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From 5820K to...?

Soldato
Joined
31 Jan 2009
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Newcastle Upon Tyne
Now that the new B550 boards are upon us, I am looking to upgrade my gaming machine to a Ryzen based outfit.

So my question is: best processor for gaming? We're taking the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn, AC Odyssey/Origins, etc. I have an RX 590 GPU being used with Intel Core i7 5820K, 16GB DDR4 RAM on an MSI X99A SLI Plus mobo and a Corsair Hydro Series H100i AIO 240 cooler. I'm keeping the cooler as I bought the AM4 bracket from OcUK last month.

Should I go for the Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 7 3700X? I'm not all that fussed about the new XT ranges seeing as they don't seem to offer a huge speed jump.

Many thanks in advance.
 
Soldato
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6 Jun 2008
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Finland
Another 6 core wouldn't make any sense and would be really side step.
Next-gen games are going to be made for 8 core with next-gen consoles having non-boosting variant of 3700X.

Though that graphics card is going to be bottleneck, but it's better to upgrade that later this year with next-gen out.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Apr 2014
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East Sussex
As above - not really worth moving to a 6 core Ryzen, I would think overclocking you current CPU and buying a new graphics card would actually be a better boost for you in gaming (and an SSD if you dont have one for games/windows already)
 
Soldato
OP
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Newcastle Upon Tyne
I have 3 SSDs (1x 500GB for OS, 2x 1TB for games). The CPU is, as far as I can tell, not overclocked. I think I did overclock at the beginning, then went back to stock. This probably happened after a BIOS update. Never had to overclock since. I only got the GPU last month to replace my RX 480. And I game at 1080p.

Also I plan to eventually get a 144Hz monitor. My current monitor is 120Hz but it's like nearly a decade old.
 
Soldato
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Essex
If no games or applications are taxing your current setup, I wouldn't bother at this stage frankly. You might as well at least wait until the Zen 3 chips are released to see how much faster they're going to be over the current generation.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
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14 Nov 2007
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In the Land of Grey and Pink
You'll probably notice no difference in games unless you're at 1080p or your 5820k isn't overclocked.

This.

I'm running an X5650 @ 4.4 and my bottleneck is primarily the GPU.

Put it this way, I'm not looking to upgrade my CPU anytime soon, as in multicore gaming it's just not stressed at 3440x1440.

Highest I've ever seen is in AC Origins at around 50-60%, and I reckon a fair amount of that is down to Denuvo.

Save your dosh and put it to a next gen GPU would be my advice (for gaming).
 
Soldato
OP
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If no games or applications are taxing your current setup, I wouldn't both at this stage frankly. You might as well at least wait until the Zen 3 chips are released to see how much faster they're going to be over the current generation.

Makes sense. Definitely not getting any issues save for my CPU temps being around the 50 mark when idle. I've even reapplied thermal paste to see if that would help bring it down somewhat, but no bueno. Perhaps a new cooler may be needed? I have had the Corsair AIO for nearly 5 years now. Though I might just check the BIOS for voltage and such.
 
Soldato
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Did the RX480 die on you? Odd upgrade otherwise, was about 10%. Don't waste more money changing your CPU for playing games when the GPU is holding you back.

Nope. Didn't die on me. Just wouldn't fit in the new case I got. It got in the way of the AIO cooler in the side of the case. So that was the reason for the RX590. I'm in no position to get something like the 5700XT. At least not yet.
 
Soldato
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I would wait until Zen3 is released unless you can get a good price for the X99 parts you have,and get a cheaper upgrade to Zen2.

This was my plan. Get Zen 2 stuff, sell my X99 lot which can contribute towards to the Zen 2 range and given we know B550 and X570 will still support Zen 3, then I move to that at a later date.

But based on everyone's advice, I'll stick with what I have and see what the Zen 3 and possible new AMD GPUs bring either later this year or early 2021.
 
Soldato
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22 Nov 2018
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2,710
Considering you already have 6 cores, changing to a Ryzen 5 3600 which also has 6 core won't make any difference.

8 or 12 cores will make a difference but only in applications that will use 8 or 12 cores.
 
Associate
Joined
25 May 2012
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161
I would say wait till alder lake/ zen 4 when DDR5 and USB 4 hits mainstream desktop platforms. You will not notice any significant upgrades and lives to regret it later. Upgrade other components if you have the upgrade itch such as mouse/gpu/keyboard/monitor/sound system/headset.
 
Soldato
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Newcastle Upon Tyne
I would say wait till alder lake/ zen 4 when DDR5 and USB 4 hits mainstream desktop platforms. You will not notice any significant upgrades and lives to regret it later. Upgrade other components if you have the upgrade itch such as mouse/gpu/keyboard/monitor/sound system/headset.

Funnily enough, I have changed the case, the GPU, mouse and keyboard. The monitor definitely needs changing very soon. Headset I am still happy with.

Considering you already have 6 cores, changing to a Ryzen 5 3600 which also has 6 core won't make any difference.

8 or 12 cores will make a difference but only in applications that will use 8 or 12 cores.

That's why I also mentioned the Ryzen 7 3700X. But if I am definitely not going to see that much of a difference in terms of performance, then I will stick with my current crop and wait a little while longer.
 
Associate
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25 May 2012
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161
Funnily enough, I have changed the case, the GPU, mouse and keyboard. The monitor definitely needs changing very soon. Headset I am still happy with.



That's why I also mentioned the Ryzen 7 3700X. But if I am definitely not going to see that much of a difference in terms of performance, then I will stick with my current crop and wait a little while longer.

I think by zen 4 (5000 series) we may see the 12 Core become the price of a 3700/3800x, along with the DDR5, USB 4 and IPC improvements it would be a good time, rumours have it 7nm Alder Lake could be launching around that period too. I personally have a 5820K @ 4.5 GHz too and like you I had the itch to upgrade a few months ago, but waiting for next gen GPUs and Zen 4/Alderlake. 5820K is still a great gaming CPU unless you are trying to get 280hz 1080P performance. It can definitely do 144hz 1080p on warzone, at least when overclocked.

EDIT: take a look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3uLYQkqgS0
 
Soldato
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10 Sep 2009
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Gloucestershire
You would be better off upgrading the RX590 as I went from a 980 Ti to a 1080 Ti with my 5820K and it's fine with that combo. If I was chasing FPS then a 5 GHz Intel CPU would be a good choice but as I limit my games to 75 fps anyway I'm not going to upgrade just yet.

I'm about to receive AMD Zen 5 3600 + B450 parts to build for someone else so maybe I'll stick the 1080 Ti in that and see if there's a noticeable gain in games. I had considered a 3700X 8 core late last year but decided to carry on with my 5820K for a bit longer.
 
Soldato
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London
I’m on a 5820k at 4.4 and considering a 4700x or similar when they come out but only because I can use my existing b-die ram. Otherwise as others have said I think I might wait until am5 is out
 
Soldato
OP
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Newcastle Upon Tyne
Wow, I'm impressed to see there's still some others using a 5820K! Though mine is nowhere near as overclocked as others. I just did a minimal increase from it's base 3.3GHz to 3.8GHz.

Although I am trying to figure out why everyone is advising I get a newer GPU than the RX590? I only bought it last month! Lol. Fair enough it's not exactly new tech. But it'll tide me over til AMD release whatever they plan to release after the RX5000 range. And it's been totally fine with the games I have played on it: Star Wars Fallen Jedi Order, Modern Warfare, Battlefront II, etc. Even had them on max settings.
 
Associate
Joined
25 May 2012
Posts
161
Wow, I'm impressed to see there's still some others using a 5820K! Though mine is nowhere near as overclocked as others. I just did a minimal increase from it's base 3.3GHz to 3.8GHz.

Although I am trying to figure out why everyone is advising I get a newer GPU than the RX590? I only bought it last month! Lol. Fair enough it's not exactly new tech. But it'll tide me over til AMD release whatever they plan to release after the RX5000 range. And it's been totally fine with the games I have played on it: Star Wars Fallen Jedi Order, Modern Warfare, Battlefront II, etc. Even had them on max settings.
5820K is still a perfectly capable gaming chip, especially at 1440p and 4k. Whilst others were buying 6600k and 6700k or the 4690k and 4790k, some of us purchased the 5820K for more future proofing if you may say. The only downside is we have to wait a fair bit longer before we can see some significant gains. However someone using a 4 core non HT like the 4690k or 6600k would see a good gains by upgrading to a 3600 or 3700x. The same could not be said for us. Most games are using 6 cores right now, it will take a few years before we see the majority of the games using 8/10 cores.
 
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