PC Upgrade (AMD Only)

[gotothesettings]

Hi!

Next november I will upgrade my system and I would like to know from you guys what do you think the best parts would be.

As for the processor and GPU, I was thinking about getting the Ryzen 5 5800X and the Radeon RX 7700 XT. Concerning the motherboard, I was thinking about the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming II.

Did not decide nothing yet about storage and RAM memory (keeping what I already have of these parts would be an option too).

For me, playing at 1080p and 2K resolutions just above 60 fps are fine, but I was thinking maybe getting a 50 inches 4K TV (took I look at the LG UHD UR8750 last week).

I do not think I will have to replace my power supply (but I would like to know your thoughts about this part as well).

Budget (not included the TV price): $1,000 USD.

What do you think the best options are?

 

[Zach_01]

We have to know all your hardware options and what are the prices on your region.
I wouldn’t buy the 5800X.
Go for 5700X, 5700X3D or go straight to 5800X3D.

For 4K the RX 7700XT will struggle a bit or much depending the game and settings.

 

[Hyderz]

We have to know all your hardware options and what are the prices on your region.
I wouldn’t buy the 5800X.
Go for 5700X, 5700X3D or go straight to 5800X3D.

For 4K the RX 7700XT will struggle a bit or much depending the game and settings.

+1 on the 5800x3d max out the am4 platform

 

[GerKNG]

instead of any AM4 CPU i'd only buy a 5700X3D or a 5800X3D if it's less than 20-30 dollars apart. But i'd highly recommend spending the money for AM5 since you can buy a Zen 6 X3D chip in half a decade and use the board for maybe 7-8 years and you're always up to date for just an extra 100-150 bucks today.

"For me, playing at 1080p and 2K resolutions just above 60 fps are fine": 7700XT/7800XT/7900GRE (considering AAA Games in Unreal Engine 5 without ray tracing. these cards are 1080p60+ Cards nowadays.)
4K Gaming (Native! not upscaled 1080p/1440p) under a 7900XTX, 4080/4090? maybe e-sport titles. otherwise forget about it.

 

[arbiter]

would be worth considering getting an am5 board as that would least keep option open that few years if cpu starting feel little slow then you would least have 9000 series cpu's to drop in.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Next november

Maybe wait, by then i'm aure there will be many more options available.

 

[Eskimonster]

Defo go for a AM5, better in every way. And longevity surpasses any $ saved on AM4.

 

[Todestrieb]

Depends on what game do you play, but...
I think a 7900GRE is the minimum to pull off 4K60 on very demanding games. 7700XT ain't cut it.
And now there's an outside chance that it may trip up the PSU.
If you are fine with NVIDIA GPUs, look for a 4070TiSuper.

There's no reason that you need to swap motherboard from performance standpoint. 5700X3D ain't perform worse on a A520. And if the games you play is not CPU limited (and we are talking 4K resolution), 5600X is enough most of the time.

If there are other reasons that warrant motherboard swap, AM4 does not make sense anymore.

 

[dgianstefani]

Arrow Lake or AM5 only. New build AM4 is madness.

Also minimum 7900 XT or 4070 Ti Super for 4K.

Realistically with $1k budget get a 5600X3D and a 4070 Ti Super.

No need for new motherboard.

Current AMD GPUs of comparable performance draw more power on average and peak than current NVIDIA cards, so that's something to consider if you're concerned about your PSU, but even a low quality 850 W unit like like what you have will probably be fine.

 

[Lost_Troll]

For me, playing at 1080p and 2K resolutions just above 60 fps are fine, but I was thinking maybe getting a 50 inches 4K TV (took I look at the LG UHD UR8750 last week).

As others have said, I would just upgrade to a 5700x3D and get a 7900XT for 2k or 4k game play and just use the rest of your system as is. Now if you can get a bit more in the budget, an AM5 build would be a better investment. You can get a 7500F for 125$ or a 7700 for 180$ off of Allpress right now and pair it up with a good B650 mother board and DDR5 32Gb kit. You can reuse your drives, power supply, CPU cooler and case to save money. For video card, a 7900XT will do fine and not over tax your power supply.

Do not forget, that you can sell your old parts to help with the cost or the new build.

 

[gotothesettings]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Well, considering the strong case in favor of the change towards AM5 socket, what do you think about the Ryzen 7 8700F (around $267 USD here in Brazil) and about the MSI B650 MAG Tomahawk motherboard (around $282 USD here in Brazil)? And I would keep the idea of buying the Radeon RX 7700 XT (ASRock Phantom Gaming 12 GB OC edition) which today is priced around $586 USD here in Brazil.

I would be around $135 USD above my initial budget.

 

[ebivan]

I would go AM5, because you can pop in a Ryzen 10000, 11000 or 12000 some day in the future.

AM4 is dead and there will be no possibility for a future Upgrade.

 

[Ruru]

When I got my 5800X an year ago, it cost 200EUR and X3D was a little over 300EUR. These days there is the 5700X3D which is a way better option, I'd go for it without a doubt in the ~200EUR price range.

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Well, considering the strong case in favor of the change towards AM5 socket, what do you think about the Ryzen 7 8700F (around $267 USD here in Brazil) and about the MSI B650 MAG Tomahawk motherboard (around $282 USD here in Brazil)? And I would keep the idea of buying the Radeon RX 7700 XT (ASRock Phantom Gaming 12 GB OC edition) which today is priced around $586 USD here in Brazil.

I would be around $135 USD above my initial budget.

NO! The 8000 series is a dud what it comes to gaming since they're APUs with half the cache of the "real" Ryzens. I'd rather get a 7500F and spend that saved cash for a 7800 XT.

 

[LittleBro]

You have in specs 5600X and you suggested upgrading to 5800X ...

MB: any B650E motherboard will do
RAM: DDR5, 2x 16GB, 6000 MHz
CPU: at least 7600X (7800X3D)
GPU: used RX 6800XT or used RX 7900 GRE, if possible. 7700XT is not worth the money AMD asks for it, used 6800XT will be cheaper, has more performance and is more futureproof.
Reuse the other stuff.

Don't buy RX 7000 series Phantom Gaming from ASrock, they have a very audible coil whine. I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Lost_Troll]

Get the 7500F from AliExpress for 123.68$ us, it will save you money for other parts. You can check out this thread, Ali Express | TechPowerUp Forums, the link is the same place I bought mine from. I have PBO set to under volt -30 and it runs grate. I did have it set to a -25 under volt with an OC 125MHz without issue as well.

 

[gotothesettings]

Thanks @Ruru and @LittleBro!

Let's see... Thinking about the L3 cache (and the budget, of course)... I could go with the Ryzen 5 7600X (Cache 38MB, maintaining the 6 cores) or Ryzen 7 7700 (Cache 40MB and 8 cores) - both options with higher L3 cache than the Ryzen 5 5600X and both options are still compatible with the MSI B650 MAG Tomahawk motherboard.

The Ryzen 5 7600X is around $312 USD and the Ryzen 7 7700 is around $392 USD here in Brazil.

@LittleBro, what about the Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming Sapphire Pulse 12 GB edition (around $624 USD here in Brazil)?

So the budget would be... Well, around $1,328 USD (and I would compensate this by selling the old parts, bringing the budget down to the initial $1,000 USD).

 

[Vayra86]

As others have said, I would just upgrade to a 5700x3D and get a 7900XT for 2k or 4k game play and just use the rest of your system as is. Now if you can get a bit more in the budget, an AM5 build would be a better investment. You can get a 7500F for 125$ or a 7700 for 180$ off of Allpress right now and pair it up with a good B650 mother board and DDR5 32Gb kit. You can reuse your drives, power supply, CPU cooler and case to save money. For video card, a 7900XT will do fine and not over tax your power supply.

Do not forget, that you can sell your old parts to help with the cost or the new build.

I'd be inclined to agree with this post the most given the budget, 5700X3D seems like a logical move. Go for DDR5 later. 16GB gets you pretty far still for a few years, no problem. Invest in GPU instead.

 

[jak_2456]

I'd be inclined to agree with this post the most given the budget, 5700X3D seems like a logical move. Go for DDR5 later. 16GB gets you pretty far still for a few years, no problem. Invest in GPU instead.

Can confirm; my sim racing PC has a 5800x and a 6700 XT with 16 GB of system RAM and the CPU is far from being a problem. 16 GB of RAM is also very sufficient as long as you're not doing crazy multitasking. I also find it funny that people say that you shouldn't buy anything worse than a 7900 XT for 4K when my sim racing TV is connected to a 4K120 TV and I can hit 60+ FPS with FreeSync in the majority of games I play, even when I set the graphics settings pretty high. The only games that don't run as well are BeamNG.drive (quite a demanding game) and EA Sports WRC (with 4K High I had to enable FSR Quality to get 55-60 FPS). I think that you should properly consider the games you play before you decide what GPU you want.

 

[gotothesettings]

Thanks for the reply, @jak_2456!

Well, I have been playing PC games since the 90's (never really got into consoles but I owned and played on some of them down the years - nowadays I just play on the PC). Regarding the kind of games I play... I never got into competitive games, multiplayer. I play single player titles, story-driven ones, platformers, 2D side-scrolling, first person shooters, RPGs, some indie titels as well etc. Anyway, God of War (2018), Doom series, AC series, A Plague Tale series, Alan Wake series, just to cite a few. So, as I said earlier, I almost exclusively play at 60fps on a 60Hz monitor and that works really great for me. Sometimes I even play at 50fps a change the refresh rate of my monitor to 50Hz to make it really smooth (instead of playing at 50fps on a 60Hz refresh rate) on titles that are way more demanding to the RX 7600. That is why I think that, for now, buying the RX 7900 XT would be some kind of overkill. What do you think?

 

[Vayra86]

Thanks for the reply, @jak_2456!

Well, I have been playing PC games since the 90's (never really got into consoles but I owned and played on some of them down the years - nowadays I just play on the PC). Regarding the kind of games I play... I never got into competitive games, multiplayer. I play single player titles, story-driven ones, platformers, 2D side-scrolling, first person shooters, RPGs, some indie titels as well etc. Anyway, God of War (2018), Doom series, AC series, A Plague Tale series, Alan Wake series, just to cite a few. So, as I said earlier, I almost exclusively play at 60fps on a 60Hz monitor and that works really great for me. Sometimes I even play at 50fps a change the refresh rate of my monitor to 50Hz to make it really smooth (instead of playing at 50fps on a 60Hz refresh rate) on titles that are way more demanding to the RX 7600. That is why I think that, for now, buying the RX 7900 XT would be some kind of overkill. What do you think?

Yeah you can settle for less. But I'd look ahead: how long do you plan to use this gpu before upgrading? If you want five plus years out of it, Id go big. In the end its a matter of cost over X time, if you feel forced to upgrade earlier than planned, you made a bad call earlier. Another strategy with bigger GPUs is reselling them timely and then moving a nudge up in performance when new gen comes out: initial expense is high, but you can cheaply stay current gen afterwards.

Additionally you could look at perf/dollar. If the gap in that between midrange and high end gpus is small, its always better to buy bigger. They just resell for a relatively higher price especially as they age.

 

[jak_2456]

Yeah you can settle for less. But I'd look ahead: how long do you plan to use this gpu before upgrading? If you want five plus years out of it, Id go big.

You have a point. One of my family members bought a 1080 Ti several years ago and used it for five years before upgrading it. However, you don't know if a GPU manufacturer is going to come around a few years later with a massive performance leap. For example, you probably wouldn't feel amazing if you bought a GTX 690 in 2012 for $1,000 and saw that a mid-range GTX 1060 was on-par with your current card. I think OP would be satisfied with an RX 7700 XT since that card will destroy 1080p, easily muster 1440p, and should be able to handle some basic 4K. They don't draw loads of power either and can be had for around $400 US (not sure about regional pricing). I'd go for a 7700 XT and a 5700X3D. A B550 board would also be a wise upgrade because I'm not sure how well an A520 board can handle a 5700X3D.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Next november

As in 2 months from now or November 2025?

If 2025, wait until next September.

If 2024, then to that I say save your money then buy everything all at once. This is for several reasons - most relating to your purchased items sitting on your shelf at home, eating up their return policies and warranty time periods.

Most retailers have a time limit in which you can return something, "no questions asked". After that time period, you have to deal with the manufacturers and warranty RMAs. Some of those "retailer" return policy periods are as little as 30 days. If you buy a CPU, for example, and it sits on your shelf for 90 days waiting for you to purchase the motherboard and RAM, and then you find out the CPU is bad or incompatible, you will encounter hassles and delays returning the CPU or getting it replaced.

Most product have a limited warranty - often as short as 90 days or perhaps 1 year. You could lose 1/2 the warranty if something is waiting on your closet shelf for several months.

Many products have revisions that correct problems or add features or compatibility support. Motherboards and graphics cards are primary examples. If you buy a motherboard today, then let it sit on the shelf for 90 days, Revision 2 might have been released during that time, adding support for the new CPU, or USB version you want. If you wait to buy everything at once, you have a much greater chance of getting the latest (and hopefully greatest) revision.

Then new products are being released all the time. You could buy a new graphics card today, then find out a newer, faster cheaper card has been released while you are still waiting to buy the rest of your parts.

So I recommend you just wait, save your money, keep doing your homework, then pull the trigger when you have enough money saved up to buy all your components at once.

The one exception to this is your OS license. Unless Microsoft announces Windows 12 will be coming out in the next 6 months, you can safely buy your W11 license now, then use Windows Update to get it current after your build - assuming, of course, you are going with Windows and not Linux.

As for a case, make sure it supports 140mm fans, 120mm are too small and thus spin faster to compensate. Faster spinning fans make more noise and I hate fan noise. Also, make sure the case has removable, washable air filters.

Don't try to trim the budget by buying a cheap PSU. Would you buy a new Porsche then fill it fuel from the Corner Tobacco, Bait and Cell Phone Shop? EVERYTHING inside the case depends on good, clean, stable power. Make sure you supply it. I like Seasonic, 80 PLUS "Gold" supplies. "Platinum" and "Titanium" are overrated unless you find one on sale at a great price.

 

[gotothesettings]

Yeah you can settle for less. But I'd look ahead: how long do you plan to use this gpu before upgrading? If you want five plus years out of it, Id go big. In the end its a matter of cost over X time, if you feel forced to upgrade earlier than planned, you made a bad call earlier. Another strategy with bigger GPUs is reselling them timely and then moving a nudge up in performance when new gen comes out: initial expense is high, but you can cheaply stay current gen afterwards.

Additionally you could look at perf/dollar. If the gap in that between midrange and high end gpus is small, its always better to buy bigger. They just resell for a relatively higher price especially as they age.

Thanks for the reply!

Well, I won't think about replacing the new GPU (after this upgrade) anytime soon than January 2026.

You have a point. One of my family members bought a 1080 Ti several years ago and used it for five years before upgrading it. However, you don't know if a GPU manufacturer is going to come around a few years later with a massive performance leap. For example, you probably wouldn't feel amazing if you bought a GTX 690 in 2012 for $1,000 and saw that a mid-range GTX 1060 was on-par with your current card. I think OP would be satisfied with an RX 7700 XT since that card will destroy 1080p, easily muster 1440p, and should be able to handle some basic 4K. They don't draw loads of power either and can be had for around $400 US (not sure about regional pricing). I'd go for a 7700 XT and a 5700X3D. A B550 board would also be a wise upgrade because I'm not sure how well an A520 board can handle a 5700X3D.

Thanks for the reply!

I was taking a look into the RX 7800 XT just now. It is around $64 USD more than the RX 7700 XT here in Brazil (both Gaming Pulse Sapphire editions).

With the RX 7800 XT I would gain more theoretical processing power in single TFLOPS (around 2.15 more - if I get the RX 7700 XT, in comparison with the RX 7600, I would gain 13.42 TFLOPS in theoretical processing power), more 4 GB of GPU memory, higher bus width and higher memory clock. Is the increase in $64 USD "a go for the 7800 XT instead of the 7700 XT"? Just detailing a little more the discussion, but I totally agree with you when you write that the RX 7700 XT now would be more than OK for 1080p60fps (just bringing into the consideration what @Vayra86 and you wrote about cost in relation to the span of time to the next upgrade.

As in 2 months from now or November 2025?

If 2025, wait until next September.

If 2024, then to that I say save your money then buy everything all at once. This is for several reasons - most relating to your purchased items sitting on your shelf at home, eating up their return policies and warranty time periods.

Most retailers have a time limit in which you can return something, "no questions asked". After that time period, you have to deal with the manufacturers and warranty RMAs. Some of those "retailer" return policy periods are as little as 30 days. If you buy a CPU, for example, and it sits on your shelf for 90 days waiting for you to purchase the motherboard and RAM, and then you find out the CPU is bad or incompatible, you will encounter hassles and delays returning the CPU or getting it replaced.

Most product have a limited warranty - often as short as 90 days or perhaps 1 year. You could lose 1/2 the warranty if something is waiting on your closet shelf for several months.

Many products have revisions that correct problems or add features or compatibility support. Motherboards and graphics cards are primary examples. If you buy a motherboard today, then let it sit on the shelf for 90 days, Revision 2 might have been released during that time, adding support for the new CPU, or USB version you want. If you wait to buy everything at once, you have a much greater chance of getting the latest (and hopefully greatest) revision.

Then new products are being released all the time. You could buy a new graphics card today, then find out a newer, faster cheaper card has been released while you are still waiting to buy the rest of your parts.

So I recommend you just wait, save your money, keep doing your homework, then pull the trigger when you have enough money saved up to buy all your components at once.

The one exception to this is your OS license. Unless Microsoft announces Windows 12 will be coming out in the next 6 months, you can safely buy your W11 license now, then use Windows Update to get it current after your build - assuming, of course, you are going with Windows and not Linux.

As for a case, make sure it supports 140mm fans, 120mm are too small and thus spin faster to compensate. Faster spinning fans make more noise and I hate fan noise. Also, make sure the case has removable, washable air filters.

Don't try to trim the budget by buying a cheap PSU. Would you buy a new Porsche then fill it fuel from the Corner Tobacco, Bait and Cell Phone Shop? EVERYTHING inside the case depends on good, clean, stable power. Make sure you supply it. I like Seasonic, 80 PLUS "Gold" supplies. "Platinum" and "Titanium" are overrated unless you find one on sale at a great price.

Hi! Thanks for the reply.

The upgrade will be done in November 2024.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Thanks for all the replies so far!

Well, considering the strong case in favor of the change towards AM5 socket, what do you think about the Ryzen 7 8700F (around $267 USD here in Brazil) and about the MSI B650 MAG Tomahawk motherboard (around $282 USD here in Brazil)? And I would keep the idea of buying the Radeon RX 7700 XT (ASRock Phantom Gaming 12 GB OC edition) which today is priced around $586 USD here in Brazil.

I would be around $135 USD above my initial budget.

Don't buy the -F (exception maybe the 7500F, since that is Raphael based instead of Phoenix) or -G Ryzens for a gaming PC that will have a graphics card. They have limitations regarding PCI Express lanes as some are taken by the integrated graphics, how much are you planning to spend (in our currency), since I'm Brazilian as well and knowledgeable about our market's realities, I can probably help you build the best system you can. Cheers

 

[Vayra86]

You have a point. One of my family members bought a 1080 Ti several years ago and used it for five years before upgrading it. However, you don't know if a GPU manufacturer is going to come around a few years later with a massive performance leap. For example, you probably wouldn't feel amazing if you bought a GTX 690 in 2012 for $1,000 and saw that a mid-range GTX 1060 was on-par with your current card. I think OP would be satisfied with an RX 7700 XT since that card will destroy 1080p, easily muster 1440p, and should be able to handle some basic 4K. They don't draw loads of power either and can be had for around $400 US (not sure about regional pricing). I'd go for a 7700 XT and a 5700X3D. A B550 board would also be a wise upgrade because I'm not sure how well an A520 board can handle a 5700X3D.

Sure, but that leap ain't happening anymore, the exact opposite is actually happening, the perf/$ is barely moving gen to gen.

It does ofc matter what GPU you're buying. A dual GPU solution is really never future proof, its not even present-proof, really But I think this story applies to cards like the GTX 980ti; the 1080ti and even lower cards in the Pascal stack, like 1080 and 1070ti; further back it applied to the HD7970 and I think it also applies to current gen cards like the 7800XT and say, the 4080 and up, as they're well rounded cards; with Nvidia commanding a slightly better position because of better upscale/RT, albeit at a higher price per frame, but it matters if you need/want it. But perhaps today there's not even a single card that really applies, because there's a lot of moving panels the last couple of years, with new engines/technology, a third player in the market (if anyone is going to surprise us in the future, it will be Intel, not red or green), and an RT investment that needs to pay off at some point.

One thing's certain and that makes me follow your recommendation: there are uncertainties, quite a lot of them, wrt GPU performance gains in the near future. 7700XT is a good choice in that case

Thanks for the reply!

Well, I won't think about replacing the new GPU (after this upgrade) anytime soon than January 2026.


Thanks for the reply!

I was taking a look into the RX 7800 XT just now. It is around $64 USD more than the RX 7700 XT here in Brazil (both Gaming Pulse Sapphire editions).

With the RX 7800 XT I would gain more theoretical processing power in single TFLOPS (around 2.15 more - if I get the RX 7700 XT, in comparison with the RX 7600, I would gain 13.42 TFLOPS in theoretical processing power), more 4 GB of GPU memory, higher bus width and higher memory clock. Is the increase in $64 USD "a go for the 7800 XT instead of the 7700 XT"? Just detailing a little more the discussion, but I totally agree with you when you write that the RX 7700 XT now would be more than OK for 1080p60fps (just bringing into the consideration what @Vayra86 and you wrote about cost in relation to the span of time to the next upgrade.

If your expectations are THAT low, you can settle for a 7700XT no problem.