Is it a good time to upgrade my CPU?

[Josquius]

My computer is getting old. I haven't upgraded the processor for a good 8 years or so. My current processor is a Intel Core i5-6600K.  And its really beginning to show; even windows 11 doesn't want to be installed on my current computer.
Most stuff works but I haven't exactly tried higher end games from this decade and trying to play the star trek mod on stellaris- no luck with the biggest map.
So yeah.
Purely looking at my computer I need to upgrade at some point. Basically anything today should be better than this.

Looking at the market at large however, anyone keep an eye on this stuff and know if now is a 'optimum' time to do the upgrade or is there some big release due that should change things a lot?
As I understand things intel isn't great at the moment and the AMD route is better (reviews say so though raw numbers seem to show intel as better- https://pc-builds.com/compare/cpu/0Fs/1nt/1uf/)?- any recommendation?

The motherboard would have to come out with the processor so I'll be needing a new one of those too so I suppose same question applies (not sure it matters there so much). Though hopefully my RAM (DDR4 3200mhz) should still work with something modern?- I've got a lot of it so don't fancy replacing it all.
My graphics card I'll be holding onto as its a few years younger.

[viper37]

I think AMD processors, the 7800X3D in particular, are in a bit of shortage and the prices are high.  Don't know about UK specifically though.


This is similar to what I have. 
Good for 1440p gaming:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/jYWFBL

"Optimum time", is hard to say.  In North America, it's Black Friday.  In the UK, no idea.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I'm going to have to upgrade.  My PC doesn't have a TPM and I'll need to upgrade ahead of Windows 10 ending support.  I hate Windows 11 though.

I want a new GPU to play Baldur's Gate, but would need to buy a new mobo, processor, etc so I may as well just get a new one.

[Josquius]

Sniffing around I see talk of new releases at the end of October which should disrupt prices.
Then there's black Friday. Might aim for then.

Also though Intel performs better on paper apparently it's reliability sucks and they overheat a lot which means in practice amd is better.

No sign of this processor being out of stock.
Any idea what to look for in motherboards? I've never really gotten that.

[Syt]

It's a weird moment in time. I bought this tablet 8 years ago, with 8GB RAM and 256GB RAM: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/at/en/products/tablets/miix-series/miix-700-12isk/solutions/pd104073-product-overview-ideapad-miix-700-12isk

I got it as a basic little work tablet but mostly as media viewer. To this day it still runs fine, only needed to replace charger cable (and battery life isn't great anymore, but fine).

Considering its age I was looking at replacements recently. But except for a better CPU there's not really anything like it out there in the price range of what I paid at the time (granted, it was EUR 999 in 2016).

I did a similar comparison for my 4 year old PC with its 3080 GTX card, and a real upgrade would cost me about 4000-4500 EUR if I want to go similarly high end as this one was when I bought it.

[Grey Fox]

For the 1st time ever I think I will actually change my CPU without changing my motherboard. I have a B450 chipset and it supports Zen 3 architecture.

[viper37]

I'm going to have to upgrade.  My PC doesn't have a TPM and I'll need to upgrade ahead of Windows 10 ending support.  I hate Windows 11 though.

Explorer Patcher + Start11.  Does wonders.

[viper37]

Sniffing around I see talk of new releases at the end of October which should disrupt prices.
Then there's black Friday. Might aim for then.

Also though Intel performs better on paper apparently it's reliability sucks and they overheat a lot which means in practice amd is better.

No sign of this processor being out of stock.
Any idea what to look for in motherboards? I've never really gotten that.

B650, if you aim for the middle-end.  The most expensive boards often have features that you aren't likely to use and they don't perform any better.  The lower end board are just too cheap, they will perform badly if you ever try to overclock your processor or RAM, or if you need another processor than a 7800X3D that draws more power.

[Josquius]

Thanks.
How would you choose between the bazillion different B650s?

[Grey Fox]

Find your must have features and go from there.

Personally, I like Asus motherboard, for many reasons but #1 is that I know their UEFI utility quite deeply, and usually choose the 150$CA price point.

[viper37]

Thanks.
How would you choose between the bazillion different B650s?

Do as Grey Fox did.

Start by choosing how many USB 3.1/3.2 ports you need of, how many USB 2.0 ports, how many M.2 slots for your SSD you need, how many SATA ports you need, any kind of special feature you may want (front USB-C, front USB 3.1 connectors for the case, etc).

Input your variables in pcpartpicker.com and look at your options.

Asrock has some good quality motherboards, but it has a very rudimentary BIOS.
Gigabyte has a confusing BIOS, especially for beginners, but they do have some solid motherboards, particularly the AORUS.  It takes a while to get used to that BIOS.
MSI has a good bios and a good quality build but it is often very pricey hardware.
Asus has an excellent bios but its quality has dropped noticeably in the later years and they often refuse warranty claiming "user induced damage".  It happened to me recently, it took me many months to resolve the issue.  I wasn't alone, since there's an hardware channel I follow that made a piece and a follow-up on them about these issues.
Biostar does not seem to be sold in Canada, so I don't really know about them.

[Josquius]

Ah.
Checking up I got my history wrong.
It wasn't the graphics card I replaced at a later date, it was the motherboard and processor.
My motherboard and CPU are 8 years old. My graphics card is 10 (!!) years old.
Looks like I would be getting basically an entirely new computer here when the time comes.
Given my gaming time is limited I think I'll be holding off.

[viper37]

Given my gaming time is limited I think I'll be holding off.

Might be a wise decision.

The 9800X3D are rumored to be out in October.  If that is true, there should be used 5800X3D and 7800X3D on the market at a decent price.

Nvidia's 5080 and 5090 are also just around the corner, so again, used 3080s and 4080s should be on the market.

[Josquius]

Black Friday stuff is starting up it seems. Leaning    Ryzen 5 7600X. Not sure if smart.
Setup I'm thinking is:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/N4Cqsp
(where I've got ridiculous old parts selected like the graphics card its just my current one)

Any idea if having 2 M2s is normally possible?- I don't get the myriad of different M2 types. Sometimes I see a motherboard apparently has multiple but on the photo clearly doesn't. Not sure of the right thing to be filtering for here. PC part picker doesn't seem to back track picking multiple drives to filtering out the motherboards (though it will do this if I put my old ram in there).

I wonder as I already have a 1tb drive and I do need more storage, thinking adding a 4 could be nice- if not then shall just get a regular ssd.

[viper37]

Any idea if having 2 M2s is normally possible?

Yes, it is usually possible, and this motherboard support it.

CPU and GPU are ok, but it really depends if you intend to upgrade your video card in the near future and therefore upgrade your resolution.

You will have to compromise on the quality of the textures.  It's ok, but you need to know.  If you keep the same GPU for a few more years, it's ok.  If you plan on changing in a few months, I'd upgrade to a Ryzen 7 right away to avoid any bottleneck.
Memory:
You can go for this kit:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/Xg2WGX/gskill-trident-z5-neo-64-gb-2-x-32-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-f5-6000j3040g32gx2-tz5n

There's no real need to go above 6000mhz (6200mhz for 9800X3D) with AMD, performance gains are very minimal.  CL30 6000mhz, CL30 will be fast enough.