Currently on AM4 and looking to upgrade at the worst possible time and need advice on upgrading.
Posted by Tatsuya1221@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 34 comments
Before we begin this is my current setup:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZBFx6B
I tend to jabber on alot so i'll sum up my question at the end, but give details here.
I'm looking to upgrade my cpu, motherboard and the dreaded ram, with my current situation being that i'm undecided if it's worth doing so or if i should just upgrade my am4 build and try to ride it out, if it wasn't for my cpu starting to bottleneck my games, i'd be less inclined to even upgrade.
Currently sitting at about 525$ usd in savings towards this, will probably be at around 650 by the end of the week, if i save a bit more i might be able to get 750-850$ but i'd rather not plan for that.
My main concern is obviously ram prices, so i'm effectively stuck with bundles at this price range, if i want to keep it in budget i'll have to rely on newegg bundles, (nearest microcenter to me is over 300 miles away or else i'd get one of those sweet am5 bundles) so i'm basically stuck in a dilemma, do i get something like this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4861507
or do i buy 32gb of ddr4 ram and hope the 5800x3d 10 year anniversary edition is less than 300$ or buy something like the 5800xt?
To sum up what i'm asking, does the price to performance difference as well as upgrade-ability of AM5 justify buying a bundle like the one i linked in the current market if i'm currently on am4, when it comes to gpu's i am good at performance metrics, same with psu's, cpu's, ram and motherboards however are my weak point so i'm not sure what would be my best course here.
I'm willing to buy 2 more sticks of the ram in the bundle at a later date to get 32gb, but i've heard there are issues with DDR5 and 4 sticks on am5.
My separate upgrade plans are another m.2 ssd eventually, probably 2tb, and if possible, i might try to get a 9070xt if the prices don't get too insane, if it's important.
Alot of the games i play tend to be a bit more cpu hungry than usual, hence i'm running into bottlenecks.
Thanks for any advice given.
Ancient_Visual_7451@reddit
The ryzen 7 5800x is lime $230. That would be a significant upgrade.
DeusXNex@reddit
Wait for am6 to come and buy am5
arahman81@reddit
AM5 CPU prices aren't that bad. Its the flash-based parts (RAM, SSD) that's wallet suicide right now, AM6 won't fix that.
DeusXNex@reddit
It will help. Just like ddr4 is cheaper and in less demand. If they use ddr6 for am6 then it will lower ddr5 prices.
arahman81@reddit
Not when AI is hogging all the ram. Even DDR4 32GB is >300CAD now.
DeusXNex@reddit
I mean sure. Theoretically am6 would hopefully be coming out when prices are also on a downward trend. They already are right now
DiMarcoTheGawd@reddit
You think AM6 is going to help prices? AM4 still inflated right now lol.
DeusXNex@reddit
You can get a $200 bundle at microcenter for am4. Am6 would definitely bring down demand for am5 much like am5 has taken demand off of am4
DiMarcoTheGawd@reddit
Going off a micro center bundle is not a valid metric for market-wide pricing.
DeusXNex@reddit
I don’t disagree I’m just saying similar deals could be had when am6 comes out
BiasPsyduck@reddit
I was in a weird spot where I had brand new everything except a cpu from 2018 (i7-9700k) and a crappy motherboard from the same era that didn’t even have usb-c or Bluetooth. I had just upgraded everything else a few months before prices skyrocketed.
I just upgraded to a 5800xt and new motherboard instead of going AM5, pretty much because I already had 32gb of ddr4 ram. If I was in your situation needing to upgrade my ram either way, I would have gone with an AM5 build even if it meant only getting 16gb of ram temporarily.
I wouldn’t worry too much about making a “wrong” decision though. An AM5 build is obviously better and more upgradable, but an AM4 build will still be great for several years.
gankernation@reddit
I've seen many people on r/hardwareswap selling bundles consistently from microcenter. You should take a look into that subreddit and browse for a bit.
Facebook marketplace can find some decent gems as well. If you can find a 5800x/xt for 100ish and 32gb ddr4 for cheaper than 125 that'll be a worthwhile upgrade path for cheap.
However if you aren't going that route, anything am4 is not a good investment of your money if your buying new parts.
Nosferatu_V@reddit
I'd just get a new CPU and GPU for that $525-$650. $100-$150 on a 5700x or 5500X3D and $500 towards a new GPU. It would be an amazing upgrade for a platform you already own, so take advantage of it!
Overall-Tailor8949@reddit
Check the BIOS on your MoBo to see how far you can upgrade the brain of your system. Almost anything from the Ryzen 5, 7 or 9 series higher than the 2000 family will be an improvement. You might even be able to chase down an X3D chip on the used market. If the bios can be updated to handle it, I'd consider upgrading to a Ryzen 7 5800X/XT for roughly $225, of course an X3D would be better if you can find one.
How is your memory usage while gaming? If you're getting close to your 16GB, then consider either getting a pair of 16GB sticks or you COULD live on the edge and try to match your existing memory timing with another pair of 8GB sticks for 32GB total memory.
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
I can run any 5000 series chip so that's not a issue, ram wise i'm mostly fine, it's tabs in brave that's eating up the majority of my ram.
The real problem is that i can get a am5 build for 450-550$ which brings the value proposition into it, that said i'll take what you said into consideration.
Overall-Tailor8949@reddit
If you can get a full exchange of MoBo/CPU/memory to a DDR5/AM5 based system for about $500 then I would say go for it!
The memory latency isn't IDEAL for gaming but should work just fine for over 90% of users. A major bonus is it gives you a decently long upgrade path in the future.
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
fair enough, thanks.
dsinsti@reddit
But ddr5 ram atm. If you are on am4 get a 5700x or a 10 anniversary 5800x3d and 32 gb ddr4 and call it a day until am6 or next intel x3d platform. Am5 is not worth it due to ddr5 ram prices atm
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
Seriously considering it, thanks, if im being honest the real problem is the cpu prices, am4 cpu's are a bit overpriced at this point.
finisimo13@reddit
The am5 bundle has better price to performance than upgrading to a 5800xt and better Ram plain and simple. Its just 500 as well which makes that am5 deal hard to pass down to get your foot in am5 in general and as meaningful upgrade.
Pretty sure you'll spend as much getting am4 cpu and ram with how fucked the pricing is now
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
Thanks, been leaning towards that, just wasn't sure, not my forte.
finisimo13@reddit
Ive built a am4 build a few months ago, I copped a 5800xt at 200 from microcenter and 32gb 2x16 3200mhz ram for 100 from fafebook marketplace
But looking at the cpu and ram right now, the 5800xt on Amazon is 230-250 rn and same ram specs are priced at 200+
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
That's the main reason why i'm wondering if it's even worth it, a few months ago you could get a 32gb kit, 5800xt and even a new mobo for 400$, now your lucky to even get the cpu and 16gb of ram for that while i can get a combo from newegg with the only drawback of 16gb of ram from 450-550, hence why it's such a difficult choice to make.
finisimo13@reddit
If am4 prices was 100 or 200 cheaper it would be well priced but rn so far am5 bundles offer better price to performance.
And thats coming from me who's holding onto 5700x3d + 2x16 3200mhz on my main build when I got them both for 300 dollars total
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
Yeah i think i've made my choice, thanks.
MrWally@reddit
I was in almost the exact same boat as you. I decided to buy a prebuilt (there’s still some good deals around if you’re patient and get lucky). And you can sell after all parts or use it as a couch gaming rig. I don’t regret the decision at all
TychesSwan@reddit
I'm basically in the same boat, but with a Ryzen 1600 instead. My upgrade path would be a tray unit 5500x3d, because I play more games like rimworld, and I can get it locally for something like $200 usd. I'd try to find deals on 2nd hand ddr4 ram. For storage, I realized I had spare nvme drives lying about (although they're only 256gb), so I'll get a couple of cheap USB enclosures and using them as permanent external drives.
pimpguice@reddit
Instead of upgrading to am5 last year, I stayed on am4 and upgraded my CPU and GPU to the 5700x3d and 7900xt, it was a huge jump for me from the 3600x and 2070, so I'd suggest doing that and upgrading in a few years, another upgrade that's been totally worth it is the OLED monitor I got as well
snipsuper415@reddit
honestly we are in the time of buying pre-builds because of hardware prices... and my honest opinion if you have a Costco membership try to pick up one of their pre-belts
Plenty-Industries@reddit
5800X3D re-release hasn't been dated yet, so it could still be a couple months off and we dont know the price yet. If the price does end up being in your budget, getting that and getting 32GB of RAM would be a really good upgrade.
Otherwise, you can get the 5700X and 32GB kit and you'd be golden.
VoltageinTheory@reddit
Upgrade to AM5 with something like a 9700x or 7700x, and just bite the bullet and buy 32 GB DDR5. Nothing else in your system seems bad. Also nice storage setup you got there, instead of just the default 1 TB NVMe solution! You have a future GPU upgrade path there too, but the 6700 should work for now.
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the assistance.
No_Spare1827@reddit
well, its an interesting situation we don't know for sure what the price of the 5800x3d is and it might be a decent route to take but that bundle is pretty good as the 9600x beats or matches the 5800x3d in a lot of games losing in a few titles and that is a nice motherboard with a solid VRM so in the future u can get some pretty high end CPUs as an upgrade, plus that comes with a free cooler making it a really good value.
Tatsuya1221@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the input, i'll keep it in mind.