"What upgrades should I get NOW?" September 2020 edition

[BeepBoo]

I've seen a massive amount of people asking this question recently, probably because everyone is all antsy for wow's xpac and wants to upgrade in preparation for it, so let me take the time to answer them ALL at the same time.

None. We're in the middle of another generational tech roll-over for both processors and GPUs. Buying now is effectively a waste of money. Hold your horses, limp on with what you have, and buy after the new gen stuff releases. You'll thank me later for helping you avoid feeling like a fool when you drop $1500 and then have a system half as capable as something that costs $1500 a month later.

[Thunderball]

That depends.

GPUs - completely fine to buy if you're looking for a budget GPU since the budget offers both AMD and Nvidia are still good 4-6 months off.
Memory/storage - fine to buy now if you can find a good model.
PSUs - stay the fuck away, everything is very overpriced atm.
CPUs - wait until October 8th. Budget oriented gamers probably wont find anything useful in initial 4000 offering, but prices might drop. Intel is fine to buy if the conditions are met.
Mobos - fine to buy for both AMD and Intel. Next gen boards will have DDR5, so you will have to upgrade anyway.
Cases - fine to buy.

[Temp name]

Mobos - fine to buy for both AMD and Intel. Next gen boards will have DDR5, so you will have to upgrade anyway.

Doubt it. AMD is keeping DDR4 for their 4000 series (Otherwise they'd need both DDR4 and DDR5 memory controllers, since DDR4 boards are forward-compatible with the 4000 series of CPUs), and Intel has already announced that their Z490 boards will support the 11000 series on top of the 10000 series, which means they're also DDR4.

For the 5000 and 12000 though? Yeah, probably DDR5

[Thunderball]

Doubt it. AMD is keeping DDR4 for their 4000 series

I have very big doubts that they're gonna release new chipsets before 5000 series. Maybe X670, but then again - it's useless since they're pretty much confirmed to change sockets for Zen 4.

(Otherwise they'd need both DDR4 and DDR5 memory controllers, since DDR4 boards are forward-compatible with the 4000 series of CPUs)

Which both AMD and Intel did before so I wouldnt write it down.

and Intel has already announced that their Z490 boards will support the 11000 series on top of the 10000 series, which means they're also DDR4.

That's not guaranteed, either, but it's more likely. Z590 will probably the same shit as Z490 but with PCIe 4.0 support, so it's pretty hard to call that a next-gen board. "Z690" is likely going to have a new socket, 10nm based CPUs and DDR5.

For the 5000 and 12000 though? Yeah, probably DDR5

Man I hope they're not named like that. That shit needs to stop.

[Temp name]

I have very big doubts that they're gonna release new chipsets before 5000 series. Maybe X670, but then again - it's useless since they're pretty much confirmed to change sockets for Zen 4.

But it'll have updated IO as well.. Might come with more M.2 slots too. I'm expecting an x670 launch with AMD 4000

Which both AMD and Intel did before so I wouldnt write it down.

Did AMD do it too? I know Intel has their 6000 through 8000 (Maybe more?) with DDR3 and DDR4 controllers for laptops sake.

That's not guaranteed, either, but it's more likely. Z590 will probably the same shit as Z490 but with PCIe 4.0 support, so it's pretty hard to call that a next-gen board. "Z690" is likely going to have a new socket, 10nm based CPUs and DDR5.

Midrange Z490 and up is already capable of PCIe 4.0, it's wired for it. The chipset isn't, but neither is B550. Z590 will probably be Chipset support for PCIe 4 and whatnot.
I mean, both Z590 and X670 will be kinda pointless upgrades, but they come with guaranteed out of the box compatibility with the newer CPUs, so they'll still sell.

Z690 is going to have a new socket, guaranteed. Intel doesn't like re-using sockets. Z370/Z390 and now Z490/Z590 are kinda an abnormality in that sense.
I mean, technically Z270 is the same socket as Z370/390, but they aren't actually compatible (outside of BIOS hacking), so again, no more than 2 generations.
As for DDR5? I sure hope so. Intel will be laughed at even more than they already are if they're also late on DDR5 after being more than a year (looking to be 18-24 months) late with PCIe4.

Man I hope they're not named like that. That shit needs to stop.

You mean Intel 12000? Yeah, it's a stupid ass name. Intel really needs to come up with a better one.

[Thunderball]

But it'll have updated IO as well.. Might come with more M.2 slots too. I'm expecting an x670 launch with AMD 4000

Updated with what? Three M.2 slots is already too many. As is stands now the IO on X570 is already overkill for 95% of the users.

Did AMD do it too? I know Intel has their 6000 through 8000 (Maybe more?) with DDR3 and DDR4 controllers for laptops sake.

Yeah, AM3 CPUs had both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers because they could be put into both AM2+ and AM3 boards.

Midrange Z490 and up is already capable of PCIe 4.0, it's wired for it. The chipset isn't, but neither is B550. Z590 will probably be Chipset support for PCIe 4 and whatnot.

Yea sure but it's up to Intel to let manufacturers enable that. And we all know how Intel loves segmentation.

I mean, both Z590 and X670 will be kinda pointless upgrades, but they come with guaranteed out of the box compatibility with the newer CPUs, so they'll still sell.

Noone is preventing anyone from doing the same as MSI did with MAX boards. B550 was MIA, and I'm pretty sure B650 will follow.

Z690 is going to have a new socket, guaranteed. Intel doesn't like re-using sockets. Z370/Z390 and now Z490/Z590 are kinda an abnormality in that sense.

Where is the abnormality, exactly?

I mean, technically Z270 is the same socket as Z370/390, but they aren't actually compatible (outside of BIOS hacking), so again, no more than 2 generations.
As for DDR5? I sure hope so. Intel will be laughed at even more than they already are if they're also late on DDR5 after being more than a year (looking to be 18-24 months) late with PCIe4.

Yea, that's the way it's been since LGA1156. No news here. Nothing is stopping them from plugging DDR5 as soon as it's ready tho.

You mean Intel 12000? Yeah, it's a stupid ass name. Intel really needs to come up with a better one.

I mean both manufacturers actually.