5820k upgrade - is it time?

Wag

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 29, 2006
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5820k @ 4.3GHz w/2080Ti setup, gaming @ 4k/60Hz. I plan on upgrading my GPU and display when the newer cards are easier to get a hold of. Is it time to upgrade my CPU as well?

Im not sure if I should just wait it out for Zen 4 or something Intel, or just bite the bullet. There are some decent deals to be had right now.
 
If you got the room, upgrade your display to something that supports 4K 120Hz or more (LG48?) or else the extra frames from a 3080 or 6800xt won’t make too much of a difference.
 
5820k @ 4.3GHz w/2080Ti setup, gaming @ 4k/60Hz. I plan on upgrading my GPU and display when the newer cards are easier to get a hold of. Is it time to upgrade my CPU as well?

Im not sure if I should just wait it out for Zen 4 or something Intel, or just bite the bullet. There are some decent deals to be had right now.
At 4K60, your overclocked 5820K will be plenty fast. I only ditched mine for a 5600X because I'm running 1440p/144 and 3080. At 4K, wouldn't have bothered until DDR5 gen.
 
Keep it, my sons rig is a 8700K and it is faster than my 5820K in benchmarks only no noticeable user gains. Wait for DDR5.
 
I'd wait since all the platforms from both sides are pretty much dead once the new stuff comes out.
 
I upgraded from a 1680v2 to a 10900k - turns in Civ VI and MOO are much quicker. I can actually finish a game in a single weekend evening now.
 
Ditto what everyone else has said, unless you already know of a particular scenario in which you're CPU restricted, you'll be fine for now.
 
Get on Ebay and get a 5960X and trade your 5820k in against the cost of that. It's what I did 6 months ago. No regrets. Mine runs 4.4GHz at 1.2v just fine.

Plus you get those extra PCI-e lanes too!
 
4k/60 I don’t think there’s enough uplift to sink $ into cpu/mobo/ram
120hz would be my target for future display + series of gpus, and there still isn’t enough uplift to max out cpu/mobo/ram spend bc that all gets negated if you don’t deep dive into a graphical quality setting that tanks framerate or frame time.
 
I run my 5820k @ 4.5Ghz and it is very fast still. I only upgraded to my current 3900X as a result of a weird quirk as opposed to performance reasons, otherwise I'd probably still be using the 5820k as my main computer.

Something like a used 5960X or 6950X would be a nice upgrade, if you can make use of the extra cores. Beware however, that an overclocked Haswell-E or Broadwell-E can put out a TON of heat. My 6-core 5820k @ 4.5Ghz was considerably more difficult to keep cool compared to my 3900X, despite having half the cores.

I would resist jumping onto an AM4 platform with Zen3 at this time, because you will have no upgrade path. Everything we've seen so far indicates that Zen4 will be a new socket (AM5) with DDR5 - so a completely new platform where you would be basically building from scratch if you tried to upgrade. Also, it would be somewhat of a lose/lose in terms of RAM if you went to an AM4 platform. You could re-use your existing DDR4 from your X99 setup. I don't know what RAM you are currently running, but back when that platform was new, 3000Mhz DDR4 was considered blazing fast. Now that's definitely on the slow side. Assuming that you are running some slower DDR4 in your X99 computer, moving that RAM over to an AM4 board would restrict the infinity fabric (which is vital for inter-core communication) to a lower speed, as it always works best at half of your RAM clock. But having to buy new RAM would of course add to the cost of the upgrade. At least with X99, the slower modules don't hold it back because it doesn't directly impact the way the CPU cores communicate (unlike AMD) and the X99 is also Quad-Channel DDR4 while AM4 is only Dual-Channel.

Here are some benchmarks I ran recently, comparing the 3900X in my main computer with the 5820k in my backup computer as well as another computer that is still running an overclocked 2500K:

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12C/24T (Stock with PBO)
400320_3900Xa.png


Intel Core-i7 5820K 6C/12T (Overclocked to 4.5Ghz)
400321_5820ka.png


Intel Core-i5 2500K 4C/4T (Overclocked to 4.5Ghz)
400324_2500Ka.png
 
5820k @ 4.3GHz w/2080Ti setup, gaming @ 4k/60Hz. I plan on upgrading my GPU and display when the newer cards are easier to get a hold of. Is it time to upgrade my CPU as well?

Im not sure if I should just wait it out for Zen 4 or something Intel, or just bite the bullet. There are some decent deals to be had right now.
Are you finding that you're actually CPU bound in any of the apps you run? In games, you'd see this as 100% usage and less than 100% GPU utilization. If you're playing at 4K, though, I'd expect the limiting factor to be the graphics card, most of the time.

Right now, I'd just stick with the 5820K. Actually finding anything new in stock is hard enough that it doesn't really seem worth it to me, if you have a setup that works on even the most basic level.
 
I run my 5820k @ 4.5Ghz and it is very fast still. I only upgraded to my current 3900X as a result of a weird quirk as opposed to performance reasons, otherwise I'd probably still be using the 5820k as my main computer.

Something like a used 5960X or 6950X would be a nice upgrade, if you can make use of the extra cores. Beware however, that an overclocked Haswell-E or Broadwell-E can put out a TON of heat. My 6-core 5820k @ 4.5Ghz was considerably more difficult to keep cool compared to my 3900X, despite having half the cores.

I would resist jumping onto an AM4 platform with Zen3 at this time, because you will have no upgrade path. Everything we've seen so far indicates that Zen4 will be a new socket (AM5) with DDR5 - so a completely new platform where you would be basically building from scratch if you tried to upgrade. Also, it would be somewhat of a lose/lose in terms of RAM if you went to an AM4 platform. You could re-use your existing DDR4 from your X99 setup. I don't know what RAM you are currently running, but back when that platform was new, 3000Mhz DDR4 was considered blazing fast. Now that's definitely on the slow side. Assuming that you are running some slower DDR4 in your X99 computer, moving that RAM over to an AM4 board would restrict the infinity fabric (which is vital for inter-core communication) to a lower speed, as it always works best at half of your RAM clock. But having to buy new RAM would of course add to the cost of the upgrade. At least with X99, the slower modules don't hold it back because it doesn't directly impact the way the CPU cores communicate (unlike AMD) and the X99 is also Quad-Channel DDR4 while AM4 is only Dual-Channel.

Here are some benchmarks I ran recently, comparing the 3900X in my main computer with the 5820k in my backup computer as well as another computer that is still running an overclocked 2500K:

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12C/24T (Stock with PBO)
View attachment 303801

Intel Core-i7 5820K 6C/12T (Overclocked to 4.5Ghz)
View attachment 303800

Intel Core-i5 2500K 4C/4T (Overclocked to 4.5Ghz)
View attachment 303799
Yeah just tested my 5960X and got 10330 on the R23 multi bench. Thats a decent boost over the 5820K for not a lot of outlay/effort.
 
As I've said before in other threads, my upgrade from my 5820k system to my 3800x system was noticeable in some more modern open world titles where the thread count matters. In a game like Overwatch? No, of course there was no difference, but a game like AC: Odyssey my minimums went up by a noticeable amount.

The main reason I upgraded though was because my early 5820k board didn't support nVME. The gaming benefit was only a bonus.
 
The main reason I upgraded though was because my early 5820k board didn't support nVME. The gaming benefit was only a bonus.

Did it actually not support NVMe or did it just not have an M.2 slot? My X99 board didn't have an M.2 slot either, because I opted for a board with as many PCIe slots as possible. I used a PCIe to M.2 adapter for my NVMe drive.
 
A single weekend evening is actually a feat when it comes to a Civ game. I've had single games go on for 20+ hours and those late game AI turns can take minutes with slower CPUs.

I actually haven't gotten back into Civ VI since I got my 3900X, I'll try it sometime but i've been playing a lot of other things.
 
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