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

  • @Dougtron007
    2•1 year ago

    If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of PSU do you have in mind?

    • @kamadOP
      2•1 year ago

      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

      • @Dougtron007
        2•1 year ago

        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?

        • @kamadOP
          2•1 year ago

          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

          • @Dougtron007
            2•1 year ago

            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.

            • @kamadOP
              2•1 year ago

              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

              • @Dougtron007
                3•1 year ago

                I’ve been impressed with Lian li and Phanteks as well.