Discussion Upgrading my Workstation after almost 10 years (2500k)

[_Rick_]

This is a bit of a rate-my-build thread, as well as inviting some final comments on this build.

Old/Current system:
i5 2500k on Maximus Gene IV
32 GB RAM
Scythe Yasya
a variety of SATA SSDs (Crucial c300 128 GB, Samsung 930 256GB, SanDisk something-or-other cheapo 1TB)
The old 500W Seasonic power supply that couldn't power my server after I rebuilt that, and was swapped in, when the Enermax with the fancy golden fan failed.

Carryovers: ASUS XONAR DX, a compact 2060 which replaced a 770 4GB (which replaced a MSI 560 Hawk, which was the original GPU of this build), and the Silverstone Fortress FT03 will be carried over as well, I might look into re-re-fanning it though. If you've got fan suggestions, for the rather specific needs of the FT03, be sure to let me know!
Everything else will be renewed,

Notable periphery:
I have a 5K2K screen on order, with built-in KVM, so will need a USB 3.0 uplink to that.
I have two external audio devices with optical in - so I need the Xonar, and an onboard optical out.
Everything else is wired, and I even have a USB hub for some of the lower bandwidth devices (UPS, floppy drive)
Plenty of USB is desirable though (UPS, webcam, screen, stand-alone num pad)
Network may be upgraded from gigabit soon, server already has 2x10Gb ifaces, my switch is well past its best before, and I've been watching 10Gbit switches for years now - hopefully there will be some 2.5 switches with passive cooling available soon. So far only the 40mm fans have kept me away)

Planned components:

Ryzen 5800X
ASRock B550M Steel Legend
4x Kingston Server Premier DIMM 32GB, DDR4-3200, CL22-22-22, ECC
Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB, M.2
Transcend MTE220S SSD 2TB, M.2
Scythe Mugen 5 [Rev. B] (hope it fits, the Yasya was already _really_ tight with the angled side intake fan)
Seasonic Focus PX 550W ATX 2.4 (this might be tight, if I were to ever get a GPU capable of pushing 60FPS to that screen - but I doubt that will happen this year anyway)


Current thoughts:
Is that Transcend a good choice as PCIe 3 SSD?
Any reason to doubt that the CPU will carry me for another 10 years, given that the i5 did pretty sweetly?
Are there any better suited mainboards? I keep looking at Intel mainboards, and they appear to be consistently better featured than AMD mainboards. (micro ATX, at least)

I'm feeling like buying this sooner rather than later, but it would mean moving my AD DC from my workstation to my server (in business they call this "grown structure" ), so I'm slightly procrastinating that decision.
Also, 700€ for RAM? That sounds insane!?! But I've always been one, to max out RAM, usually not at the start of the lifecycle, but this time, with DDR4 on its way out, it feels like a sensible choice, and although that ECC RAM has got significantly more expensive in the past 6 months, I don't see it getting cheaper soon...

 

[mike8675309]

You mention sooner rather than later. You may want to plan on it later. Supplies are limited and many of the more common and value items are simply unavailable (processors, power supplies, video cards). That processor is showing on Amazon to be unavailable until May 8th.

 

[_Rick_]

In Europe availability is quite good for the 5800X, multiple offers below 450€ available, I could probably even get a 5900X at MSRP. I'm more worried about the upwards trajectory of RAM, and given that it's already the single biggest item on the bill, it will also hit me the hardest.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[_Rick_]

Just spotted that the mainboard only has a PCIe 3.0 x2 for the second M.2 - that's a bit of a bummer, and certainly not enough to sustain the speeds advertised by the "secondary" SSDs I was looking at.
Guess that I will have to go digging again.

 

[_Rick_]

Aaaand - the only alternative mainboards have crummy slot layouts. Bought a 3070 with a triple slot cooler (you buy what you get...) that I am planning to move into this case eventually - and that would prevent me from using my sound card with both the ASUS and GIGABYTE boards.
Looks like I might end up waiting for Alder Lake, or buy a slower SSD for the PCIe 3 M.2...

 

[Magic Carpet]

Looks like I might end up waiting for Alder Lake, or buy a slower SSD for the PCIe 3 M.2...

I'd wait out a year, personally. If you upgrade every 5+ years or so, might want to get the best now. I'd aim for 5900x at least. You want more than 8 cores for the next 5 years, trust me.

 

[_Rick_]

While I don't think that that's necessarily true - at MSRP at least the 5900X is significantly better value than the 5800X. Even at current prices, the cost per core is roughly linear, and that's with 70 euros mark-up on the 5900 and 30 euros below MSRP for the 5800X.
I'm just worried I'll end up eating my hat for not buying that RAM asap, as RAM prices are rumored to continue going up...

 

[_Rick_]

So, I just spotted a 5900 at MSRP, and went for it.
Instead of the Transcend SSD, I went with a cheaper Kingston NV1, simply because the two PCIe lanes wouldn't be enough to make the difference felt - and 60 euros saved do make a difference.