Debating upgrades or a new build

I am considering doing an upgrade or building a new system. I use PopOS as a daily driver and things are working well with my existing build but I am starting to learn new things and the extra power would improve things. I have started doing some AI picture generation with stable diffusion. I also want to explore AI video generation as well. I do play the occasional game and do enjoy having an overkill system for forums. I am open to suggestions. I have $3000 limit for a new build.

Current Build:

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X

Asus B350-f Gaming

MSI Nvidia RTX 3060 12G

Corsair Vengeance Pro 32 GB DDR 4 (2x16) CL16 - Stable at 2933

Crucial P3 Plus 2TB NVME Drive - PCIE 4 drive running at PCIE 3

TP-Link 2.5G Card

Gigabyte WiFi 6E + Bluetooth 5.3 Card

Cooler Master 240mm ML AIO Cooler

EVGA G3 750W Gold Power Supply

Lian Li LAN Cool II

Considering upgrading existing system to a Ryzen 7 5700X as they are like $150.

Build being considered:

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X $599

Asus X670E Creator Pro Art $459

PowerColor AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Hellhound 20G $699

G.Skill Flare X5 Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-6000 PC5-48000 CL30 $189

Crucial P3 Plus 2TB NVME Drive - Have an extra unused $0

Lian Li Galahad II Trinity Performance 360mm AIO $119

Seasonic USA Focus V3 GX-1000 1000 Watt 80 Plus Gold ATX Fully Modular Power Supply - ATX 3.0 Compatible $199

Fractal Design North Tempered Glass ATX Mid-Tower $149

Extra 120mm fan for rear exhaust $15

Total: ~$2428

If you do, your B350 board may not be compatible with the 5700X, something a BIOS update might fix, but it also may not :roll_eyes: That means upgrading to a B550 board as well. The rest of your stuff should work on that B550 board w/o problems. Notice the emphasis on “should” :stuck_out_tongue:

Would also upgrade to a decent B550 board. This one is the cheapest decent one I could find:

If you want something a little sturdier though this would be my pick;

Your other build is pretty good but you will need an expensive Nvidia card to do AI proper. :frowning:

Dropping a 5700X or 5800X in would go over fine; there is a BIOS update to support it, and the only remaining negatives of the board would be PCIe Gen 3 only, but it appears you’re aware of that. 5800X seems to routinely sell for the same money as the 5700X, but it’s HOT at default settings; would suggest giving it a PPT haircut to keep operating temps vaguely sane.

I’d probably go that route, at least for a while. Highly unlikely the current new stuff will get more expensive, but AM4 bits are unlikely to get much cheaper or easier to get than they are right now. Also, Gen 3 shouldn’t be major enough of a holdback to justify buying a newer AM4 board, particularly given you’ve already upfitted most of the other niceties and you have one of the better audio setups offered. 5x00x → more GPU → “do I really need 2.5x more multicore performance?”

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My bios is up to date and according to Asus the 5700x is compatible. The list even includes the high core counts and the 3D chips. Those are pushing it in my opinion. I will lose out on pcie 4 but I am ok with that. I really don’t want to get a new AM4 board. If I do that I might as well just go to micro center and pick up an am5 bundle as it would be a better investment.

Not wanting an Nvidia card this time around. I use linux and have had issues with Nvidia drivers. It is one of the reasons I use PopOS as they are doing some kind of black magic to get those drivers working so well. All of the AI things I have used so far have support for AMD.

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Are you going to buy the GPU either way?

I upgraded my PC from a 2700X (built in January 2020) to a 5700X3D back in April 2024. I haven’t looked back since. My case has a silly amount of airflow, but still quiet, and I been running the 5700X3D with an Arctic Freezer 36 cooler. This combo is running a lot cooler than the 2700X was running on its stock Wraith Prism cooler.

Also, make sure the CPU is compatible with your Motherboard and that your motherboard has the latest BIOS before installing the new CPU. You can not POST with a 5000-series CPU with an many of the older BIOS versions.

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I am not. I will only get it if I do a full build. My current 3060 still meets my needs.

My bios is up to date. What motherboard do you have? Just curious.

Well if you don’t ‘need’ more right away then waiting for prices to come down on something better later makes the most sense.

Though, if a better CPU isn’t much more it might make more sense to go with something that will get you a bit further especially if you upgrade your GPU with something faster in 2 years. Like if the 5700x3d would work for you it is only like $180USD. Or a 5800x which is on sale for ~$200 CAD which would be like $140USD.

With everything AM4 having clearance pricing. it just seems like an upsell to higher performance tiers is much more worth while since the price discrepancy has narrowed.