Updating Sandybridge-E gaming PC

[NoNameNoNumber]

Currently running
3930k
Rampage IV Extreme
2x8 Gb Corsair Dominator Platinum
Vega 64

It isn't showing any signs of slowing down yet but I've got an itch
Been out of the loop for a while though, hows this look?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £149.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-35200C19 4400MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G440C9K)= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £119.99
• 1 x Super Flower Leadex III 750W 80 PLUS Gold Modular Power Supply - Black= £109.99
• 1 x Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora Edge CPU Water Block- Plexi Chrome Digital RGB= £69.95

Total: £881.00 (includes shipping: £11.10)​

​

 

[Plec]

It isn't showing any signs of slowing down yet but I've got an itch

I'd recommend trying not to scratch that itch until Zen 3 is released, if you can resist, given the above.

But:

• Gigabyte mobo UK RMA/warranty could be swapped out for MSI B550 Tomahawk if you prefer the look.
• 32Gb Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz with tight timings can be had for ~£140 and is more than suffice for Ryzen (it's only£20 more and you get 32GB compared to the 16GB Patriot set). And you have a choice of colours.
• Cheaper PSU - and 10 year warranty
• 1Tb NVMe

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £154.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £99.95
• 1 x Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora Edge CPU Water Block- Plexi Chrome Digital RGB= £69.95

Total: £745.37 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Thank you Plec, there always seems to be a release just around the corner

So Zen 3, a quick google suggests October for release... I can wait that long for sure.
Will they be on the same socket?

Would I be mad to keep an eye on the MM to see if I can bag a 3900 once Zen 3 is out?

Great points made on the other gear, thank you.

 

[Plec]

Will they be on the same socket?

Yes, same socket - the B550 was built around Zen 3/4000 series and BIOS and socket backward compatible for 3000 series i.e. AM4.

Would I be mad to keep an eye on the MM to see if I can bag a 3900 once Zen 3 is out?

No, but it depends what you intend to use your system for?

If it's gaming then 8c/16t is the go to CPU as next gen consoles will have this as their standard integrals -and will keep you on parity with their poorly ported releases. So future games will be ported over with similar specs requirements - on the whole (although 6c/12t with a decent GPU will still be adequate). You will have the odd game that will benefit from more cores but the reality is 1/4 core games will still be the staple for many years but with increasing numbers of 8c/16t appearing as Ryzen CPUS and consoles make their impact.

Plus, the rumoured ~15% IPC uplift of Zen 3 will benefit you more with games rather than surplus cores/threads that are sitting idly in the background, twiddling their thumbs. Put simply, i would rather have a 4700X(sic) than a 3900 for gaming.

That said, the 3000 CPUs are falling in price- a 3700X can be had for £265 - so prices are falling - and so will the second hand market in time. All depends on your budget and how much you want to spend.

To throw you off focus some more - have you seen the new Nvidia 30 series - the 3070 in particular at £449? They state it has the performance of a 2080Ti (£1000 card) so huge performance gains with £600 saving. But, from your present performance this may not be of importance, unless you intend to upgrade monitor soon?..

Thank you Plec,

No problem.

 

[EsaT]

So Zen 3, a quick google suggests October for release... I can wait that long for sure.
Will they be on the same socket?

Would I be mad to keep an eye on the MM to see if I can bag a 3900 once Zen 3 is out?

All B550 and X570 boards will get Zen3 support.
As for older chipset boards only MSI has confirmed Zen3 support for B450/X470.
(X470 is anyway made completely obsolete for price by B550 and X570)

Zen3 is probably faster enough per core, that 8 core nearly matches 12 core Zen2 most multithreaded loads, while beating it in anything with single core dependancy.
Zen2 six core did that with 8 core Zen+.

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

To throw you off focus some more - have you seen the new Nvidia 30 series - the 3070 in particular at £449? They state it has the performance of a 2080Ti (£1000 card) so huge performance gains with £600 saving. But, from your present performance this may not be of importance, unless you intend to upgrade monitor soon?..

Well, plenty to think abnout, thanks agian to both of you.

Yeah I have seen the 3070, only problem is I kinda want the Zotac for it's 5 yr warranty but it doesn't look like a full size card :/
Also, I'm holding high hopes for the release of the Radeon 6000. Is that naive of me?

 

[Plec]

Also, I'm holding high hopes for the release of the Radeon 6000. Is that naive of me?

I'm hoping so, too.

No, wouldn't say naive - and although recently they haven't had the outright mantle for speed - they've certainly been the best bang for buck card (5700 XT excellent value compared to 2070 Super). I just wish they could overcome their drivers/interface issues - it's always a ride with Radeon (5600 initial release problems didn't help).

Plus, they're leaking info in a very strange way - which doesn't inspire confidence (could be a ploy - strange one), but i'm still hoping they can deliver - although it may be too late for me as the 3070 is very appealing at £450 relative to 2080Ti.

Yeah I have seen the 3070, only problem is I kinda want the Zotac for it's 5 yr warranty but it doesn't look like a full size card :/

Gigabyte have 4 year warranty when registered plus UK RMA

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

There are no Gigabytes yet...
I guess we can expect them?

 

[Plec]

There are no Gigabytes yet...
I guess we can expect them?

Sorry, my post was a bit misleading - but i expect them to, yes.

No big manufacturer is going to want to miss a slice of these cards - especially with Big Navi late to the table.

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Makes perfect sense.
So now isn't the time just yet to by a 3070?

 

[Plec]

So now isn't the time just yet to by a 3070?

If you mean the FE on release, mid-October, then that's personal preference.

They will arguably have used the better bins for the FE cards - and the design/look are very sleek, compared to some of the aftermarket designs.

But, if you plan on waiting for the release of Big Navi you will be in a position of strength re: comparison - but 30 series prices may rise due to demand.

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

I'd recommend trying not to scratch that itch until Zen 3 is released, if you can resist, given the above.

But:

• Gigabyte mobo UK RMA/warranty could be swapped out for MSI B550 Tomahawk if you prefer the look.
• 32Gb Crucial Ballistix 3600MHz with tight timings can be had for ~£140 and is more than suffice for Ryzen (it's only£20 more and you get 32GB compared to the 16GB Patriot set). And you have a choice of colours.
• Cheaper PSU - and 10 year warranty
• 1Tb NVMe

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £154.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £99.95
• 1 x Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora Edge CPU Water Block- Plexi Chrome Digital RGB= £69.95

Total: £745.37 (includes shipping: £10.50)
​

With Zen 3 are we expecting new boards?
Or is that Aurous Elite Current for next gen too?

RAM...
32Gb 3600MHz @ 16-18-18-38 (Crucial)
vs
16Gb 3600MHz @ 14-15-15-35 (8Pack) for the same price. Which one is better?

 

[Plec]

With Zen 3 are we expecting new boards?
Or is that Aurous Elite Current for next gen too?

The B550 was built around the Zen3's release.

RAM...
32Gb 3600MHz @ 16-18-18-38 (Crucial)
vs
16Gb 3600MHz @ 14-15-15-35 (8Pack) for the same price. Which one is better?

Crucial - much better value and the timings are only marginally lower, plus the extra 16GB will serve you far better than slightly better timings - and very good value for 32GB set (no discernible performance difference). Serial/model number BL2K16G36C16U4B (Comes in 3 colours - change last letter to W, B or R)

 

[NoNameNoNumber]

Thank you.

Any reason on the Blue WD? I'm new to M.2, you can only have one of them can't you? So the rest of the storage is regular SSDs?

 

[mickyflinn]

Thank you.

Any reason on the Blue WD? I'm new to M.2, you can only have one of them can't you? So the rest of the storage is regular SSDs?

The wd blue is good value and you can have 2 m2 drives on that motherboard.

Storage I'm not sure what you mean all drives are storage unless you mean a separate drive to store photo's, videos etc.

I would consider an msi motherboard like the tomhawk or gaming edge wifi if you need wifi as msi are doing cashback promotion on certain motherboard and ryzen cpu.

https://uk.msi.com/Promotion/back-to-school-2020#AMD-Motherboard

 

[Plec]

Any reason on the Blue WD?

Good value drive - (Samsung ridiculously priced) and 5 year warranty and Gen4 isn't worth the premium, especially so for gaming - but prices are slowly dropping.

you can only have one of them can't you? So the rest of the storage is regular SSDs?

The board has has 2 x M.2. slots 1 x PCIe 4.0 the other PCIe 3.0.

You could get a larger driver - 2Tb M.2 can be had for under £200.

You can use regular SSD for the rest but you can also use a M.2 PCIe adapter card if wanted.

EDIT:

https://uk.msi.com/Promotion/back-to-school-2020#AMD-Motherboard

Yes, since your original post MSI have a good deal on - if they run it properly. Potentially ~£45 cashback and the Tomahawk board is on a par with the Gigabyte:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £159.95

​

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Thank you.

Any reason on the Blue WD? I'm new to M.2, you can only have one of them can't you? So the rest of the storage is regular SSDs?

Elite has two m.2 slots.

@Plec vrm is a little lower I believe .

Should take 1 month for cash back.. best check T&C to see if 90 days.

And starts 30 days After you bought it. So as above, no idea when it's paid. Pain but they got caught out last time

 

[Plec]

@Plec vrm is a little lower I believe .

I think 'on a par' hedged my bets enough (Although, it's great having Gigabyte back in the mix for mid-range board recommendations for Ryzen. When is the Rev 2.0 of elite due?)

But the ~£45 cashback - if honoured without hiccups - makes the MSI board an obvious choice at present.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

I think 'on a par' hedged my bets enough (Although, it's great having Gigabyte back in the mix for mid-range board recommendations for Ryzen. When is the Rev 2.0 of elite due?)

But the ~£45 cashback - if honoured without hiccups - makes the MSI board an obvious choice at present.

Sounds like Gibbo with rtx pricing going up.

Actual Cash values may vary due to automatic conversion into local currency based on the applicable conversion rate on the actual remittance day

Should be rolling out, but guessing time to get the stock and clear the old. Rev 2.0 has UCB C front headers

Though to be honest, surprised your not moving to 12 cores or intel 8/10 cores clocked higher. Your CPU should hit 4.5ghz all cores

 

[Plec]

Sounds like Gibbo with rtx pricing going up.

Yeah, always sceptical of cashback promotions - they usually make it awkward to get your monies in the hope you forget/can't be bothered once you have your hardware.

Though to be honest, surprised your not moving to 12 cores or intel 8/10 cores clocked higher. Your CPU should hit 4.5ghz all cores

LOL, no your not

The 3700X @ £280 takes some beating with a B550 @ ~£160 for bang for buck - and I can't see the point of more cores for a general gaming machine (new gen console parity etc etc) - unless someone has the budget or specifically asks for 3900X.

And you're more clued up than most knowing that single/4 core games are still the predominant staple on STEAM and that 6c/12t CPUs are still amazing value and would suffice for most gaming builds for a few more years. Plus, with the imminent release of Zen 3 and rumoured 15% IPC gain - i would only give an INTEL spec for a price comparison, as Zen 3 'should' reach parity (but who knows). The average minimal gains just are aren't enough for 'me' (and certainly not with Zen 3) - i know there's the odd outlier with games but these should get ironed out with updates/optimisation.

Having said all that, i still want the competition as it all helps with prices. Long may they both snap within each other's MHz...