Justifying the upgrade to a Ryzen 5 5600X with 3200MHz RAM
Justifying the upgrade to a Ryzen 5 5600X with 3200MHz RAM
I currently own this setup: Ryzen 5 3500x at stock speed, 16 GB dual-channel (2x8GB) RAM at 2666 MHz DDR4. XAMP isn’t possible without an ASUS board, so I’m using an MSI X570 A Pro. Intel ARC A750 LE is stock, paired with Samsung PM91A Gen 4 and a 1 TB SSD. The system runs Gen 4 speeds as the CPU supports it. I mainly play games at 1080p with high settings at 60 FPS. I’m considering upgrading to a Ryzen 5 5600x (stock) and 16 GB of 3200 MHz dual-channel RAM. My worry is whether this will give noticeable gains for 1080p at high settings, and if the gain justifies the cost. If the boost is only 5-6 FPS on average, it might not be worth it. I’m looking for advice on whether to upgrade or explore other options that fit my budget.
Yo 696 posts are cool but the 5600 seems a bit overkill—usually priced around 30-40$ more than the 5500. Better go with a 5500 and boost it to 4.6-4.8g allcore. If it doesn’t work, send me a screenshot; otherwise you should be able to hit 3600 or higher.
Aim for around 3600MT/s RAM if you're planning an upgrade. I'm not sure if you'll notice substantial gains since ARC is still developing. However, it wouldn't be a huge leap in CPU performance—pure computing could improve by about 70%, while games might see a 30% boost in ideal scenarios and 10–15% more generally. If it justifies the cost for you, that's up to you.
Agreed - If chip selection is based on cost I fully understand since this stuff isn't free. However there is also such a thing as buyers remorse. That is if you're not satisfied with what you bought, then you're not and must spend the full amount and then some again to really get what you are wanting. Your current chip model choice is rated for 3700MHz, consumes 65W of power and is a 6 core/12 thread chip. AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core 3.7 GHz AM4 CPU Processor - Newegg.com A higher model (5700X) is an 8 core/16 thread chip rated @ 3.4GHz and is also a 65W chip, meaning is should be close to, if not just as easy to cool. Even though it's rated for a lower stock speed it has 2 extra cores/4 extra threads which will make a difference, at least in some situations gaming aside and might even help there too - Plus it's cheaper meaning your budget can be skewed a little for something else of better quality/performance. AMD Ryzen 7 5700X - Ryzen 7 5000 Series 8-Core 3.4 GHz Socket AM4 65W None Integrated Graphics Desktop Processor - 100-100000926WOF - Newegg.com The 5700X right now (ATM) from a budget viewpoint is a better buy overall and know these chips can be OC'ed with ease, offsetting the MHz advantage a 5600X has over it. Only real thing is once you OC it the chip will run a little warmer but if you use a good cooler in the first place that shoudn't be a real issue to worry about. The MHz difference alone in itself isn't a deal breaker, in fact you'd hardly notice the difference if you were to run them side-by-side in comparison to one another unless core/thread count matters and the 5700X wins there if it matters at all. From these standpoints, my vote would be for a 5700X instead but it's your call. The board you named (MSI X570 A Pro motherboard) should be capable of handling the chip without issue at all. Note that these prices are only good at the time of this post, you'd want to check them again when you go to buy, either there or from wherever you want to purchase them from. Also note I linked these as a reference to them so you can see the differences yourself.