[Narrdarr]

In the end it's up to you, the 7700k is an instant upgrade for half the cost. If the other components are still working fine that's likely the best route and will game great with the higher boost compared to your 6500

yea kinda what i thinking maybe even get a 6700k as its the same preformance in gaming, but i can find it cheaper. I could always get another i5 6500 and OC to have damn near the same results.

Seems like you've made a choice already in not wanting to spend the money for Zen2....not sure we can help ya out here.

That said, a quad with HT is the minimum I would get today for gaming... a hex+ is preferred if you are keeping this cpu for a few years...

If the value is there for the upgrade. I have no problem upgrading.

And this is why taco runs a edit: 6 core xeon

no xeons for z170. At least none that i know of.

Poor life choice you could make is buying a 6 core xeon.

A good life choice would be to save your pennies and wait for the zen 2 benchmarks come out.

Also, you wont have to buy new ram. DDR4 will still work with zen 2. so the CPU and motherboard would be your only concern.

You are correct in a way.... My ddr4 is fine. But if i want to get the most from ryzen chip i should probably get some faster ram.

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

which...is why you want to wait for the benchmarks to come out first. I think i recall Steve Walton (Hardware Unboxed) saying that he would be testing with different ram configurations with zen 2.

Ram may affect zen 2 largely maybe not.

I mean if i was on a budget, I would hope that what i have and what im going to upgrade to will allow me to play my games at 60+ frames per second minimum.

 

[Alaric]

As long as the Zen architecture relies on the Infinity Fabric (running at the same speed as memory) RAM speed will be a factor in Ryzen performance.

 

[Narrdarr]

which...is why you want to wait for the benchmarks to come out first. I think i recall Steve Walton (Hardware Unboxed) saying that he would be testing with different ram configurations with zen 2.

Ram may affect zen 2 largely maybe not.

I mean if i was on a budget, I would hope that what i have and what im going to upgrade to will allow me to play my games at 60+ frames per second minimum.

i hold over 60+fps anyways

As long as the Zen architecture relies on the Infinity Fabric (running at the same speed as memory) RAM speed will be a factor in Ryzen performance.

agree

 

[pgdeaner]

Posted a link to some leaked benchmarks in the AMD rumors thread. Looks like the 3900X is going to be a good chip but it doesn't blow the 9900K out of the water or anything so it really comes down to what you want to spend.

I agree with Johan that the 7700k would be the cheap option.

If you wanted to try the AMD route, it looks like the x570 boards are going to be expensive so it might be cheaper to look for a good quality x470 board unless you are looking at seriously overclocking the 12 or 16 core units.

As Alaric mentioned, if you want to see the performance you paid for out of your AMD platform you will want DDR4 3200 at a minimum.

Let us know which way you go and how it works out.

 

[Blaylock]

I'll wait for Johan45's review to publish (hopefully) on the 7th before deciding. I know our testing method is consistent and should show proper comparisons under equal conditions.

Also, I think you are forgetting that most B450 boards are also quite capable of OCing an 8c16t Ryzen.

 

[pgdeaner]

I'll wait for Johan45's review to publishing (hopefully) on the 7th before deciding. I know our testing method is consistent and should show proper comparisons under equal conditions.

Also, I think you are forgetting that most B450 boards are also quite capable of OCing an 8c16t Ryzen.

You're right. If the OP does not need SLI a B450 would be an option too. Just need make sure the VRM section on the B450 is good.

 

[Blaylock]

I absolutely agree.

 

[Narrdarr]

Sorry for delay. I have been working hard and 3700x has been out of stock everywhere.
And I was back and forth with the what mobo to get. Anyways I settled for:
MSI PERFORMANCE GAMING B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC.
Yes there are greater options that are cheaper however.
This board has:
WiFi
Bios flashback for easy bios changes
Intel Ethernet nic which is better than the realtek

16gb 3600 team Excalibur ram(not on the all but I didnt think I'll have any issues)
R7 3700x
So I guess I'll have a z170 1301 bios.16gb of 2400 ram. with i5 6500 with only 3 cores up for grabs.

 

[EarthDog]

Bios flashback is useful for teh first flash, but outside of that and extreme benchmarking, going through the BIOS will be fine.

If you notice the difference between those two NICs LMK.......realtek, Intel, Killer.... their difference is only really seen in benchmarks. Realworld for most people, the difference is quite little.

 

[Narrdarr]

Bios flashback is useful for teh first flash, but outside of that and extreme benchmarking, going through the BIOS will be fine.

If you notice the difference between those two NICs LMK.......realtek, Intel, Killer.... their difference is only really seen in benchmarks. Realworld for most people, the difference is quite little.

I comfortable with modified bios's so it might be handy down the line. And from living in the middle of nowhere I'll take every advantage I can get when I comes to networking.
Not mention any decent pcie WiFi card would cost the same as the difference. So its like buying a WiFi nice and getting these extra feature free.
Plus the vrm on this can handle the 3900x so I do have an upgrade path

 

[Zerileous]

I think some people are having a good bit of trouble getting Zen2 to work on that board right now, but it will probably be fixed with a bios update. I really don't know anything about the issue other than that it exists, but if I were in your shoes I would be combing over this post

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/ccmuo4

.

Looks like a good plan, however I wouldn't be thrilled about running a 12 core CPU on that motherboard. I know buildzoid said it could be done, "with airflow," but I wouldn't assume that you could get the most out of the CPU that way. On the other hand, it is a 105W TDP CPU. This means for AMD spec it should use 142W, although it can spike up to 140A, which would be 182W at 1.3V. This all comes from this article https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3491-explaining-precision-boost-overdrive-benchmarks-auto-oc. Also according to this article the main limitations are thermal, not power related. In other words, I'll be interested to see how it goes .

 

[Narrdarr]

I think some people are having a good bit of trouble getting Zen2 to work on that board right now, but it will probably be fixed with a bios update. I really don't know anything about the issue other than that it exists, but if I were in your shoes I would be combing over this post

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/ccmuo4

.

Looks like a good plan, however I wouldn't be thrilled about running a 12 core CPU on that motherboard. I know buildzoid said it could be done, "with airflow," but I wouldn't assume that you could get the most out of the CPU that way. On the other hand, it is a 105W TDP CPU. This means for AMD spec it should use 142W, although it can spike up to 140A, which would be 182W at 1.3V. This all comes from this article https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3491-explaining-precision-boost-overdrive-benchmarks-auto-oc. Also according to this article the main limitations are thermal, not power related. In other words, I'll be interested to see how it goes .

Thought i would touch base.

So i have no issues with the build using v17 beta bios. Flashing the bios using the bios flashback feature isn't the friendliest. You are lead to believe that you can simply format a usb drive.Then copy the bios to the usb. Rename the the file to MSI.BIOS. Plug it in and press the button.
This does not work correctly(at least for me). Check some forums and called msi. Still no luck. Did some extra research. Came across something somewhere regarding a different bios flashing issue someone was having on a completely different setup. I decided to try it. The flash drive was formatting GPT. I change the the format to MBR. Then fallowed the regular steps. Bamm bios started to flash i have had no issues since then.

 

[Alaric]

Formatting the flash drive to FAT32 has been the only way I've ever flashed a BIOS from a USB drive.