6900K or Ryzen

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by BLEH!, Oct 18, 2019.

  1. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    So I'm wanting to upgrade (a bit). Going to need to switch to Win10 anyway after December. I've got a pretty decent setup presently (6850K @ 4.2 GHz, 16 GB DDR4 (4x4), MSI Gaming X99, Fury). Got the chance to expand storage to M.2 for fast, so I wanna do that. Be nice to do a CPU upgrade, too. Better to switch everything to a Ryzen system for 8 cores, or try and source a 6900K for a reasonable price?
     
  2. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    Second gen Threadripper can be found at good prices, and man, that's a workstation allright.
    But depending on your budget and use of the computer, decision may vary wildly.
    Workstations - Ryzen top tier CPUs or Threadripper.
    Gaming and only gaming- Intel, but expect to pay some money and not much of a upgrade path.
    Budget?
    Use of computer?
     
  3. sverek

    sverek Guest

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    What do you do with cpu to justify sidegrading?

    If for fun, go with Ryzen!
     
  4. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    Budget - as little as possible? Already got a decent mobo and RAM, be a shame to have to swap the mobo out.

    I do game, not *that* many AAA modern titles, but some, so be nice to have that edge. And audio production work, for which more cores is useful, especially with the size of projects (albums) I'm working on.

    Audio production. Moar cores = better!
     

  5. Gripen90

    Gripen90 Guest

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    I've had a 6900K and at 4.2GHz it was just as fast as my stock Ryzen 7 2700X. So unless you find a really good deal on the 6900K I'd say go with it. HOWEVER be aware that Windows 10 and Broadwell-E CPU's don't play nicely together with overclocking. This is due to MS constantly updating microcodes etc, so often with the larger windows 10 function updates you will find your OC isn't running in windows. Yesterday I had to BIOS flash my MSI X99S Krait yet again to a new microcode, so I could keep my 4.2GHz on my current 6950X in windows.
    Frankly considering all this I would advice you to get a Core i7 5960X Haswell-E since this line of CPU isn't affected with all those microcode update bugs etc.

    My wife has a 5960X and she doesn't need to update her MSI X99S Gaming 7 BIOS when new large Windows 10 function updates are ready.
     
  6. Cost of a brand new R7 2700 - $174 (In Warranty etc)
    used Core i7 6900K - $450 approx (Out of Warranty - pre owned condition etc)
    Benchmarked performance of two, https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2341?vs=2359
     
  7. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    So by the sounds of it I'm better with a "downgrade" to a 5960X (which will OC higher because 22 nm), or switching everything to Ryzen... Damn.
     
  8. Undying

    Undying Ancient Guru

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    Hey whats best is to jump on zen2 and 3700/3800x. It will beat the crap out 6850/6900k.
     
    bernek likes this.
  9. wavetrex

    wavetrex Ancient Guru

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    I have a working 6800K system and it's currently my fileserver and PLEX server (media encoder), running underclocked (with power management limit @ 50%)

    Could not be bothered to up(side)grade to 6900K or 5960X for my main PC because both of these CPUs are too expensive, too old, too power hungry.
    Instead I opted for a R7 3700X which is better than the older 6800K in every possible way, and I still have an upgrade path next year (AM4 will most certainly take another CPU generation)

    I advise against any sidegrade of any kind, they never make sense.

    (unless you can get that 6900K for dirt cheap, under $150, which I seriously doubt)
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2019
  10. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    OK, so to revive this old thread...

    My friend has basically given me a 5960X and an Asrock X99 Extreme11 for peanuts.

    Current board is the MSI X99(A?) Gaming (the one with USB C), shall I transplant the 5960X into my existing board, or swap everything to the Extreme11? Not that I really need 2 M.2 slots, quad x16 or 18 SATA ports...
     

  11. sverek

    sverek Guest

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    Do what you think is the most fun! M2 NVMe is fun, such new technology! Better stick something in it!
     
  12. BLEH!

    BLEH! Ancient Guru

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    Having 8 cores to play around with (despite the 3-5% IPC loss vs. Broadwell) is probably more fun than going with less cores. That and the higher OC headroom (at the expense of insane power draw) gives me a new challenge in trying to find a stable OC.

    Are there any prerequisites for M.2 RAID? Could I populate both M.2 slots on the Extreme11 and then RAID0 them together for stupidly high speeds? Or do I need a special chip on the board for that?
     

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