Upgrading i5 6500 to i7/Ryzen

[midnightblue]

Recently my i5 6500 has been starting to lag behind in CPU demanding situations. I've been noticing 100% CPU usage in some games with my graphics card not being fully utilized. Also I started getting into streaming which is really maxing out my i5. I occasionally edit photos/videos plus record/edit music as well.

I was originally considering upgrading to a i7 7700k but since I went the cheap route with a h170 motherboard I wouldn't be able to overclock it or the memory. Now that Ryzen has been out a few months and generally is getting favorable reviews I'm seriously considering switching platforms. Instead of spending $300 on a i7 I could spend a bit more and get a Ryzen r5/r7 with a b350/x370 motherboard that could be overclocked. Plus it would have a better future upgrade path. Gaming performance wouldn't improve much but it would be way better with pretty much everything else. I'd be able to reuse all my current parts except the CPU/MB which I could resell.

My current rig is
i5 6500
16gb ddr4 2400mhz ripjaws
MSI Gaming X RX 480 8gb
240gb San Disk Plus SSD
1tb WD blue 7200rpm HDD
650w EVGA SuperNOVA GS Power Supply

Just wanted to get some opinions before I start buying anything.

 

[Shektron]

I would recommend Ryzen(not Rysen ). But your RAM is kinda slow(well actually quite slow), and Ryzen really benefits from faster RAM. If you can, upgrade the RAM as well. If you can't, that's fine it will work as well.

Don't buy an i7, it really doesn't make sense unless you have a high refresh rate monitor, but actually it still won't make a difference because at 1080p your RX 480 usually won't give more than 60 FPS anyway, unless you play games like CS:GO or Overwatch or some other game that relies heavily on CPU.

So, if you plan on gaming at 120+ FPS, then an i7 7700K and Z270 motherboard would be ideal. Since you have an H170, you won't be able to benefit from the 7700K anyway, so your best bet right now is Ryzen, the best processor you can afford. But make sure you don't get an 'X' CPU(except 1500X), because they don't come with coolers(again, except 1500X), so there'll be added cost of that as well. So your options for Ryzen will be R5 1400, 1500X, 1600 and R7 1700. Either of those would work perfectly with a B350 motherboard. If you can, get better RAM as well(preferably FlareX or any other Ryzen-certified RAM).

 

[geofelt]

I7-7700K with 8 threads runs stock at near overclocked levels.
4.2 with turbo on all 4 cores at 4.4
Considerably more capable than a 4 thread I5-6500@3.2

Ryzen will not usually OC past 3.8 and the IPC is less.
What you get with ryzen is many threads, 12 or 16.
If your problem is lack of threads, and you can use more than 8, ryzen might be good.
OTOH, if your problem is insufficient core speed, then I7-7700K would be better.

Then, if you still wanted more, (which I somewhat doubt) you can replace the H170 motherboard with a Z270 and overclock a bit more.
As of 2/22/17
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.4v Vcore.

I7-7700K
4.9 78%
5.0 59%
5.1 28%
5.2 7%

 

[midnightblue]

I'm really leaning towards Ryzen over the i7. If I had a z170 board I'd go intel no questions asked but a 7700k on a h170 sounds like a waste to me. I'm not trying to get more fps getting a stable 60fps is fine for me. Mainly I want more power to be able to stream fluently at 720p 60fps or better. While still running multiple apps in the background.

 

[Shektron]

I'm really leaning towards Ryzen over the i7. If I had a z170 board I'd go intel no questions asked but a 7700k on a h170 sounds like a waste to me. I'm not trying to get more fps getting a stable 60fps is fine for me. Mainly I want more power to be able to stream fluently at 720p 60fps or better. While still running multiple apps in the background.

Get a Ryzen processor, but get at least the 6-core variant, or the 8-core one. Don't go with the 4-core one, that's just a slower i7 on the cheap. Won't be enough for streaming. Get the 8-core one since you want streaming as well - would last pretty long with it.

 

[TerryLaze]

at 1080p your RX 480 usually won't give more than 60 FPS anyway, unless you play games like CS:GO or Overwatch or some other game that relies heavily on CPU.

For the same reason he shouldn't have any trouble with high CPU usage.

 

[Shektron]

at 1080p your RX 480 usually won't give more than 60 FPS anyway, unless you play games like CS:GO or Overwatch or some other game that relies heavily on CPU.

For the same reason he shouldn't have any trouble with high CPU usage.

So you're telling me he should get an i7? High CPU usage wouldn't matter today, but an year later it would be a bottleneck.

 

[TerryLaze]

I'm saying that at 60FPS he wouldn't have (that) high CPU usage on his i5.
And console ports are not going to change for the next 3-4 years since the "new" consoles that are coming out at the end of the year have no change in the CPU department.

Ryzen is worth it for him if he is serious about streaming.

 

[Shektron]

I'm saying that at 60FPS he wouldn't have (that) high CPU usage on his i5.
And console ports are not going to change for the next 3-4 years since the "new" consoles that are coming out at the end of the year have no change in the CPU department.

Ryzen is worth it for him if he is serious about streaming.

Actually, he would - games are using more than 4 cores, and in such games an i5 will bottleneck..

Where did consoles come from? Also, there's no change in consoles because they already have 8-core CPUs - that's enough for all games for a long time.

Ryzen is not just for streaming. It's for gaming as well, especially at 60 FPS. i7's don't make sense for 60 FPS anymore, plus he's streaming as well - neither an i5 nor an i7 will handle that simultaneously in an year.

 

[midnightblue]

My i5 still gets the job done gaming but its starting to become a bottleneck in very CPU demanding games especially when streaming. Its just clocked so low and unable to be overclocked. A Ryzen 6c-12t or 8c-16t overclocked to 3.8ghz sounds amazing.

 

[Shektron]

My i5 still gets the job done gaming but its starting to become a bottleneck in very CPU demanding games especially when streaming. Its just clocked so low and unable to be overclocked. A Ryzen 6c-12t or 8c-16t overclocked to 3.8ghz sounds amazing.

It is. Ryzen is the best for CPU-demanding as well as AAA titles - i7 is the best for high refresh rate. Since you want to stream as well, the i7 will really not be adequate.