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I was literally about to order a new pc with a 3900. So do I get that or wait for this? Will it be sold out for months?

by Finnucane 6y ago

bob1029 6y ago
You could get the 3900 today and upgrade to the 5000 series after the fact. Socket compatible.
- boardwaalk 6y ago
  But, don’t waste money on a 3900 you’re going to replace. The 3300x and 3600 are really good placeholder options (I have the 3600 for this purpose).
  - Finnucane 6y ago
    That actually seems like a reasonable idea--get the cheaper cpu now, which would still be a big boost over my old system, then swap later when supplies allow.
    - myself248 6y ago
      That's what I did last year, with a 3200G. It's a functional placeholder for now, still a significant bump over what it replaced, but only temporary. My plan is to wait for Socket AM5 to come out, and get the last-best AM4 offering to stuff into my existing motherboard. That may be complicated by BIOS and chipset support (which effectively means a socket-generation-increment even if the physical connector is the same), but we'll see how far my B450 can take me. And at the time, I'll be adding a discrete GPU, since I'll surely be going to a non-APU chip.
  - buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
    You could return your brand new 3900x and borrow your friends 2600x while you wait for the new 5900x. If this sounds oddly specific, it's because it is exactly what I am doing. Returned the 5900X a couple months ago while I wait. Obviously this isn't a serious suggestion as I know most people don't happen to have a friend with a spare 2600x.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  That's not exactly free, whereas waiting for a bit has zero overhead.
  - entropicdrifter 6y ago
    zero monetary overhead* I agree with you in principle, but time and opportunity have value worth considering too
greggyb 6y ago
Do you need the PC today? Yes -> Buy it now. No -> Wait for third party reviews with benchmarks that represent your workload. Decide on the price/performance tradeoff then. In general, there will always be a better processor coming around the bend. Intel promises its next release in Q1 2021. Zen 4 is on the roadmap and will be coming probably in a year and a bit. There are a few reasons that I think it's worth waiting right now (if you can): - We are less than a month from release - AMD is suggesting significant performance improvements over the current gen - AMD's claims for its Ryzen series have largely held true when third parties release their own benchmarks I would not suggest pre-ordering. Always wait for third party reviews and benchmarks.
blihp 6y ago
If you want the best bang for the buck, wait for the Black Friday sales (which usually start in early Nov) when resellers will probably be heavily discounting the 3xxx series. If you want the absolute best performance, wait a few months on the 5xxx and I'm sure you'll see some discounting. You can still buy the 2xxx series new for ~$200... the old models don't disappear just because the new model comes out, they get cheaper.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
Invest in the motherboard, buy a 3600 now and replace it later, maybe with something even better than 3900.

I was literally about to order a new pc with a 3900. So do I get that or wait for this? Will it be sold out for months?

bob1029 6y ago

You could get the 3900 today and upgrade to the 5000 series after the fact. Socket compatible.

boardwaalk 6y ago
But, don’t waste money on a 3900 you’re going to replace. The 3300x and 3600 are really good placeholder options (I have the 3600 for this purpose).
- Finnucane 6y ago
  That actually seems like a reasonable idea--get the cheaper cpu now, which would still be a big boost over my old system, then swap later when supplies allow.
  - myself248 6y ago
    That's what I did last year, with a 3200G. It's a functional placeholder for now, still a significant bump over what it replaced, but only temporary. My plan is to wait for Socket AM5 to come out, and get the last-best AM4 offering to stuff into my existing motherboard. That may be complicated by BIOS and chipset support (which effectively means a socket-generation-increment even if the physical connector is the same), but we'll see how far my B450 can take me. And at the time, I'll be adding a discrete GPU, since I'll surely be going to a non-APU chip.
- buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
  You could return your brand new 3900x and borrow your friends 2600x while you wait for the new 5900x. If this sounds oddly specific, it's because it is exactly what I am doing. Returned the 5900X a couple months ago while I wait. Obviously this isn't a serious suggestion as I know most people don't happen to have a friend with a spare 2600x.
jacquesm 6y ago
That's not exactly free, whereas waiting for a bit has zero overhead.
- entropicdrifter 6y ago
  zero monetary overhead* I agree with you in principle, but time and opportunity have value worth considering too

greggyb 6y ago

Do you need the PC today? Yes -> Buy it now. No -> Wait for third party reviews with benchmarks that represent your workload. Decide on the price/performance tradeoff then. In general, there will always be a better processor coming around the bend. Intel promises its next release in Q1 2021. Zen 4 is on the roadmap and will be coming probably in a year and a bit. There are a few reasons that I think it's worth waiting right now (if you can): - We are less than a month from release - AMD is suggesting significant performance improvements over the current gen - AMD's claims for its Ryzen series have largely held true when third parties release their own benchmarks I would not suggest pre-ordering. Always wait for third party reviews and benchmarks.

blihp 6y ago

If you want the best bang for the buck, wait for the Black Friday sales (which usually start in early Nov) when resellers will probably be heavily discounting the 3xxx series. If you want the absolute best performance, wait a few months on the 5xxx and I'm sure you'll see some discounting. You can still buy the 2xxx series new for ~$200... the old models don't disappear just because the new model comes out, they get cheaper.

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago

Invest in the motherboard, buy a 3600 now and replace it later, maybe with something even better than 3900.