10700kf seems quite attractive compared to 5600x.
10700kf seems quite attractive compared to 5600x.
So I'm trying to decide between these three upgrade paths 5600x vs i7 10700k vs i9 10850k with Tomahawk motherboards. You'll notice ram with the 5600x, thinking this will give me the extra performance on 5600x to help it compete better with Intel vs the 3000 CL15 kit I have. I also need a new CPU cooler plate for mounting my existing EK velocity Waterblock (custom water cooling setup with 2x 360mm rads I planned for this upgrade). Option 1: I have this all on order, but debating if I should cancel and stick with intel here - as all I do is game but this build better play AAA's in 2024 @1440p without stutter. My 4c4t CPU is not cutting it. PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor $299.99 @ Walmart Motherboard MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard $179.99 @ Amazon Memory Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory $74.99 @ B&H Custom EK-Quantum Velocity D-RGB Mounting Plate - AMD Black $19.99 Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $574.96 Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-29 21:20 EST-0500 Option 2: I'm heavily leaning this way. PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU Intel Core i7-10700KF 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor $329.99 @ B&H Motherboard MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1200 Motherboard $189.99 @ Amazon Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $519.98 Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-29 21:15 EST-0500 Option 3: probably more cores than I need and yes I 'm conveniently excluding PSU upgrade when I get the 3080. PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU Intel Core i9-10850K 3.6 GHz 10-Core Processor $399.99 @ Amazon Motherboard MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1200 Motherboard $189.99 @ Amazon Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $589.98 Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-29 21:15 EST-0500 Option 4: Out of left field, get base i5 for now then upgrade to Rocket Lake i5 or i7 k CPU. PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU Intel Core i5-10400 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor $159.00 @ B&H Motherboard MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK ATX LGA1200 Motherboard $189.99 @ Amazon Custom EK-Quantum Velocity D-RGB Mounting Plate - AMD Black $19.99 Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $368.98 Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-29 21:34 EST-0500 Current System and yes I plan on upgrading the 3060ti to 3080 but it was all I could get my hands on (replaced GTX1070). PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU Intel Core i5-7600K 3.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor $319.72 @ Amazon Motherboard Asus TUF Z270 MARK 2 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $480.99 @ Amazon Memory Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory $82.99 @ Newegg Storage Western Digital SN750 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $59.99 @ Amazon Storage Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $104.99 @ Lenovo Storage Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $57.98 @ Newegg Video Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card Case Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case Power Supply SeaSonic G 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit $139.88 @ Other World Computing Monitor Dell S3220DGF 31.5" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor $449.99 @ Best Buy Keyboard Corsair STRAFE Wired Gaming Keyboard Mouse Corsair M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse $59.99 @ Corsair Headphones Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X Headphones $119.99 @ Amazon Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $1876.51 Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-29 21:10 EST-0500
If this were me, I’d pick the i9-10850K path (that’s quite a name). Unless you absolutely require those cores and threads, I’d opt for the i7 instead. Based on what you have now, it would probably fit much better without major changes.
5600x or hold for Rocket Lake—Zen 3 single core runs 15-20% quicker than Comet Lake because of its boost method. You can push a max of 10700k/10850k yet lag behind a regular 5600x. There’s a reason they’re discounted even with AMD’s parts shortages. I noticed the 10850k for $399 yesterday too, initially thought it was a solid offer, but what if Rocket Lake isn’t available for two months and the i7 hits around $400?
I recommend following the approach @handymanshandle suggested. It’s a solid decision and if we needed a solution now, that would be the best one. We’re not quite hitting the full potential of PCIe 3.0x16 with the latest graphics cards. Given the current rate of tech advancements, reaching that level seems unlikely until around 2024/2025—unless we see a massive GPU performance boost soon. Intel’s Rocketlake is expected by the end of Q1 2021, which would be March 2021.
There is already a minor performance difference today but in a couple years the difference will increase. We were on pcie gen 3 for like 8 years, so not buying a pcie gen 4 motherboard is just not smart. You'll likely be bottlenecked by having pcie 3.0 before being bottlenecked by the actual cpu. Also gen 4 storage could make a big difference when direct storage is a thing.
Thanks for the input! I was satisfied with my initial pick of 5600x then discovered this TechDeals YouTube video which made me reflect on the hardware unboxed review. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a strong performance option, especially when games are optimized to match modern 6-core capabilities. While games prioritize overall speed over threads or cores, metrics like Cinebench show real gains with higher-end processors such as i7, i9, or r7. I’d likely choose something like the 5800x for better future-proofing, though it’s a bit more expensive.
For heavy gaming, the 5600x is ideal. Having just six cores isn’t a big problem most of the time. It also gives you PCIe 4 support when it comes around, and you’ll use less power overall.