Poor time to build new system?

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cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Is this kind of a bad time to build a new system with AM5 rumors floating around for a release this year?

Been sort of thinking about doing a fresh build for pure gaming with no bloat/extra software and leave my current PC as is. Just swap my 1080ti back in this one and put the 3080ti in the new build. Part of me thinks it foolish to build something now while another part of me says just do it.

Thinking either a 12700k or 5900x and know either will do just fine but would the timing be poor if done now?
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,582
10,785
136
September.

Eh? I had heard August. There's a testnet merge in early August followed by the mainnet merge the same month, assuming everything goes well. Not really on-topic, but. Anyone waiting for prices of current-gen CPUs to drop will probably be waiting til September anyway.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
If you wait... you'll always be waiting for the next greatest thing. This is laughable to think there is some gatekeeper that you should follow on when to build a rig. If you have the wants and needs to build ... then build..
Unless you have an ego, that won't allow you to be lower on the e-peen supreme pecking order.. then sheesh.. build what you want
That's always the way it is. I was just looking for a push one way or another because I'm not able to make up my mind. Seems like the general consensus is to just buy now (early adopters tax for AM5 and all).
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
A benefit of the 5800X3D is that it is extremely memory speed insensitive, so it compensates for slower memory. However, 3200 is really not that slow (assuming decent timings) and with 4K, it is unlikely to matter much.



If it's just for gaming, those extra cores are very unlikely to help. Once the work is spread out over 8 cores, there's almost certainly a job that has to happen on one CPU that maxes out that one CPU, while there is excess capacity on the other 7 cores. Assuming that the CPU is limiting your machine in the first place, which is unlikely.

The 100 Mhz extra of the 5950x will help a little, but only a little. I expect the extra cache to help more.

However, I think that the extra cost is totally out of whack for what you get, for gaming. I'd put that extra money towards that SSD, a more expensive video card, pulling forward your next (partial) upgrade or many other things.
Well, I'm thinking it will come in handy for working with video encoding too. Gaming is first priority here but I can think of s few uses besides that. I'm actually in the process of encoding my anime library and splitting the episodes into separate files. Some software will take less time with more cores. Handbrake for example. I figure why not.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
5950X /w 3200Mhz RAM sounds a lot more like a workstation than a gaming focused build. Even if we acknowledge that the 3080Ti cannot push enough @ 4K to stress the CPU today, I was under the impression this wasn't a single GPU gen build and the flagship GPU tier is not an exception. The next card in this system may be able to double the performance, especially with DLSS and FSR becoming ubiquitous in the near future... you may want to consider what happens then.

Anyway, I'm seeing great prices for both 5900X and 5950X, good luck to the OP and I hope you have quite a bit of fun building the new system. I find it very interesting that people who bought Coffee Lake not only managed to dodge the Kaby Lake bullet, they also have some fascinating options this year.
What do you mean stress the CPU, and singled GPU gen build?


What happens when a new card comes? I can buy it and put it in. Don't get your point. Higher 4k performance would come directly from the GPU at this point in time.
 
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Spydermag68

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2002
2,599
87
91
cmdrdred I have been planning a new build since last December. I have been picking up parts through out the year and have been sitting on getting my CPU, motherboard and memory for awhile now. I am still looking at the Zen 4 build just like you. On YT there is channel called JayzTwoCents and he just released a video about over spec your build. Buying the top of the line GPU/CPU/Motherboard/Memory. Currently the 5950x is at $480 at microcenter. The Zen 4 version 7950x could be at $1000, but is it $500 better than the 5950x. Are you going to buy the "Godlike" motherboard for $1000+ too?

I have decided that I am going with something like the 7800x version. It might beat the 5950x and it might not, but I am only pairing it with a 3080TI that is sitting in a box right now. Later on I can upgrade to faster PCI-5 GPU and near EOF life I will upgrade the CPU to the last AM5 chip. It is all about balance. Top of the line everything does not ensure the best gaming PC ever. My current PC is down below.
 
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coercitiv

Diamond Member
Jan 24, 2014
6,151
11,686
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What happens when a new card comes? I can buy it and put it in. Don't get your point. Higher 4k performance would come directly from the GPU at this point in time.
What I mean is the next 1-2 generation cards will make 4K feel more like 1440p in terms of performance. Some of the extra GPU grunt will go towards more visual fidelity and generally more taxing games, but a good chunk will go towards pushing framerates up, which increases CPU load.

Then again, I'm just an outside observer, I know nothing about your games of preference & sensitivity to motion/detail. You may simply keep focusing on higher visual fidelity, like going for an 8K screen or pushing raytracing @ 60Hz. There's several ways you can can keep the system GPU bound for the foreseeable future.
 

Aapje

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2022
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Eh? I had heard August. There's a testnet merge in early August followed by the mainnet merge the same month, assuming everything goes well. Not really on-topic, but. Anyone waiting for prices of current-gen CPUs to drop will probably be waiting til September anyway.

The Goerli testnet merge is targeted for August 11th and the mainnet merge for the week of September 19th.

That's always the way it is. I was just looking for a push one way or another because I'm not able to make up my mind. Seems like the general consensus is to just buy now (early adopters tax for AM5 and all).

Like always it depends on your situation and needs/desires. You might see a lot of nice AM4 surplus on the 2nd hand market after AM5 drops, so you might want to wait for that, unless you only want new products. You can also wait a bit longer for AM5 to be mature and for the DDR5 prices to hopefully come down a lot.

On the other hand, the high inflation might make it better to buy sooner rather than later.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Regarding gaming note that the V-Cache can significantly improve percentiles for some games, which may be preferable at higher resolutions with high frequency. So aside not being picky about memory that'd be another reason to pick 5800X3D over 5900X/5950X. See e.g.
At low settings. Pretty much what I've been playing is either GPU limited or you hit vsync anyway. I rarely play at 1440 unless a game has no DLSS and I won't play on low or medium. I'm always going to max out the graphics options unless it's a slideshow and then I'll pick and choose what to put on high instead of ultra.
 

dlerious

Golden Member
Mar 4, 2004
1,770
717
136
You can always buy something more powerful than before, so in that regard, its no worse than it has been.

But there are special periods, when Stars align and we see more significant jumps in performance or better said price/performance ratio and right now, its not that kind of time. It was between 2017 and 2019, when AMD introduced Ryzen and in order to win the mindshare, priced their new stuff aggresively. That seems to be over now, sadly.
I don't know if prices will go any lower as AM5 gets closer, but I grabbed a 5600X for $175 and the 5950X is going for $550 for 16 cores - that would cost $1k for Threadripper back then.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
25,478
14,434
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I don't know if prices will go any lower as AM5 gets closer, but I grabbed a 5600X for $175 and the 5950X is going for $550 for 16 cores - that would cost $1k for Threadripper back then.
The $1000 threadripper (1950x) does half the work of a 5950x. And its $499 almost everywhere now, and free shipping (in the US)
 

dlerious

Golden Member
Mar 4, 2004
1,770
717
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The $1000 threadripper (1950x) does half the work of a 5950x. And its $499 almost everywhere now, and free shipping (in the US)
Haven't kept up with 5950X prices. I brought the prices up in response to his claim that 2017-2019 was a better time to buy price/performance wise compared to today.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
I don't know if prices will go any lower as AM5 gets closer, but I grabbed a 5600X for $175 and the 5950X is going for $550 for 16 cores - that would cost $1k for Threadripper back then.
Managed to get a 5950x for $400 using Amazon points on my CC. Paired it up with an Asus x570 Strix-e wifi board and an EK D-RGB 360 AIO cooler, 2x 980 pro Nvme SSD, a hx1000psu(I always over buy power supplies), and all going in a Corsair 5000D Airflow case with 7 Noctua 120mm case fans.
 

Timmah!

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2010
1,395
602
136
I don't know if prices will go any lower as AM5 gets closer, but I grabbed a 5600X for $175 and the 5950X is going for $550 for 16 cores - that would cost $1k for Threadripper back then.

5950 now at that price is Cut-down from the full price close to 1k, because of imminent arrival of 7000 series. 16 core 7950 will be again close to 1k.

So in 5 years, at 1k pricepoint, we moved from 16 core TR to 16 core Ryzen. Between 2016 and 2017, at the same pricepoint, there was a jump from 8 core Intel 6900k to 16 core TR. In 2018, you could have 24 core for 1200. Now thats at 2500.
I think its obvious at which time period you were offered more value for your money.
 
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cytg111

Lifer
Mar 17, 2008
23,049
12,717
136
If the US and China get into it over Taiwan ... I mean, we can all speculate as to what that is gonna do to prices and availability. Compared to what prices were like yesterday and the probability of redacted going bad, I'd say right now is the absolute BEST time to upgrade.

Profanity in tech forums is not allowed.
Exterous
Moderator
 
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dlerious

Golden Member
Mar 4, 2004
1,770
717
136
5950 now at that price is Cut-down from the full price close to 1k, because of imminent arrival of 7000 series. 16 core 7950 will be again close to 1k.

So in 5 years, at 1k pricepoint, we moved from 16 core TR to 16 core Ryzen. Between 2016 and 2017, at the same pricepoint, there was a jump from 8 core Intel 6900k to 16 core TR. In 2018, you could have 24 core for 1200. Now thats at 2500.
I think its obvious at which time period you were offered more value for your money.
How are you not getting more value for a 5950X at $499 now than you were then? What could I get then that was a better value for my money?
 

Timmah!

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2010
1,395
602
136
How are you not getting more value for a 5950X at $499 now than you were then? What could I get then that was a better value for my money?

You are almost always getting more value for your money. Why would you justify buying anything new hardware anyway, if you didnt.
My point is, inbetween 2017~2019 you were getting significantly more value relative to what are you getting now compared to last year. What is difficult to understand about that?
 

ondma

Platinum Member
Mar 18, 2018
2,718
1,278
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You are almost always getting more value for your money. Why would you justify buying anything new hardware anyway, if you didnt.
My point is, inbetween 2017~2019 you were getting significantly more value relative to what are you getting now compared to last year. What is difficult to understand about that?
I think what you are trying to say is that in that time frame you were getting a more significant increase in value from the previous option.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,110
3,029
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www.teamjuchems.com
I think what you are trying to say is that in that time frame you were getting a more significant increase in value from the previous option.

And only because of the stagnation that had happened for a number of years prior to that.

As has been said, comparing “cores” to “cores” between a first Gen TR and Zen 3 premium bin CPU is a gross oversimplification.

Also, I was impressed by the HX1000 PSU I used recently, I thought it was a fair value for a quality kit with some headroom. I hope you have the same experience, @cmdrdredd
 

MoragaBlue

Member
Jul 17, 2022
38
24
36
Ah, having gone through this process myself recently, I'd say it's not a horrible time. I've been building PCs long enough to accept that knowing when the "best time" far exceeds my capabilities of peering into the future.

Now, having said that, now is certainly infinitely better whatever we've gone through the past couple of years. I'm not a rocket scientist but I knew enough to, at least for my purposes, realize building anything the last couple of years would have been a mistake and something I'd ultimately regret. So, as they say, I just decided not to play the game.

The last rig I had built was so long ago that I even recycled the GPU along with it. So, for me, it was the "right" time when prices started to normalize, not having a gaming rig for almost the past decade and being unable to buy a PS5. So, still on Amazon's invite list for a PS5, when Newegg's promo sale on the 3080 12 Gb for $729 & some games, I just pulled the trigger on that rather than continue waiting for the PS5. Yeah, it cost more in the long run but PC gaming, in my view, provides an infinitely superior experience to consoles. And, having been initiated into the FPS genre via Quake, Doom Eternal and all of its DLCs was something I wanted to play anyway. OT, but finally, a real old world twitch game unlike the lamo versions they've been cranking out the past 10 years, which mostly resulted in my aversion to building a new rig. I mean, what would be the point? I could play that slo-mo crap on my PS4.

So, I think your choice to buy is a sound one, but, as has always been the case, assured obsolescence is and always be a part of the price when purchasing PC components.
 
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GodisanAtheist

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2006
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I'm slowly starting to spin up the eBay watch lists etc. I usually try to aim for a ~$700 core list (CPU/MB/RAM/GPU) and carry the rest of the build forward, but I'm thinking I'll stretch and replace my PSU and Case this round as well.

Thinking I'm going to go for a 5900x (used) and it looks like I can snag one for ~$250-300. MB I'll get some $200 option off Amazon. RAM I'll just bring forward from my current system. GPU is actually the one item I'm really waiting for.

As soon as I can grab 6700XT/3060Ti performance for ~$300 I'll be all in and the build will be on.

Will be a MASSIVE upgrade on the CPU and a doubling of GPU performance, likely last me for the next 5/6 years.

Just need those GPU prices to drop a little further...
 
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MoragaBlue

Member
Jul 17, 2022
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Just need those GPU prices to drop a little further...

You might get it soon enough. I've noticed Newegg asking $379 for a new 3060 which is the lowest I had ever recall seeing. So, probably by Nov/Dec?

Of course, depending on how that proof of stake thing goes on Sept 15th (?), prices may start falling even before then. In my view, it's just a matter of time and Moore's law, in one manifestation or another, will prevail on GPUs, contrary to whatever the last couple of years may have suggested otherwise.

While not regretting my 3080 purchase per se (runs Doom Eternal on 4K & ultra nightmare settings without even being taxed), if I had an integrated video CPU or had kept my very old GPU, I'd probably have gone with that and just wait until Nov/Dec before making the same 3080 purchase, but at around $300'ish lower.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
And only because of the stagnation that had happened for a number of years prior to that.

As has been said, comparing “cores” to “cores” between a first Gen TR and Zen 3 premium bin CPU is a gross oversimplification.

Also, I was impressed by the HX1000 PSU I used recently, I thought it was a fair value for a quality kit with some headroom. I hope you have the same experience, @cmdrdredd
Can't wait to get it all together. I went ahead and got a 32GB set of Corsair RGB memory. I don't care much about RGB and none of my fans will be RGB but if my motherboard and CPU cooling system have it I may as well add the RGB memory too I suppose.

Just waiting on motherboard and CPU
 
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