[SOLVED] Is it worth changing the processor?

Solitario

Solitario

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Jun 23, 2015
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Argentina.
Hello, the new Ryzen will be out soon. I currently have an i7-7700 and I wanted to ask if the processor is worth changing. There will really be a lot of difference between an AMD Ryzen™ 5 3600 and an Intel® Processor Core™ i7-7700? Another thing I don't understand is why the new ryzen is cheaper than my intel since amd's is much superior. Well I would also have to change the motherboard and buy a Windows license. Do you recommend me to do this upgrade or not? Thank you very much in advance. Best regards.
 
Solitario said:
I wanted to ask if the processor is worth changing.
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Worth it? That's a very subjective question. As you correctly noted, if you switch from Intel to AMD, that requires a new motherboard too. And possible different RAM. And of course a new motherboard constitutes a new computer for licensing purposes so to be legal, you will need a new Windows license as well.

So is it worth it? Only you can answer that - especially since we don't even know what you use the computer for. I note as well the graphics solution can play a major role in over all computer performance. As do the type of drives.

As for costs, well we don't know which new Ryzen you are talking about but it should be noted Intels typically do cost more than AMDs - have for a long time. But when you factor in the cost of the motherboard, RAM, case, PSU, graphics, drives, monitor(s), speakers, Windows and programs too, and then spread those costs over the life of the computer, the difference in CPU costs may not be significant.
 
For pure gaming, stick with the 7700. It's still a very good CPU, and will likely beat or be roughly equivalent to the upcoming Ryzen CPU when it comes to single thread performance. Most games will only make use of 1-4 cores, and the single thread performance of the CPU is the biggest limiting factor.

The only reason I can see for changing to Ryzen is if you do heavily multithreaded tasks such as scientific work, heavy creative (video/photo editing) workloads or game streaming where the extra CPU cores can be put to use. The Ryzen 3600 is a 6 core/12 thread chip compared to the 7700 which is a 4 core/8 thread part.

For the price, there is absolutely no reason to move to Ryzen unless you're seriously in need of more cores which I doubt you are. Why are you looking at upgrading? Just to have the latest parts? You're really not going to get any kind of gaming performance increase, and may actually lose a few FPS in some games. The money you'd put into a new CPU/motherboard would be much better spent upgrading to a new GPU if you're looking for better gaming performance.

why the new ryzen is cheaper than my intel since amd's is much superior.
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AMD Ryzen is not "much superior". AMD is pushing high core count chips with their Ryzen series, and those CPUs are really AMD's first highly competitive CPUs in the last decade. They're good processors, and are excellent when it comes to value - especially since up until the last 2 generations, Intel has maxed out at 4 cores/8 threads on their consumer CPUs (ignoring their HEDT options on LGA-2011v3 socket). They manage to have more cores by building the CPU die in a different way (AMD uses smaller "chiplets" that are combined together using their "infinity fabric" technology which allows them to add multiple chiplets to a single CPU and easily scale up core counts, whereas Intel builds all their cores into a single monolithic die which is much harder to scale to high core counts). AMD is also being very aggressive with pricing, making their 6/8 core parts competitively priced with Intel's 4/6 core parts.

If we look at Dr Ian Cutress's review of the Ryzen 2nd gen processors, his conclusions show some nice comparison graphs: The AMD 2nd Gen Ryzen Deep Dive: The 2700X, 2700, 2600X, and 2600 Tested.

Bottom line - Ryzen is great, and it's amazing to have some competition in the CPU industry again. But it's just that - they're competitive and better in some scenarios and worse than others.
 
The pc I use it to study and to play. That is to say that for games and office automation mainly. The truth is that I am an enthusiast of the new components. That's why the question in the initial post. But with your answer it's clear that I'm not going to change the processor. As for the GPU, I have an RTX2070. Thank you very much for your help. The topic can be closed. Best regards.
 
I see. Nothing wrong with being excited about new components! I'm a big fan of Ryzen as it's really pushing Intel to innovate and finally release cpus with more than 4 cores. Intel has been pretty complacent over the last few years since they've had no real competition and it's great to see AMD back on form. But for you, it's not really a good use of money for what you need.
 
Can I ask you one more question? Can I do RAID 10? Does it have any benefit to make a type 10 RAID? My motherboard has the option and I have four disks. I recently discovered what a RAID was and I don't know much about it. I have four different disks. Thank you very much. Best regards.
 
Ah RAID. First note about RAID - RAID is not a substitute for backups!

So, RAID is a way of increasing redundancy and protecting from disk failures - hence the name "Redundant Array of Independent Disks". RAID is designed to increase performance, increase redundancy or both. It is not a backup as there's no way to restore deleted data or find older versions of files - it's simply a way to increase speed or reliability of a system.

There are various levels of RAID:

RAID 0 (aka Striped) - This combines multiple physical disks into one logical disks by striping data across the disks. E.G 2 1TB drives would appear as a single 2TB disk. This increases performance, but is dangerous as a single disk failure would cause all the data on both disks to be lost. Not recommended in any scenario unless the data is absolutely unimportant since it greatly increases the risk of data loss.

RAID 1 (aka Mirrored) - This mirrors the data on one disk onto another disk. Doesn't increase performance, but allows for a single disk to fail as the data on that disk is mirrored. You also only get half the capacity - if you have 2 1TB drives you'd only have 1TB of usable space.

RAID 10 (aka RAID 1+0) is a combination of mirroring and stripe - it creates a stripe with half the disks and then mirrors that stripe onto the other half of the disks. This is good as it's fast, but reduces the risk of running pure RAID 0. However, you lose half your disk space again as it's a RAID 1 style configuration

There are lots of other RAID modes (RAID5, RAID 6 etc), so see here for some more information: https://www.cloudwards.net/what-is-raid/

For a personal machine, it depends what your storage needs are. If you have enough disks, then a RAID 10 (or RAID5/6 if the motherboard supports it) configuration can be a nice way to protect yourself from disk failure and potentially increase speed at the cost of losing up to 50% of your storage capacity.
 
Thank you so much. I have a cloud backup of all my important files. I guess these days I'll see if I do that RAID configuration on the motherboard. I don't have any more questions, I just want to thank you for your kind help. Best regards.
 
No worries.

Note you'll need to wipe the disks completely to create the RAID array initially so make sure all the data is backed up successfully!
 
Solitario said:
On the license I have a Retail, that type of license can I use it again?
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Sure can! Retail licenses can be used again and again - as long as you uninstall it from all other systems. It can only be used on one computer at a time.
Tekno Venus said:
I'm a big fan of Ryzen as it's really pushing Intel to innovate and finally release cpus with more than 4 cores. Intel has been pretty complacent over the last few years since they've had no real competition and it's great to see AMD back on form.
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I agree completely about competition. As consumers, we need AMD to keep nipping at the heels of Intel and we need Intel worried and constantly looking over their shoulders to see what AMD is up too.

I am not so sure Intel is being that complacent - at least not on the R&D side of the house - where they can be very secretive. They got spanked, embarrassed and totally humiliated by AMD in the past by being complacent, smug, if not arrogant and got caught sitting on their laurels allowing AMD to leapfrog right over them. It took almost 10 years for Intel to regain momentem and leapfrog back with their Core 2 Duo and they promised themselves (and their shareholders) they would not let that happen again. And fortunately for Intel, they have the deep pockets to stay ahead - if they don't get cocky and make the same mistakes as before.

So while AMD may release a processor here and there that really shines, when it comes to the entire production line of offerings, Intel still has the advantage and I believe, Intel has the capability to surprise us all, if necessary, by releasing a product/family that puts AMD back in their place at just about any time Intel wants to.

What is really hurting Intel right now is all this bad publicity over these chip-level security bugs of late. While the bugs certainly are serious, it is sad how the IT press and others have exaggerated the threat to ridiculous extremes making it seem as though every Intel user everywhere was, or would be soon infected. The facts are, the vulnerability is very real but the measures required for a bad guy to exploit it make it nearly impossible. In fact,while malware has been discovered out there designed to exploit these vulnerabilities, to the best of my knowledge, not one computer anywhere has.
Solitario said:
I have four different disks.
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Typically, and for the most efficient setup, RAID uses identical disks. With different disks, the speed of the slowest and size of the smallest generally determine the speed and size of the resulting array.

If me, I would go SSD.
 

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