PC Upgrade Ideas

rapidpuma59 said:Can I stick with the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max or do I need something beefier?
We're getting the RAM too, obviously.

The MSI B450 Tomahawk Max is a solid board. As for CPUs, the AMD Ryzen 5600X—or if you can wait, the AMD Ryzen 5600—are great options for gaming (and everything else). For gaming, they beat the 3700X, period. No question about it. Regarding RAM, usually the cheapest 3200MHz CL16 2x8GB kit is the move, though with these newer Ryzen chips, higher frequencies might matter more than they used to.
Honestly? I’d just wait until the AMD Ryzen 5600 drops, or at least until the price for the AMD Ryzen 5600X settles and it's actually in stock. Then you check the reviews and see which specific motherboard and RAM combo hits the sweet spot.
The AMD Ryzen 5800X is overpriced. The AMD Ryzen 5600X covers a massive range and sits right in the same tier as the Intel Core i7-10700K, which goes for about $1000. If you want something "a bit stronger," you won't go wrong with the AMD Ryzen 5600X. Personally, I'd aim to grab the AMD Ryzen 5600X for under $250-$$867, or just wait for the AMD Ryzen 5600 for around $667.

P.S. It depends on what they're playing. If squeezing out every single last FPS isn't the priority, the 2700X is sitting under $400 now... an 8-core/16-thread processor with a decent stock cooler at that price is a total "steal."
The 2700X will easily last 3-4 years. Even if you upgrade the monitor or the GPU later, in most cases, it won't be a bottleneck.

If I could just squeeze in one more question, if you don't mind.

I've been sitting here watching the prices on the R7 drop steadily.
It looks like the AMD Ryzen 7 3800 XT has actually dipped by about 13 percent over at Newegg.
I can't help but wonder how that processor actually stacks up in terms of raw gaming performance when compared to the 5600X?
Right now, the price tag is hovering around $900.
We're looking at a budget of roughly $1333 for this whole endeavor, so I'm genuinely torn—is it worth playing the waiting game to see if the price on the 3800 XT sinks even further, or should I just cut my losses and jump straight to the 5600X?

The main focus here would be getting smooth gameplay in titles like the latest Call of Duty, Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs, and those kinds of heavy hitters.

Check out that YouTube video I linked. This AMD Ryzen 5600X is crushing everything AMD has put out before it, and most Intel chips too.
For instance, in Watch Dogs, it's 15% faster than the 3700X and 3900X—basically neck-and-neck with an Intel Core i7-10700K or other top-tier processors.
The 3700X, 3800X, and AMD Ryzen 7 3800 XT are all pretty much hovering within that same 5% range.

wiredotter14 said:You really ought to take a look at that YouTube video I shared. Honestly, this AMD Ryzen 5600X is outperforming just about everything AMD has ever released, and frankly, it’s giving most Intel chips a run for their money.
For instance, when you're running Watch Dogs, it clocks in about 15% faster than the 3700X or the 3900X, making it practically neck-and-neck with the Intel Core i7-10900K and those other high-end heavy hitters.
As for the 3700X, 3800X, and the AMD Ryzen 7 3800 XT, they all seem to be hovering within that same +/- 5% margin.

My apologies, I actually went ahead and typed out my question before I had even sat down to watch the video. My mistake.

I appreciate the help.

rapidpuma59 said:Just one more quick question if you don't mind.

I'm noticing prices for the R7 are dropping.
Specifically, the AMD Ryzen 7 3800 XT just saw a 13 percent price cut over at Newegg.
How does that chip actually stack up against the 5600 when it comes to gaming?
It's currently sitting at about $900.
With a budget of roughly $1333, I'm just wondering if it makes sense to wait for an even deeper discount on that, or if I should just pull the trigger on the 5600 instead?

I'm looking to play stuff like the new Call of Duty, Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Watch Dogs.

If the Intel Core i7-10700K is priced the same, Intel is probably the better bet for pure gaming over the 3800X.

Alexander Moore67 said:If an Intel Core i7-10700K is the same price and you're just gaming, Intel's the better call over the AMD Ryzen 7 3800 XT.

The Intel Core i7-10700K beats the AMD Ryzen 7 3800 XT, sure. But it doesn't touch the AMD Ryzen 5600X once the price settles down.

By the way, I saw the 5600X listed at Best Buy for about $850 once, but it sold out fast—or maybe they never actually had it.

When you're pushing higher resolutions, Intel still tends to outperform the Ryzen 5000 series slightly.

Alexander Moore67 said:At higher resolutions, Intel still beats out the Ryzen 5000 series.

Got any actual sources for that? Ryzen has PCIe 4.0, which could give it a slight edge at higher resolutions when you're pairing it with high-end GPUs. Otherwise, they should be performing pretty much the same.

https://i.postimg.cc/QM8WQ69Y/relati...-2560-1440.png

On that same list, they’ve got the i3 10300 sitting right next to the 9900K and the 5900X, supposedly beating out the 9600K... clearly, this is some benchmark that fails to actually measure CPU performance properly.

Read what games says—he’s running an i3 at 4/8 on 4.4GHz.

rapidpuma59 said:Should I stick with the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, or is it worth upgrading to something beefier?
We’re definitely grabbing the RAM too.

Officially, the 400 series BIOS updates are slated for January, but some motherboard manufacturers have already dropped beta versions. In fact, plenty of people are already running the 5000 series on 400-series boards.

By the way, there are some really solid, budget-friendly B550 boards available now for about $267

Timothy Kim60 said:Officially, the BIOS updates for the 400 series chipsets are slated for January, though if you look closely, some motherboard vendors have already pushed out beta versions, so you can actually find plenty of them already supporting the 5000 series on those older 400 boards.

On another note, there are some genuinely solid, budget-friendly B550 boards hitting the market now for about $267
.

Any recommendations at all?
I suppose we’ll just sit tight and wait a little longer anyway, so it’s hardly a crisis.
I haven't forgotten how you helped me out ages ago with advice for this specific build, which, I must say, has been running like an absolute dream for years now!

Alexander Moore67 said:read what Games says—that i3 has 4 cores/8 threads at 4.4GHz

Look, I get it's a quad-core, but using a benchmark where that CPU (basically on par with an i7-7700K) hits the same level as a 9900K isn't a valid test, even at 1440p. Saying a 10900K is only a few percent better than that i3 or a new Ryzen is total nonsense.

It's not just about showing that the GPU is the most critical component...

It really depends on which games are being tested. TPU hasn't covered a massive library, and most of their tests end up being GPU bound anyway. Take Hardware Unboxed or TechSpot, for instance; they have titles like Death Stranding where Zen 3 absolutely crushes even the beefiest Intel chips by about 20%. On average, across 11 different games, it comes out as the fastest gaming CPU. Plus, they don't typically focus on "e-sports" titles.

And just look at this absolute slaughter in CS:GO.



There are certain titles where Intel’s i9 and i7 still hold their own—Far Cry is a good example due to its engine—but those are mostly marginal cases. Overall, I suspect reviewers will stick with Ryzen 5000 series in benchmark rigs for testing new GPUs. When it trails an i9, it doesn't trail by much, but when it wins, it wins big.

rapidpuma59 said:Any recommendations?
In any case, we'll wait a little longer, so it’s no big deal.
You helped me out ages ago with advice for this specific build, and it’s been running flawlessly for years!

This one looks like a pretty solid deal right now.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=B550m+pro4

Quoting:
This is looking like a pretty solid deal right about now.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?q=B550m+pro4

Then, of course, we just sit around for a month or two, waiting for the market to stop acting crazy and for prices to finally settle down to something resembling sanity.
Maybe I'll end up just pestering people for some extra RAM later on, but for the time being, the plan is set: I'll grab the AMD Ryzen 5600 (whether it's the standard version or the one with the X suffix), that motherboard > suggested, and 16 GB of RAM.
I truly appreciate everyone stepping in to help me navigate this mess.

Alexander Moore67 said:It's not just about that—it proves the GPU is the most critical part...

That's like running benchmarks on CS:GO where everyone gets basically the same FPS, and then you try to claim one card is better than another based on some tiny, meaningless difference...

Hey guys, could I get some help on this too?

I picked this setup up about three years ago:


Later on, I tossed in a 240GB SSD to act as my system drive, which definitely made everything feel snappier... but lately, I've been noticing some stuttering when I'm watching stuff on YouTube, especially if I bump the resolution up to 1080p or higher. Any recommendations on what I should swap out or add to make this thing run smoother?

Honestly, I think you’re dealing with a bandwidth issue rather than anything else...

Have you checked your CPU load in Task Manager while streaming 1080p video? Just hit ctrl+shift+esc and head over to the Performance tab.