My current setup is pretty dated, but still doing alright for what I’m playing, although I’d like better framerates and a bit more “futureproofing” for when I start playing the more demanding games in my backlog.
Parts are:
- R5 2600x;
- 2060 Super;
- 16GB @ 3466 16-18-18-18-36;
- 1440p 144Hz monitor.
Currently playing The Witcher 3 Next Gen at medium details, DLSS set to quality and no RT. I get 50-80 fps, which isn’t too bad, but I’m aiming for high details and 120+ fps.
The most resource intensive game I have in my backlog is probably TLoU (or RDR2, or CP2077), and I’d like to play those at high/120 fps too, not really interested in RT.
At the moment I’m looking to get a 7800XT.
Do you think I can get away wih just a GPU + PSU upgrade, or would the 2600x cause too great a bottleneck at target resolution/details/fps to ignore?
For the GPU I’m considering a 7800XT instead of a 6800XT mainly because of the lower power consumption and slightly higher performance. Also the 7800XT comes with a very neat backplate plus GPU support bracket.
Issue is I don’t know if that justifies a ~15% price increase (price right now is $600 equivalent for the 6800XT and $690 equivalent for the 7800XT). I do like the looks of the 7800XT a bit more though lol so if current CPU and RAM can work with the new GPU at target resolution/details/fps, and there aren’t huge drawbacks to getting the 7800X instead of the 6800XT, I’m willing to spend those extra $90 on the former.
What do you think?
Thanks in advance to anyone replying!
A 5600 is $250 less than a 5800x3d, and is 65 watts instead of 100. You’ll not come anywhere near justifying a $350 processor unless you’re spending $1000 on the video card as well.
Get yourself a used 5600 for under $100 since everyone is upgrading to a 5800x3d. Then buy yourself whatever GPU you’re comfortable getting with your remaining budget. 6700, 7700, and 7800 are all good, with the 7700 probably being the most future proof per dollar, and 6700 being the most FPS per dollar. The 7800 is in a weird spot. I think it’s probably just there to convince people to get the 7900.
And don’t forget to update the bios before putting the new CPU in :)
Your PSU should be fine. It is rated at up to it’s listed draw. If you wanna be safe, aim for 10% lower. I have a 7900xt + 5800x3d with 2 NVME drives and an AIO. With a kill-a-watt in the wall while gaming, I measure 430 watts going to the power strip for the PC plus 2 monitors (which pull 50 on their own with the tower off). Online power calculators are extra conservative. Your PSU could run my rig.
I also have a good Freesync monitor, and I quite honestly can’t tell the difference between 90fps and 144fps. If you’re getting 80+FPS consistently, let Freesync take care of the rest and don’t worry about it.
A 5600 sounds like a great deal, but I’m questioning whether or not it would be a sound investment on the long run, as I’d rather not have to upgrade again before four or five years, especially considering I plan on playing two AAA games that should release in 2024 (hopefully haha). The difference in price between the 5600 and the 5800x3d in my country is considerable (around 160) but not enough to allow me to get a better GPU (I put a 6800XT on the wishlist) as a 7800 will cost exactly 150 more, while not actually providing a great improvement (something like 5-8% more FPS at 4k, and a lower TDP, besides FSR3 which, to be honest, if I can avoid using I rather play native). At least according to what I’ve been reading online.
The issue with running a PSU exactly at, or very close to, the sustained draw of your system is that it won’t be able to withstand sudden GPU/CPU spikes, that can go way beyond what the PSU is rated for, am I wrong? At max load a 550W 80+ gold PSU (the one I have) will have 89% efficiency and provide 490W; TDP of reference 6800XT is 300W (and I read online that suggested PSU is 700W), but I’m getting a OC card and they suggest 750W, so I think my card’s TDP should be something around 325W; TDP of 5600 is 65W. I have a NVME, a SSD and two HDDs, plus four case fans. I think it will be way too much to handle for my current PSU. Rather be safe than sorry haha Besides, I now have to upgrade PSU because I went conservative the first time around. Had I bought a 850W PSU then, I would have paid not much more and could’ve avoided spending again now so getting a more powerful PSU today will save me from upgrading agaon next time I get a better GPU and CPU (since I buy quality PSUs)
I can tell 90FPS from 144FPS. Is 90 not smooth enough? No, but 120+ is even smoother haha
The TPD of the components is their max rated draw. They will not exceed that draw. Any spikes under normal operation (aka gaming) are spikes up to that max rated number, not over. If you calculate your component’s max power draw correctly you will never exceed your PSU’s max draw.
No. A power supply’s posted wattage is what it is rated to output. That is the max draw it will supply to the internal PC components. The efficiency rating is what tells you how much AC wattage from the wall is required to generate that 550 watts of DC power for the PC components.
A 550W PSU with 85% efficiency will require 647 watts of AC power from the wall to provide that 550W of output. A 90% efficient PSU will require 611 watts from the wall to do the same.
Additionally, PSUs function on curves based on draw. Here’s Corsair’s graph from their Choosing a Power supply page: https://res.cloudinary.com/corsair-pwa/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1665096094/akamai/landing/PSU-Family-Page/diagrams/80Plus_Chart.jpg
Corsair (and most other PSU manufacturers) build their PSUs to maximize efficiency around the 50% load mark, which for a 550W PSU is 275W. However, pay attention to the Y axis of the chart. A Gold PSU is at 90% efficient at 50% load, but it’s still 87% efficient at 80% load.
NVME and SSD drives pull 5W max. Fans are usually in the 2W range but running full speed are in the ~5W range.
Figure out your load requirements and know, don’t guess.
A 5800x3d means you’ll need a bigger PSU, but if you get a bigger PSU, you won’t have enough to get a better GPU, so you won’t need the 5800x3d. If you’re really really insistent on getting something better than the 5600, wait for the 5600x3d. It should be ~$100 cheaper than the 5800x3d which will cover the cost of the PSU and is still a 105w TPD chip. The 5800 is overkill if you don’t have the video card and components needed for it, and 4k gaming is actually slightly less intensive on CPUs compared to 1440p.
The short version of every question about upgrading is that the CPU isn’t going to be what gets you to 120FPS. The GPU is. $100 extra dollars in the CPU is going to give you a couple more FPS. $100 more into the GPU is going to give you 10-20 more FPS.
Personal anecdote: I have a 5800x3d. The performance change when I upgraded from a 5600 was single digit FPS at best for the games I play. It was measurably different, but not perceptibly different. I’d have better performance putting that same money into a better GPU
Which country are you in? Finding a used 5600 should be really easy and cheap.
Thanks a lot for the follow up! Some things, though.
What does this mean, then?
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-7800-xt-nitro/38.html
If you go down a bit, where they list the 20ms spikes, their 6800XT spiked to 579W, which is well above the TDP (300-350W depending on model). Am I misunderstaing something?
So I can probably save some money and go for a 750W instead of a 850W, accounting for spikes as shown above
Unfortunately I’m not from the US, and it looks like it will be a MicroCenter exclusive!
I can get a new 5600/5600X for less than half the price of a 5800X3D (second hand market is kind of limited, and prices are, like, around 10% lower on the 5600), and since I will be playing games at 3440*1440 on the new monitor and won’t be playing competitive games, I guess a 5600 should be enough to get 100/120 fps at that resolution. I’ll keep looking into it! I’m not really in a hurry, to be honest, for various reasons, so I have time to keep researching
Thanks a lot!
edit: since I’m pretty new to recent-ish AMD cards (last AMD I got was a Sapphire HD 6850 lol), and you seem to know a bit about it, is Powercolor really a “tier 2” manufacturer? I was considering a Powercolor Red Dragon 6800XT, but after reading about it being a lower tier manufacturer, and freeing up some budget by getting a R5 5600, I’m now considering a Sapphire 7800XT Nitro+ instead. I usually prefer getting high quality parts, even if it means spending a bit more and sacrificing some performance, and I found a Sapphire N+ 7800XT for VERY cheap (only 75 more than the Powercolor 6800XT) so I’m considering getting it instead. Would help with PSU and futureproofing, since it consumes a lot less (especially the spikes) and it’s faster, even if by a small margin, besides being one of the historic third parties for ATI/AMD
edit 2: pretty sure I had this bad boy https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/sapphire-hd-6850-vapor-x.b116 haha
edit 3: is a 5600x (154.50) worth it over a stock 5600 (132.60)? Very small price difference