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!
Sorry about the late response.
The TPD is the Thermal Power Design. It's not actually the raw power draw that a component can experience, but over some aggregate time (like a minute) that's the amount of heat the component should generate at max draw. Heat (TPD) is therefore used as a good power estimate for how much the machine will use under max load because 1 watt of power consumed = 1 watt of heat generated. However the component can go over that limit. I was wrong on that and was using TPD as the actual draw.
For a PCIE card, the slot provides 75 watts, and each PSU lead provides an additional 150 watts. So on a 2 connector card the max power that the computer (PSU plus motherboard) can supply at any moment is 375 watts. I have no idea where the 579 number comes from. I guess it's possible if the card is reporting power consumed from capacitors onboard as well, and that power draw was brief enough.
The rest of the charts in that page show the card consuming the expected power amount.
A 750w should be perfectly fine. I have a 7900xt with 5800x3d, 2x NVME and AIO. It's running on a 750w PSU and has never pulled more than 450 from the wall, which includes my 2 monitor power draw as well.
A 5600 is a freaking solid processor. If you really want to go bigger and you can find a 5800 or 5900 for $50-60 more then that might be worth it. I really don't think the price gap from the 5800 to the x3d is worth the performance gain though (especially as someone who has on and saw single digit FPS gains at best, and in the majority of cases it was under 5, but can vary based on the games you play)
For AMD / Radeon card manufacturer quality, I honestly don't know. My 7900xt is my first card from them, and the price difference between the Sapphire and Powercolor was under $50 so I went for the quality part. I just followed the tier charts. Anecdotally I have seen comments from other people around Reddit that said powercolor is a perfectly fine manufacturer. I think whatever option gets you a 7800xt is the best one to go with.
For the 5600 vs 5600x, that's up to you. I had an X before my 5800x3d but never overclocked it, so that was essentially wasted money. From what I read about a year ago, once the 5600 had dropped low enough in price, the price increase vs performance increase of the X wasn't worth it. If you're going to overclock I think it could be worth it, but at that point a 5800x might make even more sense. That's all up you though.
Don't worry, thanks for the follow-up!
In the end I researched a bit more, and paying more for a 5600x isn't really worth it (15% higher price for 2% higher FPS); I'm going for a base 5600: 5800 and 5900 are way more (1.6-2x the price), so I'll settle with the budget option, especially considering thr doubts in the ending paragraph a little further down...
Yes, it says 20ms spikes, very brief. Don't know too much about it, and I can't find a 750W PSU for a decent price (almost the same as the 850W), so I'll just go with the more powerful one and call it a day. Not really worth it to pay 5% less and save just a few bucks
I'm also going for the Sapphire, it's basically the same price and the design has kind of grown on me, I really like it!
Thanks a lot for everything so far, I'll take a bit longer to think things over and then I'll see what to do (especially because I read that sometime in 2024 AMD should release their RX8000 and the performace jump should be pretty massive, so I might skip this upgrade and just go full bleeding edge build -so top tier AM5 X3D CPU, RX8800/8900, ultrawide monitor, and all other bells and whistles- when those new cards drop). I'm questioning whether investing 1k now on a EOL platform (AM4) is really worth it or not!
I think waiting a year and doing a full AM5 build is a fantastic idea, especially if you're looking at spending $1k right now. The 7900xtx was announced last year around this time and shipped in Dec, so hopefully you'll be hearing about the 8000 series GPUs by the end of next year. Also, am5 has mostly worked out their first gen kinks too, so the next gen mobos and 8000 series CPUs should be great.
I told myself when I made my current PC that I was going to skip the am5 generation and wanted my PC to last ~5 years which is why I splurged on the 5800x3d and 7900xt (but couldn't bring myself to spend another $300 for the xtx).
I think if you're going to upgrade again in a year, your only question now is covering the gap. If you can live with what you've got now that's obviously the cheapest option. If you really do want some more FPS, then I'd say grab the 5600 and a cheaper but better GPU like the 6700xt are the way to go. If you do a 6700 you'll definitely be fine with your current PSU. That'll give you the best bang for your buck and help kick start your budget for next year's build.
Yeah, I think I'm definitely gravitating towards skipping this gen and splurge on the new cards once they land. Hopefully the rumors about the performance jump from RX7000 to RX8000 prove true, that's the only reason I even considered not upgrading.
Since my ideal setup includes playing at 3440x1440 120+ FPS, the only current gen cards able to do so are extremely expensive (7900XTX and beyond, basically) and today I can't afford both any of those GPUs and the monitor; if the RX8000 performance is as good as the leaks say it is, and if prices don't go too much higher, I think I can get target resolution and FPS with a RX8800 or RX8900, spending just as much as I'd be spending today, but on an platform that's not EOL.
Now I have to hold on ultil that release, guess I'll be playing games that aren't too demanding for a while longer! Thanks again!
Sounds like a good plan! The hardest part of having some money in your pocket is not spending it :)