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AMD Phenom II X6 1090T - Upgrade AM4 / AM5 / Intel Advice - Keep the 1080ti.

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Appsp2245

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Hello everyone,

Situation:
My current system is old. Lack of SSE instructions is really takings its toll.
If time permits, I am used to playing games like diablo 4, POE etc. Lately, I was looking in trying Elden ring and titels such as marvel rivals, to name a few. But there are enough new ones that I could try. I developed severe pancolitis and hence my active lifestyle and work has come to a hold for now.

Upgrade & Budget
Hence I was looking to upgrade my system, for roughly 1200 (+/- 200) till a maximum of €1400.
Though, I need to be weary of my emotional state. So any advice is certainly welcome. Obviously, If I am able to spend less I will. I am aware of the upgrade path with AM 5. So I guess I will not be able to dodge that. I do want most of the components to be future proof.

Current Setup:

  • CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
  • GPU: 1080ti EVGA ftw 3 (I want to keep this for now)
  • SSD: No SSD,
  • PSU: 750W OCZ fatality1.
New Setup:

  • CPU:
  • RAM:
  • Motherboard:
  • CPU-cooler: AIO or peerless.
  • *GPU: 1080ti EVGA ftw 3 (I want to keep this for now)
  • SSD: Kingston NV3 2TB M.2 SSD (€120)
  • CASE: Fractal Design North XL Chalk White (€180)
  • PSU: Corsair RM1000x 2024 PSU (€160)
  • *HDD: 2 SATA discs.
* Keep from my old system.

So most of the advice will be centered around the CPU/Motherboard/Ram combo.
I know the GPU will bottleneck it heavily. Still, it should squeeze some more life out of the card.
Will an 7800x3d or even an 9800x3d be to much? 870X MSI tomahawk or the GA 870X Aurus elite Wifi are a few of the boards that I have been looking at.
Will an 650E suit me more? how relevant is the RAM-speed.

Anyhow any tips will certainly be welcome,

Thanks for your time.
 
Buy 5600X3D setup on a cheaper board and 32GB of cheap RAM cause the X3Ds don't care about ram speed/latency as much and the GPU will be a bottleneck until you get into the 3080 series card.
 
A 12400f + mobo + ram + 2tb nvme should land you around 400-420$. You can go for the 5600x instead, I just found the 12400f a bit cheaper on pcpartpicker. There is no point in spending more for a CPU if you are going to be using the 1080ti.

Your choice of case and PSU is excessive as well imo.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nrkfLs

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($111.34 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H670M Pro RS Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($85.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston NV2 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($119.77 @ Amazon)
Total: $407.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-08 10:37 EST-0500
 
Thanks alot for the reply's. I was hoping to keep the 1080ti, for a while longer. So I could get a better GPU later down the line.
Would that change anything in your recommendations.

Best regards,
 
Steevo said:
Buy 5600X3D setup on a cheaper board and 32GB of cheap RAM cause the X3Ds don't care about ram speed/latency as much and the GPU will be a bottleneck until you get into the 3080 series card.
Click to expand...
JustBenching said:
A 12400f + mobo + ram + 2tb nvme should land you around 400-420$. You can go for the 5600x instead, I just found the 12400f a bit cheaper on pcpartpicker. There is no point in spending more for a CPU if you are going to be using the 1080ti.
Click to expand...
I like both of these options. But at least get some decent RAM for a 5600X3D. 3200MT/s CL16 is still very cheap and where you'd want to be.

Either of these CPUs would allow you to upgrade GPU in the future to something at least as fast as a 4070 too.

But oh man you're about to unlock way more performance out of the 1080 Ti, it makes sense that you're keeping it. I had a EVGA FTW3 as well and even with a i7-6700K it was an insane CPU bottleneck at 1080P
 
Since you've never mentioned what your exact gaming goal is, in case your want is high refresh rate, I'd rather go for an all-rounded build with Ryzen 7 7700 or Ryzen 5 9600X (whatever is cheaper), literally any B650 motherboard that has enough expansion ports and reasonable VRM, and DDR5-5600 with CL no higher than 30. Going 6 GT/s is only welcome if the price difference is negligible. You can OC your sticks manually anyway. X3D chips are crazy expensive on AM5 and they don't beat 7700/9600X in games if we talk AM4 X3D chips. Yes, you technically can afford 7800X3D but is 10 to 30 % advantage really worth this spending?

I can also suggest going Ryzen 7500F if you're content with ~60...100 FPS range and your main idea is to get the best visuals possible.

Saved money should be invested in a better GPU. I know you're not gonna replace 1080 Ti in the foreseeable but having 2 to 3 benjies more really does help getting more FPS in general because even with 7700, you're gonna be GPU limited in most AAA games, unless you're gaming at 1080p with a 4080+ as your GPU.

Higher end Intel CPUs might be a PITA because of the scheduling issues (E-cores aren't exactly gaming friendly) in some games, lower end CPUs like 12400F are extremely good value but it's not really a longevity king. As an i5-12400F owner I'd only recommend stocking on it if money was a huge concern. It's enough for today but will fall flat on its face before the 2030. You can afford a stronger processor so go for it. 13600K, however, if obtained for a sweet price (people are burning those on aftermarket like crazy), might be a better choice than an AMD platform because even DDR4 is enough to unleash its potential and it beats AMD CPUs in productivity (no idea if you care tho).
 
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The Corsair RM1000x is very overkill for a gaming setup. Pick a good 650-750w, An 850w if you really wish to splash the cash but there really isnt any reason to go any higher unless your machine is going completely balls to the wall 24/7 as a mining setup with multiple GPUs always pulling huge loads.

Youre not rich enough for a 5090 so money can be saved and allocated elsewhere in the build.
 
credit where credit is due, that x6 phenom lasted quite a lot!


I dont even remember my phenom X4 945.

OP are you sure you need high specs? because you were using a x6 phenom till now...
 
7700x/9700x/9600x are all solid options mixed with an affordable b650 board (b850/860 also trickling out now).

Quality gold rated PSU from reputable brands at 850w should be more than enough for most builds.

Investing in anything intel is the worst possible platform choice you can make if you wanna say drop in a zen6 cpu or even further zen6 refresh (what they with the 5900XT) and have some for of forwards compatibility.

If going am5, DD5 6000 with as tight of a CL as possible; there are some good 32gb expo kits at 30/32c.

Case is personal preference.

Cooler, you wont be the arctic III aios for value and performance. Thermalright coolers are the king of value and performance if you prefer air cooling. Unless youre going with high core count CPUs, going air will save you some cash and easily deal with 8 core parts including x3d variants if you go down that route.
 
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Thanks again everyone,

I game at 1080p, at 60hz refresh rate. Games I will be looking to try are POE 2, something like Elden ring, Baldurs gate 3 and possibly the Witcher 4 in the future.
But anything that looks appealing would be nice.
This streamer tested: the 1080ti with a 7950X3D (
)

◾️ CPU - AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (only 3D cores enabled, similar to 7800X3D)
◾️ Cooler - Deepcool LT720 AIO
◾️ Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - Gigabyte Gaming
◾️ RAM - 32GB DDR5 6000MHz (2x16GB CL30)
◽️ OS - Windows 11 Pro
◽️ SSD - Kingston NV2 512GB
◽️ SSD 2 - Lexar PCIe 4.0 2TB (games installed here)
◾️ Motherboard - Asrock B650 PG Riptide Wifi
◾️ PSU - Corsair HX1200
◾️ Case - Phanteks P500A
Click to expand...

The amount of games this person was able to play on reasonable settings looks decent enough for me.
So hence, my initial toughts regarding the AM5 and the somewhat future-proof setup. Especially with the new NVIDIA series and probably AMD cards arounds the corner.
Perhaps a good deal can be made in the near future.

But the 650BE or x870 and ram speeds//pci 5.0 lane seem to up the costs alot.
@FreedomEclipse was doubting between those, an 850W seems more reasonable.

de.das.dude said:
credit where credit is due, that x6 phenom lasted quite a lot!


I dont even remember my phenom X4 945.

OP are you sure you need high specs? because you were using a x6 phenom till now...
Click to expand...

That is indeed a good question to ask and a fair one.
Currently, I guess I don't. But many games simply will not run at all.
I know future-proofing is usually a waste of money. But something with an upgrade path seems reasonable.
 
Upgraded my kids 5600G to a 12400F and it games better. Handles high brick count cars in BrickRigs game (his favorite) where most of his complaints where stuttering and baggy with the AM4 system. That included a 2700X he had previous to that. He's using only 5200mt/s memory ddr5 on a B660-G rog board.

Grab a Z series board, the 12400F will overclock to 4.6ghz just on the stock cooler, should bring phenomenal performance gains over the Phenom rig. Pricing is good.

Just wanted to share that experience for insite.
 
JustBenching said:
Guy is running a 16 year old CPU, but the amd guy has to tell him he needs to buy amd. For upgradability. Cause obviously, he is really using it. With a 16 year old CPU.

Gosh...
Click to expand...

I have not used intel in a while. There was a decent deal on a 14700k that I saw on our website (similar) to ebay recently.
Look I appreciate all advice, I do not want to be narrow-minded.

Thanks regardless.
 
Appsp2245 said:
I game at 1080p, at 60hz refresh rate
Click to expand...
Yeah I would burn some cash on a 1440p144 display. That alone will improve your experience a lot. And it's not even that expensive.
 
Macro Device said:
Yeah I would burn some cash on a 1440p144 display. That alone will improve your experience a lot. And it's not even that expensive.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I think it should be quite possible to fit in the budget alongside a B650 with a non-X 9600 (just announced!) or 7700 and some 16GB or 32GB of DDR5-5600 to 6000.
 
The 9600 or 7700 seems like a well priced entry level. Would a b650E or 870x be to much as a mainboard? My experiences are mainly Gigabyte and the odd Asus.
Asrock seems to be well liked currently. Any recommendations as a mainboard?
 
wNotyarD said:
Agreed. I think it should be quite possible to fit in the budget alongside a B650 with a non-X 9600 (just announced!) or 7700 and some 16GB or 32GB of DDR5-5600 to 6000.
Click to expand...

Yea, the 7700, b650, and 32 gb kit of ddr5 6000 is gonna provide some serious value if you can find good deals on the 7700; deals look to be drying up here in the us though. For a while they were around $260-270, they’ve since shot back up to $300 in the US. 9600/9600X may be a better option if not pulling the trigger this second.
 
I think you should plan on saving some money on the PSU, 750W should suffice. Get a 7600X3D deal from MC if you're around or there are other good AM5 bundles to be had from other websites. With the remaining cash, just get a 1440p monitor, those are pretty cheap now and will change your gaming experience significantly.

Sure you probably have to run most games at 1080p but atleast you have the option to increase resolution for titles that allow it.

North XL is also pretty pricey for a case, there are good <$100 cases available now like the lancool 206. But if you like it, go for it.
 
Appsp2245 said:
Current Setup:

  • CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
  • GPU: 1080ti EVGA ftw 3 (I want to keep this for now)
  • SSD: No SSD,
  • PSU: 750W OCZ fatality1.
Click to expand...
What Motherboard are you running currently?
 
Macro Device said:
Yeah I would burn some cash on a 1440p144 display. That alone will improve your experience a lot. And it's not even that expensive.
Click to expand...
then the 1080Ti will become 1050Ti, MAGIC :D :D :D

Appsp2245 said:
The 9600 or 7700 seems like a well priced entry level. Would a b650E or 870x be to much as a mainboard? My experiences are mainly Gigabyte and the odd Asus.
Asrock seems to be well liked currently. Any recommendations as a mainboard?
Click to expand...
get plain B650. Don't waste money on fancy "E" or 800-series.:rolleyes: Get some mid-priced MB, you won't need paying "X670 entry level price" for "high-end" B650, most features will be hyped-out marketing crap anyway.
 
AleXXX666 said:
then the 1080Ti will become 1050Ti, MAGIC :D :D :D
Click to expand...
Not really, no. I could play at 1440p when I had a 1070. Not at the highest settings with the newest titles, it's true, but it was possible. A 1080Ti should do WAY better.
 
wNotyarD said:
Not really, no. I could play at 1440p when I had a 1070. Not at the highest settings with the newest titles, it's true, but it was possible. A 1080Ti should do WAY better.
Click to expand...
me too. But, NOTE, 144 Hz;) for 60 Hz 2K it's ok but 144 will push all the sh out of it. 2080 Ti maybe will still do, but 1080 Ti is a dyno. It's sure ok for 1080p 144 Hz, but I very doubt for WQHD.144:rolleyes:
 
AleXXX666 said:
me too. But, NOTE, 144 Hz;) for 60 Hz 2K it's ok but 144 will push all the sh out of it. 2080 Ti maybe will still do, but 1080 Ti is a dyno. It's sure ok for 1080p 144 Hz, but I very doubt for WQHD.144:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

There are plenty of decent 1440p monitors at 144/165hz that support brand agnostic vrr, you don’t really need to slam fps at your refresh rate cap. Until op decides on a gpu upgrade 1080ti will be fine with tweaked settings at 1440p.
 
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