Question i9 9900k downgrading to ryzen 3600 for my usage

[name68]

Hello, i am playing with the idea of downgrading my cpu/PC. Right now i have i9900K and all i do with PC is gaming, and photo editing - i am professional photographer. I would downgrade whole i9 PC - > to ryzen 3600 and save about 430 USD by doing so + i would have completely new pc with new warranties etc. I am not in need of money but saving is always nice. Previously I built PC with i9 coz i wanted to add video production to my portfolio, but I wont have time for it and i want to focus on my photo production. My gpu is RTX 2080ti ( always tend to keep the highest end possible gpu). Also I still would be able to upgrade to more powerful ryzens of next gen if I would need it. What is you opinion should i keep i9 ? Or save money and go ryzen 3600 ? I kind of feel that i9 is overkill. I guess there would be no difference in photo editing but what about gaming on 144hz 1440p monitor ? I already have a potential buyer. Thanks

 

[DrMrLordX]

If you keep whatever you're using to cool the 9900k and use it on the 3600, you should be fine. Gaming at 144hz will be slower though, especially if you OC that 9900k. Except maybe in CS:GO

 

[Hitman928]

Yeah, from the perspective of saving money it makes sense with a buyer already lined up. The only question is how much gaming performance decrease are you willing to accept? If you're wanting to use your 144 Hz monitor to its fullest, the 3600 will definitely be a step back though will still have good performance. What types of games do you play?

 

[coercitiv]

Short answer: don't do it.

Long answer: don't do it unless rebuilding the system is something you enjoy and would be willing to do it again this year if the R5 3600 proves to be too slow for your needs. The $430 you save right now would likely buy you a strong CPU upgrade from AMD this summer or something strong enough for your gaming needs from Intel (the 10th gen i5 will behave like a 8th/9th gen i7).

 

[sdifox]

Unless you are still in the return window, I don't see how this will help. Unless said buyer is willing to pay what you paid for cpu and mobo

 

[guachi]

The 2080Ti is more than enough to game at 1440 whether you have a 3600 or 9900K. If it will save you money there's probably little harm in switching.

 

[VirtualLarry]

As much as I like AMD, I suggest them more for "GreenField builds" - new builds to fill a need or niche.

I don't see that much of a point, in selling your Intel 9900K rig, unless your buyer is willing to pay a premium for your old rig. In that case, sure, if it makes financial sense.

I don't know if you'll be happy gaming @ 144Hz with a 3600. It can certainly handle that with CS:GO, but I wonder about other games. Then again, if it does end up slightly slower than the 9900K, it won't be by much, and if saving money is more important to you than FPS right now, then sure, go for it.

Plus, AMD is way better in the security dept., what with all of the Intel exploits in their current lineup of CPUs. AMD is (mostly?) immune, at least to the issues found thus far. (I believe that they are affected by Spectre v1, maybe. Not much else though.)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Sort of with Larry on this. Chips & machines don’t resell well. If the buyer is paying a premium that’s great but expect a 3600 to be slower but maybe slower with some money in your pocket is what you want.

 

[thesmokingman]

I would sit tight until Zen 3.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I would sit tight until Zen 3.

You beat me to the punch. Zen 3 should be the only upgrade path at this point.

 

[moinmoin]

I'm just confused where the saving is going to come from. If the switch from 9900K to 3600 earns him about 430 USD like he stated in the OP this sounds like a great deal, but that can't be right?

 

[cytg111]

Hello, i am playing with the idea of downgrading my cpu/PC. Right now i have i9900K and all i do with PC is gaming, and photo editing - i am professional photographer. I would downgrade whole i9 PC - > to ryzen 3600 and save about 430 USD by doing so + i would have completely new pc with new warranties etc. I am not in need of money but saving is always nice. Previously I built PC with i9 coz i wanted to add video production to my portfolio, but I wont have time for it and i want to focus on my photo production. My gpu is RTX 2080ti ( always tend to keep the highest end possible gpu). Also I still would be able to upgrade to more powerful ryzens of next gen if I would need it. What is you opinion should i keep i9 ? Or save money and go ryzen 3600 ? I kind of feel that i9 is overkill. I guess there would be no difference in photo editing but what about gaming on 144hz 1440p monitor ? I already have a potential buyer. Thanks

Mike Mike is that you?

 

[Zstream]

I had a 1700, 3600, and a 9900k and settled on the 3600. However I lost money in this transition and pay to have a hobby game. So if you can really make that money, definitely go for it.

 

[rbk123]

If you really can get $430 ahead, then definitely go for it. Just seems like a skeptical "if" to me.
The 3600 will be slower but it won't be $430 slower.

 

[Arkaign]

I had a 2700X and 8086K @ 5Ghz. I bought a 3700X intending to perhaps merge the two, but the 3700X was still too slow in gaming to keep up with the 8086K @ high refresh gaming. When I did the upgrade I only had the Aorus 1080Ti as well, which I upgraded to a 2080Ti AMP Extreme. I then went and got a new combo of 9900KS, DH15U Carbon, ASRock Phantom 9, and DDR4 4000 low latency Ram.

And it's STILL not fast enough to avoid CPU bottlenecks in all HRR gaming situations. 1440p, 144hz, and yet CPU limited. But there are games where I get stuck at 60-80fps on 3700X, and 100-110+ on 9900KS, easily felt.

It's up to you, but you'll definitely be downgrading for gaming. You have one of the rare situations where a 9900K is a good match.

If Zen3 can finally surpass this build for HRR gaming, I'll be happy to merge to a single rig.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I had a 2700X and 8086K @ 5Ghz. I bought a 3700X intending to perhaps merge the two, but the 3700X was still too slow in gaming to keep up with the 8086K @ high refresh gaming. When I did the upgrade I only had the Aorus 1080Ti as well, which I upgraded to a 2080Ti AMP Extreme. I then went and got a new combo of 9900KS, DH15U Carbon, ASRock Phantom 9, and DDR4 4000 low latency Ram.

And it's STILL not fast enough to avoid CPU bottlenecks in all HRR gaming situations. 1440p, 144hz, and yet CPU limited. But there are games where I get stuck at 60-80fps on 3700X, and 100-110+ on 9900KS, easily felt.

It's up to you, but you'll definitely be downgrading for gaming. You have one of the rare situations where a 9900K is a good match.

If Zen3 can finally surpass this build for HRR gaming, I'll be happy to merge to a single rig.

All the reviews say that Intel is ahead of AMD in 1080P gaming easily. Once you hit 1440P gaming the numbers get much closer. At 4K the lead is even slimmer vs. Zen 2 CPU's.

 

[Arkaign]

All the reviews say that Intel is ahead of AMD in 1080P gaming easily. Once you hit 1440P gaming the numbers get much closer. At 4K the lead is even slimmer vs. Zen 2 CPU's.

It's because most reviews do two things, with extremely rare exceptions :

1- Setting all game settings to absolute Ultra/Max, when it's almost always a waste, especially when you want decent performance with a Gsync/Freesync display. Scaling back on AA and things that waste frames like Ultra shadows can make 1440p run better than 1080p does at all ultramax.

2- Running stock ram performance. Usually limiting AMD rigs to 3200, and Intel rigs to 2666. Either of these is a limiting waste, when you can get notable improvements far up the chain. I run 3600 ram with the 3700X, and 4000 ram with the 9900KS.

The other aspect that is worth considering if someone overclocks and has either big air cooling or a good AIO is the uplift. Some gains can be had on Zen2, but not a lot (best gains by manually tuning RAM timing and examining the Ryzen memory calculator). They're pretty maxed out stock, which is convenient. Coffee Lake has a lot of room to reach up if you have the cooling and platform for it.

All of it is pretty elementary if you use a 60fps non-VRR display/TV though. Ryzen 2700/3600 is the best value for that.

 

[reqq]

And it's STILL not fast enough to avoid CPU bottlenecks in all HRR gaming situations. 1440p, 144hz, and yet CPU limited. But there are games where I get stuck at 60-80fps on 3700X, and 100-110+ on 9900KS, easily felt.

What games do you get stuck at 60-80 with 3700x? You run dram calc fast timings 3200+ on that system?

Only game ive seen drop below 130 fps on my 3900x is POE..massive spikes. Happens on Intel system too.

 

[Arkaign]

What games do you get stuck at 60-80 with 3700x? You run dram calc fast timings 3200+ on that system?

Only game ive seen drop below 130 fps on my 3900x is POE..massive spikes. Happens on Intel system too.

I've tried various timings with 3600 CL15 Trident memory, and settled on 3466 for best timings and latencies.

Lot of games can't reach 144hz on even the OC 9900KS, but it's usually a solid tier above my 3700X for that stuff. I prefer the 3700X for daily.

Worst CPU bottlenecks I see is AC Odyssey where getting much more than 80ish range is a tall order, RDR2, and I expect the new Cyberpunk 2077 to be beastly with what they've attempting with NPC density and systems complexity (24hr cycles, traffic/business/surveillance/reactive reputation and appearance effect on characters/etc).

3700X was a very noticeable upgrade over the 2700X it replaced though, especially on Ram performance.

 

[Shmee]

I don't see the point in downgrading, I would keep your current 9900k until you have the urge to upgrade when something better comes out. Then you could sell it, but I wouldn't do it as a downgrade.

 

[joesiv]

I could see it being benficial for a future CPU only upgrade in the future for you. Downgrade for now, save a few bucks, then when Zen 3 comes out, either pick up one of those CPU's swap it in for minimal downtime, or even pick up a now discounted 3900x or something and pop it in.

AM4 does offer some great expandability options. It's already known that Intels next gen CPU's will not work in the 9900k's motherboard.

Side/down grades generally don't make too much sense, but perhaps for the upgradability it might be worth it?

 

[reqq]

I've tried various timings with 3600 CL15 Trident memory, and settled on 3466 for best timings and latencies.

Lot of games can't reach 144hz on even the OC 9900KS, but it's usually a solid tier above my 3700X for that stuff. I prefer the 3700X for daily.

Worst CPU bottlenecks I see is AC Odyssey where getting much more than 80ish range is a tall order, RDR2, and I expect the new Cyberpunk 2077 to be beastly with what they've attempting with NPC density and systems complexity (24hr cycles, traffic/business/surveillance/reactive reputation and appearance effect on characters/etc).

3700X was a very noticeable upgrade over the 2700X it replaced though, especially on Ram performance.

Ah ok i havent played these games.. but they are open worlds with a lot of enemies so i guess they can be taxing. In 64 player BFV you can get like extra 20-40 fps by using dram calc fast timings. Safe or Fast dram calc is a must for ryzen gamers.

 

[Arkaign]

Ah ok i havent played these games.. but they are open worlds with a lot of enemies so i guess they can be taxing. In 64 player BFV you can get like extra 20-40 fps by using dram calc fast timings. Safe or Fast dram calc is a must for ryzen gamers.

Yep, outside of LN2, Zen2 sees the most reliable gains via maximizing Ram performance compared to OC, which can even have detrimental results. And whichever platform someone is running, attention to detail and careful optimizations pay off for sure.