Wait for Zen on 12nm LP?

What should I do?

  • Wait for Zen 2

    Votes: 8 17.8%
  • Upgrade to Ryzen now

    Votes: 20 44.4%
  • Upgrade to AM4 but with a cheap Bristol ridge Athlon

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • Upgrade to Ryzen now, skip Ryzen on 12nm, wait for Ryzen on 7nm

    Votes: 16 35.6%

  • Total voters
    45

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
Hey everyone,

I'd appreciate some advice. I'm currently rocking an AMD Phenom II 1055T CPU at 2.8Ghz (not overclocked). I want to upgrade to Ryzen.

My problem is, do I upgrade to Ryzen now or wait 6 months for Ryzen 2 (or whatever it is called) to come out?

Realistically, I will only have the money to upgrade at the end of October. Should I just wait a few more months for Ryzen 2?

Reasons for not waiting is that I can't play most of the modern games. At least, some of them will run, but I would prefer to wait until I can play them the way they are meant to be played. Forza 7, for example. I have preordered it, but I want to wait until I have a Ryzen CPU before playing it. I own a whole bunch of modern games that I picked up on sale or in a bundle, and I haven't played many or any of them.

Reasons for waiting is that I have already waited years! Do you guys think it is worth waiting?

Other details - I game on a 4K TV at 60Hz and my graphics card is an RX 480 4GB. Yes I would like to upgrade the graphics card too in order to properly game at 4K, but I would like to do the CPU first.
 

Reinvented

Senior member
Oct 5, 2005
489
77
91
Hey everyone,

I'd appreciate some advice. I'm currently rocking an AMD Phenom II 1055T CPU at 2.8Ghz (not overclocked). I want to upgrade to Ryzen.

My problem is, do I upgrade to Ryzen now or wait 6 months for Ryzen 2 (or whatever it is called) to come out?

Realistically, I will only have the money to upgrade at the end of October. Should I just wait a few more months for Ryzen 2?

Reasons for not waiting is that I can't play most of the modern games. At least, some of them will run, but I would prefer to wait until I can play them the way they are meant to be played. Forza 7, for example. I have preordered it, but I want to wait until I have a Ryzen CPU before playing it. I own a whole bunch of modern games that I picked up on sale or in a bundle, and I haven't played many or any of them.

Reasons for waiting is that I have already waited years! Do you guys think it is worth waiting?

Other details - I game on a 4K TV at 60Hz and my graphics card is an RX 480 4GB. Yes I would like to upgrade the graphics card too in order to properly game at 4K, but I would like to do the CPU first.

Just depends on what your budget is. Unless you jumped on the Ryzen bandwagon early, there's no point with other stuff coming by 1st half of 2018. And it'll probably be even better!
 

imported_bman

Senior member
Jul 29, 2007
262
54
101
Buy now and enjoy your games over the holidays. The AM4 platform will likely be compatible with Zen 3 so you will be able to upgrade your CPU for quite some time. Only if you need PCIe 4.0 or Thunderbolt would I hold out for Zen 2 which will likely launch with AM4+, though even that may not have PCIe 4.0. Also your 480 is going to be the bottleneck in your system, having Zen 2 or Zen+ over current Ryzen offerings will be negligible given your GPU.
 

hackdrag0n

Member
Feb 27, 2017
28
17
36
If you dwell too much on what might be coming out in the coming months you'll never upgrade. There's always something else on the horizon. It's pointless waiting unless there's a confirmed release date in the near future IMO.

Ryzen is doing well in most games now that the initial teething problems have been sorted. I haven't played any games where I found Ryzen lacking and it's awesome for non gaming workloads as well.

Phenom 2 is really old now. Why limp along for another 6-12 months, waiting for something that might not even be significantly better, when you can fly now?
 

amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
971
360
136
Get a 1600x; you get more cores. 12nm Ryzens probably will be 4c/8t APUs, along with some APUs with iGPU disabled (similar to Athlon X4's).
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
Yeah, get either the Ryzen 5 1600 (if you OC), or the 1600X (if you don't OC). Get a decently-reviewed B350 board, or you might want to splash out for a cheaper X370, if you really feel like it. But if you are unlikely to use two dGPUs at once, then you could get along with the B350 just fine.

Just make sure to get some DDR4-3200 RAM that is known to be compatible with Ryzen, and that motherboard. That's probably your biggest expense, besides the CPU itself.

Edit: If your needs include "serious" content-creation tasks, in addition to gaming, then give ThreadRipper serious consideration, because even the most feature-packed X370 boards, are still somewhat limited in terms of PCI-E lanes, M.2 PCI-E sockets, etc.
 
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Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
Thanks everyone. I probably will upgrade to Ryzen sooner - end of October then.

I'm torn between the 1600 and the 1600X. The 1600 is unquestionably better value for money, but I don't OC. Maybe it is worth spending a bit extra on a 1600X. It just doesn't get much higher FPS scores though.

Ryzen on 12nm LP is not that close if I'm honest. 6-12 months is quite a long time for me to wait. There is a lot of gaming I can do in that time.

I'm going to go for an X370. Reason might surprise you - I need optical SPDIF output and I haven't seen a B350 board that has it. The cheapest board that has optical audio output is an X370 so that is what I will get.

I will probably end up running 2 GPUs, because when I upgrade to Vega (whether or not I wait for Vega on 12nm LP is another question), I'll keep my 480 because it mines decently. I won't be running crossfire though.

Get a 1600x; you get more cores. 12nm Ryzens probably will be 4c/8t APUs, along with some APUs with iGPU disabled (similar to Athlon X4's).

What makes you say this?
 

amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
971
360
136
Get a 1600x; you get more cores. 12nm Ryzens probably will be 4c/8t APUs, along with some APUs with iGPU disabled (similar to Athlon X4's).

This is kind of their release schedule:

2017
AM4 Ryzen 1xxx (summit ridge) -- released
server Epyc (naples and various MCM or raven ridge related APUs) -- soon
mobile Ryzen 2xxx APUs (raven ridge) -- soon to late in the year
2018
AM4 Ryzen 2xxx APUs (raven ridge desktop) -- early in the year
[fill in blanks here]
 
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Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
Yeah, I will enjoy it! Looking forward to joining the modern age of CPUs.

Now I just need to wait a month before I can pull the trigger on an upgrade. Oh well, by then the first car pack for Forza 7 will be close to coming out, as well as the first patch.
 
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Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
Quick question guys.

Is it really worth getting 3200Mhz CL14 memory over 3200Mhz CL16 memory? There is a huge difference in price.
 

scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
1,944
1,638
136
Quick question guys.

Is it really worth getting 3200Mhz CL14 memory over 3200Mhz CL16 memory? There is a huge difference in price.
The 14 will be the samsung B-dies, the 16 will be Hynix. It's pretty much automatic for the B-dies to hit 3200, the Hynix hit or miss. Some do, some don't. Even they should hit 2933 or 3000 though. See what's on your motherboards QVL list.
 
Last edited:

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
Thanks.

I've placed my order with a local online vendor (South Africa). I ordered G Skill Flare X 3200Mhz CL14. Just waiting for them to confirm the order - that they can get everything basically.
 

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
What games dont run with the 1055T ??? Have you OC the CPU ???

I think most games will run on it - they just don't run that well. For instance, I did a CPU benchmark in Ashes of the Singularity, and the result was 10FPS. 10FPS! That's not playable by a long stretch.

And it is like that with other games. It isn't a question of whether they can run, it is a question of whether I can achieve at least 30 or hopefully 60FPS in them. In a lot of games, I think a CPU as old as that will struggle to maintain high framerates.

I have placed my order:
Ryzen 1600X
Asus Prime X370 Pro
2 x 8GB G Skill FlareX 3200 CL4
Coolermaster TX4
 

R81Z3N1

Member
Jul 15, 2017
77
24
81
I think you made a good choice getting Ryzen now and enjoying it will be a good upgrade, my r5 1600 running linux does a great job.

As far as getting an X370 just for spdif, I would suggest getting a sound card, you can pick up something like a syba usb, that allows spdif output works great. Something like this if your curious:
https://www.amazon.com/External-Adapter-Optical-Windows-SD-AUD20101/dp/B006SF68P2

I use that on my linux box, only thing you need is the little spdif 3.5mm adapter, mine was ordered from China and cost a few dollars. One good thing about that is it plugs into the back of the computer and just works, I have used mine for a good long time and am very happy with it.

I do think that spdif nowadays is a little over rated, as it requires a dedicated box with spdif such as an AVR, and speakers what not. I personally like the little class D amps that allow you to plug your speakers straight into the amp, that is unless you like sub-woofers they make those as well.

I am very happy with a cheap class d amp, with two semi good speakers plugged into them make great gaming and internet computers. I have one that come's with Bluetooth, which at times I just hit a button and have it pared with my phone and can listen to streaming music, with those speakers without even needing to turn on the computer.

On one of my computers I am rocking something like a 10 year old AVR, it was a model that does not have proper support for 1080p hdmi, and was used way back in the day an Panny sa-xr55 when Pannasonic still made AVR's. I do get the use of spdif, and do prefer to have motherboards with that option, but to pay an extreme price no thank you. Granted I probably will always have AVR's available probably need to get a new one for 4k later, so will have extra with old one is put out to pasture.

I am just hopping that AMD will force Intel to use solder on their CPU's so in a years or so time I can have more choices for an upgrade, of one of my systems.
 

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
I've already got a decent amp and surround sound speakers.

Yeah, I could have got a soundcard, but then I may as well put the extra money into the motherboard to get a better motherboard. The price difference between a decent B350 board and a low end X370 board is not all that big.

AtenRa - forgot to add, I don't overclock. That was one of the reasons I bought a 1600X and not a 1600.
 

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
I am so keen for this upgrade! The RAM was difficult to get hold of - one vendor said most of his CL14 DDR4 3200 memory was gone and he only expected a restock in November. Thankfully this other company had stock of the FlareX.

And I can see that a lot of BIOS updates have been released which will hopefully also improve memory compatibility.
 

krumme

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2009
5,952
1,585
136
It will be a blast. Let us know how it goes. The 1600x and 3200 cl 14 is terrific combination for gaming and will last many years.
 

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
Okay the order is now paid for and everything. Takes a bit longer here because they have to confirm stock, and I wanted to make a change to my order. I wanted to change the CPU cooler from a CoolerMaster Hyper T4 to a CoolerMaster MasterAir Pro 4. So it took a while for them to get back to me to confirm that they could stock of the new cooler and with the required AM4 bracket.
 

Ancalagon44

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2010
3,274
202
106
It is Friday evening and it hasn't shipped yet. They sent me an email on Friday saying that they were having difficulty getting hold of the motherboard that I ordered - the Asus Prime X370 Pro. Sigh. So, if they ship on Monday (IF), then I will get the parts on Tuesday. If.

In other news, I did some benchmarking of my PC in anticipation of receving the upgrading. And, it makes me feel good that I made the right decision.

In Rise of the Tomb Raider at 4K, my average FPS was 35.9 (using medium detail). But, my minimum FPS was 5.49. 5.49!

In Civilisation 6 in the AI benchmark, my average turn time was 40 seconds. A 1600X can get an average turn time of around 18-19 seconds.

In Ashes of the Singularity, at 1080p, my PC got 12 FPS in the AI benchmark.

Plus, all 3 of those games took AGES to load. Minutes.

I know that everyone likes to say that your CPU does not matter and only your GPU matters. But, from the above, man my CPU just cannot cope with modern games. Sure, I might be able to get an average frame rate of about 30 FPS in 4k with an RX 480, but look at my min FPS. That will make it unplayable, even if I have a decent average.
 
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