Upgrade needed. No idea what's best currently

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Hi All,

Running an older intel k series on a mobo that's shot. It doesn't do dual channel anymore.

Looking for a multiyear future proof workstation and gaming system.

Already have everything other than ram/CPU/mem and looking to fill that. Budget is up to $1200 in USD.

I have an evga 650 but it doesn't have the support for a threadripper due to not having the extra power connector I believe it requires.

What's currently top and best? Have no allegiances.



(Spam removed)
 
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Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
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For that type of usage and budget, you probably want 32GB of RAM, at least DDR4-3200, which will cost about $350 at current prices for decent Samsung B-Die RAM (good compatibility with Intel and AMD). So count on that eating that portion of your budget whichever you go with, or about double that amount if you want to go for 64GB (doable within your total budget, depending on what parts you pick). Faster RAM will benefit games and applications, but you'll want to check what's been verified to work depending on what motherboard you get, as beyond 2666/2667 is technically overclocked (though sanctioned by XMP/AMP on both Intel and AMD platforms).

You'll be going with current high-end consumer rather than HEDT (Intel's Skylake/Kaby Lake "X" X299 lines, AMD's Threadripper) because of the higher price and power requirements of HEDT. So that means deciding instead between Coffee Lake i7 and Ryzen 7.

Coffee Lake i7 will be better for gaming, while Ryzen 7 will narrowly be better in some to most workstation/professional (multithreaded) workloads, at least at stock. If you are overclocking, the i7-8700K is more tempting, but will be harder to cool and use more power. If you aren't overclocking and you decide to go with AMD, go for the 1800X - otherwise the 1700 is cheaper and will can OC to 3.8-4GHz; the 1800X is just binned slightly better (meaning you may get an extra 100-200MHz more), and has a higher guaranteed base clock.

I can't tell you to go with Intel at the moment unless you can find an i7-8700K (or 8700, if you aren't overclocking) in stock. Availability is low across the board, and while stores may get resupplied, they may be hard to find until next year. If you can find one, though, then that would be my recommendation. Coffee Lake with 6 cores is a much better proposition for professional uses (video encoding, 3D rendering, VMs/servers, etc) than Kaby Lake was, while costing minimally more and being even better for games thanks to higher clock speed.

As far as motherboards go, for AMD the ASRock Taichi is one of the better X370 boards (at least last time I checked), though personally I'm fond of my ASUS Crosshair VI Hero. There are less expensive boards, though, it's just a matter of what features and style you want. AMD has committed to supporting and releasing new processors for AM4 until at least 2019... Intel may not support Z370 for beyond Coffee Lake.

For an Intel Z370 motherboard I don't know if there are enough reviews yet to make a clear recommendation, but ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI all have decent looking motherboards out right now, and frankly I haven't seen much reason to pick one company over another as far as reliability over the past few years.

ASRock has become a favorite of many lately, though, and I do agree they have good features, build quality, and support (from what I've heard, haven't had to use it yet, so that's a good sign), so they might be worth considering. Both their Taichi and Fatal1ty lines are excellent for either AMD or Intel. I have an ASRock ITX mobo coming in tomorrow for an i7-8700, so we'll see how that goes. :)
 
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MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
I have a coolermaster h110i so I'll be fine with cooling. I've been thinking about going Ryzen for a bit. I'll configure both (knowing 8700k is near impossible to find) and then figure it out.

Any input on where I can find the Ryzen adapter for the h110i?
- Sorry, I'd post more exact info if I was at that computer right now. hah.
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
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Corsair offers it on their site:

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/am4-amd-retention-bracket-kit-for-hydro-series-coolers

And in case some red or blue team partisan comes in to ruin it, either Ryzen or Coffee Lake would be a good choice. It's like choosing between chocolate and vanilla*; there's no real "wrong" choice, it's just a matter of picking what suits you.

* People can argue endlessly about that, too - clearly the answer is strawberry *ducks tomatoes* :D
 
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MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Corsair offers it on their site:

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/am4-amd-retention-bracket-kit-for-hydro-series-coolers

And in case some red or blue team partisan comes in to ruin it, either Ryzen or Coffee Lake would be a good choice. It's like choosing between chocolate and vanilla*; there's no real "wrong" choice, it's just a matter of picking what suits you.

* People can argue endlessly about that, too - clearly the answer is strawberry *ducks tomatoes* :D

I've been here longer than you... fairly well aware of how the whole crips vs bloods goes. :)
 
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Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
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Looks good! Don't forget to update the BIOS, it will run the RAM at rated speed only after the BIOS update that contains the updates AGESA firmware. Should be able to load AMP profile after that, going by reviews.

The Ryzen Builders Thread is useful if you run into any issues or have specific Ryzen questions.

EDIT: I'm not sure if quad channel is supported yet on that board or Ryzen generally. You might want to check, or opt for 2 x 16GB if so.
 
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MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Looks good! Don't forget to update the BIOS, it will run the RAM at rated speed only after the BIOS update that contains the updates AGESA firmware. Should be able to load AMP profile after that, going by reviews.

The Ryzen Builders Thread is useful if you run into any issues or have specific Ryzen questions.

EDIT: I'm not sure if quad channel is supported yet on that board or Ryzen generally. You might want to check, or opt for 2 x 16GB if so.
What 2x16gb are B dies? having fun figuring that out.
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
Also want to correct myself about Skylake-X and mention that the i7-7820X at $599 (+ ~$200 X299 motherboard and RAM) would be just under your budget, as well, and offers better performance than the 1800X for things like video encoding and 3D rendering. The 1800X would still be the better value proposition, though.
 
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