Question Zen 4 builders thread

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IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jun 10, 2004
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I'm building a new Zen 4 PC - https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/new-build-finally.2609994/

I was planning to wait for the 7800X3D, but as we all know it won't be released until sometime next month. Am I crazy for thinking about getting a 7700X to use for now and then selling it when the 7800X3D comes in (assuming it's a good performer with good value)? I could then sell the 7700X or give it to my daughter and sell her 7600X.

7700/X, 7600/X all make sense as entry points into AM5 (especially if gaming and/or don't need >8 cores). At $400 I didn't feel like it was worth it and so did not buy. At $340 I thought it more reasonable and bought in November.

If an X3D chip gives me enough of a performance boost I will buy that and upgrade another AM4 system to AM5 with the 7700X. If not, I wait for the 8000 series.
 
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Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
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AM5 expansion slot from Asrock with an added chipset :

article-1280x720.ecf90e75.jpg


ASRock X670 Xpansion Kit
  • ASRock Promontory 21 Chipsatz
  • 2 × M.2/M-Key 2280 (PCIe 4.0 x4, 2280/2260)
  • 1 × USB 3.2 Gen2 Typ-C mit 10 Gb/s
  • 3 × USB 3.2 Gen2 mit 10 Gb/s
  • 1 × Ethernet mit 10 Gb/s
  • 2 × SATA 3.2 mit 6 Gb/s


 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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If you think using the system for a month or two is worth the loss you might incur on selling used, sure, go ahead. It's also possible that the X3D is priced too high, in which case you may wanna wait even longer.
I've been wanting a new build for years. I thought I could wait another month, but now that all of the other parts are coming in, I'm not so sure!
I bought a 7950X to get my system up and running at launch intending to upgrade to a 7950X3D if they released one (whew, glad they are). I also bought 32GB of 6000C30 EXPO memory intending to upgrade when 64GB kits of the same spec came out.

You'll get nothing but support from me, 7700X is a smarter buy for temporary use than a 7950X. And of course, upgrade friend and family PCs whenever possible with hand-me-downs is how I roll. 7700X will last a bit longer with newer and newer games than a 7600X I'd think, although the 7600X is no slouch.
I didn't buy at launch because I wanted to see if any other motherboards and RAM kits came out while waiting for the X3D versions. I think the DDR5 kits definitely matured the most. And seeing prices come down made the value even better. The 7700/7700X would last her a while and I think I would take less of a hit selling a 7600X vs the 7700/7700X.
If it ends up going to his daughter, I'd think he knows exactly what the cooling setup in her PC is and what her use case is.

She's already got a 7600X so she likely has some kind of aftermarket cooler.
Yes, she has an ID Cooling SE-226-XT which is a very good cooler, especially for the $30 I paid for it.
7700/X, 7600/X all make sense as entry points into AM5 (especially if gaming and/or don't need >8 cores). At $400 I didn't feel like it was worth it and so did not buy. At $340 I thought it more reasonable and bought in November.

If an X3D chip gives me enough of a performance boost I will buy that and upgrade another AM4 system to AM5 with the 7700X. If not, I wait for the 8000 series.
Agree. I like the 7700X at the current price point. I'd love to see the 7800X3D at $399. I think the value is there at that price. At $449, which is where I feel like it will be priced, seems to lose its value for me unless it just really outperforms the 7700/7700X.
Then the free cooler can follow the 7600x :p
It would make it easier to sell for sure! And I don't think there is really any noticeable performance loss between the 7700/7700X especially with PBO.
 

Timmah!

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Jul 24, 2010
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Out of curiosity, if the case supports 480mm radiator upfront, does this mean 240mm + 2x120mm fans in there, or will the fittings or whatever is it called (where the tubes are connected to the rad at the end of it), prevent me from doing so (fitting those 2 additional fans)?
Or only if i mount the fans to the case and then radiator to them (so the rad is on the inside).
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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Out of curiosity, if the case supports 480mm radiator upfront, does this mean 240mm + 2x120mm fans in there, or will the fittings or whatever is it called (where the tubes are connected to the rad at the end of it), prevent me from doing so (fitting those 2 additional fans)?
Or only if i mount the fans to the case and then radiator to them (so the rad is on the inside).
The radiator extends beyond the fans in both directions so you may not be able to use it and two fans, especially if there are holes instead of slots for the radiator/fan installation to the case.

I know you don't want to hear this but your use case really screams custom loop. How many PCs do you see these days with multiple GPUs? And how many of those are on air? And it's not because SLI is dead. It's because of the size of the cards and their coolers.
 

Timmah!

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Jul 24, 2010
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The radiator extends beyond the fans in both directions so you may not be able to use it and two fans, especially if there are holes instead of slots for the radiator/fan installation to the case.

I know you don't want to hear this but your use case really screams custom loop. How many PCs do you see these days with multiple GPUs? And how many of those are on air? And it's not because SLI is dead. It's because of the size of the cards and their coolers.

Thanks. You can look like the case looks here:


time 1:18. Is that what you mean by slots?

Yeah, i dont want to hear it :) I realize the best solution for me would be custom loop, but contrary what it may look like, i dont have money to burn. Custom loop would be another grand on top of already uberexpensive build and i was not ready for that.
And anyway, at this point its done and dusted, since i got AiO for CPU and it was literally 700 EUROs more for Suprim Liquid than the aircooled Gigabyte cost. So i am not throwing away its pump and rad and replace it with expensive waterblock and the rest of the gear needed. That would be absolute waste.
Finally, my issue here is not really space, thats kinda taken care of by the fulltower. It should all fit fairly nicely, though i admit the bottom card will be little bit too close to PSU. Anyway, its about most optimal airflow and i would be dealing with this even if i went with custom loop.
 

In2Photos

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Mar 21, 2007
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Did some really quick tuning on my daughter's PC today with pretty good results. I used Cinebech R23 to have some measurable performance values. I need to see how these compare with some of the review numbers to make sure everything is in line. 7600X with an ID Cooling SE-226-XT, single 120mm fan with a custom fan curve to try to keep noise down, same with the case fans.

Stock
Single core, 1944
Multi-core, 14,834, 5.167GHz, 93.5C @1.285V, fans hit 1640 RPM

PBO+CO (-30 all core)
Single core, 1957
Multi-core, 15,389, 5.360GHz, 80C @1.190V, fans hit 1200 RPM

Testing with some games now and seems to be running fine. In Fortnite she was at 60% CPU usage, 53C with high settings, 1080p, 144fps
Doing some testing with the new build. Wanted to see some Cinebench R23 comparisons with my daughter's 7600X. I have a Deep Cool 360 AIO vs. her air cooler.

Ryzen 7, 7700
Stock out of the box score, no EXPO enabled
Single core - 1937
Multi-core - 18,998, 4.920GHz, 73C (10 min run) @ 1.130V

There might not be much room to undervolt this CPU. The voltage is already quite a bit lower than her 7600X, granted I'm 200MHz below her at stock settings. Next on my testing is to enable EXPO and test everything again.
 
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Hans Gruber

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Dec 23, 2006
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Doing some testing with the new build. Wanted to see some Cinebench R23 comparisons with my daughter's 7600X. I have a Deep Cool 360 AIO vs. her air cooler.

Ryzen 7, 7700
Stock out of the box score, no EXPO enabled
Single core - 1937
Multi-core - 18,998, 4.920GHz, 73C (10 min run) @ 1.130V

There might not be much room to undervolt this CPU. The voltage is already quite a bit lower than her 7600X, granted I'm 200MHz below her at stock settings. Next on my testing is to enable EXPO and test everything again.
Why would you under volt a 65w CPU if the 7700 is what you have? You OC those by boosting the vcore. The TDP limits the power. Or just run it stock.
 

In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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That could be the memory training happening.
I waited about 5 minutes and then rebooted and waited another 5. Nothing.

Why would you under volt a 65w CPU if the 7700 is what you have? You OC those by boosting the vcore. The TDP limits the power. Or just run it stock.
Good point. I should probably stop working on this and get some sleep.
 

fleshconsumed

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Feb 21, 2002
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Don't have 990Pro, but my only two Samsung NVME drives 970 and 970 evo both developed bad sectors. I'll be avoiding Samsung from now on I guess. What's the point of paying for a brand name when it actually has higher failure rate than cheaper drives.
 
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Timmah!

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2010
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Don't have 990Pro, but my only two Samsung NVME drives 970 and 970 evo both developed bad sectors. I'll be avoiding Samsung from now on I guess. What's the point of paying for a brand name when it actually has higher failure rate than cheaper drives.

I have dilemma now, whether to take it back (i still can till the end of January) and get something else instead, likely one of these: SN850x, Firecuda 530 or Kingston KC3000... or stay put and hope this will be solved by some firmware.
I talked about this with people on local HW site and one of them claimed Samsung apparently started to use some crappy cheap NANDs sometimes during the last year and this is no surprise, its actually be most likely the result of that, thus it wont be fixed by software. And if my particular disks develops this issue, RMA will be the only solution. Which will be unpleasant, as i intended to install Win and app on that disk. Anyway, i wonder how much truth is in what he says.
 
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Jul 27, 2020
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No Samsung drives used by BackBlaze: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/ssd-drive-stats-mid-2022-review/

I really gotta wonder if price is the only reason why they are not using Samsung. I mean, the 870s are not that expensive. And if they bought them in sufficient volume, Samsung wouldn't be averse to giving them a good volume discount.

I think it's all political in nature. The crappy heir who was allowed to head Samsung is doing this to maximize profits.


Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong - convicted of bribery and embezzlement in 2017 - has been granted a special presidential pardon.
One of South Korea's most powerful white collar criminals, Lee was twice imprisoned for bribing a former president.
South Korea's government justified the move, saying the de-facto leader of the country's biggest company was needed back at the helm to spearhead economic recovery post-pandemic.

So this is HIS bloody idea for post pandemic economic recovery. Skimp on quality and maximize profits through any means necessary. Corrupt *expletive* !!!
 

IEC

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Jun 10, 2004
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Hynix P31 or P41 on sale is hard to beat... especially in laptops (power efficiency). Platinum series was $169.99 for 2TB during Amazon.com BF sales back in November.

There's plenty of PCIe 4.0 drives out there mostly based on Phison controllers that are simply better values than the Samsung drives as well. My 970 Evo Plus is relegated to my PCIe 3.0 limited slot for now and I haven't bought a Samsung drive since then as there are just too many solid options at better prices.
 
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In2Photos

Golden Member
Mar 21, 2007
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I was going to get the Hynix P41 drives for my new build but the Samsung 980 Pro went on sale for $179 for the 2TB so I switched it up. Fingers crossed I don't regret that decision down the road.

Got my kids the Solidigm P41 for their builds. $120 for the 2TB models. Doesn't have the same performance but in real world use I don't think we'll notice. Only had them a month though so can't really speak on reliability.