Is it a bottleneck?

NoBOOBsForNOOBs

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Mar 24, 2017
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I have a Intel core i3-2120 CPU and i bought a Asus ROG AMD RX480 8GB VRAM for my system. I just wanted to ask is this a bottleneck because i am very pleased of my GPU results in game and on benchmarks. My other specifications are: 4GB RAM, 700W Cooler Master PSU and a 2TB hard drive (I am thinking about an SSD if you can recommend me one it will be awesome :D).
 

NoBOOBsForNOOBs

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Mar 24, 2017
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i am thinking about a general upgrade to a Ryzen 7 1700X and for the SSD i thought about the EVO too but i just wanted to ask. Thanks for the answer.
 

NoBOOBsForNOOBs

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Of course i need a new MB how can a 2017 AMD CPU fit on 2011 Intel socket. This is the parts list that i am thinking about: Ryzen 7 1700X, Asus Prime X370 Pro, Corsair Vengeance RGB 16GB 2666, EVO 850 500GB and i am thinking about water cooling all of this with EKWB P360 kit and EKWB hard tubing. Probably i will write a post how to hard tube water cool because i am a beginner when i get all of this parts.

BTW if you didn't realize i am building myself a AURA synced machine.
 

EpIckFa1LJoN

Admirable
RAM is very very very rarely a bottleneck. Either you have enough or you don't. There are very few instances in which faster RAM can actually improve performance for gaming...

Rendering/editing is another story but you didn't mention that so I am going to assume gaming only.

CPU is definitely a bottleneck. 2 core/4 thread, 3.3GHz. Anything CPU intensive is going to have a hard time running on that. You have a good midrange GPU so you're not going to be able to run it on it's full potential with that CPU.

Depending on what games you play depends on what CPU you can get. Ryzen is garbage for a lot of situations, and you definitely don't want to spend $400 on a CPU when a $200 or $300 will work better.

Guarantee you my 6700k is running circles around any Ryzen CPU in the vast majority of games.

Only one even worth buying for gaming and thats the 1600, because you literally cannot beat the price to performance, but with 8th gen coming out that could change. And raw performance it still isn't the best.

Also depending on your budget and what board and things you are looking into depends on the SSD. The 950 and 960 Samsung M.2 drives are fantastic but expensive. Other than that the 850 is also very good and plenty fast. Samsung hands down makes the best SSDs.

PRO vs EVO: PRO is more reliable (failure rate after 5 years on either is dismally low), longer warranty, tad bit faster (negligible), and in most cases has a tiny bit more storage. I find it worth it to upgrade to the Pro. I have a 960 Pro 1TB M.2, and an 850 Pro 512GB SSD, and I want to get another MB soon I might get another Pro 960 M.2 1TB or if I don't I'm getting another 850 Pro but a 1TB.
 

NoBOOBsForNOOBs

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Mar 24, 2017
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Actually in my country 1700X is around 475 usd dollars and the i7-7700K is 430 usd and the MBs prices are quite the same for the brands so i am really confused what to choose so any advises are welcome.
 

EpIckFa1LJoN

Admirable


Like I said it really comes down to what games you play.

Tom's still crowns the 7700k as the best gaming CPU, but thats just in general. Let's say you playing Battlefield 1 a lot, the 1700x would actually cream the 7700k in that game, but in the majority of games the 7700k wins. For the most part, not always mind you, but Core speed is much more beneficial than core count.


As far as motherboards go I really like Asus ROG boards, very easy to OC and generally have the best BIOS to OC, as well as the BIOS being extremely easy to navigate and such. But there are plenty of good ones out there. If you were going to get a high end K-series 7th gen, you're going to want a Z270 MB. The Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero (and Hero Alpha) are widely regarded as one of the best MB's you can get. I have the Maximus VIII (6th gen Intel, Z170) Formula and it's awesome, also has great lighting.

It's all about what features you want though.

Would definitely get a better RAM kit. I'm guessing you have DDR3. With the new MB you'll want DDR4 and at least 8GB. 2133MHz C15 is the typical clock rate and latency, which is perfectly fine, but because of latency factors, the fastest you can get (if you want it, it is also really negligible) is 3466MHz C16, or 3000MHz C15, in that order. Other than that its all blowing smoke and matters little for gaming.
 

NoBOOBsForNOOBs

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Mar 24, 2017
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Actually i don't have main game that i am playing. But let's say that for now I play mostly MMO's and RPG's and i am trying to get into FPS. For MB i said up that i am trying to build myself AURA synced PC so i will stand for a ASUS MB
 


Ha, depending what your major usage is, 1700X could be overkill. For gaming, Ryzen 1600 is enough and Ryzen is well known for cost-effectiveness :)
 

EpIckFa1LJoN

Admirable


If you want Aura I would get a Formula. I actually picked the Formula over the considerably cheaper Alpha just for the LED's and Aura. It's very cool looking.

If you are doing general gaming, I would say get the 7700k or 7600k. There won't be a game you will have any trouble with so it won't matter much that you don't have the 1700X or higher on games where it would give you more performance, and it will minimize the single-core bottleneck if you would happen to be playing a game that is poorly optimized, such as World of Warcraft. And if you do happen to play WoW a lot, get Intel for sure. And the highest clock speeds you can afford, with a K-series to OC. It will make the biggest impact there, especially if you are on a highly populated server (or even on a mega-server as in ESO), or if you raid a lot.

But in general the 7700k is still the king of gaming CPU's, at least until the 8700k comes out and then it will about on par, maybe a bit better for multi-core performance but should match single-core and quad-core performance.

And yeah the 1600 is great, but it still gets smoked performance-wise by the 7700k in the majority of cases. It all comes down to preference and budget at that point. But no one can crap on a 1600, that is a very respectable CPU for the price. On well optimized games its on par with the 7700k

BUT on that note, if you're going for raw performance, even clocked down, the 7700k can even greatly outperform the 1800x in a lot of cases. Core speed is king.
 

NoBOOBsForNOOBs

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Mar 24, 2017
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Thanks guys for the answers i appreciate it i would think again for the parts this time i am doing more deeper research because my idea is to mount the parts and the water cooling on Plexiglas board and placing it one the wall.
 

EpIckFa1LJoN

Admirable
Sounds like you are going for looks and you have the money to do it, I would wait for the 8700k, grab that bad boy, an Asus ROG Maximus X Motherboard, and some Corsair Vengeance RGB RAM. That's actually exactly what I'm doing when the 8700k comes out xD.

Rumor is that the 8700k can OC to 5.3GHz on liquid.

But yeah that's what I would do (and I actually am :D)

And then when you get a chance, pick up a Zotac AMP Extreme 1080 Ti. You'll have the best looking rig around and with some awesome LED's as well.

This is my build. More or less what my suggestion would look like minus the plexiglass wall thing. :)

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/FnnH99
 

EpIckFa1LJoN

Admirable


Not bad except the CPU.

Like I said the 1700x is still going to be smoked by the 7700k in a LOT of games. The 8700k is only going to improve upon that. Now as far as motherboards go, I would definitely look at the ROG Maximus Formula. Like I said, great RGB stuff, but also has the ability to liquid cool the MB itself. A bit unnecessary but still cool. Then there is the Maximus Extreme which has an EK cooling block built in fir the CPU. Especially awesome if you have an EK loop or want to do a full EK loop. But it costs quite a bit more.

Other than that if you're going for that RGB look I would definitely look at the Formula. Great lighting.
 

EpIckFa1LJoN

Admirable


No but it is not hyper-threaded so it will be much worse than even probably a 1600 in game that are optimized for more than 4 cores. It would be okay for games that use only 4 cores or less, but still won't be as fast as a 7600k or a 7700k.

If you're looking for cheaper suggestions on the CPU side, I wouldn't buy anything less than a 1600 or a 7600k. Those should be roughly the same price. In general the 7600k is going to be better, but there are going to be some situations in which the 1600 would be better. However the 7600k also has the ability to overclock roughly at what the 7700k can so it won't be much of a difference.