PC Processors

[digidave]

It's been a LONG time since I have built AMD.  I feel that time may have come for me now.  If I purchase a Motherboard that supports the Ryzen 7 2700X as of November 2018, will there be a likelihood of being able to upgrade to one or two more powerful CPUs of the same socket to fit said motherboard? Or would I be buying into the end of a line of CPUs?  Forgive my lack of knowledge. 

Basically I find Intel's i9 overpriced and the i7 being at the end of it's line.  This makes the Rysen 7 2700X look appealing if there is any chance that I could upgrade in 2 years or so? 

What would be involved in that or is that not an option?

Thank you.

[black_zion]

AMD confirmed Socket AM4 would be used through 2020. PCIe 4.0, which next generation EPYC processors already support, and DDR5 will necessitate a new socket after that.

[digidave]

It's almost 2019.  That only leaves about 12 months before it's 2020.  Based on that I think now is not a good time for me to be upgrading.  I might do myself a favor waiting until 2020.

Thx for your reply.

[black_zion]

And another 12 months through 2020, so 25 more months.

[digidave]

Srr. My Bad.  That sounds better.  I stand corrected.  I guess the question for me then  ... what's the chances that these newer CPUs being released in 2019 and then in 2020 of being at least = to the i7 8600k for gaming.

That would be awesome to have the ability on par for gaming and then have all that rendering powers.  Hmmm ... I wavering.  I best go read up on these other CPUs for 2019 and 2020.

[black_zion]

Zen 2 is sampling now for a release in 2019 with no announced date, although AMD's "Rome" EPYC processors, which will be Zen 2 based, have an announced Q3 2019 release date. Ryzen came 4 months before the first EPYC chips, so around June 2019 would be my guess. Zen 3 -should- release in 2020 and be a revision of Zen 2 (Tick-Tock, they stole Intel's clock) on what will be called 7nm+ manufacturing node, with Zen 4 being talked up to be 5nm.

[digidave]

If your responding to my questions, it might pay to know that I don't know anything about the new AMD CPU architectures; but thanks for the very technical response.  Other than the predicted times you just alluded to, all that information pretty much went over my head and still leaves my question regarding gaming capability Vs Intel i78600K.

I'll make a new thread and be more specific about my lack of knowdlge and more direct on what I am asking ... cut & paste:

I guess the question for me then  ... what's the chances that these newer CPUs being released in 2019 and then in 2020 of being at least = to the i7 8600k for gaming???

[black_zion]

Well, let's look at the past. The i7-8600k was 91% faster per core than the FX-6300, that lead shrunk to 30% with the Ryzen 1600, and then to 20% for the 2600. Zen 2 is a big question mark because it's going to be an entirely new kind of chip comprised of a unified I/O module and separate "chiplets". It's entirely possible that AMD will pull even with the Intel 8600K per clock with Zen 2, as it will also feature architecture improvements meant to quash latency and improve prediction, but only Lisa Su knows for sure right now, and she's not talking.

[noodles59]

I plan to upgrade to a TR4 next year but not sure it makes sense while in this innovation race?

The hardware is quite expensive for being a short term wonder.

[black_zion]

Without an innovation race we are stuck with essentially the same product year after year, each time featuring very small performance increases, while the prices remain sky high. nVidia did it for years while AMD suffered with the X1000-HD 3000 series, and now they're doing it again until AMD releases Navi next year. Intel did it for a decade until Ryzen forced them to become responsive, and even then it's more about doing what they said was impossible (using soldier instead of TIM on sub 14nm processors) and increasing the core count since they let their 10nm process slip due to non competition.

Plus when was the last time Intel supported a platform for 4 years and 3 architectures?

[digidave]

I don't know much, but in this I can't help sense that I agree.

It was during a phone call last night that my friend following my intentions for a new build says "Don't do it!  Doooonnn't do it Dave!"

Basically I am starting to care less about the gaming capabilities despite being a gamer.  I am sick of the slow pace and high prices regarding Intel.  I feel I have little to lose going back to AMD.  --- at best a couple of frames per second.  (Even 20 - 40 frames is no more than relative to still very playable performance)   In this I like others are nothing but addicts.

Still I find myself battling with bias.

Yet I am really getting sick of Intel. That I know for sure.

[black_zion]

The market right now is screaming for high performance processors for enterprise usage, so with AMD pushing hard to reclaim enterprise market share, they have to have CPUs which perform better than Intel in all around metrics, so us consumers win by getting the same high performance CPU architecture they do. I'm not a hardcore gamer either, but we all want CPUs which are fast, efficient, and inexpensive.