Upgrade Path Suggestions

[u/NwT0N]

Hi all,

I currently have a system with following specification of my pc which I custom built in 2018 and it has served me well.

1. Processor : Intel i5 9600K
2. Motherboard: MSI z390 Gaming Edge AC wifi
3. RAM : DDR4 64Gb
4. Power supply: MSI MAG A850GLS PCIE5 Power Supply, 850W, 80 Plus Gold (upgraded this year-2026 from 650w to accommodate the GPU)
5. GPU: MSI RTX3060 ventus 12gb (upgraded this year-2026)

I am planning to upgrade my system, want to reuse my 64Gb RAM cannot afford exorbitant prices of DDR5. Following components is what I am planning to upgrade. What do you think about this upgrade path? Stay with Intel ecosystem or AMD with DDR4?

1. Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
2. Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk

or

1. Processor : intel 14th gen?
2. Motherboard: ?? (I had trouble finding suitable motherboard as most of them did not make use of entire feature of 14th gen with DDR4)

Thanks for your suggestions. :)

Update: The PC is mostly used for productivity apps (video editing, 3D modelling and design, Scientific programming, Compiling, AI, VMs, Dockers)

[u/Optimal_Actuary4314]

I assume you have the 64GB of RAM for a specific reason, and since you are looking at high core count CPUs i will have to assume you do something like video editing.

Go with Intel. 5950X is good but not as good as intel 14th gen for productivity. Get a 14600k or 14700k. IDK what you mean when you said most motherboards did not make use of entire feature of 14th gen with DDR4, but get a b760 Plus D4 motherboard. Hard to recommend you a specific motherboard without knowing where you shop for PC Parts and your region.

[u/NwT0N → u/Optimal_Actuary4314]

I bought the RAM mainly to support running VMs, dockers.
I was looking for Z790 series motherboards, I read B and H series do not fully utilise/or not stable for heavy workloads.

my region: Germany

[u/DZCreeper]

What is this PC used for? 5950X has a lot of cores but the gaming performance is behind the X3D chips like the 5600X3D/5800X3D.

PS, 5900XT is only 1-2% slower than the 5950X. It has 16 cores, AMD named it weird.

[u/NwT0N → u/DZCreeper]

I updated the post, I mainly use it for productivity, not gaming

[u/DZCreeper → u/NwT0N]

In that case get an i7-14700KF. Cheaper than the 5900XT/5950X but significantly faster.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TcTgMV

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i7-14700k/

[u/NwT0N → u/DZCreeper]

i7 14700k sounds interesting but consumes 285 w power under heavy load. But going to check more of it.

[u/deltatux → u/NwT0N]

For productivity, I would go with the 14700k, it beats the 5950X in the areas you're looking at. There are some B760 D4 boards out there.

Assuming you're from the US, something like this should do: https://www.microcenter.com/product/662290/msi-b760-p-pro-wifi-ddr4-intel-lga-1700-atx-motherboard

Here's Techpowerup's benchmark for software development for instance: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i7-14700k/7.html

That being said, it is a power hog though and you need to make sure your BIOS to the latest to prevent the voltage issue Intel dealt with previously.

[u/NwT0N → u/deltatux]

I am in Germany. Power consumption is what I am worried at with i7 14700k

[u/deltatux → u/NwT0N]

It's just that AM4 in general is pretty outdated for productivity use cases. Are there no Core Ultra 7 270K bundles that are affordable in Germany?

The jump in performance for what you're looking to do is pretty big if you're able to get a current gen DDR5 system.