Should I sell some RAM to upgrade my CPU?
Posted by GodMonster@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 15 comments
I have a mid-range gaming PC but, when I built it, I went all out on the memory because I planned on running a number of VMs on it and wanted to make sure I had enough memory to properly distribute to guest OSes. The specs are below:
- Gigabyte Eagle B650 Wifi Motherboard
- AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor
- 128GB (4x32GB) G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5 6000MHz CL36 RAM
- MSI 5060TI 16GB
- 2x4TB Crucial Gen3 NVMe M.2 SSDs
- 1x2TB PNY Gen5 PCIe NVMe SSD
- Corsair 3500X Case
- Corsair Titan 240 Cooler
- 5 Case Fans (2 Intake and 3 Exhaust)
- ThermalTake 850W 80+ Gold PSU
I know that I'm not getting optimal performance from having four slots in use rather than two, but I also know that the hit to performance is not significant for the moderate level gaming and productivity that I perform with the computer. I also don't need as much RAM anymore for my VMs because I ended up building a cluster of four USFF computers with 64GB of RAM and 16 CPU cores each, so I've offloaded all of my VM operations to those.
With RAM prices being ridiculous these days, I feel like I could probably sell two sticks of the RAM that I have and still have more than enough to run that computer just fine for any purposes I would need from a memory standpoint, but potentially upgrade from the 9700X to a 9850X3D to take advantage of the better gaming performance. I play games at 1440P and generally don't play games that are too demanding on the processor or graphics card, but I will occasionally play games like Expedition 33, Elden Ring or the Horizon Games, so smooth performance and good graphics are nice to have.
forevertired1982@reddit
Thats a pretty decent cpu unless doing very cpu demanding heavily muti threaded workloads you would do better selling the ram and gpu and getting the next tier up in gfx cards.
tpablazed@reddit
This is what I would do.. sell half the RAM.. sell the 5060 ti.. and you should have enough for a 5080!
forevertired1982@reddit
Depending on where he lives he could save some money for almost identical rasterisation performance and buy the 9070xt,
Where i live it was the 5070ti for £800 or 9070xt for £579.
Gemreat card at 4k with more intensive/newer games requiring fsr4 quality but still a very enjoyable experience.
tpablazed@reddit
I have the 9070 XT on my main build.. I am 100% onboard with this idea.
Being that he has a 5060 TI already I just stuck with NVIDIA here tho. I mainly didn't want to get into a debate about FSR 4.1 vs DLSS 4.5.
forevertired1982@reddit
Yeah i never got brand loyalty especially when there are bettwr bang per buck alternatives,
I also think fsr and dlss have both got to a point where they are good enough even on performance mode they both look better than last gen upscaling on quality/balanced settings which is great for both companies.
We had 18 years of terrible AA implementations fsr/dlss is just a fancy way of doing it in my mind and gives the benefit of increasing fps lol.
I am a strong believer of its your money buy what you like but here is the relevant information to aid your decision.
As long as you spend what you can afford you get enjoyment and didnt get completely scammed thats all that matters.
tpablazed@reddit
Totally agree.. I go with whichever brand is going to give me the most bang for my money.
On my PC at my office I bought a B580 even..
forevertired1982@reddit
Yeah thats how to be 9070xt for under 6000 or 15% more performance for a 5080 at twice the price is only for prople made of money if we all could afford it wrong would all be running 9950x3d 2 and 5090 systems......
Sadly I dont see a lottery win in my future so cost to performance is always top priority especially when you consider if you had the worst 5090 and the best 5090 and benchmarked them at stock difference would be 1-2%......
If you get a 1000 watt bios 5090 and overclock it as much as possible its 10% faster than a stock 5090fe at double the peice so buying the cheapest model of xxxx gfx card is always a winner.
tpablazed@reddit
Yeah I mean.. it's up to 40% more in ray traced titles tho..
I played cyberpunk on a 5080 last week at my brothers house and man it was beautiful.. I am definitely not discounting what the higher end NVIDIA cards can do.. but for the money 9070 XT was the way to go.
As far as features go tho.. Nvidia still has the edge.. but the Intel card is REALLY impressive.. XeSS is no joke.. it really makes a big difference. AMD is still a good bit behind on the AI stuff tho.
CuteAnalyst8724@reddit
I'd definitely sell half of the RAM and your GPU and get a 5070ti or hell, maybe even a 5080 instead
lancelane7@reddit
I would upgrade the gpu over the cpu, definitely sell the ram for profit, assuming you bought this ram last year. If you had a 5070 or 5070ti you’ll be in a really good spot. Also upgrading the partner is always nice if they feel they could use the upgrade.
9okm@reddit
Are you having any issues at all doing anything that you currently do?
GodMonster@reddit (OP)
Honestly not really. I do audio production but I have a Mac Studio and a MacBook Pro that I'm more likely to lean on for that. The PC is pretty much reserved for gaming and it handles my 3440x1440 monitors pretty well with DLSS frame rates between 60 and 180 on ultra settings, depending on the game. The monitors themselves are 165Hz so I likely couldn't even see an improvement. It just feels silly to have 128GB in a computer that ostensibly could get by with 16GB, given the current market situation.
GodMonster@reddit (OP)
I've also considered upgrading my partner's computer. They have a Ryzen 7 3700x with a 5060ti 16GB and 64GB of DDR4 RAM. I suppose I could probably sell two of my 32GB DIMMs to get a new MoBo/CPU for them and use one of the remaining two 32GB DIMMs for their computer.
9okm@reddit
I'd just do a CPU upgrade on this so the DDR4 doesn't go to waste. If you're willing to buy from aliexpress, something like a 5700X3D would be a fantastic in-socket upgrade.
9okm@reddit
Then, I mean, sell the memory if you feel like it, and just put it in the bank.