Log Advice for Ghost S1 Upgrade build

[SIlverbanshee]

Greetings,

I'm looking for a little advice or perhaps reference info for upgrading my current build in my Ghost S1 case.
Currently I have :
Asus Z370-I Mb
Intel I7 8086K special ed CPU
16gb G skill DDR4 3600 RAM
Noctua NH-L12 Ghost Edition CPU Cooler
Corsair SF850 power supply and a just added
MSI 4070 Ti Super GPU
All installed in the kickstarter version of the Ghost S1 which I am very disinclined to give up.

My issues started with the GPU upgrade (from a 1080 gtx) to the current 4070 Ti Super. While installing everything I came to discover that one of the ram slots on the Z370-I MB is bad so instead of 32gb I am stuck with 16 for the moment. Performance of the new GPU card is less than impressive and not much better than the old 1080 in some titles . However, since some titles are remarkably better I going on the assumtion the CPU/MB is the bottleneck. It is clearly time to upgrade the CPU and MB, but I'm not sure what combination (particularly the CPU) A) have a descent mini ITX form factor and b) will remain generally cool enough for the NH-L12 cooler to do its job as effectively as it currently is. I am agnostic regarding Intel vs AMD having owned and built systems with both in the past, so suggestions for either would be appreciated. This will be a system that will be used for gaming , but I won't be overclocking anything so that won't be a factor for MB/CPU choice. If anyone has experiences or advice to share I would really appreciate it, Thanks

 

[HWI]

For gaming, the undisputed champions are AMD's X3D CPUs. Any of the AM5 ITX motherboards can run the X3D CPUs. so pick the one that has the best combinations of features and cost that fit your needs. The 7800X3D and 9800X3D are the CPUs you'll want to look at, the 7900X3D and 7950X3D don't offer anything better unless you are looking to do productivity as well.

Of note, one of the bottlenecks aside from the age of your CPU you might be experiencing is PCIe generation. Your Z370 motherboard only supports Gen 3, so your GPU may be getting choked due to bandwidth limitations.

 

[SIlverbanshee]

Thanks for the perspective!, and excellent point on the PCIe bus - I hadn't considered it. The issue I might have is that the TDP for the 7800X3D is 120w and the limit for the Noctua NH L-12 Ghost edition is 95w. I understand that undervolting is a thing, but I have never had to do it or know what the performance consequences would be and it would seem necessary. I would likely be dropping it by about 20% to stay within the tolerances for the cooler. Is 80% of the 7800X3D better than a CPU with a TDP of 95w running at 100%? Obviously since my current CPU is circa 2018 I don't have any experience with the recent crop of CPUs from either AMD or Intel so I'm very much in the dark on performance and thermal characteristics. Lots to cconsider here so I'll keep doing my research while I gather other's experiences and opinions , Thanks

 

[hrh_ginsterbusch]

Thanks for the perspective!, and excellent point on the PCIe bus - I hadn't considered it. The issue I might have is that the TDP for the 7800X3D is 120w and the limit for the Noctua NH L-12 Ghost edition is 95w. I understand that undervolting is a thing, but I have never had to do it or know what the performance consequences would be and it would seem necessary. I would likely be dropping it by about 20% to stay within the tolerances for the cooler. Is 80% of the 7800X3D better than a CPU with a TDP of 95w running at 100%? Obviously since my current CPU is circa 2018 I don't have any experience with the recent crop of CPUs from either AMD or Intel so I'm very much in the dark on performance and thermal characteristics. Lots to cconsider here so I'll keep doing my research while I gather other's experiences and opinions , Thanks

during gaming scenarios, the 7800X3D supposedly never exceeds the 88W level, most of the time running more at 60 - 50W.
So you should be entirely safe.

Next option: Get the Thermalright AXP90-X47 or X53. It gets noisy with an 7950X at full load, but with such a low power CPU like the 7800X3D, it should be perfectly nice, esp. during game scenarios.


If all fails, there is this remarkable experiment, that shows us that even with like a PL of 30W to the CPU, one can still game without any major issues:



Oh, and lets not forget about Gamers Nexus tests of the 7950X, that shows us that the 7000 series flagship in 65W Eco mode is churning out the same processing power as the 7900X in stock mode


cu, w0lf.

 

[SIlverbanshee]

during gaming scenarios, the 7800X3D supposedly never exceeds the 88W level, most of the time running more at 60 - 50W.
So you should be entirely safe.

Next option: Get the Thermalright AXP90-X47 or X53. It gets noisy with an 7950X at full load, but with such a low power CPU like the 7800X3D, it should be perfectly nice, esp. during game scenarios.


If all fails, there is this remarkable experiment, that shows us that even with like a PL of 30W to the CPU, one can still game without any major issues:



Oh, and lets not forget about Gamers Nexus tests of the 7950X, that shows us that the 7000 series flagship in 65W Eco mode is churning out the same processing power as the 7900X in stock mode


cu, w0lf.

Good information, thanks for the reply! Honestly I had overlooked the 7800X3D as potentially a good choice based solely on the TDP numbers. Yours and other posts here have me investigating more deeply. At the moment I plan to pair an Asus ROG Strix B850-i MB with either the 7800X3D or possibly the 9800X3D and whatever descent DDR5 memory I can fit under the cooler. I'll dig in a bit more on thermal data and user reports on CPUs I had previous;y discounted possibly even considering the announced 9900X3D with 12 cores and 24 Threads. There is no emergency need to replace my current setup, so a few months either way isn't crucial. But it is also clear that it's time for an upgrade and it will significantly improve my computing experience . Thanks again