Question Upgrade i7-6600 to what ?

[gsethi]

I do not overclock anymore (all systems on stock). Current setup is i7-6600 CPU (Dell XPS desktop) with nvidia GTX 970, 16GB Ram and a Samsung SSD (sata). Sorry, I am out of PC building for years now. I have a Seasonic ~600w+ Gold PSU and an Antec case sitting in basement somewhere from years ago.

I have a brand new AMC Vega 56 sitting in the corner for couple months now and am thinking of building a new box (Ryzen 3700x / Vega 56 / 32gb ram / re-use samsung SSD above). Is it worth the upgrade ? If yes, what motherboard with decent sound and gigabit LAN (I have 1gbps connection) ?

Quad Monitor Setup (2 primary monitors are 1440p, 2 secondary monitors are 1920x1200)

Main Uses:
FPS Gaming (single 1440p screen)
Heavy Multi-tasking (multiple chrome/firefox, thunderbird, office apps)

 

[VirtualLarry]

@happy medium , how would it work out, with an i5-7400 (3.0Ghz base, I think, 4C/4T Kaby Lake core, unsure what it will Turbo up to), and a GTX 1060 3GB, and a 1440P 60Hz screen? I realize, that dropping in a GTX 1650 Super is probably more ideal, or maybe even a GTX 1660 Super, for 1440P gaming, but will the CPU hold those back?

It's that "HP Power Gaming PC" that I gave to a friend of mine, it's like 3+ years old at this point, but still works great. I realize it was always only intended to game at 1080P, really, with the included GPU, but I gave him a 1440P 60Hz (non-freesync, unfortunately, it was an older one) monitor to go with.

I don't know what PSU is in there, if I upgraded it (probably not), or if it's even a standard ATX pinout on the mobo or not. If it's upgradeable, then it would be a no-brainer to drop in a 600-650W PSU, and a GTX 1660 Super or RX 5600XT when that makes its debut.

 

[ondma]

Just overclock your 6600k, buy a faster video card now and you will see way faster gaming than switching to a 3700 with a Vega 56.
Keep that setup till the end of the year ,then do a full system upgrade and you should not need a video card .
In short at 1440p your cpu is not holding you back ,your video card is.
A 6600k will not hold you back under 60fps fir quite some time,mabe the end of the year.

An overclocked 6600k with a xt5700 or rtx2070 will be just fine.

Not so sure. That is only 4 threads. Average framerate might be competitive, but frametimes most likely will suffer. I would be more inclined to agree if it was a 6700k with hyperthreading.

 

[happy medium]

@happy medium , how would it work out, with an i5-7400 (3.0Ghz base, I think, 4C/4T Kaby Lake core, unsure what it will Turbo up to), and a GTX 1060 3GB, and a 1440P 60Hz screen? I realize, that dropping in a GTX 1650 Super is probably more ideal, or maybe even a GTX 1660 Super, for 1440P gaming, but will the CPU hold those back?

It's that "HP Power Gaming PC" that I gave to a friend of mine, it's like 3+ years old at this point, but still works great. I realize it was always only intended to game at 1080P, really, with the included GPU, but I gave him a 1440P 60Hz (non-freesync, unfortunately, it was an older one) monitor to go with.

I don't know what PSU is in there, if I upgraded it (probably not), or if it's even a standard ATX pinout on the mobo or not. If it's upgradeable, then it would be a no-brainer to drop in a 600-650W PSU, and a GTX 1660 Super or RX 5600XT when that makes its debut.

No that cpu will not hold back a 1060,1650 super at all @1440p
Is that what your askin?
I think its 3.5 all core turbo .
A 1660 S would be fine for 1440p with that cpu. Just crank all the graphical setting to low and that's what your cpu can do. Keep in mind there are a few settings in some games that might effect the cpu.

 

[gsethi]

I do not overclock anymore. This primary desktop is on 24/7 and is rebooted about once every few months. Stability is more important than speed, especially when I have to remote desktop into it.

Already received all the parts (Ryzen 3700z, GSkill 32GB RAM, Sabrent 1TB NVME, x570 motherboard). Only change I did is the motherboard, got the Gigabyte x570 Aorus elite (Intel LAN, ALC1200 audio, no wifi) instead of Asus x570 Tuf Gaming plus Wifi (Realtek Lan, SLC1200 audio, Wifi). I do not need wifi on the desktop, and one of the reviews mentioned that onboard audio quality was better on the Gigabyte than the Asus, along with Intel Lan preferred over Realtek.

 

[happy medium]

I do not overclock anymore. This primary desktop is on 24/7 and is rebooted about once every few months. Stability is more important than speed, especially when I have to remote desktop into it.

Already received all the parts (Ryzen 3700z, GSkill 32GB RAM, Sabrent 1TB NVME, x570 motherboard). Only change I did is the motherboard, got the Gigabyte x570 Aorus elite (Intel LAN, ALC1200 audio, no wifi) instead of Asus x570 Tuf Gaming plus Wifi (Realtek Lan, SLC1200 audio, Wifi). I do not need wifi on the desktop, and one of the reviews mentioned that onboard audio quality was better on the Gigabyte than the Asus, along with Intel Lan preferred over Realtek.

Hey thats a good system ,enjoy.

 

[Bavor]

I do DC, and without a heatsink, after 10 minutes or so it overheats, and slows WAY down. My advice is to NEVER use an M.2 drive without a heatsink. You never know when you will need it, until you do when it slows down.

As I said, that's why I use the built in motherboard heatsink on the 2nd NVMe slot. That's why you don't need the heat sink version.

 

[aigomorla]

I would of picked up a intel 660p 2tb for the price 200 dollars, over the pcie4 nvme. (Edit ack I see dram prices have gone up again)

Why?
If your a gamer or casual power user you really wint be able to distinguish the speed differences, but when it comes to aaa titles, that 2tb cap will make you smile.

 

[Markfw]

As I said, that's why I use the built in motherboard heatsink on the 2nd NVMe slot. That's why you don't need the heat sink version.

That is a heatsink...

 

[Bavor]

That is a heatsink...

Yes that's what I originally said. I'm still confused why you quoted me in the first place when I said, "You don't need the heat sink version if you use the 2nd NVMe port that has the motherboard heatsink." That NVMe SSD comes in two versions one with a large heatsink and one without a heatsink. If you use the motherboard mentioned before, you don't need to spend extra and buy the version of the NVMe SSD with the heatsink. I thought it was very clear if you read the thread.

 

[Arkaign]

I almost feel like this is the point where waiting for GPUs is smart. Nvidia and AMD both have relatively imminent new products. Navi2/RDNA2 with hardware raytracing, and the Nvidia 3070/3080 (not sure on 3080ti timing yet). Hopefully the 3060 launches with the first wave as well, it could really push prices down if say a 3060 8GB is about the same speed as the 2070 Super, and sells for $349. 2070S/2080FE are about exactly 1080ti range of performance, just with HW RT+Tensor and 3GB less Vram.

There really is no better value today than the V56/V64/1070ti/1080 8GB models at the $200-$300 range. So you're good with the V56 until you can choose between Navi2 and 300 series Nvidia (or a used 2080 or whatever after prices drop).

Now I know you said you don't OC, but you have THE card that needs help from stock settings. They run in the mid to high 80s stock, and that's without older thermal paste and perhaps some dust accumulating. Really toasty. They overvolted the 56 more than anything else they've ever released, and it deeply hurt temps, clocks, and power draw.

So do yourself a favor and read ALL of this : it will teach you how to undervolt and OC the 56. Nets you a drop in power consumption, from 85C+ temps to mid 70s, which helps it run quieter as well, and it even gives you a solid OC to +12-15% performance, which is dang critical at 1440p. Stock the 56 can bog and microstutter a bit due to the temp wall, but UV+OC you can go from an erratic 46FPS with busted minimums to a solid 60FPS after the tuning, with enormous improvement in microstutter and frametime stability.

Vega 56 Review: BIOS Mods, Undervoltage, HBM vs. Core OC, & Indecision | GamersNexus

stub “Indecision” isn’t something we’ve ever titled a review, or felt in general about hardware. The thing is, though, that Vega is launching in the midst of a market which behaves completely unpredictably. We review products as a value proposition, looking at performance to dollars and coming...

www.gamersnexus.net

Finally, Ryzen 3000 7nm especially REALLY benefits from setting the DDR4 timings manually. When I first got my 3700X I just set the 3466 speed, and it just felt weirdly laggy. It wasn't until I manually set up all the timings that I truly got the expected performance. That and going big on cooling, Zen2 is really funky with clocks and boost, and the cooler you can keep her, the better predictable performance.

(I used 3600 ram but it was unstable at 3600 for whatever reason on my Taichi board. I can weirdly get the kit to work with 3733 clocks and super loose timings with a minor volts boost, but it runs worse than 3466 with tight timings).

Anyway, OC for Zen2 is basically a complete waste of time (can make things SLOWER), but setting your bios carefully will make a big difference.

If you need help, just ask here, we'll give you everything you need. Cheers mate.

 

[amrnuke]

I run F@H, R@H, WCG, with multiple hospital/clinic electronic medical record programs (not the most efficiently-designed software) and browser windows and Excel open and have had no issues with a 3600 and 16GB 3200CL16 and a Samsung SATA SSD.

However I think the system you got will be very forward looking. And I'm glad you are waiting on the new round of GPUs. Smart move.