# Just went for a 7960x to replace my 9700k. A good call?



## Instrugramm (Jun 28, 2021)

I had the chance to grab a 7960x for 345 euros (without import taxes though...) to replace my overclocked 9700k (4.9 ghz), so I went for it.

Was that a clever decision?

Ps. The cooler should still fit but I will have to get an x299 motherboard and a better power supply (currently I have a 650w gold be quiet unit running my cpu an Rtx 2080 and 128gb ram).


----------



## easyrider (Jun 28, 2021)

No 😲


----------



## Instrugramm (Jun 28, 2021)

easyrider said:


> No 😲


Why not? I assumed it would be a good grab as even with the power supply and the new mainboard I'd pay less than for a 5950X while daw and gaming performance should be ever so slightly worse than the former but with the added bonus that Kontakt seems to work better on Intel and I'd still have Quick Sync.


----------



## easyrider (Jun 28, 2021)

Instrugramm said:


> Why not?


How much is the Motherboard?


----------



## Instrugramm (Jun 28, 2021)

easyrider said:


> How much is the Motherboard?


259 euros (they've become fairly cheap lately) and the power supply either 180 euros (1000W) or 234 euros (1200w) for a be quiet straight power unit.

A 5950X on its own would have been 780 euros (for which I'd also have to buy a new motherboard and a new power supply).


----------



## strojo (Jun 28, 2021)

You gave up a healthy amount of per-core clock speed in the transition. Whether it was a good move or not depends on how you use your rig.

On the plus side, you picked up a whole bunch of PCIE lanes.


----------



## easyrider (Jun 28, 2021)

The 5900 beats out the 10900k the 10900k beats the 7960x

Seems a lot of money for a dead socket and 2.8ghz bass clock speed.

Its not all about the cores it’s the clocks and IPC.


----------



## Instrugramm (Jun 28, 2021)

easyrider said:


> The 5900 beats out the 10900k the 10900k beats the 7960x
> 
> Seems a lot of money for a dead socket and 2.8ghz bass clock speed.
> 
> Its not all about the cores it’s the clocks and IPC.


Thanks everybody for your input, it's greatly appreciated! 

I did plan to clock the 7960x at 4.5 ghz all core (which should be possible with good cooling) but yeah you may be right.

I'll have to see how it fares, in the worst case I'll use the 7960x system as my media playback and video production combo rig in the movie room or resell it and stick to my 9700k although I doubt the performance would be worse than my current system... or at least according to the DAWbench score where the 7940x was quite a bit faster than the 9700k (which had a noticeably lower score in the head to head test with the 7960x).




I'll report back once I got everything running mid July. 

Ps. I might really end up putting it on ebay and resell it, it should make at least some profit.


----------



## Instrugramm (Jun 29, 2021)

Update: You made me rethink the purchase and I came to the conclusion that you're right.

I ended up canceling the purchase in time and will wait for the next gen and see what Intel will bring to the table + how DDR5 will fare for DAW work.


----------



## easyrider (Jun 29, 2021)

Instrugramm said:


> Update: You made me rethink the purchase and I came to the conclusion that you're right.
> 
> I ended up canceling the purchase in time and will wait for the next gen and see what Intel will bring to the table + how DDR5 will fare for DAW work.


Intel are massively in trouble….you will be waiting a long time for them to come up with a chip that beats the performance of 5950x


----------



## Instrugramm (Jun 29, 2021)

easyrider said:


> Intel are massively in trouble….you will be waiting a long time for them to come up with a chip that beats the performance of 5950x


I'm not specifically set on Intel, when they release their new CPU Gen chances are that AMD will have to counter even if it's just by undercutting prices in order to further increase market share, in any case it'll be a win win for consumers and then again DDR5 might yield good results for composers I imagine, (Intel and AMD will definitely adapt it with the next gen of mainboards).

I'll just stay put for now and always keep an eye on the 5950X or the 5950XT (which is expected to come out in a few months and incorporate vertical cache), at least CPU prices have come down to normality lately, that'll make it easier to judge the hardware in question.


----------



## easyrider (Jun 29, 2021)

Instrugramm said:


> I'm not specifically set on Intel, when they release their new CPU Gen chances are that AMD will have to counter even if it's just by undercutting prices in order to further increase market share, in any case it'll be a win win for consumers and then again DDR5 might yield good results for composers I imagine, (Intel and AMD will definitely adapt it with the next gen of mainboards).
> 
> I'll just stay put for now and always keep an eye on the 5950X or the 5950XT (which is expected to come out in a few months and incorporate vertical cache), at least CPU prices have come down to normality lately, that'll make it easier to judge the hardware in question.


“An AMD spokesperson told that the company will gradually switch to the B2 stepping of Ryzen 5000 processors over the next six months. The revision does not change the specifications and performance of the processors, according to the manufacturer. With the Ryzen 3000 generation, AMD released XT variants over time. In practice they were hardly faster than their predecessors. It is not known whether AMD will also come with XT versions for the Ryzen 5000 generation. The choice for a revision without name and specification changes may indicate that AMD is skipping such a refresh this time.”

_AMD
“As part of our continued effort to expand our manufacturing and logistics capabilities, AMD will gradually move AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors to B2 Revision over the next 6 months. The revision does not bring improvements in terms of functionality or performance, furthermore, no BIOS update will be required.”_


----------



## Instrugramm (Jun 29, 2021)

easyrider said:


> “An AMD spokesperson told that the company will gradually switch to the B2 stepping of Ryzen 5000 processors over the next six months. The revision does not change the specifications and performance of the processors, according to the manufacturer. With the Ryzen 3000 generation, AMD released XT variants over time. In practice they were hardly faster than their predecessors. It is not known whether AMD will also come with XT versions for the Ryzen 5000 generation. The choice for a revision without name and specification changes may indicate that AMD is skipping such a refresh this time.”
> 
> _AMD
> “As part of our continued effort to expand our manufacturing and logistics capabilities, AMD will gradually move AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors to B2 Revision over the next 6 months. The revision does not bring improvements in terms of functionality or performance, furthermore, no BIOS update will be required.”_


If the enlarged L3 cache will bring gains for music production will remain to be seen but there are definitely gains in gaming as seen in their presentation at Computex, some insiders have actually leaked the 5950XT name and specs but I don't remember where I read it tbh...

I'm pretty sure though AMD won't just stand and watch when Intel launches their hybrid chips to be revealed october 25th. I read about them only improving the stepping as well but that was before the Computex reveal. At any rate it's pretty interesting to wait and see.^^









AMD triples Zen 3 CPU cache using 3D stacking technology


Not a pipe dream—CEO Lisa Su demonstrated a working 3D-stacked 5900X prototype.




arstechnica.com




-> "AMD states that the redesigned 5900X will enter production later this year—well before Zen 4's scheduled launch in 2022."


----------

