Upgrade Advice

[MercadianDragon]

Hi guys,

I am looking at getting the MSI PRO X670-P WIF motherboard and was wondering if it’s any good?

I have read some things on Reddit from a year and a bit ago about WiFi drops, which does not really bug me as I use cable. But are there any other sort of issues?

I currently have a FX-8350 with 1080ti and looking to upgrade, I do utilize 6 SATA ports currently and can get the MSI PRO X670-P WIFI for little more than a B650 board

If I go AM5 I am looking at the below:

MSI PRO X670-P WIF
Ryzen 7700x (Maybe 7800x3d - system is not gaming biased so undecided here)
G.Skill Ripjaw 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-6000MHZ CL32 Memory

Or the alternative is maybe go with a AM4 upgrade using the below:

ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II
Ryzen 9 5950X or Ryzen 7 5800x3D or Ryzen 7 5700x
G.Skill Ripjaw 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16

For both I would look at minimum 8 cores, for the non gaming side I do use the machine for virtual machine testing and that.

I am not looking to upgrade the 1080ti just yet, and yes I understand there will be some bottlenecking, but the 1080ti is still a beast of a card at the moment and I’d rather upgrade the board and processor now and GPU later.

​

 

[JollyJamma]

What is your budget?


More than 8 cores usually hurts gaming performance as the CPU will have more than 2 CCDs.

5800X3D would be a cheaper upgrade path but AM4 is (sort of) a dead end platform.


A good deal on an AM5 would have a better upgrade path but it will be more expensive.

I would always get an X3D CPU for the gaming performance. I would avoid the high core count processors.

Whatever you get, it’ll be much much better than your current CPU.

 

[Valheru]

ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II
Ryzen 9 5950X or Ryzen 7 5800x3D or Ryzen 7 5700x
G.Skill Ripjaw 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4-3200MHz CL16

Motherboard: Stay away from this range from Asus, the ethernet controller has a known issue (revision depending). More details here:

Asus X670 network weirdness | Tech support & Hardware Advice

I'll try keep this short. Brand new Asus X670E-A motherboard. Latest BIOS update (non-beta) and latest drivers Windows 11 with latest updates. Not dev ring or anything weird. Network cable from Mobo to Netgear unmanaged switch to Ubiquiti USW-Flex-Mini to Ubiquiti USW-LITE8P to Ubiquiti...

carbonite.co.za

CPU: 5800X3D all day long, unless you run serious virtualization. That clockspeed + cache makes a world of difference.
RAM: Get less, but with better latency, the CPU will love you for that. No game I currently play even uses 32GB fully, let alone 64GB. So as above, unless you run serious tasks, not worth the extra layout. 10/10 for brand though.

 

[JollyJamma]

RAM: Get less, but with better latency, the CPU will love you for that. No game I currently play even uses 32GB fully, let alone 64GB. So as above, unless you run serious tasks, not worth the extra layout. 10/10 for brand though.

I agree but OP does run virtual machines so I think that’s why 64gigs is a thing.

I would think that 32gigs would be enough though.

 

[MercadianDragon]

What is your budget?


More than 8 cores usually hurts gaming performance as the CPU will have more than 2 CCDs.

5800X3D would be a cheaper upgrade path but AM4 is (sort of) a dead end platform.


A good deal on an AM5 would have a better upgrade path but it will be more expensive.

I would always get an X3D CPU for the gaming performance. I would avoid the high core count processors.

Whatever you get, it’ll be much much better than your current CPU.

Thanks for the response. That's my concern with AM4, I mean I have set both my nephews up on AM4 recently specifically 16GB RAM and AMD 5600X processors, but don't see them upgrading for some time.

For me as well, considering my system is probably approaching 12 years old now and only really looking to upgrade as it's battling a bit on some newer games. The X3D CPU's are amazing at gaming, and looking at it I'm not running production work loads for virtualization, basically just spinning up VM's for lab testing and killing them. I maybe have one or two VM's that run fairly constantly but they are low work type systems

So, if I got AM5 I'm looking at about +/-18K for the board, 7800X3D and 64GB ram vs +/- 17K for board, 7700X and 64GB ram. Possibly even considering dropping 64GB to 32GB for now, my current rig has 24GB ram and it does get utilized, not on gaming mind you. But I do sometimes push my current box to the limit..

 

[AdriDa]

Thanks for the response. That's my concern with AM4, I mean I have set both my nephews up on AM4 recently specifically 16GB RAM and AMD 5600X processors, but don't see them upgrading for some time.

For me as well, considering my system is probably approaching 12 years old now and only really looking to upgrade as it's battling a bit on some newer games. The X3D CPU's are amazing at gaming, and looking at it I'm not running production work loads for virtualization, basically just spinning up VM's for lab testing and killing them. I maybe have one or two VM's that run fairly constantly but they are low work type systems

Should be fine with 32gb RAM then, can always add another 32gb down the line if needed

 

[Valheru]

For me as well, considering my system is probably approaching 12 years old now and only really looking to upgrade as it's battling a bit on some newer games. The X3D CPU's are amazing at gaming, and looking at it I'm not running production work loads for virtualization, basically just spinning up VM's for lab testing and killing them. I maybe have one or two VM's that run fairly constantly but they are low work type systems

Keep the FX and run that as a dedicated host?

 

[MercadianDragon]

Motherboard: Stay away from this range from Asus, the ethernet controller has a known issue (revision depending). More details here:

Asus X670 network weirdness | Tech support & Hardware Advice

I'll try keep this short. Brand new Asus X670E-A motherboard. Latest BIOS update (non-beta) and latest drivers Windows 11 with latest updates. Not dev ring or anything weird. Network cable from Mobo to Netgear unmanaged switch to Ubiquiti USW-Flex-Mini to Ubiquiti USW-LITE8P to Ubiquiti...

carbonite.co.za

CPU: 5800X3D all day long, unless you run serious virtualization. That clockspeed + cache makes a world of difference.
RAM: Get less, but with better latency, the CPU will love you for that. No game I currently play even uses 32GB fully, let alone 64GB. So as above, unless you run serious tasks, not worth the extra layout. 10/10 for brand though.

Interesting for the NIC, thank you. Considering that is what I prefer to wifi it could fun. To be honest the only reason why I am looking at it is because it's black and I like the look and it has 6 SATA ports.

What sort of latency should I be looking at? As for the memory, I would at the end of the day run MAX ram of 128GB, and that is purely due to virtualization. For cost effectiveness I'm not opposed to going to 32GB for now and bumping that up later. Currently running 24GB RAM so 32GB would still be a bonus..

 

[MercadianDragon]

Keep the FX and run that as a dedicated host?

That is one of my thoughts yes. Just need to source a cheap graphics card for it.

 

[MercadianDragon]

Should be fine with 32gb RAM then, can always add another 32gb down the line if needed

Was also thinking about that, currently have 24GB RAM, so 32GB is not a down grade.

 

[MercadianDragon]

I agree but OP does run virtual machines so I think that’s why 64gigs is a thing.

I would think that 32gigs would be enough though.

It would be, considering it's not production work loads so delays won't affect anyone.

 

[Valheru]

Interesting for the NIC, thank you. Considering that is what I prefer to wifi it could fun. To be honest the only reason why I am looking at it is because it's black and I like the look and it has 6 SATA ports.

I replaced mine with this:

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK AMD B550 Ryzen Socket AM4 ATX Desktop Motherboard - Wootware

Buy MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK AMD B550 Ryzen Socket AM4 ATX Desktop Motherboard at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

What sort of latency should I be looking at? As for the memory, I would at the end of the day run MAX ram of 128GB, and that is purely due to virtualization. For cost effectiveness I'm not opposed to going to 32GB for now and bumping that up later. Currently running 24GB RAM so 32GB would still be a bonus..

If you are worried about capacity, you will be a little bit stuck. The higher capacities do not have the best latencies and cost an arm and a leg. Something like these might be a start:

G.Skill F4-4000C18D-32GTZN Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-4000MHz CL18 1.4V Black Desktop Memory - Wootware

Buy G.Skill F4-4000C18D-32GTZN Trident Z Neo 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-4000MHz CL18 1.4V Black Desktop Memory at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

You will likely not be able to run them at rated speed, but pull the MH/s down and the latency will be much more tunable. Eg, I had some Corsair 3200/C16 in a Xeon, which was able to to C11 @ 2400 (or something to that effect). I run them now at stock, slightly tightened timings, any overclock makes my system unstable (4x16GB).