I have been putting together an upgrade for my gaming rig and have been kinda stuck on deciding the CPU and motherboard.
The main upgrade is the GPU as I plan on getting the AMD RX 6950 XT, but when it comes to cpu and motherboard I have been stuck between:
Intel i5-13600k + MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk DDR4 (allows me to reuse my existing RAM)
and
Ryzen 5 7600x + MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk (it does require me to buy new RAM, but that’s not a huge deal since I can then reuse my existing RAM to upgrade my home server)
Price wise there isn’t all that much difference, and the little difference it has will get evened out with other upgrades and adjustments based on the cpu/motherboard choice.
Any feedback on pros and cons of either option is greatly appreciated!
For added context this rig is mainly gaming and some light software development. Nothing heavy in terms of video, 3D, streaming, or AI
I agree, why not reuse the ram and use some of the savings for a more robust motherboard. Also wouldn’t hurt to take a look at your PSU. These new flagship cards can peak really high.
PSU is also on the list of components I’m upgrading. I think my current PSU is close to a decade old now. It’s just one of those components that don’t get a lot of love when upgrading over the years compared to the big spends like cpu and gpu
If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of PSU do you have in mind?
What I plan on getting is the Corsair RM850x Shift. 6950 xt requires a 850w PSU and I fancied the sideways oriented PSU as that makes things lot easier I my chassis. Might change it up (based on stock and prices) before I ultimately commit to the purchase
That’s a pretty great choice, I’m not sure how I personally feel about the shift version. Do you have a bigger case with a lot of space in between the side panel and motherboard tray?
Yeah, Fractal Design R6, so it should have enough space for the shift. Since the case has that damn PSU cover which makes it only really viable to manage psu cables via the side panel, I figured the shift version might be pretty good
Nice man I have the usb c version of that case and I was impressed by how high the build quality was. The included drive trays and sound dampening was impressive too. Made me a fan of their products.
Yep, I felt the exact same when I first built my current rig and so I had to get my gf to use the same case for her rig, lol. Will likely stick with fractal design for cases for the foreseeable future
I’ve been impressed with Lian li and Phanteks as well.
exactly, as for the PSU in my experience Corsair is good hardware. I have two of them RM850 and CM750 that literally have been working for more than 10 years.