Looking for a budget CPU/Mobo upgrade

[r9]

My current setup is bit dated i5 6600k and GTX 1070.
To surprise of most people runs most of the stuff pretty good, I play mostly VR games like Assetto Corsa which does 90FPS at high settings at 120% resolution, Project Cars 2 60FPS, Elite Dangerous 90FPS and DCS 45-60FPS.
Looking to max out all of those games at 90FPS once Radeons come out do an GPU upgrade as well.

So as you can see it won't be too hard to find something better than what I have for not a lot of money.

So I'm looking for the best bang for the buck(you can call me cheap ).

I was looking at i5 10400, Ryzen 3600 and 3600x, 10600k and i7 9700k.

Cpu:

Games:

Microcenter has $40 off when bundle i7 9700k with motherboard

So roughly $310+tax for Z390 and i7 9700K.
I'm looking for something for the next few years my requirements are not that high as I said even the i5 6600k does the job to a degree for me.
Definitely faster option than 10400 and Ryzen 3600x especially if you take the OC benchmarks of all.
And very close to 10600k where 10600k cpu/mobo will cost me $400. IMO not worth the extra $100 for 2-6% better performance.

the Ryzen 5600x is around the corner but that combo will cost ~$450, which will be definitely faster but I don't think it justifies waiting for it and the extra $150 which is 50% more.

I have my mind pretty set but still want to hear your guys opinions.

 

[dgianstefani]

If you want something for the next few years, get the 5600x, if you can't afford it, wait until you can.

 

[ebivan]

Get a decent cooler and overclock the i5 to 5ghz. No real need to upgrade now. Basically current Intel is the same arcitecture as your Skylake only with higher clock some more cores (more cores wont give you morr fps in most games), clock is king.
Wait for DDR5 and get Intel 10nm or AMD AM4 successor in a year.
Use the money you safe on not upgrading your CPU for a higher tier GPU from RTX3000 or RX6000 series in the next weeks.

 

[silentbogo]

I have my mind pretty set but still want to hear your guys opinions.

Skylake is still holding up quite well in games. May be enough for another 2-3 years or more. If anything, I'd upgrade to 7700K(only if you get it cheap, cause right now prices are still outrageous), give it a little OC, and put away the change towards a slightly better GPU, whenever they come.
The only reason I ditched my Skylake rig a few years back, is because I went with ITX, and my LianLi Q11B wasn't really friendly towards anything beefier than i5-6400. For me it was a dead end, so I had to downgrade, partially sell it out, and turn it into NAS for work. Switched to proper mid-tower once again, only now with Zen and liquid cooling. If not for my upgrade path issues, I'd probably still be on 6th gen.

But if you are just looking for justification on 9th gen, then I suggest you at least bump the MoBo to something more reasonable. Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Elite is only $30 more, but it's night and day difference in features. Real 12+1 phase VRM, ALC1220 audio, Intel GbE and none of that cheap crap from Realtek, decent cooling, and it comes with hefty M.2 heatsinks. GB UD and AsRock Pro4 is straight-up garbage. Those are their low-budget offerings, which in the spirit of Biostar only exist to bear a proud banner of Z390 with nothing else behind it...

 

[X71200]

Absolutely no point in wasting money into dead platforms, go 5600X with a cheap board.

 

[timta2]

I love my i7-9700K and Asus Strix Z370-E, along with my GTX 1070. I got them all via pretty good deals a while back.

I wouldn't buy a low-end Z390 board new, as you can get much better used boards for the money.

 

[bug]

3600X is definitely a no. It performs exactly like the 3600.

Like @ebivan said, a cheap upgrade is not worth it, it won't be significantly faster than what you already have. New Ryzens are sweet, but good mobos aren't exactly cheap. And the announced CPUs are quite pricey themselves. Worth the price, but still not a good fit for a cheap upgrade.
Hold on to what you have and get back to us after the holidays.

 

[X71200]

The MSI B550-A drops to about $120 sometimes, that's cheaper than the boards for the dead platforms he's looking at.

 

[Deleted member 202104]

The MSI B550-A drops to about $120 sometimes, that's cheaper than the boards for the dead platforms he's looking at.

To be fair though, the B550/X570 appear to be dead after the Ryzen 5000 series as well. Personally, buying motherboards for what might happen doesn't always work out.

Also with a 3600 they'd be about 12% behind in gaming performance compared to the 9700k. I'm only guessing here, but I don't think they're going to want to spend the money on a 5xxx chip in the next year.

As for the most (gaming) performance for the least amount of money, the 9700k and Z390 combo appears to be the way to go.

As always, Your Mileage May Vary.

 

[X71200]

Except they won't, the newer 3600s will clock well and a fine tuned one will neither lack that much behind a 9700K, nor be a worse choice. Intel is horrible value and the architecture is dog crap as far as thermals go. Heck, even a STOCK 3600 is not %12 behind that CPU in games. I don't know where you're pulling your info from, but even with the older AMD drivers on the TECHPOWERUP benchmarks, this is not true. However, you may be free to support Youtubers...

B550 might not be relevant after Zen 5000, but it currently is. The 9700K is not other than benchmark charts from past 2 years.

 

[Deleted member 202104]

Except they won't, the newer 3600s will clock well and a fine tuned one will neither lack that much behind a 9700K, nor be a worse choice. Intel is horrible value and the architecture is dog crap as far as thermals go. Heck, even a STOCK 3600 is not %12 behind that CPU in games. I don't know where you're pulling your info from, but even with the older AMD drivers on the TECHPOWERUP benchmarks, this is not true. However, you may be free to support Youtubers...

B550 might not be relevant after Zen 5000, but it currently is. The 9700K is not other than benchmark charts from past 2 years.

No need for personal attacks. I pulled my numbers from the chart the OP posted.

9700k: 103.2% and Ryzen 5 3600: 90.9 (both relative to the 10400F)

I never said the B550 or X570 won't be relevant. I've got a X570 board waiting for a 5950x. I just said that they're dead platforms for the next Ryzen, just like every platform. The Z490 is essentially dead too.

 

[silentbogo]

Absolutely no point in wasting money into dead platforms, go 5600X with a cheap board.

But that also falls under this criteria. sAM4 is going EoL this year.

 

[X71200]

https://tpucdn.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-3600/images/relative-performance-games-1920-1080.png

AM4 will be EOL after this round, yes, but you don't have a better alternative so that's inevitable.

As for the 3600, I have an older one here, not the best clocker. I can throw in junk RAM, tune stuff and I'm sure it won't be %13 worse.

 

[purecain]

i have an 1800x a 2700x and 3900x coming up for sale with a asus crosshair vi. If any of that would be helpful, i also have an msi z370 gaming pro carbon thats never been used. That would be pretty decent with a 9900k. aaaand i just read the actual thread and my post adds little to nothing. I could help you out with the 3900x and it would work on the crosshair but i'm not sure if that chipset supports the 5000 series. Shame i dont have a newer am4 board to sell.

 

[maxfly]

9700k/z390 from MC right now is a sweet cpu upgrade for a budget gamer. For right at $300 it puts you where you want to be with a solid 1080 1440 rig.
Its easy to forget that not everyone is or wants to be a bleeding edge upgrader.

 

[Devon68]

Z390 and i7 9700K

This really seems the way to go. Maybe Black Firday will have some good deals too, but this is not bad either.

 

[X71200]

I'll mention that the chart OP pulled is a rounded up chart that includes UHD and QHD, I'm willing to bet he has a FHD monitor. Even if he has a QHD monitor, why is the original post rounding up resolutions that are less common or won't be used for his PC? If he has his mind set up or wants bad advice, such as buying a 9700K, that's fine. But let me put it this way...

There is no upgrade route from the 9700K, its second hand value is less as it is harder to sell (so is board sharing because it only works on ONE chipset). Asking to buy a used 9700K puts you into laughing stock. It's also significantly harder to cool.

It's not even a bleeding edge upgrade. Any of purecain's mentioned upgrades would be far more useful, including the 9900K even. If he wants to buy stuff from him, for instance... and that's not even the best alternative for this case as he put it. Just to save couple bucks here and getting the leftover 9700K is NOT worth it.