If you can't maintain 60 FPS in line with your screen's 60Hz at the resolution you're playing with, then it's graphics you need not CPU in my opinion. You could look out for a 4790K just to squeeze every last drop outta your current platform, but honestly, selling that Vega for a 1080 and pocketing the leftovers from shopping your CPU too is probably gonna be best.
I have noticed with my 3570k it is definitely being bottle-necked in modern titles. Even things like HOI4 and Stellaris are a stretch if I'm watching stuff at the same time, so don't assume you won't actually gain frame rates if you watch content while playing WOW
So going back to my question, are you getting your 60 FPS at high detail? You mention above that your CPU is struggling - so your cheapest option is going to be getting a second hand 4790K. That will take you from 3.5ghz 4c/4t to 4.0ghz 4c/8t. It'll mean you can keep your RAM etc. On your motherboard you would probably get to 4.2 for a modest overclock without much worry either. Your old CPU will get you back about 75% of the purchase price of a second hand 4790k. Might balance out pretty well. £400 is going to get you a lower end motherboard, 16GB RAM and maybe £200-£250 to spend on a Ryzen 3. Said Ryzen 3 will have more cores, sure, but actually, the 4790K is going to get you more mhz, which will probably make more difference to you with WoW which is a bit older and less likely to take advantage of more cores as well as a more modern game.
The 3600and 3600x are expected to be in that price bracket, i'll take that bet on which will be better.
I have to admit I didn’t realise the clocks were quite so high on Ryzen 3. The 3600 should easily be in budget and will deliver six cores/12t at 3.6ghz or the 3600X will deliver six cores/12t at 3.8ghz for a bit more but maybe still in budget. I think I’m reconsidering my position on the above now.
I’ve been a member since day one, my user ID is literally number 11. I’ve been selling and buying on and off probably for the past ten years or so on this forum. There have been very, very few instances of issues; certainly only one ban from selling this year I can recall and that’s because the guy was a trader selling multiple lots, against forum rules. I’ve bought stuff for builds I did for friends and family here even and never had a single issue. I’d say you’re pretty safe. But it’s up to your personal comfort levels of course.
Although to stay in budget may be best off looking at the various X470 boards that will no doubt pop up in the marketplace further down. (X570 mobos will be rather pricey and the budget chipset ain't due until the end of the year)
4690K - probably £50-£70. The Z97X Gaming 3 ... on Ebay you might expect to get £80 - £100 as the 4th gen boards are in pretty low supply. However that's definitely inflated for ebay. On selling forums you'd probably looking £60-£70.
So as I said above, some games, like WoW I believe, are optimised for multicore, but only upto quad cores. Over that it doesn't matter. Or didn't used to, anyway. That's why I suggested a secondhand 4790k to you, because it's 4.0GHZ x quad core. There's no real difference in computing between a 4790K and a 7700K. So, moving on with a comparison to Ryzen. A couple comparisons to look at. 4690k vs Ryzen 5 2600 - there's probably no clear winner between these two. https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-2600/2432vs3955 A Ryzen 5 2600 has a slower clock speed than your 4690K, by a whole 100MHZ. Will you feel that? I don't know. Maybe? But the thing is, it doesn't feel like it'd be much of an upgrade; bear in mind you'll have to replace your motherboard, CPU, RAM, and re-install (possibly also re-license) Windows. 4690k vs Ryzen 5 3600 - the 3600 isn't much more than the 2600 but actually makes a real difference https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4690K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3600/2432vs4040 This site doesn't have a benchmark for the new Zen 2 Ryzen 7 chips. You can bet that the next bump up would be even better. I'd suggest if you want Ryzen that you should be absolute minimum of the 3600, and you might want to go to the next one up after that.
4790k - 4.0ghz, quad core, hyperthreading, turbo boost to 4.4ghz - passmark 11172 6700k - 4.0ghz, quad core, hyperthreading, turbo boost to 4.2ghz - passmark 11107 7700k - 4.2ghz, quad core, hyperthreading, turbo boost to 4.5ghz - passmark 12033 Granted the 7700k is getting really rare now as we're on 9th gen, but it's still available new for around £300-£350 (amazon). Now, note how close all both the 6700k and 7700k are in performance to the 4790k, and then add in the fact you gotta bin off your motherboard and RAM for DDR4 and I guess it makes sense!! There's been a couple of them on these forums for much more reasonable prices than the £170 that CEX are asking with a year's warranty though, and your 4690k for trade-up combined with your £400 budget are what makes this option worth considering. So given I've been pretty pro "Upgrade that bugger, mate!" I guess I should price up the alternative Ryzen upgrade. I'd really honestly wait for July 7th and for the Zen 2 stuff to come out. You want to be looking for the 3700X in my opinion, which should be around £260. Allow £100 for a motherboard, £80 for 16GB of DDR4, and probably a new heatsink, you should be fine with a be quiet! Pure Rock Slim which is rated to 120w TDP so plenty for the 65w TDP on this chip. 3700X - £260 X470 motherboard - £100 16GB DDR - £90 be quiet Pure Rock Slim - £20 Subtotal £470 Sell your bits on these fine forums for approx (you might take a bit more, allowing for shipping inclusive/worst case costs etc based on above) 4690k - £50 Motherboard - £60 RAM first 2x8GB set - £45 RAM other 2x8GB set - £45 So that's potentially £200 back towards your Ryzen upgrade. If you can tolerate being without your PC while you sell, you might be able to treat yourself to the 3800X which is going to be about £50 more - and you will still pocket around £80 back, or you could spend ALL of it and get the top whack Ryzen 9 3900X! Ryzen 7 3700X - 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.6ghz, boost to 4.4ghz Ryzen 7 3800X - 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.9ghz, boost to 4.5ghz Ryzen 9 3900X - 12 cores, 24 threads, 3.8ghz, boost to 4.6ghz
You'd be surprised how flexible people will be for an otherwise functional board. Yep good call I reckon.
